Entries for March 2009

Earthquake location: Along Hamakua coast, about 10 miles NNE of Laupahoehoe.

On Thursday afternoon March 5, Oscar Kamau Kingara, director of the Kenyan based Oscar legal aid Foundation, and its programme coordinator, John Paul Oulo, were shot at close range in their car less than a mile from President Kibaki's residence. The two were on their way to a meeting at the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights. Both had been investigating extrajudicial assassinations by the Kenyan Police.

President Obama's rise caps forty years of building new 'nations' from one America, as America's left adapted to the rise of civil rights, and built a power base from fanning discontent.

Newsweek cheers, "We are all socialists now!"  MSNBC's Jim Cramer calls Barack Obama's budget a "radical agenda" and points out "This is the greatest wealth destruction I've seen by a President."  None of this should be a surprise to anybody who was paying attention to Obama's Hawaii links to the Communist Party, USA or his years of Chicago work with the Democratic Socialists of America.  But many voters -- and most of the media -- aggressively avoided paying attention.  Now they are literally paying the price. 

One Obama mentor who did get some media attention was ex-Communist Saul Alinsky.  Alinsky, a harsh critic of Johnson's "War on Poverty," is not usually tied to gigantic federal spending proposals such as Obama's mis-named ‘stimulus' package.  Alinsky's claim to fame stems from gritty street-level community organizing.  His books on the subject guided a generation of leftist activists. 

But there is a connection.  Alinsky died in 1972.  Towards the end of his life, American society changed in ways which tore apart the stable communities necessary to Alinsky's community organizing model.  For Democrats these changes necessitated the use of federal power to create the entirely new forms of consciousness-based ‘nationalism' which now envelop American culture. 

It appears at least 41 Senators object to the massive increase in spending -- 8% over last year's budget – and the larding in of 8,500 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion. 

A senior Senate aide told me this morning that many Senators do not want a repeat of the Stimulus battle where their offices were literally shut down with telephone calls and their email was swamped with messages going after the wasteful spending.

You see, they’re talking about Americans like you.

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle today submitted to the State Legislature recommended amendments to three bills that would provide statutory changes needed to help meet a projected $650 million revenue shortfall for the remainder of the current fiscal year (FY09) and biennium budget fiscal years 2010 through 2011.

The Hill: Yes, Hawaii could field a competitive general election race in 2010.

“I commend the HTA for having the wisdom to reconsider their previous decision and return the Pro Bowl to Hawai‘i where it belongs.
“Let us now move forward and work closely with the NFL to make the Pro Bowl’s homecoming the best possible.
“I am excited to continue working with Commissioner Goodell on what I believe could be an enhanced all-star weekend of festivities.”

An official familiar with Abercrombie's plans says the 10-term congressman will make his announcement through an Internet video to be released Sunday.

"Karen's Law", HB819HD1, passed out of the Finance Committee today at 4:36pm un-amended. All members present voted yes.

The range of North Korean ballistic missiles has increased five-fold since 1990.  The two-stage Taepodong-2 missile, if successfully developed, could travel thousands of miles to strike Alaska, Hawaii and "parts of the continental United States," intelligence experts estimate.  By testing and perfecting a third stage, the North Koreans could reach anywhere in North America with a nuclear warhead.

In November 2002, the Governor underwent a similar breast biopsy, which tested negative for breast cancer.

San Francisco State University:  "[T]he College Republicans must be punished or sanctioned for throwing shoes at the Hamas flag; pending charges should be dropped against the two protestors who assaulted the College Republicans and seized the Hamas flag; and, most ominously for defenders of free _expression on campus, a forum should be created to 'educate' students about what forms of speech the 'offended' students deem acceptable or unacceptable, including what the Left regularly tries to proscribe as 'hate speech.'"

Kimo Apana, a former Maui County Mayor, testified that he brought a friend into MMMC with a stroke this week and although they needed to admit the friend, there was not a bed....

The bill was drafted as a compromise to get House approval and to encourage talks with the state Senate, where many senators are opposed.

Governor balances budget with no tax increases, no layoffs, no significant cuts in essential services -- Act 215 spending cut 50% -- $320 in Federal 'stimulus' funds covering Medicaid expenses -- renegotiate State employees health benefit cost sharing %

A former "Blue Dog" Democrat Congressman speaks out as Congress considers Obama's profligate budget.

....On May 25, 2007, Karen Ertell was brutally raped and murdered in her home in Ewa Beach. Karen Ertell was the only real mother that her foster daughter, Malanie McLellan had ever known.  Your immediate action is needed to keep "Karen's Law" (HB819) alive.  It appears that the House Finance Committee may not hear Karen's Law.  This would kill the bill with no explanation.  As the law currently stands, juvenile crime offenders, charged with 1st or 2nd degree murder can face two trials, one to determine which court to try them in and then another trial to decide guilt or innocence.  We need to start protecting the people of Hawaii and stop making excuses for defending people that break the law.

I am glad to see that the HTA board will reconsider the NFL’s proposal so we can begin working on making the Pro Bowl even better.

Let me tell you who we conservatives are:  We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims.