Obamacare: Four Things Hawaii Health Connector Isn’t Telling You
Gentry Pacific Deal: Akana Sues, Alleges OHA Abuse of Executive Sessions
Matson: State DoT Suspected Molasses Leak in 2012
Taxpayers on hook for Honolulu Harbor molasses clean up
UHERO: Hawaii's Energy Future
Life, Liberty and Property: Robert Thomas Talks To Grassroot Institute
State RFP for "Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System"
Only 186 Civil Unions in 2013
PR: According to the state Department of Health, there were 730 civil unions in 2012, with the most -- 116 -- coming in January, the first month civil unions were available. There were 23,723 marriages in 2012.
From January through May of this year, according to the department, there were 186 civil unions. There were 8,790 marriages.
BBC 2013: The Gay People Against Gay Marriage
Related: Gay Divorce: Abercrombie Special Session for Arizona ‘Pregnant Man’?
read ... Yes, it's true. Gays are a small minority.
Art Censor to Choose Art for Rail Stations
SA: On Sept. 4, Paulette Kaanohiokalani Kaleikini and her family obtained permission from Hawaii Tourism Authority President Mike McCartney to cover the “Forgotten Inheritance” mural by Hans Ladislaus, 16 years after the artwork was dedicated. On Thursday evening they quietly returned to remove the layers of black cloth they had used to obscure the mural.
“We took it down because we arrived at an understanding between all the parties,” Kaleikini told the Star-Advertiser on Friday. “The main thing is the message did get out that we are not happy with that mural.”
Kaleikini, who has led efforts to protect Hawaiian remains from disturbance by construction, said she hopes the case leads to more discussion and involvement of Native Hawaiians in decisions about public art.
“For instance, the rail project that’s coming up is going to display a lot of public art in their stations, so I’ve asked to get involved in that committee,” she said. (Was this the purpose all along?)
Reality: Bones at the Convention Center: Mark Twain vs Mike McCartney
read ... Money?
Unscientific: Anti-GMO, Anti-Fracking Hype Rejected by Progressives
DK: The Daily KOS might seem like a friendly home for an anti-GMO screed, but poor "Karen from Maui" found herself hammered by intelligent progressives who are sick and tired of anti-scientific claptrap. Here are the best quotes:
Ban Nock writes: "Environmentalists are their own worst enemies they don't need any assistance from corporations. If anything Corporations in being profit orientated give Environmentalists the only shred of credibility they have.
Environmentalists have said the end of the world is coming so often and so stridently for ever issue that they are no longer believed. It's impossible to tell what really is an important issue and what's irrelevant. And yes, environmentalists are often unscientific, they are more like religions.
Enviros have so tarnished their image that my first reaction to any statement from their groups is "this is more than likely bullshit". And I'm not alone. The word environmentalist carries an image of unreasonable preachy hippies such that many environmental orgs have begun calling themselves conservation groups.
You all made your bed, lie in it....
LakeSuperior writes: Here is a specific example of enviros being unscientific.....the total embrace by large portions of the United States green environmental movement and by activists political subcultures of the Gasland conflation/fabrication bubble.
A central piece of Gasland theology is that the oil and gas industry is exempt from the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. This belief is widespread and propagated by national enviro organizations when it is not true.....its is just fabrication for dramatic effect at the beginning of the Gasland movie.
Many environmental groups and leaders are swimming in this Gasland bubble of non-reality, non-science, non-engineering, nonsense.
This kind of conduct and operations by environmental organizations is an anti-science/anti-engineering campaign. Such a campaign is not much different in principle than what they do down at the Creationism Museum. Just because enviros are on the left does not mean they have a license to engage in scientific misconduct and somehow call what they do environmental advocacy.
The enviro organization embrace of Gasland is an act of scientific misconduct by much of the US environmental movement.
JJWilcox writes: Technically there is no scientific evidence to support the concern over GMO. So all of this hysteria is demonstrably unscientific.
Here is an editorial in Science magazine (including a couple of Nobel Laureates) expressing their support for GMO: http://www.sciencemag.org/...
read ... A Screed goes Sideways
Gabbard Outraged Over Non-Existent 'Monsanto Protection Act'
CB: The email comes from Gabbard's campaign, but Gabbard has also been actively concerned about GMOs through her congressional office. Her 2nd Congressional District includes Kauai and the Big Island, hotbeds of anti-GMO activism.
There isn't actually a "Monsanto Protection Act" per se. Formally, it's known the Farmer Assurance Provision, contained in section 735 of a huge budget bill passed by Congress in March. But critics, including Gabbard, have taken to calling the measure by a name they feel defines its real purpose.
Gabbard spoke out against the Farmer Assurance Provision "rider" — the congressional term for a proviso added to legislation — when it was attached to a "continuing resolution" measure in March that kept the U.S. budget funded for six more months. In April she expressed her concerns to Tom Vilsack, the U.S. secretary of agriculture. And she has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to require labeling of genetically engineered food.
Now the congresswoman fears that the provision will be extended for another three months. That's because the current continuing resolution — a stopgap measure known as a "CR" — that has funded Washington's budget since March 30 expires at the end of September.
Heather Fluit, Gabbard's press secretary in D.C., told Civil Beat Friday that the provision in the current CR would automatically be extended "unless language is added to specifically remove it." On Friday, the House voted 230-189 to continue appropriations for fiscal year 2014 through Dec. 15.
(NOTE: Gabbard's Chris Butler Cult owns Down to Earth Markets. Of course 'natural' food sales benefit from anti-GMO hype. This is a conflict of interest.)
CB: New Facebook Page Spoofs Hawaii Anti-GMO Group
read ... Gabbard Conflict of Interest
Honolulu ‘Bike Mom’ to Run for City Council
CB: Natalie Iwasa, aka Bike Mom for those of you plugged into civic discussion in our state, says she’s decided to run for the Honolulu City Council seat being vacated by Stanley Chang (who is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Colleen Hanabusa.)...
She’s scheduled her first fundraiser for Oct. 13, at Kuapa Isle in Hawaii Kai.
read ... Honolulu ‘Bike Mom’ to Run for City Council
Lawmakers seek charity to fund 'return-to-home'
SA: At a news conference Friday at the state Capitol, Mizuno and Cabanilla appealed for the public's help to raise money for a plane ticket so a homeless man living on the streets for the past few weeks could return to New Mexico.
Christopher Bettis, 37, said he answered a newspaper advertisement for a job at a towing company and came to Hawaii with the expectation of work. When he arrived, he said, he was informed by the company that the job was no longer available....
The lawmakers asked for the public's help to raise about $525 for a plane ticket so Bettis could return Monday and live with his sister in New Mexico. Mizuno and Bob Fowler, a retiree who lives in Ala Moana, each pledged $100. Bettis' sister promised $100. Cabanilla said she would chip in money as a "last resort."
The lawmakers asked that money from the public be sent directly to Bettis through Mizuno's office....
A few hours after the news conference, a sheepish Mizuno contacted reporters with a retraction. The vice speaker had spoken with the towing company. While Bettis had applied for a job and had been interviewed, Mizuno said, there apparently was no firm job offer. He was no longer confident in Bettis' story....
"In my eagerness to help Chris I did not take the time to verify his story," he explained in a state- ment. "It has come to my attention that he may have been less than candid about the particulars of his situation."
read ... Lawmakers seek charity to fund 'return-to-home'
Oahu Electric Rates Drop as Oil Cost Drops
SA: The bill for a typical household on Oahu using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month is $203.06 in September, $7.08 lower than in August. The September rate of 32.3 cents a kilowatt-hour is the lowest since May when it was 31.8 cents a kilowatt-hour.
The decline in Oahu's electric rate was primarily due to a drop in the price for low-sulfur fuel oil, which accounts for more than 50 percent of a customer's bill, a HECO spokesman said.
HECO paid $118.37 for a barrel of LSFO in September compared with $131.01 in August. Oahu is the only island where LSFO is burned for power generation. The other islands use a mix of diesel, medium-sulfur fuel oil and naptha.
read ... Good news for Consumers = Bad News for Green Energy Scammers
HECO starts new policy on PV purchases
HNN: The policy change is found on Hawaiian Electric's web page under the heading Net Energy Metering. The letter states customers and contractors must call HECO before they sign a contract to install or expand a photovoltaic solar system....
HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg said the policy change was made to safeguard the utility's electrical circuits. He said having people call the power company before they install solar gives HECO a chance to figure out if a circuit needs to be modified to accommodate a new PV system.
"If you have too much solar without protective equipment on the circuit it can damage our lines and our transformers, even our sub-stations. And then we all end up paying for it," he said.
read ... HECO starts new policy on PV purchases
Dobelle refuses to step down after reports criticize his spending
Former DoE Teacher to be Tried in Hilo Shooting? Psychiatrists Disagree
HTH: Whyne, a former special education teacher at Pahoa High School, is accused of shooting 32-year-old Faafetai Fiu to death with a 9 mm pistol on Bayfront Highway near Mooheau Park in downtown Hilo on Dec. 29.
Deputy Prosecutor Jack Matsukawa said afterwards that two of the doctors found Whyne unfit to proceed, while a third proclaimed him fit. (But somehow he was fit to teach at Pahoa HS.)
read ... Hearing set in Bayfront shooting case
Another Day, Another Escape
SA: The public's help is being sought locating a man who failed to return to the Laumaka Work Furlough Center in Honolulu Thursday morning, the state Department of Public Safety said.
Ernest Vierra is a work furlough inmate who was discovered missing after a headcount was conducted at Laumaka at about 8:20 a.m.
read ... Escape
Spanish Firms Complete Dome for Haleakala -- World’s Largest Solar Telescope
LAHT: The 3.5 million-euro ($4.7-million) contract to create the “house of the telescope,” as Gometegui executive Iñaki Gento calls it, was awarded by the U.S. National Solar Observatory.
The ATST is set to begin operations in 18 months at the Haleakala High Altitude Observatory site on the Hawaiian island of Maui....
After undergoing trials, the dome will be disassembled for transport to Hawaii by sea in January.
read ... Coming to Maui
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