Entries for 'Selected News Articles'

Obama approval has dropped by 12%.  A year ago Obama’s approval was 68% in Hawaii....

The entire press staff of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is in Maui, even though a field hearing there won’t happen until next Wednesday....

Faleomavaega long has prided himself on being the voice of the Pacific in Washington (when he's there) and an influential senior policymaker. Apparently Hawaii's two House members bought this load of baloney because when the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to abolish the Hawaii-based East West Center, they turned to their Samoan colleague, a member of the committee, to save the day.

On January 25, 2011, Winnipeg priest Father Bohdan Borowec arrived in Hawaii for the first time in his life....

This year’s revolt against the bemedalled despot will reduce Finmeccanica’s revenue by some €300m.

 ....

• Senate: Confirmation of Robert S. Mueller III to be Director of the FBI
• Senate: Budget Control Act of 2011
• House: North American-Made Energy Security Act
• House: Budget Control Act of 2011

Driving the compact is the memory of the 2000 presidential election, in which George W. Bush won the slimmest of electoral-vote majorities even though Al Gore gained a plurality of popular votes. But that election itself suggests a fatal flaw in the proposal....

... a "waste of time" because of the billion of euros it has lost over the years. The division, AnsaldoBreda, makes trams, trains and subways....

Queen Kaomileika'ahumanu - was buried at the Waipouli cave in the One'ula area. She died on October 31, 1796, but was removed from her burial without approval from the State's OIBC.  

• HILO -- JULY 27, WEDNESDAY—1:00PM-3:00PM.
• MAUI -- JULY 28, THURSDAY-- 5PM youth session, 6:30PM general session.
• OAHU -- JULY 29, FRIDAY—6:30PM to 8:30PM.

Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, chairman of defense and aerospace group Finmeccanica (Parent Company of Honolulu Rail Contractor Ansaldo), has been put under investigation by Rome prosecutors examining allegations of secret slush funds, legal sources said on Friday.

Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama's jobs record has plummeted 22 points from 53% down below a third. African Americans who believe the president's measures helped the economy have plunged from 77% to barely half.

• Senate: Military Construction-VA Appropriations, FY2012
• Senate: Motion to Table; Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011
• House: Cut, Cap, and Balance Act
• House: Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011
• House: Legislative Branch Appropriations, FY2012

Residents of California and Hawaii are the most indebted individuals in America, but they’re also among a group that are making the most progress in paying down the amount they owe, according to a MoneyWatch analysis of state-by-state debt statistics....

this week ... Bt eggplant trials in the Philippines, GM wheat and potato test fields in Germany; and the recent Greenpeace "media event" destroying the GM wheat trial in Australia.  Not even the U.S is immune, as someone has destroyed thousands of GM papaya trees in Hawaii.

The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth. And that's true of Democratic businessman and Republican businessman....

• TUESDAY 4:43AM HST
• WEDNESDAY 5:19AM HST

 Recent Congressional Votes

• House: Better Use of Light Bulbs Act
• House: Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011
  • House: Energy-Water Appropriations, FY2012

...it was a pleasant surprise to see the leading radio news organization, Radio States KHJ-FM raise questions about some of the campaign money he has raised, based on our report, even if the story was centered on Faleomavaega's condemnation of us for our report....

“Mazie Hirono and Ed Case batter each other in a contested Democratic primary, then the survivor meets and loses to Lingle in the general election."

Using results in legislative districts from the past three presidential elections, the two most recent gubernatorial elections and the last legislative election, he predicts margins of victory for Democratic or Republican candidates based on the districts’ political preferences.

(See complete Index for Hawaii House and Senate)

School Year 2010-11 AYP Results and Corresponding School Year 2011-12 Accountability Status by Complex

Despite the fact that the state has the fourth highest median household income in the country, Hawaii actually had a larger portion of its Medicaid bill covered by the federal government than poorer states like Illinois, Virginia and Nevada. Compared to most wealthy “blue” states, the group of islands spends very little on Medicaid. 

Almost all discussions about Medicare reform ignore one key factor: Medicare utilization is roughly 50 percent higher than private health insurance utilization, even after adjusting for age and medical conditions....

The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama, in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about his mother’s deathbed dispute with her insurance company.

...there has actually been an increase in emergency room use by people with incomes below 300% of the poverty level....

Most states that have approved same-sex marriage or civil unions have not lost the services of faith-based child welfare providers, but the recent conflict between Illinois and one of its largest religious partners suggests those losses might occur as more states pass such laws.

It was a simple and powerful story, one Obama would tell many more times as president during the national health care debate. But now we're learning the real story of Ann Dunham's health coverage is not quite what her son made it out to be.

The president explained that if it were not for the scholarship he received to attend a prestigious private school in Hawaii when he was ten years old, he would not be president today. Lindsey Burke, education analyst at The Heritage Foundation, says she was astonished by the remark.

Honolulu is still completing the paperwork for its heavy rail, but preparatory construction has already started. This irrational project needs to be stopped.

Back in Nairobi, says one government official, Obama Sr. would “slam his fist on the table” and claim that a rival “knows nothing about math or economics”; he would go on to describe other colleagues as “intellectual dwarfs.” As college friend and current Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie tells Jacobs, Obama Sr. could never “contain his irritation with people who were not as facile as he, and he did not hesitate to say so.”

For 2011 through 2015, singles in Hawaii with adjusted gross income above $100,000 will be allowed to claim a maximum of $25,000 in deductions for mortgage interest, charitable giving, medical expenses and the like, while couples with AGI above $200,000 will be allowed no more than $50,000. 

“Subject got his USC wife ‘Hapai’ [Hawaiian for pregnant] and although they were married they do not live together and Miss Dunham is making arrangements with the Salvation Army to give the baby away,’’ according to a memo describing the conversation with Obama written by Lyle H. Dahling, an administrator in the Honolulu office of what was then called the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.

“Hawaii is the most regulated state in the nation.” He described that it takes about 10-14 years to get a project in Hawaii from green field (non-urban designation) to completion. ...“Every delay adds to the cost of housing, as projects are all financed and the cost of those loans keeps accruing even though no development has actually taken place.” We all end up with higher housing costs as a result.

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was recently on ABC News in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. During the conversation, Bachmann said that a number of the Founding Fathers opposed slavery and worked to end it, but Stephanopoulos challenged her, “Now, with respect Congresswoman, that's just not true.” 

But it is true....

A new Harvard University study finds that July 4th parades energize only Republicans, turn kids into Republicans, and help to boost the GOP turnout of adults on Election Day.

ProPublica analyzed new data from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights along with other federal education data to examine whether states provide students equal access to programs — such as Advanced Placement or higher-level math and sciences classes — that researchers say will help them later in life.

From CNBC America’s Top States for Business 2011....

The Obama administration said Tuesday that it had shelved plans for a survey in which “mystery shoppers” posing as patients would call doctors’ offices ….

With fellow Rep. Mazie Hirono already in the race, it's hard to see how Hanabusa wouldn't compete for the same pile of votes and risk giving the nomination to DLCer Ed Case in the Democratic primary.

Since 2004 biofuels from crops have almost doubled the rate of growth in global demand for grain and sugar and pushed up the yearly growth in demand for vegetable oil by around 40 percent. 

"They did listen to our testimony about the contributions that military personnel make, and about how they are part of the community," said Tom Smyth, president for the Hawaii chapter for the Military Officers Association of America. "I'm very pleased it came out the way it did." …

Bachmann said she plans to win decisive early victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina on her way to the White House. She promised to follow that with a national campaign – even in the heavily Democratic state of Hawaii.

WSJ--The U.S. debt is now above its current limit of $14.3 trillion, a figure so large that it is nearly impossible for the average American to comprehend. Under the budget proposed by President Obama for 2012, the debt would rise to $15.7 trillion in 2021. The annual interest alone would be about $700 billion, and that would only increase with inflation. President Obama's proposed budget was so excessive and fiscally irresponsible that it was voted down in the Senate 97-0.

“I don’t like the idea of the government snooping,” said Dr. Raymond Scalettar, an internist in Washington. “It’s a pernicious practice — Big Brother tactics, which should be opposed.”

Please come and join us in Makawao on Saturday, July 2nd for the Annual Makawao Paniolo July 4th Parade. TEA Party Maui plans to enter a patriotic float in the Parade....

"One Member of Congress, Delegate Eni Faleomavaega from American Samoa, a co-chair and driving force behind the creation of the Central Asia caucus, particularly stands out. In the 2010 election cycle, two of Faleomavaega’s top organizational contributors had been under contract with the Republic of Kazakhstan...."

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).

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