Ethics

Earlier this week, Stimulus beneficiary Evergreen Energy bit the dust. Then, Ener1, a manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles and recipient of Stimulus largesse, filed for bankruptcy. Amonix, Inc., a manufacturer of solar panels that received $5.9 million from the Porkulus, will cut two-thirds of its workforce....

Under the agreement, which is subject to court approval, the company will pay a fine of $1.0 million and donate an additional $500,000 to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation for environmental community service programs....

Tulsi Gabbard’s sudden election-season conversion from pro-life to pro-abortion and from pro-family to pro-gay marriage is more than some Hawaii Progressive Democrats can swallow....

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave America a glimpse of the half-trillion dollars in defense spending cuts requested by the Obama Administration ....

• Radical Queer Parenting
• Princess Boys, Two Mommies, and You’re So Gay: Current Issues and LGBT Advocacy in Elementary Schools
• The Artifice of the Nuclear Family 

MRFSS information has been the basis for the regulations that govern recreational catch limits, sizes and seasons....

She filed with the Federal Election Commission on January 25, and she has fulfilled the requirements of the Green Party to seek the nomination....

How many times should your money be taxed? One time? Two times? Three times? Four? Sounds like a ridiculous proposition, but that's the true story of capital gains taxes in America.... 

Hawaii students have an average of $15,500 in college debts, ranking 49th in the nation. Hawaii has the lowest proportion of college students with any debt at 38%.

The President says the state of the Union is getting stronger, but he is doing very little to ensure that happens.

On Saturday, January 21, 2012, the Hawaii Republican Party's State Committee elected Ted Liu as our new National Committeeman.

You know that this President has run out of ideas. He’s run out of excuses. And, with your help, 2012 will be the year he runs out of time.

“In word and deed, the President and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex, perilous world without their benevolent protection. Left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids; why, unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb!"

Technology made businesses more efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete....  

Read all the way down to the last paragraph where you will discover that this book review is really about ... Hawaii.

...“substantial concerns regarding the possible exercise of preferential treatment by a utility to its competitive affiliates.” That, in turn, could produce higher transmission rates and higher electricity prices ....

O’Sullivan said. “We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women.”

Tonight, Americans who tune in to the State of the Union will watch the work of a rhetorical master with a flair for illusion....

... an ugly little secret that has always lurked beneath the surface of environmentalism. Its basic appeal is to the affluent ....

The House voted to block a $1.2 trillion increase in the $15.2 trillion debt ceiling. With the Senate unlikely to approve a similar measure, the increase will automatically take effect January 27, 2012.

What singular cause could bring together the likes of Democratic campaign strategist James Carville, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (LA), actor Sacha Baron Cohen, and 2,000 families, all under one roof? The answer: school choice

Will the Legislature bow to pro-abortion extremists and prevent the reopening of Hawaii’s now-shuttered St Francis-HMC hospitals, loss of medical personnel, and possible statewide loss of millions of dollars of federal health funds?

Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina GOP Primary with 40.8% of the vote after 77% of precincts reported.  He wins 17 delegates.

His announcement came one day after he flat out said "NO" to another plan that would have directly created at least 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs--and 179,000 American jobs by 2035--while bringing more than 700,000 barrels of oil to the United States each day. That plan was the Keystone XL pipeline....

John King started the night with a question about Newt’s ex-wife’s interview in which she alleged Newt sought an “open marriage.” Newt answered the question eventually with a denial, but used the opportunity to give King a smack down which will be remembered for a long time.

"As Senator, I would work to develop public-private cooperative efforts that address piracy and copyright infringement without the potential of government censorship that the current legislative proposals would permit."

It caused a positive revolution in U.S. management, financial analysis, incentives, governance and market-based discipline. It led directly to the 1990s boom years. And it gave the U.S. two decades of breathing room while Europe, with some exceptions, choked....

The updated assessment shows Hawaii's wave energy resource is 130TWh/yr according to DOE.

Obama this morning signed an executive order establishing Visa and Foreign Visitor Processing Goals and the Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness....

"The President's plan to boost processing capacity for non-immigrant visas in major U.S. bound travel markets like China and Brazil and expand the Visa Waiver Program is a good policy for America and will benefit Hawaii's tourism industry."

...the manner in which these bills attempt to achieve their ends likely would not work. In fact, they would make the Internet generally less secure for everyone....

... With a banner proclaiming "Your Money, Your Values, Your Vote," our Values Bus will roll into Charleston, South Carolina, this morning for our first event ....

...today I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich for president....

The 9th Circuit said Wednesday that it will reconsider a lawsuit to identify informants who spurred two investigations of a real estate kick-back racket in Hawaii.

And doing exactly the same in Hawaii....

As of midnight, Wikipedia is shut down for 24 hours, and hundreds of other popular websites have gone dark right along with it. They are standing together in protest ....

Last year, the Obama Administration took aim at Boeing when the Seattle-based company sought to build a new assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, in order to produce the 787 Dreamliner....

In Hawaii, we are fortunate to have such a diverse melting pot of cultures where that familiarity breaks down walls of distrust, suspicion and even malice that exist in other parts of America. Unfortunately, the current political climate is still upside down....

Reports from Reuters news agency of a billion dollars in cost overruns on construction of the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier at Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (HII) demonstrates how uncompetitive major U.S. shipbuilding yards have become under the protectionist shield of the Jones Act

Today I am suspending my campaign and supporting the candidate who is best-equipped to defeat the president and return conservative leadership to the White House: Governor Mitt Romney.

It is to recognize and support those who are working to carry out his vision, those who empower those facing the greatest obstacles through personal relationships that restore the fabric of civil society—without the need for federal government intervention.....

...a long-suppressed government report finally released by the Obama administration is shaking the foundations of Head Start, and the news isn’t coming from right wing conservatives but from Joe Klein at Time magazine....

Attorneys general in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on Friday supporting Congress‘ authority to pass the sweeping legislation, arguing that health care is a national concern because the industry constitutes nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy.

...

...the United States -- and indeed the world -- is less economically free today than it was a year ago, according to the 18th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released yesterday by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal....

Nearly all federal civilians at MarForPac are classified as 'less restricted' under the Hatch act, which allows them to endorse candidates and attend, participate, be active members or hold office in political clubs as private citizens ....

Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs. By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group’s right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions.

There is an essential conflict, the ADF argues, between religious freedom and discrimination lawsuits, because if discrimination against gays and lesbians is based on a religious conviction, then it is protected under the First Amendment.

His plan was to rip apart nightclubs with explosives, unleash a wave of destruction on bridges, and open fire on police officers--all in sunny Florida....

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor will spend a week in Hawai’i from Jan. 29-Feb. 3 as part of the Jurist-in-Residence program at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.