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Sunday, April 13, 2014
April 13, 2014 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:23 PM :: 4136 Views

Broken Trust Gang Busted: OHA Admits to Secret Meeting With US Department of Interior

Conference Committee: Let the Games Begin!

What’s The Streamlined Sales Tax Project – And Should We Jump In?

Attacks on BOE chairman amount to religious bigotry

Shapiro: Attempts by gay rights activists and atheists to unseat Don Horner from the Board of Education because he's a volunteer Bible teacher with New Hope Diamond Head are an outrageous display of religious bigotry.

Critics accused the former bank CEO of conflicts of interest and lack of transparency, but their main theme during a three-hour Senate hearing on his nomination for a second term was punishing him because conservative Christian churches opposed same-sex marriage.

Critics presented no convincing evidence that Horner used his position on the school board to undermine gay rights or advance church interests.

A person has a constitutional right in this country to freely practice his or her religion, and separation of church and state doesn't mean only atheists can serve in government....

Kudos to the Senate Education Committee for judging Horner on what he's done and not what church he attends. Hopefully the full Senate will follow the panel's unanimous rejection of religious bigotry.

read ... Attacks on BOE chairman amount to religious bigotry

Kamuela:  Hawaiians Don't Trust OHA's "Nation Building"

WHT: OHA officials have also heard from Hawaiians expressing their mistrust of the agency and frustration over past nation-building plans that never fully materialized.

OHA representatives began a meeting Friday in Waimea knowing what to expect.

“Tonight is a very touchy subject,” Shane Nelsen, OHA outreach coordinator, acknowledged while addressing the approximately 40 people in attendance.

During the presentation, Mehana Hind emphasized the process requires their participation to succeed.

“The possibilities of what we want, and what we can create is almost endless,” she said.

“It’s not going to work without our people.”

Several attendees questioned why OHA is reaching out to them now and wondered how much influence the agency will have over the process.

“I love my nation. I want to be pono with this,” one woman said. “Right now, I can’t.”

Hind said she understood the concerns.

“As far as not trusting OHA, I know. We know,” she said.

read ... Not Trusted

Gore Greeted by Laughter, Derision before UH Manoa Speech

SA: Lets just skip to the comments...

Just an opportunity fir UH admins to cavort!

Why is anyone even listening to this fake/ He is using this subject to take your money while laughing all the way to the bank.

The green conference gets the name from the stealing of people's money.

The event, dubbed "Ascent: Developing a New Social Contract for Public Investment in a Green Future.'---It's always been about these corporations, greed and money for the same old people...which doesn't include the rest of us.

Talk about fleecing the sheep. Does anyone still believe that this guy should be the mouth piece for environmental issues? I consider myself an environmentalist as well, but this guy has no credibility. Just follow the money....

Boxer, Gore and Schatz in the same room..Really??

How much do you want to bet Al flew in on his private jet paid by selling his TV network to a oil state?

I was going to attend but my doctor said I had to limit my intake of hypocrisy.

read ... Nobody Believes Al Gore Anymore

Star-Adv: Petty politics mustn't derail key measures

SA: The area where that is most likely to happen, unfortunately, is in the minimum wage, in which the state Senate opted against accepting the House version of the bill....

Concerning HCDA reform efforts, the last surviving measure, House Bill 1866, has become an omnibus, carrying a selection of proposals from the original legislative package....

The Senate has pushed for a version of HB 1675 that would repeal the requirement for a minimum of 180 days and 1,080 student instructional hours in the school year. This should not be enacted....

In all the budget dealmaking, counties must be accorded a larger share of the tourist tax than they now receive....

HB 2371 presents some worthy adjustments in tax policy aimed at bringing relief to lower income residents. Among its strong points: Existing renter and food/excise-tax credits would be raised for inflation, and a state earned income tax credit would make the wages of the working poor go farther.

read ... Key Measures

State Senate leadership caught in power struggle

Borreca: Kim did not become Senate president because she wanted the post and she and her buddies put her there.... according to the rules of succession, when Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz was elevated to the U.S. Senate by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Senate President Tsutsui became the lieutenant governor and Kim became Senate president.

Kim told reporters that she didn't want the job and had asked Tsutsui not to take the LG post so she could remain as vice president and keep running an investigative committee....

Now two years into the job, Kim is clear about her style of running the Senate. She and Sen. David Ige, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, have upset senators who have asked that internal rules be bent so that legislation that failed to meet a deadline or that had not passed still could be considered.

The insistence on following the rules has upset some senators looking for an expedient solution. But both Kim and Ige are running for higher office Kim for Congress and Ige for governor and neither wants to be accused of ignoring the rules to favor a special bill.

So far, the pressure to replace Kim is coming from a small group of senators, but as one Senate leader said, "No one is sure they want to put that group in charge."

Kim also has the political advantage. Without a specific allegation of misdoing, showing Kim the door now would look more like bullying and political gamesmanship than needed reform....

read ... Replacing Mercado Kim

Abercrombie Names Another Old Boy to BLNR

KE: Gov. Abercrombie has come up with a novel approach to perpetuating the state mindset while currying political favor: appoint retired state workers with solid union creds — and a job at the Lege — to key state panels.

Or more specifically, nominate Tommy Oi to represent Kauai on the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Oi retired as Kauai state land division manager to work in westside Kauai Rep. Dee Morikawa's office.

He's also snug with the Democratic Party and the government workers' union, HGEA. Oi served as Kauai island co-coordinator during Mazie Hirono's Senatorial campaign. As the Mazie for Hawaii website noted....

read ... Ol Boy

Council signs off on $290k Bynum settlement

KGI: Having the case moved to court, Rapozo added, “would remove the appearance that this body is basically trying to take care of our colleague — the perception that exists out there whether we want to believe that or not.”

“No court on this Earth would allow six colleagues of a plaintiff to make a decision for that plaintiff — nowhere — but we’re making that decision today,” Rapozo said. “You’ll hear everybody’s justification for it, whatever it is, and I respect everybody’s opinion, but I cannot, for the life of me, understand how we can do it regardless of how you frame it.”

Councilman Gary Hooser disagreed and said that not agreeing to the settlement would breach the county’s contract with its insurance company and “expose the county to tremendous additional costs and potential future liabilities.” 

“Looking at the same set of facts, I come to a completely different conclusion,” Hooser said. “What encourages more lawsuits is not this case. What encourages more lawsuits is the conduct of the County of Kauai and employees in the Planning Department, the Prosecutor’s Office and other offices. I think the County of Kauai should learn from these lawsuits and conduct themselves in manners that would not encourage them to keep occurring.”

KE: Bynum Settlement Approved

read ... Sign Off 

Surfrider Self-Destruction: Anti-Dairy Farm Lies Wipe Out

KE: They lied, and said HDF had never consulted with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)....

They lied, and said the West Kauai Soil and Water Conservation District (WK SWCD) had “rubber-stamped” the dairy's conservation plan....

They lied, and claimed “HDF has begun major construction (moving large amounts of soil), despite their failure to secure the required State permits for their proposed dairy.”....

They lied, and claimed the New Zealand rotational pasture model that HDF is following “has had a devastating nationwide environmental impact” in that nation....

They lied, and stated flat out: “Based on the nutrient load (waste) that the cows will deposit on the grazing acreage and which will remain there, pollution cannot be prevented.”....

Surfriders Gordon LaBedz and Robert Zelkovsky have been quite vocal about the evils of milk-drinking, the unacceptable levels of greenhouses gases released by cows and the horrors of “industrial agriculture." The letter-writers also whine the dairy isn't completely "sustainable." Mmmm, like Zelvosky's tourist-dependent wedding video business is?....

what's sad is seeing some of the names that were affixed to that letter of deliberate distortion. Because next time their expertise is needed in a legitimate environmental issue, they won't have any credibility.

PDF: County Engineer Larry Dill detailed response to the fear-mongers

read ... Deliberate Distortions

How Maui Wind Farms Produce CO2

IM: One component that has an impact on the greenhouse gas equation is the concrete pad built at the base of each wind turbine.

... the Draft Programmatic EIS asserts wind generators reduce greenhouse gas emissions because the savings are included and the losses are ignored.

This ... is highly dependent upon the geographical location, the amount of land alternations need and the extent which new transmission lines must be built.

More importantly, ignoring obvious negative impacts that have been repeatedly raised by Hawai’i community groups is a sign that political goals not environmental or economic optimal solutions are being sought.

read ... Eyes Wide Shut: U.S. Dept. of Energy ignores climate change impacts

After Welching on Promise to Defend Anti-GMO Law, Mainland Luddites Seek Status as 'Intervenors'

KGI: A hearing is scheduled on Monday in Hawaii’s U.S. District Court in the lawsuit filed by Syngenta and other biotech companies challenging Kauai County Ordinance 960.

The court will hear oral arguments regarding the pending motion to intervene filed by Center for Food Safety, Surfrider Foundation, Pesticide Action Network North America and Ka Makani Ho‘opono seeking status as intervenor-defendants.

The nonprofits, jointly represented by counsel from CFS and Earthjustice, seek an order granting them participation in the lawsuit in order to defend the County of Kauai’s pesticide disclosure law.

Reality: Anti-GMO Activists Welch on Promise to Provide Pro-Bono Defense for Kauai County

read ... Luddite Cheapskates

Progressive Activist: Low Voter Turnout?  So what?

DN: But to the point. So what? I know voting is important. No argument. But as long as no crazy faction has taken over (in an attempt to “rule” perhaps), and as long as the outcome pretty much represents the wishes of the population as a whole, so what? ...

Do we even want to spend state money to improve a statistic? ...

The low turnout has not prevented us from having a government, and more votes may not actually change anything for better or for worse....

Here, we have the freedom to let our neighbors carry the water for us. Which is better—to be purely democratic about it and respect the right not to vote, or to impose some kind of sanction, material or otherwise, in an attempt to gather more paper ballots and improve the numbers?

read ... They Rule so They are Happy

Meth Dealer Thinks He's Just Like Mandela

AP: Inmate Moses Thompson is leading the hunger strike. He came up with the idea while reading in his cell about Nelson Mandela and peaceful resistance, Thompson's attorney Neal Kugiya said.

Thompson was in an Arizona prison serving a life sentence for murder, but returned to Honolulu when he and 17 others were indicted for alleged membership in the "USO Family" gang. Some are awaiting trial, while others have pleaded guilty.

Authorities say the prison gang has spread as Hawaii sends inmates to prisons in other states because of limited space. The indictment alleges that the gang was involved in drug-trafficking, bribery and violence....

Louis Ching, who represents William Shinyama, who is accused of being a gang member while serving a state sentence for robbery, described the segregated unit as "dimly lit, dungeonlike."

"There's rows and rows of individual cells that are highly locked up," he said. "It's just very, very isolated."

read ... Hungry yet?

Maui County: 4th Lowest Residential Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

Caroline County, VA (0.17%)

Catahoula County, LA and Randolph AR (0.2%)

Iberville County, LA and Cumberland County, TN (0.21%)

Butler County, PA and Maui County, HI (0.22%)

Elmore County, AL and De Soto County, LA (0.23%)

read ... Zillow

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