Family

"The President's plan to boost processing capacity for non-immigrant visas in major U.S. bound travel markets like China and Brazil and expand the Visa Waiver Program is a good policy for America and will benefit Hawaii's tourism industry."

As of midnight, Wikipedia is shut down for 24 hours, and hundreds of other popular websites have gone dark right along with it. They are standing together in protest ....

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...the United States -- and indeed the world -- is less economically free today than it was a year ago, according to the 18th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released yesterday by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that on Dec. 1, the government of Japan approved Rainbow papaya for commercial shipment to Japan.

Fiat's subsidiary Iveco continues to sell and distribute trucks in Iran that have been used by the Iranian regime to transport ballistic missiles and stage gruesome public executions. Fiat also continues to operate in Iran's automobile market, and is reportedly planning to expand its presence there by opening a luxury Maserati dealership in Tehran.

This week brings the nationwide release of The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Despite this emerging threat, President Barack Obama traveled to the Pentagon last Thursday to announce that the "tide of war is receding" for the United States, thereby justifying massive cuts to the U.S. military.

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President Obama told Bill O'Reilly, "I think the Muslim Brotherhood is one faction in Egypt. They don't have majority support in Egypt."

Your ACT221 Tax Dollars at Work building the clean energy future, Hawaii ....

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, providing passage for some 15.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, amounting to one third of the world's seaborne oil shipments.

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Never before have a team of climate ‘realists’ testified before any committee, in the Senate or the Commons. 

Pity the much-maligned plastic bag....

"Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests."

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...the surprise development raises concerns about its impact on Pyongyang's ongoing leadership transition, regime stability, and North Korean security and foreign policies....

 Egyptian Scientific Institute: December 17, 2011

In a short dispatch, KCA stated, "Chariman Kim passed away in the train on December 17th, 2011 at 8:30am due to physical overwork."

Federal prosecutors Tuesday charged Ayman Joumaa, an accused Lebanese drug kingpin and Hezbollah financier, of smuggling tons of U.S.-bound cocaine and laundering hundreds of millions of dollars with the Zetas cartel of Mexico....

“The Canadian Government’s decision to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol is an important victory for common sense .... "

These cuts have been put forth with little consideration for their long-term impact....

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... the Battleship Missouri Memorial will proudly host a mass band performance featuring more than 650 performers from a dozen high school, college and community bands ....

Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more for housing, and being crammed into a denser neighborhood? You can have all this and more ....

Canada’s emissions represent only 2% of the world’s total and 80% of the world’s population live in nations that have no protocol emission limits whatsoever. China’s economy is expanding so rapidly that between 2009 and 2010 its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased by more that twice the entire Canadian 2010 output....

Honolulu (29) and San Francisco (30) are the highest-ranking US cities....  

ROME: Finmeccanica: signed a contract worth USD 1,334 million for Honolulu driverless metro.

Treasury and municipal bonds rallied Thursday as fears of European contagion spread ... Yields on the Hawaii bond deal were lowered as much as nine basis points, compared with levels offered earlier in the morning....

...perhaps this will mark the rise of the paleolibs?

"The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1 percent of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future."

There has been an ongoing debate about the depth of anti-Semitism within the OWS movement....

The problem is not the size or scope of U.S. support, the problems lay within the ways that money is structured, allocated and managed....

Indeed, costly emission cuts in Denmark and elsewhere are likely to lead to a partial relocation of CO2 emissions to more lenient countries, such as China ....

The multi-million dollar project is aimed at improving integration of variable renewable resources, such as solar and wind power, and preparing the electric system for widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

For Charles, this was a day much like most others, but he was thankful to talk to the girls (they were on a lengthy communications blackout until last night) and to have some turkey for dinner.

"...Observations do not show rising temperatures .... "

The CIA and U.S. Treasury Department have determined IHH and the Free Gaza Movement "have known terrorist ties," the bill says. (They also have extensive Hawaii ties--Editor)

Failing to enact the plan by January 15, 2012, would result in automatic cuts to military spending--a scenario that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta describes as "devastating."

...it will set up a partnership for the AnsaldoBreda trainmaking unit in advance of selling the business....

China has increased its defense budget by double digits every year for the last 20 years. Just as China seems to be gearing up for some undefined enterprise, the U.S. is winding down its defense budget at a similarly rapid pace.

...some jurisdictions did not accurately define compact migrants, account for federal funding that supplemented local expenditures, or include revenue received from compact migrants....

Obama, Occupy, and the assembled crony capitalists at APEC are enraged that the Super Committee and/or the Republicans may soon cut off their flow of US taxpayer dollars.

The world is laughing at the dead legacy of Frantz Fanon. The third world rejects victimology and embraces development and trade—and has nothing but success to show for it. All except for Hawaii’s reactionary and backwards Congressional delegation.

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On November 22, Republican candidates will gather together in Washington, D.C., for a presidential debate presented by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute on CNN. The subject: foreign policy and national security.

According to the Star-Bulletin November 22: “Makekau's acts of abuse against her sister's children included hitting their heads with knives and cans of dog food, their fingers with metal and wooden spoons and their mouths with a hammer.” Prosecutors described the conditions as a “house of torture.”

In the coming weeks 3/3 will take control of operations in Garmsir District, relieving fellow Hawaii-based 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. The “Lava Dogs” of 1/3 are nearing the end of their seven-month deployment, which began in April.

Waipahu native Army Pfc. Edward Barut and his team successfully overcame a 45-minute complex attack in which insurgents used rocket propelled grenades, small arms fire and improvised explosive devices.