Energy

This is only President Barack Obama's second State of the Union, but his failed economic agenda has already forced him into early reruns. After more than $800 billion in Keynesian economic stimulus spending, our nation is still mired in a post World War II record 20th consecutive month of near double digit unemployment. Our national deficit stands at $14.06 trillion and we may hit the $14.29 trillion debt ceiling as early as this spring. Our country desperately needs a change direction, but that is not what we will get tonight.

The Governor wants to create taxes for soda, beer and retirement income, he wants to cut funding to Medicare, social services, the Hawaii Tourism Authority and let Aloha Stadium fall apart, just so public sector unions do not have to face furloughs ....

Governor Abercrombie referred to Hawaii as an “under-resourced and often dysfunctional democracy”. In the coming days the Grassroot Institute will release a report we call “The Real State of the State” detailing how the state government is far from under-resourced and extremely inefficient in its use of those resources.

Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Vote Passed (245-189, 1 Not Voting)

The House voted to repeal the 2010 health care law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has vowed to block the bill in the Senate.

Rep. Marumoto wants to keep passengers of all ages from riding in pickup truck beds (HB 15).  Several years ago she was successful in restricting those under 13 from riding in truck beds.  This year she will once again attempt to extend that ban to Oahu riders (counties over 300,000 population). 

• I will be filing a bill to modernize the terms of our employee retirement system....
• I am proposing that we end the current practice of state funded reimbursement for federal Medicare Part B benefits for Hawaii government employees.
• The other fix is to implement the recommendation of the Tax Review Commission to treat pension income like all other income for tax purposes....
• I am proposing what is an overdue increase in the alcohol tax and will also propose a fee on soda and similar drinks.
• ...bringing the impact fees paid by the increasing number of timeshare occupants into alignment with hotel room occupants who pay the transient accommodations tax.
• I will also reallocate funds from the Hawaii Tourism Authority to basic government services such as environmental protection, improvements to public facilities, and advancing culture and the arts. The amount we are spending in the name of marketing Hawaii has grown disproportionate to the amount we need to spend on Hawaii’s own infrastructure....

The State of Hawaii reported liabilities of only $10.2 billion. IFTA’s detailed analysis discovered that retirement liabilities of $11.9 billion were unreported by the State. When these liabilities are included, the State’s bills total $22.1 billion.

“There must be transparency in government so people know that their economic interests are being represented, not just the interests of a powerful few.” -- Neil Abercrombie, “A New Day in Hawaii”

A multitude of special funds (see list below) are slated to be on the chopping block with the introduction yesterday of Hawaii Senate Bill SB120, to repeal certain special funds and transfer balances to the state general fund.

SB 232 Relating to Civil Unions: Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee January 25, 2011 (Tuesday) @ 10:00 a.m. in room #016

Speaker of the House Calvin Say today announced the House of Representatives leadership team and the Committee chairmanships for the 26th Legislature.

Alexander will be the lead person on Governor Abercrombie’s efforts to end homelessness. Alexander will work with state and federal agencies, community programs and foundations, and the business community to find opportunities and solutions to address homelessness collaboratively.

Rep Rida Cabanilla last October told the audience at a candidates’ forum: “You ride the rail so I can drive my car.”  

In DC, 106 miles of subways have been built--how do the regal V-8 carriages of Cabanilla's DC bretheren fare now that the the peasants have been removed from underfoot? 

Today marks a very critical juncture in our state’s history.  We have a $800 million state deficit to fill, jobs to create, and an economy to turn around and a new system of educational governance to establish.   It is going to be a busy and intense session, but I am confident, optimistic and quite positive – if we work together, it will be a very good session.

“Now that the House has organized and the official start of the legislative session has begun it is imperative that District 45 have representation,” said Governor Abercrombie. 

Hawaii's law still needs significant improvement in several areas, including completely removing its caps, strengthening the requirements for both charter application, review and decision-making processes and renewal, non-renewal, and revocation processes, and ensuring equitable operational and categorical funding and equitable access to capital funding and facilities.

Honolulu – Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced that applications are being accepted for service on the numerous boards and commissions – including the Board of Education – via his website....

Hawaii GOP Chair Jonah Kaauwai release a statement on Rep. Colleen Hanabusa's announcement that she was unable to secure the Hawaii seat on the House Appropriations Committee that her campaign had promised.

This debunked HHS report was recycled as Hawaii Democrat talking points, and shoveled onto the pages of the Star-Advertiser this morning >>> Democrats warn of harm if health care reform is repealed

It didn't work, The US House today passed HR2 to repeal Obamacare 245-189 with unanimous GOP support plus three Democrats.  But the study will be kept on hand in order to manufacture future campaign commercials.

The residents of the State of Hawai`i have called on the House Republican caucus (HRC) to ensure their taxes are not raised, control government spending, maintain fiscal discipline, increase government accountability, reduce the size and scope of government, stimulate and accelerate student learning and create an economic environment that will help local businesses thrive, create jobs and attract international investments.

Some people have referred to me as "The Lone Ranger" because throughout the entire United States I am the only single party Senator in a State Legislature.

The Republican Caucus today announced it is moving forward with committee assignments regardless of the Minority Democrats dispute with Speaker Say. The committee lineup highlights the strengths of each of its eight members, including the three Republican freshmen who will bring a wealth of experience to their subject committees.

Abercrombie and potential House Finance Chair Marcus Oshiro have come up with--a $100M per year scheme to divert bond funds into the General Fund disguised as a repeal of the subcontractor exemption from the General Excise Tax.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Honolulu has returned a 10-count superseding indictment charging defendants Joseph Knoller and Bruce Schwartz, both of Los Angeles, as co-conspirators in a scheme to hold 400 Thai nationals in compelled service as agricultural workers in the District of Hawaii and elsewhere.

Governor Abercrombie and likely House Speaker Calvin Say have both come out against any across-the-board hike in the GE Tax.  But that doesn’t mean they won’t be hiking taxes to meet the state’s $800M budget shortfall.... 

Perhaps because at different points in the past four years he chaired commerce and appropriations, he got significant campaign contributions from players in the communications industry and from government defense contractors. Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman, among Inouye’s largest PAC contributors, each received millions in 2010 defense earmarks....

Since the majority of the Hawaii Senate Democratic Caucus has gone brain-dead on the subject of religious invocations before Senate sessions, here is a taste of reality from their lord and master, the world’s highest-ranking Manoa liberal, Barack Obama....

It's been called the Great Garbage Patch and "the most shocking thing" Oprah has ever seen: a massive island of plastic in the Pacific Ocean that, according to many reports, is twice the size of Texas, outnumbers plankton, and has killed millions of sea birds.

But many of those claims, according to a new analysis, are huge exaggerations. Others are downright false.

Honolulu –  Four more positions within the Administration were appointed by Governor Neil Abercrombie.  These positions include the Director of Office of Youth Services, the Executive Director of the Office of Aging, the Deputy Tax Director, and the Deputy for the Department for Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA).

The museum will reveal the techniques it uses to preserve and protect objects in the 1821 Mission House, the oldest documented house in Hawai‘i.

Honolulu – Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced the appointment of Gilbert Kahele to represent Senate District 2.  Kahele fills the seat left vacant by Department of Agriculture Interim Director Russell Kokubun.

If the officers had done nothing and Arekat had proceeded to shoot someone, defendants undoubtedly would have been sued for failing to detain Arekat. One of the officers explained in her deposition that this case reminded her of a prior case in which the police had not removed a firearm from a person who exhibited signs of paranoia, and that person had used it to kill a person, resulting in a huge civil liability for the police department and the city. In this case, the defendants made a courageous decision to detain Arekat.

Honolulu, Hawaii – John R. Lott, Jr., author, activist, speaker and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, will be in town speaking on the topics of gun control, public policy and other points of interest at a dinner hosted at The Plaza Club Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 starting at from 6:30 p.m.

Implicit in Mr. Gates’s five-year assessment was the possibility that the North could soon solve one of its biggest technological hurdles: manufacturing a warhead small enough to fit atop a missile….

• House: Health Care Repeal Rule
• House: Reducing the amount authorized for salaries and expenses

...finger pointing by those seeking to assign blame has reached a fever pitch.  In articles today, Slate magazine, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Ben Smith of Politico attempt to tie alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner to a strange website promoting a self-styled “King of Hawaii.” 

Threats of libel actions in UK courts were used to silence coverage of the financial connection between Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, and Iraqi ex-Baathist billionaire and lifelong Saddam Hussein associate Nadhmi Auchi during the 2008 campaign.  Hawai’i Free Press was one of the few news sources anywhere on Earth willing to defy the threats. 

Former Rep. Djou served on the House Armed Services Committee with Rep. Gifford.  The two of them co-sponsored the Truth-in-Spending bill in the 111th Congress and co-authored editorials together advocating for restraint in Federal government spending.  Djou and Gifford’s bipartisan cooperative relationship was a subject on televised debates in Hawaii and Arizona.

Rep Gene Ward: "The eight of us have heard directly from our constituents, from Oahu to Maui, about the importance of not raising the general excise tax (GET), providing favorable pro-small business initiatives that will create jobs and ensuring improvements are made to state infrastructures."

Honolulu – Representative Barbara Marumoto submitted the following bills for inclusion in the Women’s Caucus Legislative Package.

Did you know that an idealistic U.S. diplomat disobeyed his Washington superiors early in World War II and saved 2,500 Jews in southern France, before Nazis could ship them to death camps?

Rep. Hanabusa and Senator Inouye assured voters last October that she would get a seat on the powerful Appropriation Committee if elected and that has turned out to be nothing more than an empty campaign promise.

I believe that a vibrant two-party democracy is better at preserving liberty than monolithic one-party rule.

I believe that open and responsive elected officials are better at ensuring an accountable government than an old-boy network.

"The Congress is the most futile place in the world, and the most discouraging, and the most depressing" for people in this position....

That’s some favor Abercrombie did his old pal; he took a non-issue that was as settled as it’s ever going to be and fired it up all over again.

UHPA: After a series of meetings with Governor Abercrombie, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed on December 23rd, 2010 that increased the employer’s contribution to 60% of the premium costs for the coverage selected by individual public employees.

Maui’s County-wide plastic bag ban goes into effect January 11, 2011.  No EIS has been required.  Here’s what they are hiding:

Hawaii is taking the pole position of political surrealism in the far-flung states. The new governor, Neil Abercrombie, an iconic longhair and college pal of Barack Obama's father, has decided to make knocking down Obama birther conspiracies his top political priority.

This truism is lost on the ignoramuses at the Seattle Times, who published an editorial this morning applauding newly-elected Governor Neil Abercrombie's declared intention to do something to squelch the conspiracy theory....