Still Not Open, Hawaii Health Connector Apologizes for Being so Sorry
The UHERO Dashboard Project Jobs Explorer: Occupations in Hawaii
Kapolei NB to Consider Anti-Rail Resolution
Consumer LifeSmarts: DCCA Launches 10th Annual Statewide Student Competition
"Oxyelite Pro" Dietary Supplement Linked to Death, Liver Failure
LWV: "Governments Have an Interest in Controlling Political Speech"
CB: (Here's what liberals really think:) As citizens, we must insist that no right is absolute, and that our governments at all levels have a compelling interest to regulate political speech if we, as voters, are to have access to good, truthful information on candidates and ballot issues on which to base our choices. Congress and our state and county legislatures must protect the right of voters to dependable, unbiased information. The alternative is a corrupt process which could lead to corrupt or uncontrollable governments.
About the author: Jean Y. Aoki is a retired school teacher who has been with the League of Women Voters since 1978. She has been actively involved in League projects since, chairing numerous studies and voter information projects varying from Judicial Independence to Constitutional Conventions.
SA: Limit power of money in elections
read ... Government Thought Control
Software glitches on the health insurance exchange still prevent price comparisons and policy purchases
SA: A week after the scheduled start of open enrollment for the state's health insurance exchange, consumers are still unable to purchase medical coverage online, and criticism of the program is mounting.
Officials at the Hawaii Health Connector, the online marketplace created by President Barack Obama's signature health reform law, said they are working to fix the software problems that have prevented people from comparing health plan prices and purchasing policies.
The Hawaii Health Connector, which was established with $205 million in federal grants, was supposed to begin assisting small businesses and individuals in buying health insurance on Oct. 1. Those without health insurance as of Jan. 1 face penalties of up to 1 percent of income under the new health care law....
"The most frustrating thing to me is the people at the Connector seem to be oblivious of the fact that they're not serving their clientele. They have received $200 million worth of taxpayers' money, and they're not serving their customers," said Barbara Coriell, former administrator of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, who is paying roughly $1,100 a month for a two-person, private health plan and tried last week to enroll on the Connector. "They're running ads and acting like there's no problem. There is a big problem. Why isn't there a big box as the first thing you see on the website that says, ‘We apologize Hawaii, the system is not working'?"....
States nationwide have had trouble enrolling people on the new marketplaces because of computer glitches and the sheer volume of inquiries, but consumers in most states running their own exchanges are at least able to find out the price they would pay for various plans, said Rosemarie Day, president of Day Health Strategies, who was involved in establishing the nation's first health insurance exchange in Massachusetts in 2006....
"How is it that with over two years and $258 million, they can't have a system ready to roll?" said Tim Lyons, executive director of the Hawaii Business League, which represents 900 small and midsize employers. "They could have given some business, even a small business, six months and only a couple of million and they would be ready."
Consumers have until Dec. 15 to enroll in policies that take effect Jan. 1, so "it's not time to press the panic button," Day said. Open enrollment runs through March.
The federal law, designed to make coverage affordable to all, requires most Americans to have health insurance next year or face tax penalties of $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. The penalties rise each year thereafter.
read ... Software glitches on the health insurance exchange still prevent price comparisons and policy purchases
If Gay Marriage Wins, Gay Agenda to be Imposed on DoE
CB: Legalizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii would boost efforts to make schools safe zones where LGBT teens are (able to help older homosexual predators recruit more just like them.)...
(Know them by what they deny) “I don’t ever pressure kids to come out,” said Colby, who helped Farrington’s GSA win the national Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network’s Gay-Straight Alliance of the Year award earlier this year. “If you want to, you can. If not, that’s okay, too.”
Paeste, the GSA Hawaii coordinator, thinks the legalization of same-sex marriage would help to achieve his goal of setting up a Gay-Straight Alliance in every high school.
“It would allow us to put our foot in the door,” said Paeste, a 23-year-old graduate student who is pursuing a master’s degree in social work at Hawaii Pacific University.
He also hopes it would encourage more young people to come out of the closet and seek counseling and other services offered by GSAs and school administrations.
Meanwhile, Saribay says marriage equality could mean that Farrington’s experience as a model of LGBT equality becomes the rule rather than the exception.
“People will just have to accept it as the norm," Saribay said. "It’ll be a breakthrough for Hawaii.”
read ... Marriage Equality Could Make Hawaii Schools More Gay-Friendly
Star-Adv Claims 28 House Votes for Gay Marriage
PR: Takai is running in the Democratic primary for Congress in urban Honolulu's 1st Congressional District, so his vote will likely be closely watched by Democratic primary voters.
The four other declared candidates in the primary -- state Sen. Will Espero, Honolulu City Councilman Stanley Chang, Honolulu City Councilman Ikaika Anderson, and activist Kathryn Xian -- support marriage equality. State Senate President Donna Mercado Kim, who is considering a campaign, has been an opponent.
Takai's conversion puts the Star-Advertiser's vote count on the gay marriage bill at 28 to 17, with six lawmakers undecided.
HNN: Gays 'Turn' 13 year old Mormon Boy
read ... Vote Count?
Dozens of Hawaiian homesteads sit empty, boarded up KHON: Neighbors call it the haunted house. The Department of Hawaiian Homelands boarded up this Nanakuli home two decades ago and it's remained vacant ever since.
It's one of about 40 DHHL homes around the state that sits empty just as tens of thousands of Hawaiians wait years for a homestead lease.
"It's been vacant 20 years," said Nanakuli resident Tim Troxell, who lives next door.
"I don't know what kind of poli-tricks or red tape they got it tied up in but you're right there should be a family here. I know a few people who would take it and refurbish the whole deal."
Hawaii News Now viewed at half a dozen boarded up DHHL homes on the Leeward Coast and in Waimanalo. We found cases where the homeowner was evicted for not paying lease rents.
In other instances, the homes went vacant as a result of a legal dispute between family members.
read ... Dozens of Hawaiian homesteads sit empty, boarded up
Awana, Cabanilla Termed 'House's Dimmest Bulbs' PR: A column on the appointment of Rida Cabanilla to replace Karen Awana as House Minority leader. Lets just skip to the comments:
I like Speaker Joe. But I have a hard time believing he has "long respected Rep. Cabanilla." Very few of her colleagues, in either party, respect Rep. Cabanilla. Sorry for being so blunt. I would not have said the obvious had Souki not first said such a silly thing.
As someone who had such great optimism when the Souki-Dissident alliance took over the House leadership, the elevation of Cabanilla is yet another in a long string of appointments which suggests how unprincipled this alliance really is. I had been hoping the removal of Speaker Say would allow new, long suppressed talent to express itself. I won't mention the names of other disappointing, dim bulb reps Souki has elevated because of my inherent politeness. So long as he avoids telling obvious fibs about them, like he just did for Cabanilla....
A thankless job, as demonstrated by the fact that the position has recently been, and will now be, held by two of the House's dimmest bulb.
And does else see it as more than passing ironic that the not-so-new House leadership, which campaigned on a platform of openness, transparency, etc., does not hold it's own members accountable for violation of those principles?...
I did not realize until now that the Majority Floor Leader was where the underwhelming are placed. Oh! If people had known that maybe they would not have advanced some past alums of that spot.
read ... Dimmest Bulbs
City Files 800-page Response in Rail Suit
CB: On Tuesday, the city filed its nearly 800-page response to Tashima’s concerns with the federal court.
The gist of that response is that Mother Waldron Park won’t be negatively impacted, the Beretania tunnel is not practical, and there were not previously unidentified traditional cultural properties to be concerned about.
Although this doesn’t mean an end to the lawsuit — which was brought forward by former Gov. Ben Cayetano and others — it does mark a milestone in the case.
Of course, the plaintiffs in the case have 30 days to respond to the city’s recent court filing. They can also challenge Tashima’s final ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
There’s currently a related case pending there now, although the court has yet to make a decision.
Depending on what the appellate judges decide it could further hinder the rail project, which just recently resumed construction after a nearly year-long delay.
The Hawaii Supreme Court last year forced the city to halt construction on rail until it completed an archaeological inventory survey along the entire 20-mile line to make sure it wouldn’t be too disruptive to Native Hawaiian burials.
Each month the construction crews sat idle meant millions of dollars were wasted.
read ... Rail Lawsuits Have Cost Honolulu Taxpayers $5M in Legal Fees
Solar Contractor Cries as Tax Credit Bubble Continues to Burst
SA: On Sept. 6, Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) issued new regulations regarding future solar net-metering systems being installed. These wide-ranging but unclear regulations give HECO a lot of leeway to slow down solar installations and throw uncertainty on a thriving industry.
The regulations state: "In some cases on circuits between 75 percent and 100 percent of DML (daytime minimum load) upgrades may still be needed to interconnect safely. … We will determine any circuit or project upgrades needed. … If the utility installs the circuit upgrade, most customers will pay only a prorated share of the cost, based on system size."
read ... Don't trust HECO to manage solar energy use
Pay in Hawai`i, By the Numbers
MN: In our last installment of By the Numbers we focused on the issue of wealth in Hawai`i, breaking down (among other things) the various income brackets here in the islands.
Several readers have since written in asking questions like, “How well do certain jobs pay?”
While previous editions of By the Numbers required us to comb through the files of the Hawai`i State Data Book and other government sources, this edition is the first to take advantage of the new “UHERO Dashboard” assembled by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
read ... Pay in Hawai`i, By the Numbers
GMOs: Kauai Mayor Pushes for State Solution to Luddite Crisis
SA: The Kauai County Council will reconvene next Tuesday to address a proposed bill to regulate pesticide use and genetically modified crops by biotech companies on the island.
Councilmembers listened this morning to public testimony as well as testimony from Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., county Managing Director Gary Heu and Deputy County Attorney Mauna Kea Trask on Bill 2491.
Council Chairman Jay Furfaro announced they will recess until 9 a.m. Tuesday at the council chambers because of a scheduled meeting with the county auditor this afternoon.
During the meeting, Carvalho requested to defer the bill for two months so they can work with the state and county government on the issue. He received the amended proposed bill a week ago and has since met with Gov. Neil Abercrombie's administration. (If the state can take control of the issue, Kauai politicians will be off the hook from the Luddite mobs.)
"There's more work that needs to be done," said Carvalho.
read ... Next Week
Possible ahi limits for Hawaii could cause price hike
HNN: Ahi lovers could face a price hike for fresh sashimi and poke next year because of a proposal that would slice the bigeye tuna limit for Hawaii's longline fleet. The overfishing of bigeye tuna is a problem across the Pacific Ocean. The issue is managed at an international level, and the U.S. is hoping to keep the current quota in place.
Customers at Nico's Pier 38 line up daily for fresh fish. The restaurant buys about 10,000 pounds of ahi a month from the nearby fish auction. The news of a possible bigeye quota reduction for Hawaii's longline fleet is troubling.
"Less fish means more expensive fish so the demand is going to go higher for less fish and the price is going to go up so everyone is going to be affected price-wise, and also no product in the market," said owner Nico Chaize.
The current quota, which was set in 2008, is nearly 3,763 metric tons. One proposal calls for a limit of 2,300 metric tons, which is roughly a 37% reduction.
read ... Price of Environmentalism
UH Econ Professors 6th Chattiest in USA
FIP: Should social science faculty who receive billions of public dollars for their research have some civic responsibility? If so, what? This study suggests one possibility: It highlights faculty who reach out to the broader public to explain the value of their publicly funded research.
read ... But Other Depts Lag
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