Entries for 'Andrew Walden'

The Abercrombie administration’s “last, best, and final” offer to the Teachers Union--which has now been unilaterally imposed--says nothing about implementing the 180-day school year....  The State’s contract also says nothing about implementing anything even vaguely resembling the teacher accountability requirements mandated by Race To The Top.

Former Council Chair Nestor Garcia is iced out of all leadership positions.

After the Audit became public, Cox called for Martin’s resignation as Chair of the Council’s Budget Committee. But the December, 2010 Community Benefits Audit hasn’t received much media attention. It almost became news June 21--but just before it was to be discussed on the agenda of that day’s Honolulu Council Recreation Committee meeting, Martin’s council ally Ann Kobayashi got up and walked out, denying the committee a quorum and ending the meeting.

For over a year most of Hawaii’s pliant and un-inquisitive media have gone along with the ridiculous story that Koolina developer and Broken Trust player Jeff Stone was donating 300 Makaha acres to Hawaiian Homelands and Kamehameha Schools as “a gift from the heart….”

Why the sudden addition of broadband to the Big Wind cable?

When Hawaii Reapportionment Commission members went into closed executive session during their June 15th meeting at the State Capitol, they discovered something rather disconcerting. A small recording device had been left on a chair and it was turned on, recording their every word.

Abercrombie’s bizarre attack on the Pro-Bowl is part of Progressive Democrats’ ongoing war against Mufi Hannemann, Dan Inouye, and the “old-boy” Democrats. And this is not Abercrombie’s first attack on Mufi’s new base in the Hawaii tourism industry....

The Oahu Advisory Council of the Reapportionment Commission will meet Wednesday June 15 at 8AM in the State Capitol Conference room 329. Public testimony will be accepted.

“since taking office six months ago, Tax Director Fred Pablo has reviewed the department’s operations and noticed unusual reporting in monthly tax revenue reports. Pablo immediately addressed these concerns by conducting and completing an internal investigation and analysis of the revenue reports.”

Some Democrats have advocated counting rapists, child molesters, pimps, drug dealers and other convicted felons and prison inmates but not counting the military personnel who put it all on the line to defend America.   The final decision was postponed until the next meeting.

“Where we are required to do sampling and have found that of those in our sample who can be identified, roughly 7% to 10% of them are not eligible. In an additional large number of cases, we are unable to receive information to make a determination. So it could be much greater.”

  Lets invite Al Gore to go skiing....

The Hawaii Department of Taxation is seeking an outside auditing firm to look at "systemic problems" with DoTax tax revenue reports.... 

The Democrat-controlled Illinois redistricting commission has apparently re-drawn the Illinois 8th Congressional District especially to include the home of Tammy Duckworth.

Hanabusa supported Speaker John Boehner’s resolution demanding that Obama seek approval of the war under the War Powers Act within 14 days.  Hanabusa also supported a resolution offered by Rep Dennis Kucinich demanding US withdrawal from Libya within 15 days.

Hirono opposed both resolutions, essentially agreeing that the President may go to war without Congressional approval. This position differs sharply with her loud opposition to the Iraq war under President Bush.

After being hounded for years by charges of sexual harassment leveled against him by a former aide in a 2006 EEOC complaint, former Big Isle Council Chair and Mayoral candidate Stacy Higa has been named Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps programs in Hawaii.

Arrogantly, Abercrombie states that “we” –ie the State—have to “deal with” the question: “Are we extending life or are we prolonging death?”

The Honolulu Neighborhood Commission Office has announced the complete election results for Honolulu Neighborhood Boards. The online voting, which ended Saturday May 21 drew 13,264 voters for an 8.5% turnout.

This scam is tied to several well-known sovereignty activists—which perhaps explains why the Advertiser’s two recent articles have included so little information about the alleged perpetrators.

Phoning it in from a black-tie event in Washington, DC, Rep Mazie Hirono blessedly informed Hawaii that she will not be a candidate for the 2nd Congressional District in 2012.

Describing the news as “very disappointing”, Anthony Bergamo, President and Founder of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation (FLEF) categorically repudiates any connection between his organization and the Muslim Association of Hawaii and Hawaii Islam Day celebrations....

After using an alleged “crisis” and so-called “budget shortfalls” to push tax increases through the Legislature, it certainly seemed like fortuitous timing when Neil Abercrombie’s Department of Taxation found a $134M jump in tax revenues shortly after the Legislature adjourned....

After months of trying to get on base in Hawaii, is it ‘three strikes and they’re out’ for the Turkish Gulen cult?

"I look at the ACOs coming out as almost fluff and distraction on the side.... We're way past it."

 The opportunity to directly vote on the Republican nominee is expected to bring out thousands of Hawaii Republican voters who have never before had a chance to directly participate in choosing the Republican Presidential nominee.

...unalterable opposition to the Akaka Bill and to any iteration of it....

Hundreds of Hawaii Republicans will meet Saturday and Sunday at the Kauai Beach Resort for the GOP state convention. But the top of the agenda—selecting new Party leadership--is a foregone conclusion....

It is not clear why HMSA could not “anticipate” such impacts. Millions of Americans have been protesting against Obamacare for over a year now.  The bureaucratic interference, bungling, and rationing described in the HMSA letter reads like a caricature of what these “TEA Party” protesters have warned of.

The real savings Medical Homes could give to HHSC do not come in the emergency room but in elder care and neo-natal care....

...unnoticed in the public summary of the report are a couple of paragraphs which point out some serious risks to the corporatist State of Hawaii. The cut-off of Earmarks and other Federal pork is having an impact and the full effect is only just beginning to be felt....

Says Washington’s Gregoire: “(Change in marijuana laws) must first come at the federal level."

For five and a half years, the US has hunted for Ahmed Hashim Abed--code-named "Objective Amber." Abed is the alleged ring-leader of an Islamist mob which murdered four US military contractors--including Pa`auilo resident Wesley Batalona--in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31, 2004.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed spent most of 1994 plotting to blow up or hijack 12 airplanes carrying about 4,000 passengers bound for Honolulu and 11 other locations as part of Operation Bojinka, based in Manila, Philippines.  He would later use operational experienced gained from his Bojinka failure to mastermind 9-11.

Now Hawaii's two Senators have voted to help spring Mohammed from detention at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba. 

SB754  will increase the cost of construction, shipping, air travel, rent, and cellular phone use.  Suppliers to tourism are specifically targeted for double taxation which will push up the portion of the tourist dollar which goes into the State General Fund and reduce the portion which circulates in the privately-owned economy.

On the second Monday of every October, Hawaii celebrates, “Discoverers' Day", in recognition of the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian Islands.”  But the Senate wants to put a stop to the celebrations.

According to the text of SCR55, introduced March 3 by Abercrombie-appointed Senator Maile Shimabukuro, the holiday should be dropped ....

The HSTA is currently in contract negotiations.  Thus it is plainly false to claim that the 180 days “come without compensation.”  Have HSTA leaders been negotiating on the assumption that Act 167 was not going to be enforced this fall?  If so, perhaps the membership should dismiss them for incompetence.

In the Hawaii State House, Tax Day was April 12.  On that day, legislators voted up several key tax increases approved earlier by the Senate and forwarded them to the House-Senate Conference Committees which will be meeting behind closed doors for the next two weeks. 

... here is a slice of today’s news which once again makes it crystal clear that birtherism is designed to help Obama ....

An internal HGEA memo sent to the membership earlier this week ties the HGEA’s tentative settlement to the Legislative agenda and promises that HGEA will enjoy “equity with other unions” who will likely settle their contracts after the Legislative session is over. 

Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle says the Comp Time and the elimination of scheduled furloughs counterbalance the 5% wage cut and amount to a 1.5% raise.  The Grassroot Institute estimates the cost at more than $100M over the course of the contract.

But “Comp Time” is not Abercrombie’s only omission....

In messages being sent to the HGEA membership, HGEA bosses describe the tentative agreement as including “administrative time off.”  This confirms the report in today’s Star-Advertiser, “Public workers would also get an additional six hours of paid time off each month, according to sources.” 

S.675, the 2011 version of the Akaka Bill, passed a voice vote of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee today.  The next stop for the bill would be the floor of the US Senate  No version of the Akaka Bill has ever passed the Senate.

Those highlighted in yellow have voted to increase the most regressive of all Hawaii taxes.  The hike in the GE Tax will hit low and middle income consumers hard.  Save this list for November 6, 2012.

After two years of marketing the alleged horrors of the non-existent “Pacific Garbage Patch”, environmentalists, big business, and big government are ready to cash in.

There will be no formal hearing before the committee. In the past such testimony has given clues about divisions among the thieves attempting to steal the Hawaiian patrimony for themselves.

Election Day is November 6, 2012.  It’s a redistricting year: All 76 will be up for reelection.

We’ll be making a list. 

Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald has appointed Edmund D. Acoba as District Court Judge in the Fifth Circuit (Kauai).  Acoba fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Calvin Murashige.