Environment

Honolulu, HI — Congressman Charles K. Djou (HI-01) issued the following statement today, expressing relief that North Korea had released the South Korean fishing vessel, the Daesung 55, and its crew yesterday at the East Sea military demarcation line. Congressman Djou introduced a resolution at the time of its seizure, condemning North Korea’s provocations and calling for the release of the Daesung 55 and its crew. Congressman Djou’s statement also praises South Korea for joining the United States in trade sanctions against Iran and urges China to do the same

Furst cites a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad aired against Rep. Charles Djou (R) before the May special election vote in Hawaii.

Djou and the youthful new leaders reshaping the Hawaii Republican Party suggest that their opponents are living in the past and counting on tradition to overcome voter dismay with deficit spending, rising taxes and protracted economic crisis.

The Hawaii Republican Party filed a formal complaint this afternoon with the Office of Elections, raising concern about a violation of laws that prohibit campaign activity within 200 feet of a polling place.  Yesterday, Colleen Hanabusa held a press conference and had news crews film her as she filed her Primary Election ballot at Honolulu Hale. 

“I am pleased the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in my favor in this matter and found that the Circuit Court should never have issued the injunction it did,” Governor Lingle said.  “It is unfortunate that I was prevented from implementing what I believed to be a fiscally sound plan to address the massive deficit Hawaii faced in 2009.  As a result, we were forced to layoff hundreds of State employees,” she added.

“As Governor, one of my first acts will be to propose a fiscally responsible biennium budget based largely on the latest projections that will allow our state to spend within its means.

“It may take several years before general fund revenues return to pre-recession levels, which is why it is so important for the next Governor to hit the ground running in the right direction.

Cam is proud to have the endorsement of Honolulu City Councilman Gary Okino of Aiea. Councilman Okino's support shows that standing up for traditional values is a Hawaiian principle, not a partisan one--and that more people across the Islands need to be exposed to the facts on Senator Inouye's voting record.

Weekend retreats offer a safe, supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.

Paychecks Hawaii, the private, independent, Smart Business Hawaii political action affiliate, announced its picks for the September 18 Primary Election....

“Just last week, Congressman Charles Djou cast his vote in the Primary election for Hawaii’s First Congressional District. His main opponent, however, has not cast her vote yet. In fact, she will not be voting in this election. As a candidate asking for the vote of the people, it’s worth asking: ‘If Colleen Hanabusa won’t be voting for herself, why should anyone else?’"

Due to an event scheduled at the same time by the League of Women Voters, the Townhall Meeting at Haha‘ione Elementary School Cafeteria for Tuesday, September 14 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. has been cancelled.

Complete list of employers planning to attend tomorrow's job fair.

ARE YOU SICK AND TIRED OF:

• Paying the highest taxes in the USA?
• Joblessness and Unemployment?
• Too much government regulation/intervention?
• Voice of the people being ignored?
• Out of control government spending of tax $$$?
• Slowly losing your Individual Rights?

If your answer is "yes," then take these names to the polls on Saturday, September 18....

According to Article IX, Section 3 of the Party’s 2010 Constitution, which is available online, “candidates shall submit Candidate Statement Forms... indicating their agreement, disagreement, and/or reservations with the Platform and Resolutions of the State and County Party" and that, a "candidate who fails to abide by these requirements shall not be eligible for endorsement".

In the letter, Mr. Woerner notes that, “the majority of candidates (and especially incumbent candidates) either failed to return their forms at all, or failed to complete them as required”.

As thousands gather in Washington, DC, Hawaii Christian Coalition and Hawaii TEA Party groups will hold local rallies Maui, Kona, Hilo.

Local officials also predict an expensive future as new requirements—for technology, quality accounting and care coordination—start under the overhaul, which became law in March.

Moody's Investors Service said in April that many standalone hospitals won't have the resources to invest in information technology or manage bundled payments well. Many nonprofits have bad credit ratings and in a tight credit market cannot borrow money, either. Meantime, the federal government is expected to cut aid to hospitals….

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle today appointed Laura Figueira to fill the vacant O‘ahu North Shore Senate seat and Ronald Kouchi to fill the vacant Kaua‘i Senate seat.  They will serve on a temporary basis until new Senators are elected in the upcoming General Election and take the oath of office.  The two vacancies were created by the resignation of Robert Bunda and Gary Hooser in July. 

Breaking technology is now offering a safe and affordable alternative to large nuclear reactors, called Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs.  Even enlightened environmentalists have changed their minds about energy and now support nuclear. Greenpeace activist Patrick Moore, Gaia theorist James Lovelock, Greenpeace UK Executive Director Stephen Tindale,  Friends of the Earth board member Bishop Hugh Montefiore and environmental icon Stewart Brand have all switched sides in the nuclear energy debate....

Honolulu, HI — Congressman Charles K. Djou (HI-01) appeared on Hawaii News Now “Sunrise” this morning to discuss returning to Washington, the President’s latest economic proposals and the First Congressional District Job Fair this week:

Washington- It’s been more than 18 months since Colleen Hanabusa's Democrat friends passed a trillion-dollar stimulus bill promising to keep unemployment under eight percent and create four million jobs and, so far, one thing is clear: It’s an utter failure. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent, the economy in a complete tailspin and the nation deeply in debt, Democrats now want to ram through a $50 billion spending bill in a last ditch attempt to salvage their crumbling political careers.

Charles Djou opens his Campaign HQ and releases his first campaign commercial of the fall election season. (VIdeo)

Remember, none of this has anything to do with how much money is coming out of your pocket to line theirs....

This year’s election offers the chance to bring to Hawaii an improved legislative body that will transform the way Hawaii politics works.  That historic change could be the beginning of an improved government.  What happens in the next two months has the potential to change the future of Hawaii forever.  Will you be a part of it?

I humbly ask that we dissolve any ethnic, religious, political or bitter barriers that separate us. Let us unite and seek love rather than hate. Let us seek love rather than ethnic and religious differences, let us vote principles above parties, character above campaign promises.  Let us stand together and be a part of the iVOTE movement to improve Hawaii’s future.

One of the most surprising endorsements of the campaign season was forwarded to this writer by Adrienne King’s Republican Lt Governor campaign last Friday....

"Instead of an over-reliance on government spending, we must continue to focus our efforts on cultivating a business-friendly environment that creates job opportunities and instills confidence and transparency in government.

"Government doesn't create the jobs that fuel our economy over the long term, but we can make it easier for those who do."

VOTE EARLY! Here is a complete list of Walk-in absentee/early voting sites and hours for all four counties.

Washington- House Democrats’ summer recess is almost over and it’s time for Colleen Hanabusa and her out-of-touch friends to face the music. With another failed attempt at recovery under their belts, Democrats are facing a bruising uphill battle this November. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent and way above the once-promised eight percent, Democrats have officially run out of excuses. Their trillion-dollar stimulus failed to produce jobs and their runaway spending spree has left the nation in debt, putting their Democrat majority up for grabs this fall – and making Hanabusa accountable for supporting her party’s failed economic agenda.

Motorists in California and Hawaii have to look out for the most potholes on urban Interstates. In those two states, 25 percent of urban interstate pavement is in poor condition. ... Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii and New York have the least cost-effective roads.

THREE MONTHS after Intajak arrived in America, in October 2004, Global Horizons sent him to Hawaii to work for the Maui Pineapple Co. Here, the pay was better than in Yakima—$9.50 an hour—but the conditions were worse. One Global Horizons agent, Intajak and other workers told me, was in the habit of carrying a knife, a gun, or a baseball bat, and of threatening workers with "deportation" if they didn't behave or meet their quotas. Just four days in, Intajak says, he watched the man beat a coworker. 

The Maui Pineapple Co.'s land is nestled among gorgeous foothills, shrouded in mist and covered with volcanic soil the color of dark coffee. The now-defunct company was part of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., whose majority owner is Steve Case, cofounder of AOL; another primary shareholder is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, a generous benefactor of anti-slavery organizations.... 

“I am very pleased that the State Senate has voted unanimously to confirm Mark Recktenwald to be the fifth Chief Justice of the Hawai‘i State Supreme Court.

“The people of Hawai‘i can feel confident, as I am, that they will have a Chief Justice who will guide our courts with fairness and integrity in upholding the rule of law and our constitution.

Throughout the month of September, make your trip to the grocery store count for life by donating to Hawaii Right to Life through the Foodland/Sack 'n Save Give Aloha program.

In 2004, Hawaii required 677 signatures to qualify an entire new party, and 3,711 signatures to qualify an independent presidential candidate.  Ralph Nader and Michael Peroutka each tried to qualify as independent presidential candidates.  Even though each of them submitted more than 7,000 signatures, Hawaii elections officials invalidated over half of them.  Hawaii tends to disqualify signatures if the signer failed to show either the last four digits of his or Social Security number, or the full birthday.

Hawaii’s usually voluble homegrown secular humanists are stone silent because they agree with Ka’auwai.  For the same reason, Hawaii’s pro-Abercrombie media have greatly tempered their response.  In a recent Star-Advertiser poll, Republican crossover voters were shown to be backing Mufi Hannemann 72% to 28% against Neil Abercrombie.

But the national groups aren’t thinking about short-term local political calculations....

The Republican Governors Association launched new television and radio advertisements in Hawai‘i today highlighting Duke Aiona’s plan to reduce the state’s dependence on oil and move it towards a green energy economy.

Lt. Governor Aiona on Thursday delivered remarks on the importance of providing affordable, quality health care at a dedication ceremony for a new Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. The hospital will help provide specialty care and innovative research for children from Hawai`i and the Pacific Northwest.

Alaska's incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has conceded to TEA Party-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miler.

HONOLULU - Lt. Governor Duke Aiona, the leading Republican candidate for Governor, today announced that he will kick off his Connecting Communities initiative to hold 20 talk stories in 20 communities across the state. The new statewide effort to connect working families and concerned citizens to each other and the issues they care about most follows Duke Aiona's small business initiative in which he met with more than 120 small businesses in 100 days.

TWO VIDEOS...

“Today marks a historic and monumental shift—and we have our brave men and women in uniform to thank for that. The progress made in Iraq has been difficult and undeniable. It is remarkable to reflect on how far Iraq has come from a nation ruled by a tyrant to a functioning democracy in the heart of the Arab Middle East. This is what our courageous troops have accomplished.

HONOLULU - Lt. Governor Duke Aiona today issued the following statement regarding a personal letter that was sent by Hawai‘i Republican Party Chairman Jonah Ka‘auwai to his supporters....

Join Congressman Charles K. Djou and many prospective employers looking to hire at the 2010 First Congressional District Job Fair. This job fair is free of charge and is open to all residents of Honolulu who are unemployed or underemployed and are looking for better opportunities.

The Akaka bill is novel in that it is the first Congressional attempt to federally recognize a non-Indian entity, and to do so in a fashion inconsistent with the political history of the former governing entity it is ostensibly recognizing. Under a different view, the Akaka bill is novel in that it endeavors to federally recognize a government to collectively represent an entire ethnic group based upon shared indigeneity, rather than political history. But political history, not indegeneity, begets federal recognition.

HONOLULU - House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, Republican candidate for Lt. Governor, today announced the endorsement of several members of her Minority Caucus in her election bid. The Minority Caucus elected Lynn Finnegan as their leader five years ago.

HONOLULU -- With Hawaii's primary election just three weeks away, elections officials were dealt a big blow Friday by the federal government.

The state may face a federal lawsuit because Hawaii’s primary and general elections are too close together to meet the requirements of a new federal law….

HONOLULU – Lt. Governor Duke Aiona today announced that the Hawai`i Ophthalmological Society (HOS) and the Hawai`i Medical Political Action Committee (HAMPAC) have endorsed his campaign for Governor.

Usually discussions of Hawaii’s one-party system focus on an alleged “plantation mentality” and Democrat “machine voters.”  A caricature of the machine voter has them giving up their vote on instructions from nefarious union bosses in exchange for a plate of chili and rice.  But a recent poll points in a surprisingly different direction—wandering Republicans.  The Star-Advertiser-HNN poll released August 22 shows that Republican crossover voters back Mufi Hannemann 72-28% – making the Republican voting bloc absolutely indispensible to Hannemann’s Primary election chances. 

New Jersey was not the only state to lose out because of the Obama administration's slavish devotion to teacher union votes and cash. Proven education reform leaders like Louisiana and Colorado also lost points and finished out of the money because their state's chosen reforms threatened union priorities. Meanwhile Hawaii (which the Data Quality Campaign ranked 17th for education data systems, which the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked 34th for the strength of their charter laws, and which got a D- from the National Council on Teacher Quality) finished third and will receive $75 million. Oh, but they had 100% "buy in" from the unions.

“Mr. Carlisle is fortunate that his statements about his involvement in the Republican Party do not have to stand up in court.   Although he claims that he was not an “active member” and only involved for a “few months”, the fact is Carlisle was a registered party member for 4 years, chaired two State Republican Party Conventions, emceed a major party fundraiser, and ran as a party member for reelection in 2008."

In an odd sequence of events, Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate Adrienne King last week first claimed and then retracted her claim to have won the endorsements of both the Kona and Maui TEA Party groups.  Rep. Pat Saiki, Honolulu’s Republican Congresswoman from 1986 to 1990, also rejects King’s continuing use of Saiki’s name as an endorser.