Entries for 'Selected News Articles'

The DoE is paying millions of dollars to contractors for software when equal or superior alternatives are available elsewhere at lower cost--often free of charge. This wasteful spending is the direct result of the cozy, revolving door relationship between the contractors and the DoE officials who direct business their way.

We've done an informal survey of the 2010 output of the ICA (and the Supreme Court in reviewing the ICA's work) to pick out those cases in which Judge Leonard authored the opinion, or served on the panel in an interesting case. We tried to focus on published opinions, but there were several unpublished opinions which also caught our attention. Here are the results, in reverse chronological order:

The SPEECH Act will guard American authors and publishers from frivolous foreign libel suits, filed in countries that do not have our strong free speech protections....

Hawaii’s natural advantages continue to mask its political failings.

Setting snark aside, there is a real issue here: Is it appropriate for a state to require parents to declare their races so they can be stamped on to their children’s birth certificates, where they will remain in perpetuity? As of 1993, only five states had such policies in place. Now, over 15 years later, we have a multiracial president in the White House. Is it still necessary to insist upon racial identification on birth certificates — or is it time to discard such policies as outdated and counterproductive?

What valid purposes are served by such policies? Don’t they just exacerbate the problem of excessive race-consciousness in this country? To quote the wise words of Chief Justice John Roberts, “[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” And the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop knowing or caring what race a person is. [FN1]

Hanabusa said that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's preference for former Rep. Ed Case (D) in the special election was based on "bum information" in an interview with the Fix Monday. "I'm president of the Senate. I'm not a neophyte when it comes to understanding political alignments and misalignments," she added.  (Is that why she "aligned" with Mehau against Bronster?)

The Aloha State may be renowned as one of the most beautiful states in the Union, but that beauty comes at significant cost: the average Hawaiian paid out $1,010 in state taxes in the first quarter of the year, the highest of any state. The two biggest components to the state's revenues were income and excise taxes. 

Here are some questions for Abercrombie and Caraway:

At first blush, Hawaii’s First Congressional District doesn’t look like a potential Blue to Red conversion target. Obama did carry HI01 by a lopsided 70-28 percent spread, but that margin seems to be grossly distorted in favor of Honolulu’s Favorite Son. President Obama was born and spent some of his schoolboy years in this very district. 

Djou’s Honolulu-based district is historically Democratic, but it is not utterly inhospitable to Republican candidates. As the Washington Examiner’s senior Political Analyst Michael Barone mentions in his Almanac of American Politics, HI01 is home to “many military families in modest neighborhoods who may vote for Democrats but can be attracted to Republicans.”  

...the recommendations center on creating a National Ocean Council to coordinate regulation of oceans and the Great Lakes, and on a principle of "ecosystem-based management" for marine areas….

The first draft of the policy, released in September, drew heavy criticism from some quarters, including industry and recreational anglers concerned that sport fishing might be restricted or banned.

Never has there been so little diversity within America's upper crust....  Today's ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters -- speaking the "in" language -- serves as a badge of identity. ... America's ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats. It rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government.

If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) pulls the trigger and moves to proceed to the bill, Senator Murkowski may be the 60th vote to join liberal Democrats to break a filibuster....

 A source that closely follows progress of the Native Hawaiian bill tells Red State Insider that “despite the recent spinning and posturing in the press, the likelihood of the (Native Hawaiian Bill) passing in the Senate this year is nil … unless .. a few votes can be wrangled from the Republican side to break any Republican (threat of a filibuster) and stop time-consuming amendments.”  The Senator who is tasked to round up votes is Murkowski, and sources tell me that she has been specifically tasked with rounding up the votes of the other three Republican women Senators. 

Asked Monday what the next step would be, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) was anything but certain. “I wish I knew; I really mean that,” he said in a brief Capitol interview.

We scored all 50 states—using publicly available data—on 40 different measures of competitiveness. States received points based on their rankings in each metric. Then, we separated those metrics into the ten broad categories, with input from business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers. We weighted the categories based on how frequently each is cited in state economic development marketing materials.

KHON looks at Hawaii Republican candidate recruitment efforts....

WASHINGTON: The university from where Law Minister Babar Awan claims to have done his PhD is banned in the United States from issuing any degree and cannot even claim that it is a legal educational institution.

Long before the dispute over fake degrees became a political issue in Pakistan, the Circuit Court of the First Circuit in the State of Hawaii, declared that the University of Monticello was a non-recognised and non-chartered university....

  DSA's Democratic Left Nov./Dec. 1990, page 4

Duke Aiona - Incredibly smart, focused on the key issues, and displayed by far the greatest knowledge on those issues. He also would be the most effective on fixing K-12, if he could get the necessary legislation through. Duke is a superb & impressive candidate.

Walid Shoebat, ex-PLO member, will be speaking at the Sunday, July 11, services at Calvary Chapel of Honolulu (8:30am, 10:45am, and 6:00pm).  The public is invited.

Calvary Chapel of Honolulu is located in Aiea, on Komo Mai Drive.  LINK>>> Google map

Here are some Video clips from a public town hall on Tuesday, July 9 at Ahuimanu Elementary School hosted by Rep. Jessica Wooley (D-47 Laie to Kaneohe) with special guests Rep. Pono Chong, Rep. Ken Ito and Rep. Marcus Oshiro.  During the town hall meeting, Rep. Wooley put her hands on an attendee in an attempt to make her stop filming the public forum she was holding as a public official on public property. 

Wooley apparently believes that she can determine whether a video will be “used for political purposes” and if so she can shut down the videographer.  No transparency or accountability here; just another politically correct wanna-be dictator with an attitude of superiority.

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.  They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011....

Now, Djou enters a new stage in his political career: embattled incumbent. After easily winning a three-way special election in the more conservative -- but still dang Democratic -- House district in a May 22 special election, Djou enters an abbreviated 2010 reelection campaign as one of a handful of deeply endangered GOP incumbents.

That's just fine with him, and nobody will accuse Djou of being ill-prepared. "The only way I know how to campaign is running a race where I'm down by two points and closing in," he said in a recent interview with the Fix.

...Theodore Olson didn’t acknowledge much less attempt to discredit any of this information. Instead, he simply pointed his finger at his close-minded, bigoted conservative colleagues and declared that “there is no good reason why we should deny marriage to same-sex partners.”

The Jones Act was an issue in the May 22 House special election in Hawaii: Both Republican winner Charles Djou and one of his two Democratic opponents charged that it benefited a handful of ship lines and unions at the expense of ordinary Hawaiians. Mr. Djou is preparing a bill to exempt Hawaii. If FedEx can move cargo across the country in European-made Airbuses, why can't a boat built in, say, Canada, ship wheat from Los Angeles to Honolulu? The Jones Act lobby crushed the last attempt at reform back in the 1990s.  May the next one meet with more success.

In 2007 or 2008, then Portland Tribune reporter Nick Budnick made a public records request for the Portland police report, obtained it but the newspaper did not run a story….

In June 2010, the woman called police, asked for a copy of her statement….

On June 1, 2010 Al and Tipper Gore announced they would be separating.

This Jones Act is a 90-year old anachronistic law. It is basically protectionist legislation that limits ships operating in U.S. water to American-flagged vessels. Under normal circumstances in the past there might be some justification for this; but with the situation in the Gulf: we need to stop the spill, we need to clean up the mess and we need to do everything we can to hold BP accountable.

  ILWU: Just another servant of Islamism.

Federal law has also hampered the assistance. The Jones Act, the maritime law that requires all goods be carried in U.S. waters by U.S.-flagged ships, has prevented Dutch ships with spill-fighting equipment from entering U.S. coastal areas.

“What's wrong with accepting outside help?” Visser asked. “If there's a country that's experienced with building dikes and managing water, it's the Netherlands.”

Even if, three days after the rig exploded, it seemed as if the Dutch equipment and expertise wasn't needed, wouldn't it have been better to accept it, to err on the side of having too many resources available rather than not enough?

BP has been inundated with well-intentioned cleanup suggestions, but the Dutch offer was different. It came through official channels, from a government offering to share its demonstrated expertise.

She was joined by Ann Wright, 63, of Honolulu, Hawaii, who wore a BP hard hat, overalls and sunglasses adorned with dollar signs.

"BP doesn't really care about this," she said, pulling out an oil-stained rubber ducky.

The Jones Act may also have played a role in delaying the construction of sand barriers to protect the fragile Louisiana coast. Mr. Visser, the Dutch consul, says American dredging companies, which lack the dike-building expertise of the Dutch, rebuffed Dutch offers of help, which might have meant running afoul of the Jones Act.

For the longer term, Mr. Djou is about to introduce a bill to exempt his home state of Hawaii from the law. Hawaii is hit hardest by the law because most goods arrive by sea. Despite the political power of unions locally, Mr. Djou is pressing forward.

The commission may go beyond the allegations made by the complainant if investigators feel there are any other irregularities.

“We could add additional counts to the complaint or file an additional complaint. At my discretion, I can file a complaint,” Wong said. “The commission has the opportunity to decide whether there is probable cause that a violation or violations occurred, whether to dismiss the complaint, whether to ask for additional investigation or whether to refer it to the prosecutor."

A prosecutor gets involved only in cases where willful or intentional violations are found. According to state statute any person who knowingly, intentionally or recklessly violates any provision of campaign spending law faces a misdemeanor. Anyone who knowingly or intentionally falsifies any report required with the intent to circumvent the law or deceive the commission faces a class C felony.

VIDEO: Republican Congressman Charles Djou, Hawaii, and Jessica Brady, Roll Call reporter, discuss Obama's first Oval Office address regarding the Gulf Oil spill.

Hawaii GOP Rep. Charles Djou, who won his seat in a special election last month, says he's "disappointed" that Mr. Obama has failed to waive the Jones Act, an antiquated 1920 law mandating that goods shipped between U.S. ports be handled by U.S.-built and -owned ships manned by U.S. crews. Unions fiercely support the law as a means of preserving U.S. jobs. In this case, though, the law might be hindering the recovery of hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast jobs.

Are President Obama and BP inhibiting efforts to cap the Gulf of Mexico oil rig blowout and mitigate the effects of the spill? 

Maximization of the effects of the crisis could be used in an effort to stampede the public and win Senate passage of the Cap and Trade Carbon Tax--from which BP stands to profit. 

POLITICO: Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, the National Republican Congressional Committee's incumbent retention chair, urged PAC leaders at a briefing Monday to focus on helping just nine GOP members of Congress shore up their bids for re-election, telling attendees that the committee's work had already shielded a substantial group of members from facing any serious challenge in 2010.

"A year and a half ago, I was giving you the names of 30 members and you know what? It worked," Rogers said, according to a source familiar with his remarks. "We feel strongly at this point that only nine incumbents need your help to withstand the attacks by the DCCC and their allies."

On this day in 1898, the House approved Senate Joint Resolution 55 providing for the annexation of Hawaii as a U.S. territory. At the time, Hawaii was an independent republic. The vote was 209-91.

Are same-sex attractions biologically determined?  Most people are under the impression that they are.  Organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA), have helped propagate the idea. 

“Over the course of the past two years of a Democrat-led supermajority, Colleen Hanabusa and her Washington friends have pushed the economy into a jobless recovery by supporting an anti-jobs, anti-small-business agenda at the expense of a healthy economy,”

Financially pressed states might have to return $1.1 billion to Big Tobacco this year, if a review finds the states aren't trying hard enough to keep a 12-year-old legal settlement from hurting the companies too much.

This summer, states and the nation's Big Three tobacco firms will begin arbitrating a dispute over 2003 payments made under the settlement, the companies have disclosed in financial filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sums ranging from $705 million to $1.1 billion for each of the subsequent years also are headed for arbitration.

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Seven states will run out of money to pay public pensions by 2020. That hasn’t stopped them from hiring new employees.

The seven are Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, Hawaii, Louisiana and Oklahoma....

WSJ: It took Charles Djou, the new Republican Congressman from Hawaii, to put it bluntly to Bernanke. Should there be “additional fiscal stimulus?” 

And Bernanke answered as bluntly as a Fed Chairman ever will, “If you (Congress) decide to do more fiscal stimulus, then it would be very helpful to combine that with a plan for a fiscal exit strategy.”

Everyone in that hearing room got the joke. Congress not only has no plan for a fiscal exit strategy. It can’t even be trusted to come up with one. That’s why we now have a presidential bipartisan debt commission.

For Reps. Mark Critz and Charles Djou, the Washington axiom of a “permanent campaign” has never been more apt.

The capital’s newest congressmen have been in office less than a month, but the looming November election has forced them to begin their legislative careers in full campaign mode.

In a June 3 Maui Time interview, former Rep Neil Abercrombie tells Maui Time readers he wants marijuana to be utilized, he thinks TEA Parties are manipulated “by cynical sociopaths”, and he “helped to keep sugar alive in this state for 20 years.”  And Charles Djou’s Congressional victory…well see for yourself.  

Cam Cavasso, a former Hawaii State Representative and small businessman from Oahu, has announced that he will challenge Senator Inouye in this upcoming November election....

(Vacancy is to be) (f)illed by a special election to be called by the Council within 10 days and to be held within 60 days after occurrence of the vacancy. If any special or general election is to be held in the City after 30 days and within 180 days after the occurrence of the vacancy, the election shall be held in conjunction with such other election.

Mapping out their plan of attack in nightly Hawaii-focused 7:00 pm meetings, top NRCC brass sought ways to exploit the hard feelings that still remained from Case’s 2006 primary challenge to Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka—a move that rankles many Hawaii Democrats to this day.

(So it is the Republicans who got Inouye and Akaka all riled up over this.  Perhaps the DCCC agrees with Ed Case's assessment of the Senators' mental faculties?)

In one instance Djou media advisor Ben Burger worked with NRCC officials to craft a 30-second TV ad that asserted Case missed many votes “while campaigning against Senator Akaka.”

(Is that all it took?)

The closest precedent to the situation in Hawaii 1 today was the 1986 race for the same seat, which featured both a special election and a divisive Democratic primary and resulted in a Republican victory in November. That divisiveness presumably contributed to the poor showing of Democratic nominee Mufi Hannemann in November. That looks like a good omen for Charles Djou.

Dems are beginning to consider the need for some kind of compromise candidate. Hanabusa is still unlikely to win a general election, they believe, and Case will have trouble winning a primary. Though official behind-the-scenes talks have yet to begin, they are likely to start in earnest in the future.