Abercrombie's entire scheme hinges on a single line buried in paragraph 24: "Working collaboratively with public sector unions will result in contracts that serve our students first."

The House Republican Caucus today added $8.8 million for food and energy security initiatives to their budget proposal, which balances the state budget without raising taxes.

Cutting funding for the Office of Aerospace, however, could jeopardize the entire project.  In addition to millions of dollars of potential revenue lost, the cuts are seen as an embarrassment in the eyes of the federal government.  Although Hawaii has historically promoted the aerospace industry in the Islands, the recent budget cuts are sending a different message.

Some liberals in Congress want to pay for their massive new spending with a value-added tax, a sort of national sales tax on the price of goods at each stage of production. While popular in Europe, such a tax is a bad idea for the United States. And a significant number of lawmakers and even White House officials seem to agree.

Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) led a brigade of 85 Senators in a vote denouncing a VAT in America. McCain's non-binding sense of the Senate resolution accurately stated that a VAT would "cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery."

Speaking to an audience of big business and big labor executives (including Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, Bank of America's Bruce Thompson and SEIU's Andy Stern) at New York's Cooper Union, President Barack Obama noted "the furious efforts of industry lobbyists to shape" the financial regulation bill "to their special interests." Obama then admitted, "I am sure that many of those lobbyists work for some of you. But I am here today because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort." Obama should have saved his breath. Wall Street and big labor lobbyists have already joined forces to make sure the current Senate legislation has become a Wall Street Bailout Bill.

Upon Governor Lingle's request, President George Bush sent White House Council on the Environment James Connaughton to Hawaii to travel with a Hawaii delegation, which I was privileged to be part of, to Midway Island. Being appropriately impressed, James Connaughton went back to the White House and worked on the preservation status. Jean-Michel Cousteau accompanied us on the trip and produced Voyage to Kure, a documentary.

I was privileged to go, along with the Governor and my wife, to the White House for a small dinner at which time this documentary was aired. In a conversation after dinner, I distinctly remember the President of the United States looking at James Connaughton and saying "let's get it done", referring to the marine reserve.

Within months we were once again in the White House for a huge ceremony in which First Lady Laura Bush announced the President's signing of a Declaration of Memorial Status for the northwest archipelago.

Back in the 70s, President Barack Obama's Director for Science and Technology Policy John Holdren even came up with a formula to measure capitalism's evil impact on the environment: I=PAT, which means that environmental impact is equal to population multiplied by affluence multiplied by technology. Thus according to the left, protecting the planet requires fewer people, less wealth and simpler technology. But this is just flat wrong. In fact, studies clearly show that important indicators of environmental quality actually improve as incomes and levels of consumption go up.

Honolulu - Charles K. Djou, Republican candidate for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District, questioned Senate President Colleen Hanabusa on Earth Day on her claims that she will hold Wall Street accountable given the Legislature’s failure to pass a proposal to use state bonds to finance loans for homeowners to install rooftop solar panels, solar hot water heaters and energy-efficient appliances.  The measure passed both chambers and had community support, but last-minute opposition from the Mortgage Bankers Association of Hawaii contributed to the failure of the measure.

VIDEO: Honolulu Special Election Congressional candidate Charles Djou appearing on the Sean Hannity show Wednesday April 21.

The Obama administration's game plan for passing their financial regulatory reform plan is clear: ignore the details of their bill, demonize Wall Street, and cast conservatives as the pawns of big bankers. But as Politico reports today, there's a complication in their battle plan: "The Democratic Party is closer to corporate America — and to Wall Street in particular — than many Democrats would care to admit."

MYTH: It also mentions, “Djou supported cutting thousands of teachers, increasing class sizes across the state.”

FACT: This claim is FALSE. Charles Djou supports keeping teachers’ jobs and smaller class sizes. The DCCC does not show any evidence to substantiate this claim. In fact, according to Djou’s campaign website, “We need a reformed education system that puts children first. … Principals in turn must have the resources they need, including adequate funding and the ability to remove underperforming teachers. The cost of the Educational bureaucracies must be reduced to insure that education dollars are spent in the classroom and teachers have the tools they need to educate our children, including continuing teacher education and training. That’s how good school systems work. We cannot continue to limit our children’s potential in school systems that don’t teach.”

Even if stimulus had increased the DoE budget, it is dishonest to pick out a solitary provision of a $800B spending bill and declare that to be what Djou “opposed.”

By the same logic, if Charles Djou stopped Pueo Trucking from dumping a stinking heap of garbage--with a two dollar bill hidden in the pile--on the front yard of an elementary school, the DCCC headline would be “Djou blocks Hanabusa from donating money to school.”

In 2004, Case did not support a bill that would have lowered the total taxes paid by middle-class families with children and military personnel with children.  He voted against extending a $1,000 per child tax credit given to families with children and against allowing military personnel to include combat pay in their gross earning in order to calculate eligibility for the child tax credit. (House Roll Call 209, 05/20/04)

Another blast from the same DCCC which produced the “False” attack ad upon which this ad seeks to build.  Now the DCCC is attacking Djou over Obama's stimulus program--but they don't mention "stimulus' even once in the commercial, instead we are to believe it was all about saving teachers' jobs.

Hawaii is going down with its one party politics. Hawaii needs more balanced political checks and balances. There are simply too many Democrats and too many Lawyers. There are too few Republicans and too few Engineers. I wish to tip the scales by one.

Tax and Spend does not work. Too many wrong projects are being done at huge cost to taxpayers. Hawaii's affordability is moving in the wrong direction. More taxes and poor policies lead to accelerated brain drain, labor losses and unemployment.

Obama administration officials are claiming their plan "outlaws bailouts," but in fact it institutionalizes them forever.

SB358 languished last year when it was introduced but was propelled forward after the February tsunami warning when the members of the Legislature were deluged with calls from NRA members and gun owners worried that their guns might be confiscated, similar to the post-Hurricane Katrina incidents.

  Former Abercrombie staffer George 'Skip' Roberts at GOP conference in Minnesota.

According to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century. Pew Research Center president Andrew Kohut writes in today's Wall Street Journal: "A desire for smaller government is particularly evident since Barack Obama took office." Last March, by 54% to 37%, more people said it was a good idea for the government to exert more control over the economy. Now, by 51% to 40%, a majority of Americans say they want less government control.

The Advertiser is being bought out by Black Press, owner of the Star-Bulletin.  Among Black’s local partners is Ed Case’s uncle, Dan H Case.  

Six hundred Advertiser employees are on tenterhooks waiting to see if they will be rehired by the new entity.  Their new bosses are still running the Star-Bulletin as the purchase passes through various procedural hoops.  Who will stay and who will go depends on the good will of Dan H Case, Black Press, and the other members of the Star-Bulletin Editorial Board.

Two sources with first-hand knowledge describe a series of September, 2006 post-Primary talks between Hanabusa’s defeated campaign and that of Republican Primary winner, State Senator Bob Hogue.  Although Hanabusa did not personally participate, the sources say her campaign’s leaders, including her now-husband John Souza, offered the Republican candidate extensive unofficial support.  One pro-Hanabusa union came on board with Hogue after receiving a commitment that, if elected, Hogue would work to increase immigration quotas from the Philippines.

“On Tuesday, I met with leaders of the parent group Hawai`i Education Matters, and they presented a tentative plan to me as well as the HSTA that I carefully reviewed and endorsed.... 

"Instead of pursuing the plan we discussed, the group chose instead to announce a different plan on Friday that I cannot support because it would leave the furlough situation unresolved and incomplete."

“Case has hired well-respected Dem pollster Fred Yang, who was tagged as an advisor in the criminal complaint against ex-IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). Yang was ‘Advisor B,’ who suggested Blagojevich leverage Pres. Obama's open Senate seat in order to win a top position at Change to Win, the labor federation headed by SEIU.” (Reid Wilson, “Wednesday’s Starting Lineup,” Hotline On Call, 04/14/10)

The poll showed Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou (R) with 32 percent, former Rep. Ed Case (D) with 29 percent and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa (D) with 28 percent. The survey found 7 percent of respondents were undecided in the winner-take-all vote-by-mail special election.

Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans demonstrated anew the passion of a conservative movement determined to take back our nation.  In Madison, Wisconsin 12,000 cheering activists staged one of the biggest rallies in state history.... 

"While Hawaii taxpayers struggle amid a fragile economy, Ed Case continues to be complicit with the job-killing, tax-hiking policies of Washington Democrats by supporting the Democrats’ healthcare takeover. As the nation’s economy teeters on the edge of disaster, more and more jobs are shed each month and the national debt continues to climb to new highs, the last thing the people of Hawaii need is a representative with an insatiable appetite for taxing and spending. Unfortunately for Case, Hawaii voters don’t want another Pelosi rubberstamp in Congress – they want jobs," said Erin Kealoha, Communications Director, Hawaii Republican Party.

“Under this proposal, students, parents, teachers, other school employees, Department of Education officials, legislators and the general public would still be left with the looming uncertainty of the remaining six furlough days in the second half of the next school year. 

“Further, this plan once again pits education against other public services, as legislators struggle to find money in 2011 for the myriad of programs operated by the State. 

Few American Islamists receive the kind of glowing media coverage given to Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, who is sometimes described as the "most influential person" shaping the Obama Administration's Middle East message.

At the close of this week's nuclear summit, President Barack Obama told a press conference: "Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them."

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to these comments, calling President Obama's remark a "direct contradiction to everything America believes in." McCain went on to tell Fox News:

That's one of the more incredible statements I've ever heard a president of the United States make in modern times. We are the dominant superpower, and we're the greatest force for good in the history of this country, and I thank God every day that we are a dominant superpower.

SB: The Hawaii rally was aimed squarely at state lawmakers—majority Democrats who approved this week an increase in the tax on a barrel of oil. The increase from a nickel to $1.05 per barrel is expected to increase the cost of gas and energy bills….

One candidate, Republican Charles Djou, attended the rally and took the occasion of tax deadline day to launch an appeal for votes....

Conditions are especially bad in Maui County, where people are already waiting three to four months for scheduled appointments – just to get started applying for essential aid.

The majority party Legislators who voted for this bill are trying to preserve an antiquated and inefficient processing system for one reason – it requires lots of government workers to do the job.

“The people are frustrated with business as usual in our government. Our Hawaii public school system is not putting the children first which is an outrage. Tax increase bills are advancing in the legislature which will lead to more business failure. Home sales are down and many owners are facing foreclosure. Unemployment is higher than ever. What people want is stability and that’s the choice I represent for the voters."

This is a complete chronological list of all laws signed and vetoes issued by the Governor during the 2010 Legislative session.  It will be updated continuously throughout the session.

For just over half of all Americans today is Tax Day. But for the other half it is just another day on the calendar. That’s because they pay no federal income taxes. The old saying goes “you can’t get something for nothing.” But these “non-payers” receive government services and benefits without chipping in.

The explosion of tax credits in recent years is the main reason that more than half of all taxpayers could soon pay no federal income taxes. Both political parties are fond of credits because they can use them to target benefits at politically valuable groups...most non-payers not only pay no income taxes, they actually collect cash payments through the tax code. For these recipients of government redistribution, Tax Day has become pay day.

“We are excited about Charles’ campaign to change the direction of Congress.  Having made over 20,000 volunteer phone calls and knocking on over 15,000 doors in Mililani, Ewa Beach, Hawaii Kai, and everywhere in between, we have heard that Charles’ message of fiscal responsibility and government accountability is resonating with the people of Hawaii.  People are tired of elected officials who care more about themselves, than they do about the people they represent,” stated Dylan Nonaka, Djou for Hawaii campaign manager.  “Our strong finance numbers are one of several indicators of the growing enthusiasm and momentum for Charles in this special election.  Charles understands, however, that the only number that counts is the number of votes cast in the election.”

Hawaii Legislators want to raise the GE Tax by as much as 25%. They propose to raise the barrel tax on fuel 3000%.  But they refuse to even consider abolishing the BoE and placing the DoE under the direct control of the next Governor.  On April 15, Hawaii voters will have their say at rallies planned for Honolulu, Kahului, Kailua-Kona, Hilo and Lihue.  Here are the details and contact information for each rally. 

They waited six years for a chance to hear him in person on American soil. Now that they have, many are walking away frustrated from their encounters with Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna.

 “Lines that Divide: the Great Stem Cell Debate” will be broadcast on KALO-TV, channel 38 (cable channel 25).

But not only does the Obama administration's finance plan further empower the exact same bureaucrats who failed to prevent the last crisis, it also makes it more likely that those same institutions that made risky bad bets before will make the exact same mistakes again.

"For nearly 50 years, Hawai‘i has been at the forefront of pioneering programs in astronomy, planetary geosciences, broadband satellite communications, space-based environmental monitoring, and deep-space surveillance," said Lt. Governor James R. "Duke" Aiona, Jr., who represents Hawai‘i as a vice chairman of the national Aerospace States Association. "This new agreement builds upon a dynamic partnership with NASA that over the next three years will substantially increase Hawai‘i's competitive advantages and help to enhance our long-term economic prosperity."

On Wednesday, April 14^th at 10:30 a.m. a group of veterans will place about 100 small flags on the front lawn of the State Senate next to the replica of the Liberty Bell.

On Thursday, April 15^th, they will hold a Flag Rally at the State Capitol from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (separate from Tea Party events) and will deliver petitions to Senate President Colleen Hanabusa asking her to pass language in any Bill that would ensure their right to fly Old Glory.

If you want to get familiar with the budget, this is a good place to start because it will allow you to make your own choices by simply placing an ”x” in the left column next to the  proposals. The fiscal impact of the proposal will then be added to the ending balance.

Last night, Politico reported that Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern is expected to resign and, according to The New York Times, the resignation is about to happen very soon. If Stern does resign, he will be doing so while at the top of his game. Stern told The Las Vegas Sun last year: "We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama - $60.7 million to be exact - and we're proud of it." President Obama is well aware of his huge debt to the SEIU. That is why he admits in his autobiography, "I owe those unions." And it also explains why Stern is the most frequent Obama White House visitor, according to official visitor logs.

A campaign banner touting Hannemann’s Democratic Primary opponent, former Congressman Neil Abercrombie, now hangs prominently from the front gate at the Honokaa ranch of Larry Mehau.  Mehau was a key figure in the 1990s “Broken Trust” scandal at Kamehameha Schools, collecting $40,000 a month for “security” at the Kamehameha campus and more for the “protection” of Big Island Kamehameha lands . . . .

“I understand that times are tough for Hawaii families right now and I promise to work tirelessly to ease the burden of heavy taxes and excessive government spending and control,” said Charles Djou. “The age of the spend-and-tax mentality are over, Hawaii families need a Representative that will fight to rebuild Hawaii’s economy and create jobs. I’ve never voted for a tax increase, because I understand that crippling taxes only hurt small businesses and stifle economic growth. I will open Hawaii’s doors to new markets, which will boost Hawaii’s tourism and trade and bring millions of dollars in revenue to our sluggish economy.”

This is the reward to Matayoshi for holding the line against reform and protecting the HSTA....boost to 150% of highest Principal's salary, thus making her effectively tied to the HGEA's contract for Principals. 

President Obama's policy goals are just like President Reagan's. So why is anyone criticizing the White House's nuclear strategy? Because how we get to a nuke-free world matters.

Reagan knew that to eliminate the need for large nuclear arsenals, you must first start to eliminate the dependence -- both ours and others' -- on massive nuclear attack as the guarantor of security. That is why Reagan's first priority was to build up U.S. conventional forces and introduce missile defense. That allowed his negotiators to approach arms control agreements from a position of strength.

Despite the continuing willingness of our residents to generously support our public education system, it has not produced meaningful improvements or demonstrable progress toward improved systemwide education outcomes.  The record is clear that the answer to the problem of an underperforming school system is not solely the amount of money being spent.  We have dramatically increased public education spending between the time I took office and the present, and our school system still fails to show meaningful improvement in national test scores.  We should not tolerate perpetuating a system that results in situations such as Nanakuli where only 14 percent of the children are proficient in arithmetic.

...Right now, the race is close: according to a Democratic source, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has conducted an internal poll showing Case at 32%, Djou at 32%, Hanabusa at 27%, and 9% undecided.

Hawaii Family Forum and Hawaii Catholic Conference is committed to urge the faithful to

1. Register to vote;
2. Be knowledgeable about issues and where candidates stand on those issues and
3. Motivate and get believers to go out and vote.