Rhetoric ranged from the nasty to the oblique as we plant tongue in cheek and "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:

» Things got disagreeable fast as Mazie Hirono and Linda Lingle met in their first U.S. Senate debate, with each arguing that the other is not someone who can be trusted. The sobering thought is that both of them might be right.

» Hawaii sent 38 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and local party Chairman Dante Carpenter declared that the atmosphere surrounding President Barack Obama’s nomination for a second term was "surreal." Only to Democrats and Dadaists is this a good thing.

» Hawaii congressional candidate Tulsi Gabbard got to show her stuff along with other rising stars in a televised speech at the Democratic Convention. The segment was entitled, "So You Think You Can Serve a Full Term?"

» City lawyers asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider its unanimous ruling that stopped construction of the $5.26 billion rail project until burial surveys are completed. That’s about as likely as Moses reconsidering the Ten Commandments.

» Mayoral candidate Kirk Caldwell has a new ad promising that "when Kirk says protecting the public and their property is Job One, he means it." I’m surprised nobody told his daughter before she was caught burning Ben Cayetano’s campaign sign.

» The state Senate refused the University of Hawaii’s request to postpone its hearing into the Stevie Wonder concert debacle until the Board of Regents completes yet another evaluation of its own. Never have so many investigated so much to hold so few accountable.

» An attorney said there’s no insurance that could have protected the UH from its sloppy due diligence in the $200,000 concert scam. Unfortunately, you can’t insure against a sucker being born every day.

» Honolulu police stopped deleting critical comments from the department’s Facebook page after being sued for censorship by a pro-gun group. They’ll go back to the old-fashioned way and let their handcuffs do their censoring.

» The Oahu Invasive Species Committee wants residents islandwide to listen for coqui frogs from 7:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and report in by a smartphone app if they hear any. As if they can differentiate the cacophonous frogs from the squabbling between Hirono and Lingle.

And the quote of the week … from UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple on what he’s looking for in a new athletic director: "I want us to get the best person who can take us to that level where we garner the support of the state so that athletics does not compete with academics, it’s not a drain so that we compete at the highest levels in all sports." I’d translate for you, but I don’t speak gibberish as a second language.

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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.