Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye’s big date with history starts us off as we plant tongue in cheek and "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:

» Inouye was applauded by his colleagues for passing Strom Thurmond to become the second-longest- serving senator in U.S. history, and he said he’s still going strong. Why should he quit? He hasn’t had this much fun since the Gilded Age.

» Gubernatorial rivals Neil Abercrombie, Mufi Hannemann and James "Duke" Aiona exchanged accusations of shady fundraising. The scary thing is that for once they all might be right.

» With Gov. Linda Lingle in China, Aiona had a rare turn in the spotlight as lieutenant governor when he signed a bill requiring 180 class days in Hawaii public schools. Counting them will give the next LG something useful to do.

» Abercrombie is turning his 72nd birthday into a campaign event. He says he can cut state spending 20 percent by using his AARP discount.

» After Inouye announced he’ll run for re-election to the Senate again in 2016, Hannemann did some quick arithmetic, and you could see the question forming on his lips: "Does this mean I’d have to serve the whole term?"

» The state Ethics Commission voted to fire Executive Director Daniel Mollway over his management style after waffling since December. These commissioners have shown even less spine than our ethics laws.

» Councilman Rod Tam is running for mayor as "Lightning Rod." I’m afraid it’s going to take more than thunderbolts to illuminate the bulb in that head.

» Hawaii’s population of the over-65 group is increasing while the number of school-age youngsters is dropping. In the next recession, we’ll have to furlough kupuna to balance the budget.

» A miscommunication between gay rights groups is resulting in two gay pride parades in Waikiki this month. It kind of makes their case, no? They cannot talk to each other and can be overly prideful as much as any married couple.

» A spawning of rice coral off Oahu this weekend is being billed by scientists as "sex in the tropics." I guess it’ll have to do until the election.

We’ve got a double quote of the week on the plan to furlough city workers:

From City Council Chairman Todd Apo: "I think with the state having gone through furloughs for a while now, we haven’t seen anything disastrous."

From Mayor Hannemann: "Furlough days has such a bad connotation because of how the state botched the whole DOE situation and people say, ‘Oh no.’"

It seems the city has one tin cup that’s half empty and one tin cup that’s half full.

David Shapiro can be reached at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.