Entries for November 2011

Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced Representative Blake Oshiro will be joining Abercrombie Administration as his Deputy Chief of Staff. Rep. Oshiro, who currently serves in the House of Representatives as its Majority Leader will be stepping down from his seat on December 7, 2011.

UPDATE: Briefings Postponed

• Senate: Fiscal 2012 Agriculture Appropriations
• Senate: Motion to Proceed; Rebuild America Jobs Act
• Senate: Motion to Proceed; Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011

Coal receives about 6/100ths of a cent per kWh while solar receives an enormous 96.8 cents per kWh. Wind receives 5.25 cents per kWh and nuclear receives just under 1/3 of a cent per kWh.

It has been 12 months since the American people spoke resoundingly at the polls against overtaxing, overspending, and overborrowing, but memories can be short in Washington....

In a move that could escalate hostilities with Congress, President Obama may be planning to use his executive authority to publicize special funding requests that lawmakers make for pet projects.

Higher education ... serves as the means to advance a just, equal, and fair society....teaching in the classroom ... every day UHPA members’ work contributes to the efforts to achieve a just and fair society....

"...those doing the attacking will die...." -- Occupy Honolulu

As the largest source of general fund tax revenues, it is crucial that administrators, as well as practitioners, understand the underlying philosophy of the general excise tax ....

These goals aim to double the amount of protected watershed areas in 10 years. It will require approximately $11 million per year and would provide for over 150 new natural resource careers.

Attorney General David M. Louie announced today that a five count complaint was filed on November 3, 2011 in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit against former Waipahu High School business manager Warren S. Harada, 61, of Manoa

“There is absolutely no statistical support for the commonly held view that income inequality has been rising recently.”

As a result, we project real income growth of 0.9% in 2012, down from 1.3% growth this year.

Gov. Lingle clearly explains why she stands WITH Hawaii's small business owners who create so many jobs here at home....

You won't read any of that in the context sent out in the e-mail from a political operative.

Median post-tax income has increased, as has consumption....

The word from the monthly jobs report shows that unemployment was little unchanged at 9 percent in October ....

The November 11th event affords Hawaii's corporate and government leaders the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture, future priorities and business style through the example of visionary peacemaker mass murderer Zhou Enlai. Upcoming projects include an annual Peace Awards presentation and Visitor Center in Beijing....

Clue: County and State projects such as Rail or the Sand Island sewer plant upgrade are financed through discounted borrowing via tax free bonds. If the bonds are no longer tax free, the cost of borrowing for construction for Rail will increase dramatically.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the California high-speed train--which is funded in part by $3 billion in federal grants from President Obama's stimulus--is now expected to cost $98 billion, twice what was expected, and will take an additional 13 years to complete, extending the project to 2033.

...this bag ban law is another unwarranted micro-management of our lives that should not be the purview of our elected officials....

Jake Miklojcik, author of the study and a Lansing-based consultant-for-hire, is the go-to-guy when Detroiters Michael Malik and Marian Ilitch -- or their PR mouthpiece Tom Shields -- need to produce a "study" to support their gambling/business agenda.

As the “super committee,” created by the contentious Budget Control Act (BCA), grapples with its mandate to find $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction savings, many are urging it to “go big.”

The Hawaii State Department of Education today released its new Hawaii Teacher Induction Program Standards, an important deliverable of the state’s Race to the Top plan .... 

In predicting states' future economic performance, New York, Vermont, Maine, California, and Hawaii scored the lowest in the rankings.

...hundreds of City workers (are) encouraged to take off work to participate in the protest against “the establishment.” But aren’t the Mayor and her Administration part of the establishment they are paying City employees to protest? Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line? ....

...a major reason for tuition inflation over the years is government involvement in the first place. Pell grants have increased 475 percent, while the cost of college has increased 439 percent since 1982--faster than increases in the cost of health care....

A meeting has been scheduled for designated captains on Wednesday Nov. 2 after work from 5-630pm at the Painters Hall.

Writing in TheWall Street Journal, [New York Senator Kirsten] Gillibrand’s piece was titled “Cap and Trade Could Be a Boon to New York.” It described the inherent complexity of cap-and-trade not as a drawback, but as an opportunity from which Wall Street brokers could profit.

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Program at Mission Houses Museum, Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 5:30 p.m.

Kawamura, who served as Hawaii’s budget director during the Lingle Administration’s two terms, was recognized with the Gloria Timmer Award, the highest honor NASBO bestows upon a state budget officer.

"This is an American story and it speaks to the greatness of this nation."

The Akaka Tribe will be legally able to arrest you even if you are not part of the Tribe....

The best teachers should be rewarded, and schools should have the freedom to make the right decisions to get the job done.

The Hawaii Legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Linda Lingle to pass National Popular Vote on May 1, 2008. The Legislature has the authority to reverse its decision.

“In 2011, only one state, Hawaii, demonstrated statistically significant improvement in both reading and mathematics at both the fourth and eighth grades," said Jack Buckley, National Center for Education Statistics Commissioner, in a statement.