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Sunday, May 25, 2014
May 25, 2014 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:38 PM :: 4341 Views

Feds Secretly “Reorganizing the Native Hawaiian Community as an Indian Tribe" -- Since 2012

Hawaii's "Environmental Court" - A Bad Idea Whose Time (Apparently) Is Nigh

Sex and science: Hawaii’s ‘Babes Against Biotech’ flaunt T&A to attack GMOs

Abercrombie Signs Minimum Wage Hike

Time for the Kapalama Terminal Credit

Army hosts Memorial Day Remembrance

Democrats are committed to keeping the Hawaii Republican Party “in its place”

CB: Party Chairman Dante Carpenter told delegates at the Sheraton Waikiki Saturday that Democrats are committed to keeping the Hawaii Republican Party “in its place” and to keep the new Hawaii Independent Party “on its starting blocks.” ...

Gary Gill, a Democrat who works at the state Department of Health, monitored the meet and greet. He said Democrats should “celebrate” the fact that they have so many candidates.

“If the other party gave three minutes to all candidates, we’d be pau already,” he joked....

In other convention business Saturday, Democrats approved changes to the party’s platform.

The changes include adding language regarding global warming (“climate change is a real threat to our islands and the world”), renewable energy (“electric utility companies and cooperatives must open the grid to alternative power sources including solar panels and geothermal energy”), government and political reform (“we do not believe that money equals speech or that corporations are people for purposes of First Amendment protections”) and Native Hawaiians (“we support Native Hawaiian rights to self-determination in the formation of their chosen governmental entity”).

Democrats also accepted a platform amendment finding that family reunification “is not always in the best interest of foster children.” But they rejected another proposed amendment on labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms.

read ... About Power Only

Abercrombie: 'Stand up against those who think that they can buy elections' (LOL!)

PR: On Saturday at the Sheraton Waikiki, Abercrombie held up a newspaper story about the Republican National Committee's complaint to force federal election officials to allow the GOP to raise unlimited amounts of money from individual donors.

“What we’re gathered here today to do is to say, `No,’" the governor told delegates. "All of us individually and collectively are going to stand up against those who think that they can buy elections, that they can buy our votes, and buy our values.”

Yet Abercrombie has been on a torrid fundraising pace, despite the fact that his primary opponent, state Sen. David Ige, has struggled to raise money.

On Friday, for example, the night before the convention, Abercrombie appeared at a fundraiser in Kakaako with some of the state's top real estate and development interests.

Shapiro: Abercrombie gave a speech blasting the U.S. Supreme Court for lifting caps on billionaire campaign donors, then flew to San Francisco for a pricey fundraiser in his honor at the home of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison. That's our governor in a nutshell: empty words, full pockets.

read ... Irony Alert

Borreca: Mufi Swings Election to Aiona?

Borreca: Politics is always a game of comparison. According to the voters four years ago, Neil Abercrombie compared to Mufi Hannemann looked better. Four years ago, Abercrombie also looked better in comparison to James "Duke" Aiona.

This year, the equation has changed.

If the Democrats ride Abercrombie into the general election, there is no certainty that more than a third of the voters will think the Hawaii Democrat looks that good compared to both former Mayor Mufi Hannemann and former Lt. Gov. Aiona.

Last week, Nathan Gonzales writing in Washington's Roll Call newspaper said the paper was changing its prediction on the Hawaii governor's race from "safe Democrat" to "Democrat favored."

The reasoning was that Abercrombie, described as a "polarizing figure," might split the Democratic vote with Hannemann, allowing Aiona to win with a plurality.

"Hannemann's decision to run for governor as an independent changes the math of the race. The (former) Honolulu mayor should be a credible enough candidate to raise the possibility of splitting the Democratic vote with Abercrombie, allowing the Republican, Aiona, to win the race with less than 50 percent of the vote," said Roll Call.

Abercrombie has raised $4 million in the last four years, but he has failed to show any traction in his popularity. His erratic and confrontational administrative style confused voters, while his sometimes emotional support for taxing pensions and heated push for development disappointed key Democratic allies such as older voters and environmentalists.

read ... Running gov numbers show that Dems won’t run table

Obama Interior Department Reviving Akaka Tribe

Barone: Some bad ideas are hard to kill. An example is the proposal to treat Native Hawaiians like an Indian tribe. Former Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) advanced legislation to do that for years, but it did not pass even when Democrats had supermajorities in Congress.

But, as Barack Obama has said, he is not going to be stymied by the old superstition that only Congress can pass a law. The Interior Department has announced it “is considering whether to propose an administrative rule that would facilitate the re-establishment of a government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian community, to more effectively implement the special political and trust relationship that Congress has established between that community and the United States.”

read ... Obama Interior Department reviving a truly bad policy Congress has rejected

For Two Years OHA Trustee Os Stender Didn't Know About Interior Department Rulemaking for Akaka Tribe

SA: "We're pleased with the progress," said Oswald Stender, a trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. "What they're doing is doing due diligence on our request to have Hawaiians recognized as indigenous people."

Stender said OHA's board of trustees met with the Interior Department earlier this month to discuss obtaining federal recognition to protect Native Hawaiian entitlements from legal challenges. He didn't know about the department's request for comments, but said it is probably a continuation of OHA's discussion. (Actually, the DoI has been "rulemaking" since 2012.)

"This is moving at warp speed," he said.

The (latest of four) notice(s), published in the Interior Department's spring agenda, says the department is seeking comments on whether and how the department should aid in the creation of a "government-to-government relationship with the native Hawaiian community."

(The previous three said: “Reorganizing the Native Hawaiian Community as an Indian Tribe”  Funny how they don't mention this.)

Hawaii's congressional delegation also previously said it was trying to pursue other avenues to federal recognition for Native Hawaiians after Republican-led opposition blocked efforts in Congress once again saved Hawaii from its Congressional Delegation.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said in an email that the publication of the proposed rule marks "the beginning of an important public dialogue."

"I encourage broad participation so the full range of voices in Hawaii are heard during the federal rulemaking process," he said. "Separate is not equal. Native Hawaiians deserve the right to self-governance." (Why hasn't he been encouraging 'broad participation' for the last four years?)

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa, D-Hawaii, mentioned the proposed federal rule during her report to delegates Saturday at the Democratic Party's state convention in Waikiki.

But not all were happy with the agency's move.

Keli‘i Akina, president of the nonpartisan think tank Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said it was troubling to see such "unwise" action from the interior secretary.

"Not only does the proposed rule violate the Constitution by creating a race-based government, but it also violates the spirit of ohana and unity that makes Hawaii unique," he said in a statement.

Reality, for those who can handle it: Feds Secretly “Reorganizing the Native Hawaiian Community as an Indian Tribe”--Since 2012

read ... An article which does not mention that this has been going on for TWO YEARS

Jim Crow alive and well in Eric Holder's Justice Department

WE: But Jim Crow is now making a huge comeback, thanks to the identity politics so common among liberals, especially on college campuses. As PJ Media columnist and former U.S. Department of Justice civil rights attorney J. Christian Adams notes, a federal court recently struck down a law in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands that allowed only people of “Northern Mariana descent” to vote on constitutional referendums. In Guam, the new Jim Crow appears in a law that allows voter registration only by those with ancestors living there prior to 1950, thus effectively limiting the ballot to individuals descended from the Chamorro people.

Similarly, Hawaii has a law on its books that limits registration "to only those who had an ancestor who lived on Hawaii in 1778 or received race-based land benefits in 1921. It also allows anyone with a ‘significant connection' to the ‘Native Hawaiian community' to register for the roll, which should nicely scoop up the radical academics who have flocked to the University of Hawaii to agitate for exactly this sort of race-based separatism,” Adams said. The Supreme Court struck down a similar Hawaii law in 2000.

read ... Jim Crow alive and well in Eric Holder's Justice Department

Jim Crow Prowls Paradise

PJ: The same movement to allocate political power to only people of color in the CNMI is alive and well in Hawaii. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has created a racially exclusionary voter roll to conduct a state-run election. (The materials from the office must be seen to be believed.)  A 2011 Hawaii law limits registration on this roll to only those who had an ancestor who lived on Hawaii in 1778 or received race-based land benefits in 1921. It also allows anyone with a “significant connection” to the “Native Hawaiian community” to register for the roll, which should nicely scoop up the radical academics who have flocked to the University of Hawaii to agitate for exactly this sort of race-based separatism.

Materials produced by Hawaii GovernmentMaterials produced by Hawaii Government

The Hawaii law is being implemented with great fanfare, including a plan for racially correct Hawaiian voters to elect delegates to an “Aha,” or Constitutional Convention to draft a governing document for the new Native Hawaiian nation. Remember, this nonsense is being paid for and administered by the government of Hawaii. Never mind that the United States Supreme Court spanked Hawaii in 2000 for creating an almost identical racially exclusionary election.

read ... Jim Crow Prowls Paradise

Massive Fraud: 33% of Quest Enrollees Exposed as Ghost Patients

SA: The state terminated Quest health insurance coverage for 11,600 non-existent Hawaii residents in April because they failed to return renewal forms as part of a new policy because they don't exist.

Quest, the state's version of Medicaid, is mailing renewal notices to roughly 200,000 (alleged) members, including 110,000 (alleged) children, who are required to return the forms or lose coverage in the government health insurance program for low-income residents.

The first forms were mailed in March to roughly 33,000 Quest members, but about one-third of those did not respond and their coverage was canceled in April. (Because they do not exist.) The state will continue mailing forms to about 33,000 members each month until all 200,000 have received forms. Based on the return rate in March, about 69,600 people could lose coverage this year. (Insurers score $1500/year for these non-existent people.)

Community health providers who care for the bulk of the Medicaid population — many of whom are homeless — are worried that the process will result in a major health care disaster for thousands of people cut in their fraudulent billing. (Quick IQ Test: Are there 69K homeless in Hawaii?)

read ... Lack of reply cuts off care

Star-Adv: Hurry Up and Fill UH Position so We Can Pick a Vice-President

SA: Some complaints are simply unfair, such as the protests by those in the university community who have concluded Wiercinski's military career somehow disqualifies him from this job. They are wrong. His position managing a complex system of separate operations spanning a wide region employs skills applicable to any top-level administrative office.

As for the critique of the process itself, some of it does have merit. Regents may have been able to better assure the public that the best candidates were approached had the search been conducted through a national committee. Questions that were raised about potential nominees to the post being overlooked may have been avoided if a professional headhunting company experienced with these processes had been running things all along.

The early-June selection deadline the regents set for themselves seems motivated by the desire to allow current board members, including three whose terms will expire June 30, to make the choice.

That's not persuasive. (So we've come up with an even less persuasive reason.)

However, there is another, more compelling reason: The executive vice president of academic affairs (who?) position tops the list of jobs to be filled, but only after the new president is in place to guide that selection.  (Grasping at straws.)

History Repeats: Engineered choice: How to pick a Greenwood

read ... Star-Adv Gets Desperate for Lassner

NCAA Investigates UH Basketball Program

SA: How much is a head coach responsible for what staff and student-athletes under his supervision do or don't do off the court?

If an assistant coach is accused of doctoring a document with another person's signature on it, is that the head coach's responsibility?

Now, we have also heard of talk of the practice hours limit being exceeded, and that would seem to fall clearly on the head coach, unless assistants were holding their own workouts.

Another hot topic of speculation is a player getting an excessive number of free meals and he and perhaps others receiving additional improper benefits. If the head coach sees no evil, hears no evil, speaks no evil is he accountable?

FW: Attorney: Firing Arnold requires proof

read ... Another UH Scandal on Lassner's Watch

High levels of diesel found in Tripler well

HTH: Preliminary findings showed 790 and 660 micrograms per liter, above the Health Department’s “environmental action level” of 100 micrograms.

The discovery comes months after the Navy said an underground storage tank at nearby Red Hill leaked up to 27,000 gallons of jet fuel. The cause of the leak has not yet been determined. It’s also not clear whether the Red Hill and Tripler contamination cases are related.

Board of Water Supply manager Ernest Lau told the committee that the agency’s five wells nearby show no sign of contamination. Wells in the area supply water from Halawa to Hawaii Kai, about one-quarter of the Board of Water Supply system, Lau said.

“This is the Moanalua aquifer from which we draw drinking water with very little treatment except chlorination,” Lau said. Installing treatment features at the wells could cost an estimated $50 million and take five to seven years, he said.

read    High levels of diesel found in Tripler well

JPAC Retaliates Against Whistleblower

SA: Cole's report — disavowed by JPAC's commander — became a national embarrassment for the organization. It was soon followed by a U.S. Government Accountability Office report that was equally critical of the military's broader accounting effort to recover missing Americans.

A reorganization of JPAC was subsequently ordered by the Pentagon and is now underway.

Cole testified before a House committee on Aug. 1 about JPAC's shortcomings. He was separately accused by some of siding with JPAC's Central Identification Laboratory in an internal power struggle with the J2 group, now known as "Research and Analysis."

Cole, who worked for the lab, says he was "banned" from the JPAC premises on March 17 and terminated April 16.

In a March 17 letter, JPAC commander Maj. Gen. Kelly McKeague said Cole was being suspended "pending investigation into the possible release of official government information." ...

"I received no notice, no separation pay, was never advised of my alleged misconduct, nor was I given any opportunity to defend myself," Cole said. "This was profoundly unfair."

read ... Retaliation

Union Work Rules Killing Lahainaluna Boarding School

MN: Only four Lahainaluna High School boarding students will don their caps and gowns today, down from the 23 that graduated with Richard "Noosh" Nishihara in 1962.

Nishihara, a director for the Lahainaluna Boarders Association and a former boarder, is seeking to form a task force to examine the sustainability as well as the future of the school's nearly 200-year-old boarding program that, over the years, has seen dwindling enrollment and a closure of its traditional and lucrative farming programs....gone are the days when students took care of swine and cows for subsistence, income and educational purposes. Also gone is the practice of raising vegetables to sell and to serve in the school's cafeteria.

Now, outdoor work is limited to landscaping, because rules, regulations and other issues eliminated the program's strong agricultural component.

"To me, we are not servicing the public. We are not servicing the kids that are there," Nishihara said of the program.

read ... No Vocational Education

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