Entries for May 2011

After months of trying to get on base in Hawaii, is it ‘three strikes and they’re out’ for the Turkish Gulen cult?

In the end, I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one, but that, the interests and wishes of my family, is the most important consideration of all.

The Regents Candidate Advisory Council (RCAC) will soon begin the recruitment process to fill a vacancy for a County of Hawai‘i seat on the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents.

 The Honolulu Republican Committee has issued a list of all Neighborhood Board candidates who are Republican.

Herman Cain received 20% of the vote in the Recent Hawaii GOP Convention Straw Poll....

Kalama Park on Saturday, May 21, at 11:30 -2:30 (middle pavilion by the playground equipment).

SB2, SB1555, HB1313

State and federal agencies signed a partnership today that will help private Forest Stewardship, landowners and managers conserve forestry land across Hawai'i.

In a speech yesterday on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East following the "Arab Spring" uprisings, President Obama broached the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Notably, he stated that, as part of finding peace between Israel and Palestine, the two parties should return to their 1967 borders.

Visitor industries on Oahu and the Big Island will suffer a setback from the drop in Japanese visitors in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, while Maui and Kauai will benefit from their stronger specialization in US and Canadian markets.

Listen carefully to the nurses in this video. They are ready to dump the HGEA.

"I wish Mazie well in her effort to seek higher elective office. It was my pleasure to have served with her in Congress and to have represented her as a congressman and city councilmember."

 PHOTO: Mazie Hirono Campaigns for Congress at Aug, 2006 rally at Larry Mehau's Honokaa home.

All nine federal judges in Hawaii have recused themselves from hearing the latest complaint, of a long string, that challenges a major transportation project in Honolulu.  With each judge stepping back from the case, 9th Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima will step in, according to an order filed Friday....

... the 100 most frequent given names for male and female births in 2010 in Hawaii....

Of the states released today Hawaii had the lowest proportion of homeowners, the second-highest household size, and the third-highest median age.

As HMSA and the Abercrombie administration push forward with electronic medical records in Hawaii—a key requirement for any medical rationing system—the Obama Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has today released two audits of electronic medical records security systems….

The Late Harold B. Estes' letter to Obama: "One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man. So here goes....

"You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like: "We're no longer a Christian nation" "America is arrogant" -- (Your wife even announced to the world, "America is mean- spirited." Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)"

The head of the Alaska Family Council -- a Christian pro-family, anti-abortion group -- urged Palin to pick Smith, not Christen. The group objected to Christen's membership on the board of Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s. The organization, which didn't provide abortions in Alaska until 2003, opposed a Palin-backed bill to require girls under 17 to get parental consent for an abortion.

DBEDT expects total visitor arrivals to increase 3.8 percent....

So here is a look at what Hawaii would be suffering under if Liu makes it onto the 9th Circuit.

The Kauai County Republican Party conducted a Presidential straw poll during the 2011 Hawaii Republican Party State Convention.

Herman Cain was the winner followed by Mitt Romney in second and Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich and Sara Palin tied for third.

In April, the Obama administration lost $1.5 billion of $2 billion budgeted to improve America's antiquated transportation systems, with high-speed rail projects. Though the funds will now likely go toward deficit reduction, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a defendant in the Hawaii rail lawsuit, has asked for $53 billion over the next six years.

...And that number is an understatement. It is gleaned from tax forms, news stories and reporting. But Soros funds foundations that fund other foundations in turn, like the Tides Foundation, which then make their own donations. A complete accounting is almost impossible because a media component is part of so many Soros-funded operations....

"I look at the ACOs coming out as almost fluff and distraction on the side.... We're way past it."

Through this initiative, we are seeing government agencies and organizations strategically collaborate to find important opportunities to bring in new money....

If agreement is not reached in the current round of negotiations, the team will make a decision on whether to proceed to arbitration. The timetable for arbitration is contained in a March 23, 2011 Memorandum of Agreement, which allows for either the Union or the Employer to request the Hawaii Labor Relations Board (HLRB) implement impasse procedures.

Identify and assess people who are chronically homeless for immediate services in Waikiki and the urban core of Honolulu.

During the Republican candidates’ debate on May 5, Johnson stated firmly in response to a question, “I advocate legalizing marijuana – control it, regulate, tax it.”

... the President's strategy isn't about empowering teachers and communities. It's about increasing the federal government's authority over schools....

The just released 2011 Medicare trustees report: Medicare poses enormous challenges for patients and taxpayers alike, and its financial condition continues a downward slide....

Moody's justified the downgrade based on the state's forecast depletion of reserve funds by the end of the 2011 fiscal year, sustained budget shortfalls relieved by one-time solutions and low pension-funded ratios relative to other states. Hawaii's audited financial results have also come in late since fiscal 2007....

A pattern of earthen berms, spread across a northern peninsula of the big island of Hawaii, is providing archeologists with clues to exactly how residents farmed in paradise long before Europeans arrived at the islands.

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Cloture Motion; James M. Cole to be Deputy Attorney General
• House: Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act
• House: Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act
• House: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

The United States today hit an all-time high debt, passing $14 trillion, according to Associated Press reports. And with $45,300 of debt for every man, woman and child in the United States, it's clear as day that spending is the problem. Yet Washington has yet to come to an agreement on a way forward, either in the short term or the long term, though the budget plan passed by the House of Representatives would fundamentally alter this debt-ridden path the nation is on....

 The opportunity to directly vote on the Republican nominee is expected to bring out thousands of Hawaii Republican voters who have never before had a chance to directly participate in choosing the Republican Presidential nominee.

...unalterable opposition to the Akaka Bill and to any iteration of it....

See the Video...

Town Hall Meeting, Hawaii Kai, with Representative Gene Ward, Minority Leader; and Senator Sam Slom, Minority Leader May 2011

Hundreds of Hawaii Republicans will meet Saturday and Sunday at the Kauai Beach Resort for the GOP state convention. But the top of the agenda—selecting new Party leadership--is a foregone conclusion....

...all Hawai'i flags at all State offices and agencies as well as the Hawai'i National Guard are to be flown at half-staff alongside U.S. flags from sunrise to sunset on Sunday, May 15, 2011....

It is not clear why HMSA could not “anticipate” such impacts. Millions of Americans have been protesting against Obamacare for over a year now.  The bureaucratic interference, bungling, and rationing described in the HMSA letter reads like a caricature of what these “TEA Party” protesters have warned of.

...if those senators were truly serious about cutting the deficit, they wouldn't stop at just cutting subsidies for oil companies. They would also call for the elimination of subsidies for the president's pet projects such as renewable fuels, electric vehicles, wind and solar. Throw in clean coal and natural gas, too. That would be the right move for the American taxpayers. But good policy isn't their goal -- vilifying an industry is their end game.... 

The state is contributing $1.5 million for the project, and Kyoya and HTA will provide $500,000 each.

Big news release which can be condensed into one word: RATIONING.

Honolulu City Council has got to have more important things to focus on than regulating and restricting yet another aspect of our lives.

Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to ensure that Defendants do not implement the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project...before complying fully with federal environmental laws.

In a speech in Boston, Mr. Tutu directly attacked the Jewish supporters of Israel as being in effect traitors to America, controlling U.S. foreign policy for the benefit of Israel and to the detriment of America. In that speech he compared American Jewish supporters of Israel to Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin, Milosevich, Stalin, and Pinochet.

Transit coverage is highest in Western metro areas such as Honolulu and Los Angeles, and lowest in Southern metro areas such as Chattanooga and Greenville....