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Thursday, June 26, 2014
June 26, 2014 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 6:26 PM :: 4005 Views

Obama plan to tribalize native Hawaiians runs into trouble

Prohibiting Sitting Or Laying Down On Oahu's Sidewalks 24/7 Makes Law More Susceptible To Challenge

Seeking a Global Solution in Sugar Trade Policy

Akaka Tribe: Bureau of Indian Affairs 'Involved from Very Beginning'

ICT: This is an Interior Department. It is not an initiative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. … We have an office for Native Hawaiians in one of the other branches of the Department of the Interior and they’ve long worked with Native Hawaiians. But it is something that we’re interested in and we are the experts – to some degree – on Indigenous Peoples so we’ve been offering guidance and advice from the Indian Affairs’ hallway. We also know that Indian tribes are interested in the issue and we’ve also been following it from that angle and making sure that we represent Indian country’s voice in these issues so we have been involved from the very beginning....

The first question that popped up when I read the press release was how do you establish a government-to-government relationship with a community, which isn’t a government?  (He dodged this question.)

Read ... Indian Country Today

Unable to Find any Supporters, OHA Blames Hawaiians

SA: OHA plans a campaign to generate comments in favor, said Stender, who is drafting his own comments to submit.

"A lot of people who call me and watch the television want to say things and I tell them, ‘You have to.' But they don't want to be shouted down and yelled at, so they don't want to come. But I'm hopeful they will send letters in."

By Wednesday, the Department of Interior had already posted more than 60 comments it has received, including some in support.

David Heaukulani of Hilo wrote, "The native Hawaiian community is at odds with itself regarding an approach towards forming its own government. Therefore, I hope the federal government can step in and help us come together in this matter of utmost importance."

George Tsuchida called the possibility of re-establishing a government-to-government relationship "long overdue to address years of injustice, since the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, and is a very positive first step towards Native Hawaiian self-determination."

OHA Chairwoman Colette Machado was one of the few Monday morning to testify publicly in support of the idea.

But Machado quickly got into a shouting match with people in the Capitol audience who booed her. She admonished them to "follow the process."

"Culturally," said Pono Shim, CEO of Enterprise Honolulu, the Oahu Economic Development Board, "this is not how you have a conversation. Most people of Hawaiian ancestry would not show up for a process like this. It's unfortunate that this is the only way that people have to be engaged to have a voice."

read ... OHA Blames the Hawaiians

Bob Jones: Obama a Colossal Failure, Wish he was Going Away Now

MW: If you came aboard with Barack Obama in 2008 and again in 2012, and find yourself disappointed and wishing he didn’t have two-and-a-half years to go in the White House, join the burgeoning crowd....

It’s about his wobbly foreign policy and that he seems to sometimes run the country like a passenger in one of those new driverless Google cars.

I sense his presidency will not go down in history for much except being our first black leader.

The words “colossal failure” and “complete failure” are showing up more and more on national and international blogs.

We can’t even applaud Obamacare because we don’t know how it will pan out in cost and ability to dampen runaway medical care bills....

His legacy will be haunted by his unfortunate statement of “leading from behind” in the Libya revolution, by the failure of the Arab Spring in Egypt, the failure to dislodge Assad in Syria, and then the Russian intervention in Ukraine....

In foreign policy, he wanted to be done with American boots on the ground. We are tired of war and death. But it seems that if you back off from threatening war and death, you get challenged by bad people not afraid of threatening war and death.

There was a great clue in a Jan. 27, 2014, article in the New Yorker by journalist David Remnick, who had traveled with Obama, and at one point Obama said to him (I paraphrase): “I wish I could be like you and sit back and just observe things.”....

read ... Bob Jones Finally Figures Obama out

Hawaii might be the only place left where an endorsement from Obama can be looked at as a positive

CB: Hawaii might be the only place left in the country where an endorsement from President Barack Obama can be looked at as a positive.

Nationally the president’s approval rating continues to hover around 41 percent, and recent events involving the resurgence of conflict in Iraq, scandal at the VA hospital system and a controversial prisoners-for-soldier exchange have only made Democrats in tight races want to distance themselves further.

And that’s not to mention ongoing flashpoints around Obamacare, the IRS and Benghazi.

But U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz isn’t like his colleagues in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Punahou. Just like Obama.

read ... Last Undiscovered Obamabots 

A High-Stakes Initiative Could Ban GMO Farming in Maui County

CB: The Maui County Council — which represents Maui, Molokai and Lanai — recently began considering the county’s first-ever citizens initiative, which seeks to temporarily ban genetically modified farming until biotechnology companies pay for a study to analyze its health effects. Critics say the proposal could have a huge negative economic impact in the county, where hundreds of people are employed by the biotechnology industry.

The voter initiative is significantly more restrictive than the regulations approved in Kauai County and Hawaii County last year. Kauai’s ordinance focuses on increasing disclosure requirements for biotechnology companies about their use of pesticides and genetically engineered seeds, while the Big Island’s ban on genetically modified farming exempts all existing crops....

In contrast, the Maui County proposal would ban most of the farming done by both Monsanto Company and Mycogen Seeds, an affiliate of DowAgroSciences, in addition to that of other farmers who rely on genetically modified seeds.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism doesn’t keep specific data on the biotechnology agriculture industry in Hawaii, but data from Monsanto Company and Mycogen Seeds indicates that the county could lose millions of dollars in tax revenue and face a spike in unemployment if the companies were to close their genetically modified farming operations.

Monsanto Company farms on Maui and Molokai and, at any given time, 60 to 90 percent of its fields include genetically modified crops.

The company employs 540 people in the county and pays them a total of about $17.8 million annually. The company also paid about $3.5 million in taxes last year, and has invested about $100 million in infrastructure, land and improvements, said the company’s spokeswoman Carol Riemann.

Mycogen Seeds, an affiliate of Indiana-based Dow AgroSciences, farms about 400 acres of seed corn on Molokai and employs 33 full-time employees, as well as 65 temporary and seasonal workers.

The company pays an average of $400,000 in sales and use taxes and $12,000 in property tax to the county each year, said spokesman Adolph Helm.

read ... A High-Stakes Initiative Could Ban GMO Farming in Maui County

Ige Questions Governor’s Possible Veto of Disclosure Bill

HR: “I think it’s incredible that the governor is planning to veto a bill that increases government transparency and accountability and  was unanimously passed in both the House and the Senate,” said Senator Ige. “ The Legislature listened to the many citizens who want a more open government, and I call on the governor to do the same.”

Senator Ige added, “If the governor’s concern is that the bill will discourage certain individuals from accepting these positions, then so be it. We need people in our government who are willing to be forthcoming and transparent. If I were governor, I would have signed this bill immediately because I believe in an open government that is held accountable and  discourages conflicts of interest.”

read ... Abercrombie vs Transparency

Legislators concerned about governor's pending veto list

HR: Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom, R-Hawaii Kai-Kahala, said if the governor does in fact veto Senate Bill 2682 RELATING TO FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS, he wants the legislature to override the veto.

The bill would make public the financial disclosure statements of members of the state boards, commissions, and agencies....

The bill passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate.

Slom said this veto doesn't help the people of Hawaii establish any confidence in their government.

Sen. Will Espero, D-Ewa, expressed concern about another bill on the governor’s veto list - Senate Bill 2589.

The bill would incorporate the state’s 18 Harbor police under the state sheriffs instead of keeping them as an independent agency.

There was no opposition to the bill, and it was supported by the state Department of Transportation.

In a letter to the governor obtained by Hawaii Reporter, Espero said there are problems within the harbor police department, which includes poor leadership, a dysfunctional department and low staff morale.

Espero told the governor vetoing the bill would be a "terrible mistake."

The Hawaii affiliate of the National Parents Organization is concerned about the Governor’s plans to veto House Bill 2163.

The bill reforms the state’s child custody law in a way that encourages family court judges to support gender equality by ordering shared parenting.

A child of divorce or separation equally would divide his time equally between two parents.

read  ... Legislators concerned about governor's pending veto list

Hospitals on Kauai face potential staff, service reductions

KGI: “At the end of the day, if we’re going to survive and the funding is not going to be coming forward, it is going to mean we’re potentially looking at service lines and a reduction in force,” HHSC Kauai Regional Board Chair Wade Lord said Wednesday at the State Capitol in Honolulu. “We’re in the middle right now of reviewing each service line and the net financial effect of those lines — how they affect other related services. It’s our hope that we can avoid doing that, but it’s a part of the process and we need to work through it.”

The news was delivered during the first of at least four statewide public meetings, hosted by the state House Committee on Health, that seeks to address the operational and financial stability and future of the nation’s fourth-largest public health care system.

A similar meeting on Kauai is scheduled at 5 p.m. Monday at the War Memorial Convention Hall in Lihue.

“We had a very busy two sessions this biennium where we struggled and wrestled with the question on what to do with the HHSC system,” said Rep. Della Au Bellati, D, Makiki-Manoa, who chairs the House Committee on Health. “We’re taking this time during the interim ... to look at this question about HHSC operational plans, budgets and the shortfall that the system and the regions are facing and have a community conversation about what a private-public partnership may look like as we move forward.”

read ... Hospitals on Kauai face potential staff, service reductions

Abercrombie Admin Bungling Puts 100 People out of work

HNN: Reynolds Recycling says it is temporarily halting its redemption center operations until the state pays it what its owed.

Reynolds in the state's largest recycler, with 35 redemption centers on Oahu, Maui and Kauai. None of them are scheduled to open Thursday morning because it says the state owes it money.

"Every time someone brings in a can or a bottle, we're giving them the five cents," said Bruce Iverson, Reynolds Recycling's director of marketing and development. "We bill the state for the five cents and we wait for payment. And at this point, we're waiting for payment."...

When asked how much the state owes the company, Iverson said, "I'm not really at liberty to say, but let me say that it's really in excess of a million dollars in reimbursements that we're waiting for."

The decision to close means about 100 redemption center employees won't be at work and won't get paid....

"They did not come up with the reimbursement that we needed, and so we just have to close until we receive it."

read ... Abercrombie Costs 100 people their jobs

Panel passes Biodegradable bag-ban bill

SA: A bill adding bags described as biodegradable and compostable to the list of plastic bags that retailers cannot give to Oahu customers starting in 2015 continues to move through the Hono­lulu City Council.

Bill 38 advanced out of the Public Works and Sustainability Committee on Wednesday.

The latest draft of the bill, introduced by Councilman Breene Harimoto, makes clear that all plastic bags would fall under the ban, including those described as or generally known as biodegradable and compostable.

The ban would take effect July 1, 2015, as originally planned when the City Council passed the original plastic bag ban in April 2012.

That ordinance, however, gave an exemption to plastic bags labeled as biodegradable, defined as "a substance that can be broken down in the environment by natural processes."

read ... We Must Kill More Trees

Vendors blast Stanley Chang bill that would ban plastic and foam plates--Council Defers

HNN: Owners of Simply Ono lunchwagon estimate they make about three cents on the dollar for plate lunches. It's a razor thin profit margin compared to the fifteen cents per plate they expect to pay if forced to switch to biodegradable food containers.

"When government starts telling me that I have to start giving up some of my profit to put into somebody else's pocket, that's when it becomes an issue," Harris Sukita said.

City Councilman Stanley Chang is behind a bill to ban Styrofoam food containers....

read ... Stop Harassing the People

Aquarium Battle: Lost Fish Coalition tells Sea Shepherd to Get Lost

AP: Scientists say the aquarium fishery off the Big Island is among the best managed in the world, but it has nevertheless become the focus of a fight over whether it's ever appropriate to remove fish from reefs for people to look at and enjoy.

Activists have launched a campaign to shut down the buying and selling of fish for aquariums, saying the practice from Hawaii to the Philippines is destroying coral reefs.

"In this day and age, where the ocean faces a crisis ... there's absolutely no justification for a fishery for hobby," said Mike Long of Seattle-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is spearheading the campaign.

A coalition of fishermen, state regulators and even local environmentalists say the group should focus its attention elsewhere, noting comprehensive aquarium fishery regulations and scientific research that shows fish stocks there are rebounding.

"We don't have a problem here anymore," said Tina Owens of the local environmental group Lost Fish Coalition.

Reality: Anti-Aquarium Nuts Attack Big Isle Fisherman For Catching Delicious Tiger Shark

read ... OCD

Tranny's Charter school must shape up or dissolve

SA: Halau Lokahi is one of the state's 33 public charter schools, and one of the numerous campuses with a Hawaiian-focused program. The commission has learned that the school, which opened in 2001, has accrued a debt of $417,000 — sizeable, considering its diminishing enrollment, 169 students at last count.

Under a newly enacted state law, a charter school must have a contract by July 1 in order to be open for the new school year, set to start Aug. 19. The offer approved by the commission stipulates that Halau Lokahi's next contract is contingent on new leadership at the school.

This is essentially the commission's no-confidence vote on the fiscal management provided by the current leadership. And there is solid basis for that verdict, given that the school stopped paying its rent in February and its teachers on June 5.

There is still a chance for the school to regroup and remain open, but the odds are fairly long.

According to the motion approved by the commission, the current board must "obtain the resignation of the current school director," Laara Allbrett, who heads a staff of 23, including five members of her immediate family.

read ... Charter school must shape up or dissolve

Violent mental patients sent to South Carolina--State Saves 50% but Refuses to Send More

KHON: The Hawaii State Hospital has sent two of its most violent patients to a special facility in South Carolina which costs about half as much as keeping the patients in Hawaii.  But a key state senator said employees worried about continued beatings by patients want about a half dozen others to be sent away as well....

Sources said the State Health Department eventually sent Panoke to Columbia Regional Care Center in South Carolina, the only private detention healthcare facility in the country....

The South Carolina facility costs the state about half as much per day per patient compared to the state's only public mental hospital. The state is paying GEO Care Inc. $341 a day for non-acute care or $441 a day for acute, one-on-one care, according to a State Health Department spokeswoman, compared to the cost of about $800 a day per patient at the State Hospital in Kaneohe. 

A nurse manager there has told Hee that another half-dozen or so mental patients are so violent they should be sent away as well, but health department administrators rejected one request this past March....

The State Hospital had 205 patients as of Tuesday, three over its licensed capacity of 202, Kubo said.  The facility was built to hold 168 to 178 mental patients.

Because of overcrowding, the state also has 40 mental patients staying at the private Kahi Mohala facility in Ewa, costing the state $750 a day per patient.

read ... HGEA, UOW Job Trust at Expense of Workers Safety

Homeless Crime Fills the News

HPD officer indicted for elaborate Criminal Enterprise

HNN: A federal indictment filed Wednesday, shows Officer Tsunezumi formed a partnership with a career criminal, Jeremy Javillo.

According to the court documents, Officer Tsunezumi and Javillo would buy junked cars at auto auctions or on Craig'slist.  Javillo would then steal an almost identical car.  They would then move the vehicle identification number, or VIN, from the junked car to the stolen one so they could sell it.

A Toyota Tacoma truck was used in the FBI's undercover investigation.  According to sources, Officer Tsunezumi thought the truck was stolen, it was in fact, owned by law enforcement.  The VIN from a junked truck that Tsunezumi purchased ended up on the FBI's truck.

Officer Tsunezumi, who had been on the force for about ten years, quit when he was notified of the federal investigation.

There is another HPD officer being looked at in this case.   The officer has had his gun and badge taken away, but he has not been charged so we are not naming him.

The car scheme is not the only thing Tsunezumi and Javillo are accused of.  According to the court documents, the two tried to extort the business owners of a bar.

read ... Dirty Cops and Prison Guards?  This is the Third one this Week

Kam School Operating Illegal Dump?

HNN: ... just several hundred yards from its flagship Kapalama Heights campus, an illegal dump site has been discovered.

Tons of old concrete slabs, green waste, pipes, tires, and an old boiler litter trust lands.

On one side of the property lies parts of an aluminum school bleacher and at another spot, someone has literally tried to bury a kitchen sink in the ground

"A horrendous site. Of all my times looking at landfills and illegal dumpings, this will rank as one of the worst," said environmental activist Carroll Cox.

Along with its sheer size, the dump poses potential risks to two nearby wells that provide drinking water for the public, Cox said.

He added that the dump also contains a mastic-like material that was used in construction decades ago. That material often contained asbestos, he said.

Cox said he checked with the state and found that the school does not have a solid waste permit to operate a landfill.

read ... It Goes to the Top

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