Entries for April 2012

Rep. Yamane asked AG: Q: Wouldn't condemnation be allowed, for public purposes, since we buy distressed property? A: Eminent domain is for real property. There are problems with using eminent domain for personal property. Mortgages, we consider, are more personal property....

OEQC further noted that this measure is unnecessary and because of its ambiguities, omissions and conflicting purposes will cause confusion in the manner in which Chapter 343 is interpreted and administered, which would as a result, lead to an increase in future lawsuits against the State....

Jong-un "is more likely than his father Kim Jong-il to miscalculate during a crisis, unaware that Seoul is more likely to retaliate to a military clash than in the past."

Ed Case has accepted ten Senate debate/joint appearance invitations from media and community organizations across Hawaii, while his opponent, U. S. Congresswoman Mazie Hirono, has accepted none ....

On Wednesday, April 4, the naked truth behind this land grab was revealed at the State of Hawaii Cable Advisory Committee hearing in Oahu. The members, made up of appointees from each county, did not like what they saw. Let’s just call it, Oceanic Time Warner’s dirty little secret.... 

In order for government agencies such as Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit Administration (HART) ... to be effective, they must first keep the lines of communications open to the citizens they serve.... Promotional products are an integral part of this process....

His trips there are allowed under a half-century-old law called the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. The post-Abramoff 2007 law that tightened congressional travel rules did not cover these MECEA trips....

Days after the Hawaii Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor replaced anti-dogfighting language from a House bill designed to deter dogfighting with a broad range of regulations for dog breeders and pet stores, the Hawaii State Senate is expected to vote on the new measure ....

The seven credit card companies that have been named as defendants are Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Discover, HSBC, and their subsidiaries....

The campaign raised $1,351,876.38 between January 1 and March 31, 2012, bringing the total funds raised in this election cycle to $3,119,186.27. 

Immediately after the launch, South Korea issued an order urging residents near the inter-Korean border to seek shelter to protect themselves from any debris that might fall from the rocket, Yonhap said....

Sunday, May 20th, 2012, at "Skygate Park," the festival grounds fronting the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building - Koko Head side of Honolulu Hale.

US Army retiree Rosie Fualaau Tago Lancaster, who will be making a second bid, and Aumua Amata Radewagen, who has entered numerous times, will be challenging the incumbent congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin....

No one except Faleomavaega knows which demands had been 'met,' as Bahrain today remains governed by an undemocratic monarchy which tortures and imprisons its citizens with impunity....

The lands are and will remain under the jurisdiction of the Hawai'i Community Development Authority (HCDA), and will continue to be subject to HCDA’s zoning and other land use conditions. The lands will be conveyed “as is,” “where is.”

Blas's resolution asks Congresswoman Madeline Bordallo to introduce legislation exempting the non-contiguous states and territories from the provisions of the Jones Act....

... a Supreme Court decision protected out-of-state businesses from revenue-hungry states. But a new bill working its way through Congress would change all that ....

A crowd of over 300 gathered today at the Sheraton Waikiki to honor Hawaii’s former two-term Governor Linda Lingle and hear from keynote speaker U.S. Sen. Susan Collins....

“Transparency and a culture of openness are among my top goals,” Grabauskas said.

The national yearly cost for assisted living has increased 5.7 percent a year over the past five years, while long term care costs in Hawaii have increased 13.4 percent a year....

President Obama traveled to Florida yesterday to distract the nation from its real problems by laying out his case for the Buffett Rule, a plan to drastically raise taxes on successful Americans and small businesses....

At the conference, Defendants agreed that substantial questions of constitutionality require the convening of a three-judge court....

Mayor Carlisle's administration is arguing that the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill should continue operations for another 15 years. Read the hearing notice....

"True leaders would not exempt themselves from a law they are creating for others to follow," said Rep. Kymberly Pine, Minority Floor Leader....

“Horizon Lines moves forward today from a stronger financial position that will enable us to better focus on customers in our core Jones Act trades and to invest in the future of our business....

This bill has the wrong title. It should be called Relating to Closed Government. Passage of SB 2858 will roll back more than 20 years of openness and sunshine ....

At present, the new biorefinery is expected to churn out five barrels a day...thanks to ... the $25-million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant that made the project possible....

Sen. Rick Santorum announced from Gettysburg, PA that he is suspending his Presidential campaign. He did not make an endorsement.

Think fueling up your car at $4 a gallon is rough? How would you feel about paying more than $6.50? Add on top of that massive job losses and a drastic drop in U.S. economic productivity....

"This has no connection whatsoever with rail,” Yoshioka said.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) applauded the State of Maryland for unanimously passing legislation this weekend to bar companies active in Iran from doing business with the State of Maryland.

For some 400 years before European settlers arrived, ancient Hawaiian societies caught as much fish as modern fishers or more - without fishing the reefs to depletion....

As of the end of February, the Hawaii GOP had $29,000 in the bank in federal funds and was carrying over $100,000 in debt.

An investigation by the inspector general of the General Services Administration found rampant abuse of an employee awards program of the agency’s Pacific Rim region, the same region that has come under fire for spending more than $800,000 on a Las Vegas training conference for 300 employees. 

From 2005 to 2009, median household wealth among Hispanics fell by 66%, compared with a drop of 53% among blacks and 16% among non-Hispanic whites....

Unlike most states, Hawaii taxes working-poor families deeper into poverty, and it charges them higher tax bills than all but four other states....

Despite the campaign rhetoric lawmakers chant over and over during the campaign season that Hawaii voters can trust them as representatives of their constituents, it seems that there is a growing cynicism that lawmakers cannot be trusted.... 

"... S1409, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act, would create greater oversight and accountability in federal spending .... "

A zero score would indicate that the Member of Congress approved every spending proposal and opposed every pro-taxpayer reform....

Profitable non-profit boss Alex Santiago of PHOCUSED pulled papers on April 1. The negative against Santiago was a softball compared to the others, so draw your own conclusions....

We are left to guess the initial refining partner – though it is not difficult to surmise that Tesoro has been the test partner to date, and presumably would be the first to license and deploy the process....

The State of Hawaii has a long history of refusing to count military personnel and their families for purposes of reapportioning the state legislature. A lawsuit filed today asks a three-judge federal court to enforce the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and require the State to count all residents of Hawaii.

Under the accounting rules mandated in the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (FCRA), the Bank is allowed to treat its loan guarantees as risk-free in consideration of potential losses.  

"...legislators passed out a teacher evaluation bill that would effectively strip teachers of the collective bargaining rights ..." -- Okabe

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The Hawaii State House, with 17 ‘no’ votes has transmitted to the Senate a resolution calling for convening of a US Constitutional Convention....

Today's jobs report shows that two years into recovery the U.S. economy is still woefully underperforming, adding only 120,000 new jobs in March, about half the rate of job growth of the previous three months which were, themselves, somewhat disappointing for this stage of recovery.

The combined effect of these regulations and grant requirements are that a state would have to agree to surrender any last vestiges of meaningful control over how Obamacare is implemented. Thus, a state would now have no more real control over an exchange it set up than over one HHS established....

Brace yourself. In a mere 271 days, you and your fellow Americans will be hit with a tax hike the likes of which this country has never seen....