National News

The event will feature a presentation by national spokesman and former NFL football star, Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) a non-profit organization which advocates the deployment and development of a missile defense system.  Mr. Ellison has is an expert in the field of missile defense.

Republicans have their best candidate in a decade running for this seat. Djou has been fundraising for this race since early 2008, when it was correctly rumored that Abercrombie would leave his House seat open to run for governor. National Republicans already have taken note of Djou and aired advertisements in the heavily Democratic district.

Since energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, 85 percent of which comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels, the Waxman-Markey bill’s arbitrary and severe restrictions on the current energy supply and infrastructure will not only have direct impact on consumers’ budgets through higher electric bills and gasoline prices, but also cause unnecessary inefficiencies at virtually every stage of production. CDA estimates that Waxman-Markey legislation would cost the average family-of-four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and a produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035.

Yesterday the United States Department of the Treasury Special Master of Compensation Kenneth Feinberg announced a wage control scheme for the 175 executives of the seven companies that have received the most funds from the taxpayer funded Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). At first the Obama administration denied any involvement in Feinberg’s decision....

You have to read all the way to page A-25 in today’s New York Times to learn about it, but the Senate took its first floor vote on Obamacare yesterday and the White House lost. Big. The NYT reports: “Democrats lost a big test vote on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, needed 60 votes to proceed. He won only 47. And he could not blame Republicans. A dozen Democrats and one independent crossed party lines and voted with Republicans on the 53 to 47 roll call.”

Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission....  It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.

According to the data, 49 States and the District of Columbia have lost jobs since stimulus was enacted.  Only North Dakota has seen net job creation following the February 2009 stimulus.  While President Obama claimed the result of his stimulus bill would be the creation of 3.5 million jobs, the Nation has already lost a total of 2.7 million – a difference of 6.2 million jobs.  Hawaii was projected to gain 15,000 jobs.  Instead the state lost 17,000. 

Politico’s Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei report today:

President Obama is working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party, setting loose top White House officials to undermine conservatives in the media, business and lobbying worlds.

After thousands of Americans attended hundreds of townhalls this summer, after the President of the United States delivered a rare speech to a Joint Session of Congress, after endless coverage of legislative markups in the relevant congressional committees, what if the Senate began actual floor votes on the health care overhaul and the drive-by media refused to cover it? Couldn’t happen? It already is.

In his primetime health care address before a Joint Session of Congress, President Barack Obama promised the American people: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period.” But it is hard work adding $1 trillion in government spending while claiming with a straight face that you are not adding to the deficit. Enter White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who has just the solution: just strip out $247 billion of the spending in the bill, pass it separately, and voila … your job just got one-fourth easier.

The results are in and Republican Congressional Candidate Charles Djou's cash-on-hand total--a key early measure of political support--beats that of Democrat Ed Case by more than 2-1.  Djou, an outgoing Honolulu City Council member, also beats Senate President Colleen Hanabusa (D-Ko`olina) by more than 40-1.

This past Friday October 9, 2009, I was honored to be crowned Miss Hampton University 2009-2010. It truly was the best night of my life! With that being said, I am sad to say that my crowning was not widely accepted and many negative comments regarding my win have been shared throughout my campus.

It would be much easier to say that possibly some were not accepting of the news because I wasn't the most qualified contestant; however, the true reason for the disapproval was because of the color of my skin. I am not African American.

On October 7, Phelim McAleer joined the Society of Environmental Journalists. Three days later, he took advantage of his new membership to attend former Vice President Al Gore’s speech to the group in Madison, Wis., and to rush up to the microphone afterward to ask a question....The event’s organizers mobilized, cutting the sound on McAleer’s microphone as he continued to pose questions. Moderator Tim Wheeler called it a “Warholian moment,” implying that McAleer had wrought 15 short minutes of fame out of the encounter. He had a point. Within 48 hours, McAleer had appeared on “Fox and Friends,” “Your World With Neil Cavuto,” and “Lou Dobbs,” and video of the encounter had appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor.”

At a price tag of $829 billion, the SFC ’framework’ will reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 29 million, moving the overall percentage of nonelderly Americans with health insurance from 83% in 2010 to 94% in 2019. But of those 29 million with new insurance coverage, almost half (14 million), will get their coverage through the welfare programs Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). That is equivalent to adding every resident of Ohio and Nevada to the welfare rolls.

So far, CAIR has not challenged the veracity of the claims in Muslim Mafia. Instead, it has focused on the authors' political backgrounds and minimized the findings.

Written by P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry, the investigation is based largely on the undercover work of Gaubatz's son Chris who spent six months as an intern at CAIR's D.C. headquarters in 2008. In that capacity, he acquired 12,000 pages of documentation and took 300 hours of video.

The scariest part about yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee vote passing its version of Obamacare, is not what is in their bill (to the extent that it even exists), but that the Finance Committee bill promises to be the high water mark for “bipartisanship” in health care reform.

Now all of the other bills will be merged together behind the closed doors. All the bills are fundamentally flawed and will only get worse as the leaders in the House and Senate have to commit to actual details.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, TIKRIT, Iraq - Nearly 1,000 Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division Headquarters will arrive in Hawaii from mid-October into early November after a year-long deployment to northern Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In order to game the CBO scoring system (explained by former CBO Director Donald Marron here), Democrats have packed ten years of taxing, but only six years of spending, into the CBO’s ten-year budgeting window.  So what happens to the deficit in those years after the CBO budget window?  Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), a member of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition explains: “Every year, you lose ground. It’s likely after 10 years, we fall off a cliff.”

For a family of four making $69,480 (300% above poverty) the Baucus bill mandates annual health insurance premiums of $8,338, which would be worth the equivalent of over ten months of food, four months of housing or almost two years of utilities.

The homecoming ceremony will take place Sunday at 5:25 p.m. at Wheeler Army Airfield. Family and friends wishing to welcome the Soldiers home are encouraged check the 25ID Web site, www.25idl.army.mil, for the latest ceremony updates.

 When the Nobel committee gave the prize to Obama, in spite of the fact that he has no accomplishment other than getting elected, it robbed Zimbabwean labor leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai became the Zim PM earlier this year after enduring over a decade of frame-up charges, beatings, assassination attempts, fraudulent elections--and the murder of hundreds of pro-democracy activists by the genocidal socialist Mugabe regime. 

The Nobel committee bypassed an opportunity to shine an international spotlight on the struggle of the Zimbabwean people against dictatorship and the socialist demolition of what was once one of the most prosperous countries in Africa.

This past Monday on Charlie Rose, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said a new value-added tax (VAT) is “on the table”.  A VAT is a type of national sales tax. However, instead of being collected at the cash register, it is imposed on manufacturers at each “value added” stage of the production process. Since everybody buys stuff, including families making less than $250,000 a year, any VAT would necessarily break Obama’s no tax hike promise. Worse, a VAT would expand the size of government, inadvertently increase income tax rates, and destroy jobs.

The New York Times awarded Baucus with the headline that the White House has been searching for since the debate first began: “Health Care Bill Gets Green Light in Cost Analysis.”  But this headline and the accompanying article are fundamentally dishonest.  As the Politico reported yesterday: “While the media and lawmakers often shorthand a CBO letter as a “score” or “cost estimate,” today’s CBO letter is neither. Because the bill is still in “conceptual,” or layman’s terms, CBO’s letter today was a “preliminary analysis.” For it to be an official cost estimate, the bill has to be translated into legislative language.”

Ellen Bellerose rushed to Maui Memorial Medical Center's emergency room at her cardiologist's direction after she felt severe pain and pressure in her neck, chest and arms. As the pain intensified over the next two hours, she walked up to the counter three times to report difficulty breathing. She was told there were no beds available. "I was becoming terrified that I could die, unattended, in the emergency room." Although registered as a patient for 27 hours, she never entered the main hospital that February 7, 2006, but was billed as if she had.

Every version of Obamacare waiting to be merged into one bill on Capitol Hill cuts billions of dollars from the Medicare Advantage program.... The better option would be to move Medicare towards a true “premium support” system where the government would make direct contributions to all beneficiaries who could then control how to spend their own health care dollars. This would be the same model as the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) which provides health insurance to Members of Congress.

...much of the environmental movement blames Norman Borlaug for preventing the massive famines that would have solved the “population problem” quickly in the 1960s—with starvation.  But the starving would have raped the wildlife habitat before they allowed their children to die. Today, we’ve solved the population problem with affluence....

New chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) requested 46 earmarks worth $330.8 million and received 35 earmarks worth $206.5 million in the final bill. Inouye has received $173,000 in campaign contributions since 2007 from the companies he requested earmarks for. The biggest donor among them is Lockheed Martin, which operates a major facility in Hawaii and donated $61,300.

One can think of American Samoa's economy as a three-legged stool, with one leg being the tuna industry, one leg being the local government (which actually employs slightly more workers than the tuna industry) and the third leg being the anemic remainder of the private sector. The remainder of the private sector is supported primarily--directly or indirectly--by purchases from the tuna industry and from local government. The government is supported primarily by revenues generated by the tuna industry; it is also supported somewhat by revenues generated by the rest of the private sector, which in turn is heavily dependent upon the tuna industry.

If you remove the tuna industry leg, the stool comes tumbling down, like a piece of debris tossed about by this week's tsunami. American Samoa is already poorer than any state in America and any other territory. It is about to get poorer still.

Another month, another 263,000 jobs lost under the Obama administration. According to Bureau of Labor and Statistics data released this morning, the United States economy has lost 3.6 million net jobs since President Barack Obama was sworn into office and the unemployment rate has risen from 7.6 % to 9.8%. It was not supposed to be this way. The experts in the Obama administration promised the American people that the President’s $787 billion stimulus package would create 4 million jobs by the end of 2010.

Last week, upon arriving in Copenhagen for his failed mission to secure the 2016 Olympic Games for Chicago, President Barack Obama met face-to-face with U.S. and NATO Forces Commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Air Force One. The meeting was just the second conversation between the two since Gen. McChrystal assumed command of what President Obama used to call the “central front in our enduring struggle against terrorism.” Just days before, while responding to questions about his recommendation for 40,000 more troops, Gen. McChrystal told the International Institute for Strategic Studies, “Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, nor will public support.”

While having no qualms with voting to take money from taxpayers in one of the worst recessions in history, Colleen Hanabusa somehow feels entitled to give herself and fellow legislators a pay raise.

Multiple sources on the Hill have told The Foundry that as early as next week, the Senate could be debating Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Reid has stated an intention to take the HELP Committee product and merge it with the Senate Finance Committee markup that is expected to be over by this Thursday or Friday. Their plan is to proceed to a House passed non-health care bill to provide a shell of legislation to give Obamacare a ride to the House and then straight to the President’s desk.

The Parks Service had heard from Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa. Reynolds told a Yellowstone dispatch operator that four tsunami waves, each 15ft-20ft high, reaching half-mile to a mile inland on island of Tutuila, where Pago Pago is.

“The National Park of American Samoa visitor centre and its offices appear to be destroyed completely,” Bundock said. Mr Reynolds reported deaths but had no confirmation of numbers, she said. “He’s completely cut off from the rest of the island,” Bundock said.

DETAILS: The 25th Infantry Division's Special Troops Battalion (25STB) begins returning home, Tuesday, after serving as the command headquarters for Multi-National Division North (MDN-North) in Iraq, since December 2008.

Tuesday's flight of 150 Soldiers paves the way for the remaining 700 headquarters Soldiers returning before the Thanksgiving holiday. A homecoming ceremony will take place at Wheeler Army Airfield, Tuesday, at 1:35 p.m.

According to President Obama, victory against the Taliban in Afghanistan is not only essential for the security of the United States, but for “the safety of people around the world.” We couldn’t agree more, which is why it is so alarming to learn that President Obama is considering a different strategy advocated by Vice President Joe Biden. Just as Biden opposed the successful surge in Iraq, Biden now opposes a surge in Afghanistan, instead favoring withdrawing most U.S. troops leaving only special forces and predator drones to strike al Qaeda cells. Biden was wrong about Iraq and he is wrong about Afghanistan.

The bill contains typically huge piles of pork - much of it not listed in the committee's list of earmarks - paid for by raiding the spending needed to support the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the usual atrocious funding mechanism the Appropriations and Armed Services Committees have employed for years - they use the Operation and Maintenance account of the bill as an "offset" to pay for the billions in pork added throughout the bill. Put simply, the parts of the bill that support training, spare parts, maintenance, food, fuel and much else the troops at war need the most are reduced to enable the money added for earmarks.

Watada implicitly calls for the United States Armed Forces to impose its will on the elected civilian leadership of the nation saying, "If soldiers realized this war is contrary to what the Constitution extols – if they stood up and threw their weapons down – no president could ever initiate a war of choice again."

Watada closes by calling on soldiers to stop "allowing" the U.S. government this liberty.  "Those who called for war prior to the invasion compared diplomacy with Saddam to the compromises made with Hitler. I say, we compromise now by allowing a government that uses war as the first option instead of the last to act with impunity."

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from the House-Senate Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance. 

(This fee would be added to your federal taxes each year if you do not buy health insurance.  If you refuse or fail to pay this portion of your taxes, that would be misdemeanor tax evasion and here is what happens....)

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead.

Accused 1992 of sexual misconduct with St. Lawrence Seminary HS students. Reportedly fired in 1988 for similar allegations then rehired. Criminally charged 1/93 with enticing child for immoral purposes and intimidating victim. Judge dismissed case, but noted evidence that Gardipee had disrobed in front of boy. Lawsuit 4/93 cited sexual abuse, harassment, and stalking of teen; expanded 1994, accusing Capuchins of racketeering; dropped 1995 due to WI S.C. ruling Pritzlaff v. Arch. of Milwaukee.
Milwaukee, WI.

Attorney and "main organizer" of “Islam on Capitol Hill”, Hassen Ibn Abdellah is President of the Elizabeth, New Jersey Dar ul-Islam, Inc.  Abdellah was, described October 25, 1993 by the New York Times, as the “most aggressively combative of the lawyers” representing the terrorists who staged the 1993 World Trade Center attacks.  His client, the Egyptian-born Mahmud Abouhalima, was convicted of helping to manufacture and transport the bomb detonated in the 1993 attack and is now incarcerated in the Federal "Supermax" prison at Florence, Colorado.

The United States elected 43 presidents before the current occupant graced the office with his presence. We fought, and won, two world wars, liberated millions of people worldwide from tyranny, and worked cooperatively with other sovereign nations to rebuild entire continents. Some might even say the character of our nation is well established considering we have been a democracy for just over 230 years now.

Not President Barack Obama, who told the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, “For those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look at the concrete actions we have taken in just nine months.” 230 years versus just nine months. No wonder, the New York Times reports, were UN delegates not only applauding Obama, but snapping photos of their hero like tourists.

Is Hawaii, "an unlikely flashpoint for debate about Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip?"  The Honolulu Advertiser says so.

Islamists and their supporters have planned a week of propaganda activities in Hawaii leading up to "Islam Day"--declared by the Hawaii State Legislature to be Thursday, September 24, 2009--a day which corresponds to absolutely nothing on the Islamic calendar but is September 11, 2009 on the old Julian calendar.

Saudi money, Libyan assassins, Palestinian Jihad, London bombers, Malaysian sodomy, and laughing Islamists: Click here to connect the dots ....

Co-sponsored by Rep Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) and Rep Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and their comrades in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep Jerrold Nadler, September 15, introduced H.R. 3567, a bill that would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

HR 3567 would require Hawaii and all other states, territories, and Indian Tribes to recognize same-sex marriages performed in jurisdictions where such marriages are now legally recognized.

Rod Blagojevich has a message to his former political cronies: "If I'm going down, I'm taking all of you with me."  And given his close, 14-year relationship with Barack Obama and Tony Rezko, this can only be bad news for the White House. 

The brigade was instrumental in helping the Iraqi government during a pivotal period of security and governmental transition and infrastructure reconstruction. The Soldiers return home with 230 projects completed and 140 more in progress that are vital to the economic revitalization of this burgeoning nation. The Soldiers' efforts are affording the people of Iraq with a better quality of life by providing them with better power distribution and infrastructure; 67 new and renovated educational facilities; transportation projects to improve road and rail systems; and the revitalization of market areas to stimulate economic growth.

UPDATE: If you needed help with your ... uh ... "business", the Hawaii ACORN office is was located at 949 Kapiolani in Honolulu right next to the offices of the leftist Hawaii People's Fund.  But you can't pull on your beaverskin fedora and hop in your '73 Coupe Deville and cruise on over--because they've abandoned their office.  But be sure to thank Mazie Hirono for her support anyway.

If this is how Obama handles missile defense for Europe, what will he do to protect Hawaii?

One of the speakers, Michelle Rhee, is the chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools System, the seventh person to hold the post in the past 10 years.  Intent on reforming the D.C. school system, Rhee has fired non-productive teachers, principals and central office administrators, and proposes to make D.C. teachers the best paid in the country by partnering with private philanthropists to create financial incentives for improved teacher performance.  The daughter of immigrants from South Korea, in 1997, Rhee founded the New Teacher Project, which in 10 years has recruited 10,000 teachers for hard-to-staff inner-city schools in 20 states.