Ethics

The City’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services (BFS) has rejected two bid protests regarding the awarding of the core systems contract for the Honolulu Rail Transit Project. BFS found “no procedural or legal violations in any aspect of the procurement” for the contract.

Without policy changes, contributions to state and local pension systems in the United States would have to immediately increase by a factor of 2.5, reaching 14.2 percent of the total own-revenue generated by state and local governments (taxes, fees and charges).

This morning, in a scathing editorial entitled "The wrong reason for depleting the strategic oil reserve," the Post argues the White House is likely more focused on a "political emergency" and "the government should not tap the reserve absent a genuine crisis."

Three Progressive schemes Hawaii legislators are trying to implement--and ten more they haven't thought of yet....  

This new study explains how states can most effectively drive economic growth, create jobs, and improve the standard of living for their citizens.

 A shared $1 million prize from the Dan David Foundation for his "profound contribution to humanity."

President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed....

All you are likely to hear about low tax rates from liberals and their echo chamber in the media is that they don't work—that they fail to gin up economic or job growth. Exhibit A for this preposterous proposition is the Bush tax cuts. The left wants you to accept it as conventional wisdom that the policy was a bust.  Don't believe it....

There's urgency in Washington to fix a problem that's been a long time coming: America's fast track to fiscal implosion. In The Heritage Foundation's just-released, expanded 2011 Budget Chart Book, you can see just how bad the country's spending problem is and how America racked up so much debt.

Senate conservatives proudly call themselves “Reagan Republicans” because of Reagan’s “Peace Through Strength” military policies. But in Leon Panetta, whose nomination comes up for a full Senate vote for Secretary of Defense on Tuesday, they are being asked to endorse a man whose Congressional career was dedicated to fighting Reagan’s defense build-up and anti-communist policies.

"I respect the President of the United States. He and I have a difference of opinion on how to help a country we both love."

Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) ... received $45,000 from her state's pension program in 2010.

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Ethanol subsidies amendment
• House: Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations, FY2012
• House: Agriculture Appropriations, FY2012

 Here is complete video of Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaking today at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. When he finished, the crowd was on their feet chanting, "Run, Rick, Run!"

Given the tremendous personal, social, and economic costs of broken families, national leaders should seek ways to promote the importance of marriage so that more children can grow up in a stable household and experience the unique benefits of a married mother and father.

what happens when sea level in the real world does not rise nearly as much as alarmists predict? If you are a NASA-funded gatekeeper of sea level data, you merely doctor the data....

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced international visitors spent an estimated $12.3 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during April. This represents a 19 percent increase from April 2010. Travel and tourism-related exports have increased, on average, nearly $1.4 billion a month in 2011.

Moody's Investors Service placed the stand-alone bank financial strength rating of First Hawaiian Bank on review for possible downgrade....

the agreements appear to boost manufacturing exports above the overall trend while having no discernable impact on manufacturing imports....

Film tax credits fail to live up to their promises to encourage economic growth overall and to raise tax revenue....

Expansions of Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are designed to extend access to high-quality medical care to all U.S. children. However, evidence suggests that the 37 million children covered by Medicaid-CHIP are less likely to receive specialty care than children covered by commercial insurance....

Columns and articles by several of the writers and researchers named by al-Qaeda have been and will continue to be posted on HawaiiFreePress.com.

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4–3 in favor of upholding the state's new collective bargaining law, reversing a lower court decision that sought to stamp out the will of the people, the authority of the legislature, and a major movement toward fiscal reform. And at three this morning, following a nearly 13-hour floor debate, the Wisconsin Assembly approved a budget aimed at wiping out the state's $3 billion structural deficit.

The first-ever film to tell the entire story of the conservative woman in her own words, "Fire from the Heartland" is a powerful statement about America at a crossroads and the women who have awakened to the crisis.

...President Obama failed to consult Congress in an appropriately deliberate manner. The President has ill-served Congress, and there is no reason Congress should stand for it. As it responds, Congress should be mindful of its obligations: to uphold the Constitution, act in America’s interests, and not unduly put the lives of American allies at risk....

The ahupua'a of Honolulu and Kapalama have been proposed as a future National Heritage Area (NHA) site, a permanent federal designation which was introduced in Congress as S. 359 and H. 1297.

The Treasury acquired the shares this year as part of the Hawaii-based bank holding company's recapitalization. The stock was trading around $29 a share at the time of the Treasury's investment...and closed Tuesday at $14.13.... The stock is down 64% in the past year.

As everyone who follows news about energy knows by now, in the last decade the technique of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," long used in the oil industry, has evolved to permit energy companies to access reserves of previously-unrecoverable “shale gas” or unconventional natural gas.

Five days from now, our country will reach the 90-day mark from the notification to Congress regarding the commencement of the military operation in Libya, which began on March 18, 2011.

According to Christoph Gabler, Senior Vice-President for AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC, the Towers at KPT are the first phase of a 1,025 community being redeveloped by the Michaels Development Company in partnership with Vitus Group and the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

As President Barack Obama swung through North Carolina yesterday, he did all he could to show that he cares about the U.S. economy, its 9.1 percent unemployment rate, and the 13.9 million Americans who remain out of work. Well, that is, until he let a bit of honesty slip off his tongue....

...the unemployed are not just economic statistics, but are real Americans looking to support themselves and their families....

Despite governmental mandates for renewables, if their electricity production is converted to equivalent tons of oil, then their share is only 1.3% in 2010....

See her announcement....

Under the law, all children are required to be proficient in math and reading by 2014—a standard that could leave three-quarters of U.S. schools labeled as failures, leaving them at risk of losing federal funding.

• Effective immediately and until further notice, all new Fannie Mae foreclosures in Hawaii must be commenced as judicial foreclosures.
• Effective immediately, all pending Fannie Mae non-judicial foreclosures in Hawaii that have not proceeded to sale should be dismissed and converted to judicial foreclosures.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that it has proposed the removal of more than 30 Honolulu International Airport (HNL) TSA employees following an extensive investigation into allegations of improper screening of checked baggage. 

Will Hawaii be saddled with the second-rate already failed ACO/Medical Home scheme promoted by Gov Abercrombie? The Washington Post is already debunking this failure before we start:

Growing evidence from both sides of the Atlantic indicates that performance models based on wind data often promise levels of generation substantially above actual wind power output.

 Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has acquired two missile warheads capable of being armed with a nuclear weapon. And a recently leaked U.N. report described suspected ballistic missile technology exchanges between North Korea and Iran....

In November of 2011, MMNA will launch the battery-powered electric vehicle Mitsubishi i ....

Leon Panetta, President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, will go before the Senate tomorrow for questioning on how he would shepherd the department into the future. The American taxpayers deserve some answers from Panetta....

The economic news keeps getting worse for America. Last month, the unemployment rate went up to 9.1 percent, the economy added only 54,000 jobs, and the average length of unemployment rose to more than nine months, the longest since the Labor Department started keeping track in 1948.

In anticipation of the CIO’s arrival, OIMT has begun an assessment intended to provide an overview of technology across the state. OIMT selected Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to lead this assessment.

See the announcement . . .

The American Medical Group Association said a survey of its members found that 93 percent wouldn't enroll as ACOs in the main proposed Medicare program.

You irresponsibly abuse the public’s trust in your organization and their concern for the health of their loved ones by falsely claiming that USEPA has not set a standard for Cr VI in the drinking water and demanding that it do so. This is a blatant lie. ...  Any high school student with access to the internet could have determined this. Given that EWG has been working on this issue for years, I can’t believe that your staff is incompetent enough not to know this.

Ours is the greatest country. Not just our founding principles, but our history and our continued promise. Our freedoms, balance of majority rule and minority rights, inclusion of new peoples. It’s not always easy being an American. We make mistakes, get out of balance, rarely take a straight path to a better future. But our foundations are sound, we self-correct, and we have bettered our world at great sacrifice. By staying true to our principles and heritage in a changing world, we will prevail.

Freedom Rankings for Hawaii

• #47 Overall
• #46 Economic
• #43 Personal