Ideology Yes, Hawaii No: Hirono Votes Against S. Korea Free Trade

Hawaii Solar Bubble: Installations jump 68% in headlong rush towards Threshold

Rail Debate: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda on Island Insights

Honolulu Traffic vs. Star-Advertiser: Rail Job Count 650, not 17,250

Cato Backs Suit Challenging DHHL Residents’ Property Tax Discount

Geothermal Prep? OHA Admin Appointed State Energy Administrator

If elected, Lingle seeks to ‘stand up’ for tourism

Former Gov. Linda Lingle would like to be the "point person on tourism" if elected to one of Hawaii's U.S. Senate seats next year.

"I want to be the person to be able to stand up for this industry," Lingle told a Maui Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Monday….

Lingle added that she had never hid the fact that she is a Republican, although party members in Washington would have to accept that she will not always be "in line" with other Republicans' ideas.

"I never put the party ahead of me, the county or the state," she said, adding she won't do it at the federal level either.

In her outline of goals if elected, Lingle said she would push for federal funding for things such as the Maui Research & Technology Park and Science City atop Haleakala.

While she said many would say, "'Oh but, (Sen.) Dan Inouye can take care of that,'" she said that may not totally be the case.

Lingle said that Inouye has said he has gotten his appropriations through with the aid of the relationship he had with former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican.

"That relationship no longer exists," Lingle said.

Lingle commended Inouye for his work but said Hawaii may need a Republican in the Senate, as Republicans may take more control in Congress.

"We need someone on both sides," Lingle added.

And then there is Hirono: Ideology Yes, Hawaii No: Hirono Votes Against S. Korea Free Trade

read … Lingle

Governor’s New Communications Director Forwards anti-Obama Chain Email

ILind: Governor Neil Abercrombie’s newly appointed communications director said he didn’t read a chain email falsely attacking President Obama for planning to honor a controversial Vietnam War-era critic of U.S. policy (Jane Fonda, ATB) before forwarding the email to a group of friends….

The email, an updated version of a conservative message that has been circulating on the internet for more than a decade, said Obama is planning to honor the controversial actress Jane Fonda as a “Woman of the Century.”

Fonda became a symbol of anti-war activism in the early 1970s, a reputation which was cemented by her highly-publicized visit to Hanoi, capital of North Vietnam, in 1972, while U.S. involvement in the war continued. The email savagely attacks her as a traitor and urges those receiving the email to forward it to others “so that everyone will know a traitor is about to be honored” by the president.

But it isn’t true, according to several different fact-checking sites that examined the email claims. It turns out the “honor” it refers to was Fonda’s inclusion in an ABC News profile of 100 “great women” of the 20th century broadcast in 1999, almost a decade before Obama’s election.

See FactCheck.org, About.com’s “Urban Legends: ‘Hanoi Jane’ Email Blends Fact and Fiction,” and “Hanoi’d with Jane” at Snopes.com.

I was at the old Civic Auditorium in Honolulu on November 25, 1971, when a capacity crowd of about 5,000 people, mostly young military personnel, jammed the building to cheer Fonda’s touring FTA show (no, not Federal Transit Administration, in this case it stood for “F___ the Army”).

(Hippie Abercrombie—who was probably in the crowd with Ian Lind in 1971 doing their best to put Pol Pot into power--now has his communications managed by someone who is sending out emails denouncing even the rumor of any association with FTA. Can you say “Cognitive Dissonance?”)

And here’s What Obama was doing at that time: Obama’s OTHER Controversial Church

Here’s one description Ian Lind was able to find of the show….

Discover the Networks: Jane Fonda

read … Abercrombie goes Full Circle

Opponents Intimidated by Lingle Fundraising Success?

"Setting a high goal and then collecting it is one way to intimidate your opponents," says Neal Milner, the University of Hawaii's emeritus professor of political science.

Politicians will say that the cost of their campaigns is driven by the cost of the media, producing ads, testing the ads and then printing and broadcasting the ads.

"So if you have $10 million, you can run more ads than if you have $8 million," Milner says.

Because politics is an uncertain endeavor and you are never really sure what drives people to vote for you, it is best to continue to do everything you can, Milner adds.

A Lingle campaign is not reluctant to spend money. While Lingle doesn't operate out of a fancy headquarters, she is all the way into job creation with her campaigns. For instance, at the end of her gubernatorial re-election campaign, she listed 24 people on staff.

Already this year Lingle appears to have picked up much of her old campaign and state communications team, including Lenny Klompus, Russell Pang and Corrie Heck. It is not known if they all will be paid staffers, but if Lingle promises a jobs program during her campaign, you can bet it will start with the campaign team.

Also, Lingle went live with a state-of-the-art campaign Web page on the day of her Senate campaign announcement. Accompanying the Web page is a social media rollout featuring Twitter updates, a Facebook page and YouTube videos.

Milner notes that all of those expenses are part of the tactics used by President Barack Obama in his 2008 campaign.

"The use of an increasingly sophisticated grassroots effort is expensive because it is labor intensive, but it is valuable," Milner says.

read … Lingle jobs program starts with her campaign team

Business Execs, PACs Boost Hanabusa Campaign

Many Hawaii business leaders continue to show support for Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, according to Federal Election Commission records detailing donations to her 1st Congressional District re-election campaign.

Hanabusa, who nearly doubled Republican opponent Charles Djou in fundraising in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, also attracted significant backing from special interest groups.

Djou received donations from executives to a lesser degree, and only one political action committee donation worth $200.

Hanabusa, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, also received several donations from defense contractors…. (see list)

read … $400,000 for Hanabada

CEOs, Developers Pump Up Hannemann's Campaign Coffers: Former Coke Dealer, Pay to Play Mitsunaga Give to Gabbard

Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann's campaign donation ledger is a litany of names that — like Hannemann — are familiar in Hawaii business and politics.

And though Hannemann far outpaced fellow Democratic candidate and Honolulu City Council member Tulsi Gabbard in the campaign finance reporting period that ended Sept. 30, Gabbard reeled in her own group of supporters — many of them in the construction and development industries — last quarter.

Gabbard and Hannemann both want to succeed Rep. Mazie Hirono, who is giving up her 2nd Congressional District seat to run for the U.S. Senate job that Sen. Daniel Akaka will leave when he retires next year.

In the most recent quarter of fundraising, donors gave Hannemann $294,745. He loaned himself an additional $12,000, bringing his total in the one month since he announced his candidacy to $306,745.

Gabbard pulled in less than half that amount: $125,398, including a $14,858 donation she made to herself to pay for airline tickets.

Gabbard Supporters You May Know:

• Chan OK Mitsunaga, vice president of construction management firm Mitsunaga & Associates: $500
• Dennis Mitsunaga, president and CEO of construction management firm Mitsunaga & Associates: $500
• Terri Ann Otani, corporate secretary for Mitsunaga & Associates: $500
• Chad Tsuneyoshi, owner of car rental service Hawaii Eride and president of Mixed Martial Arts Hawaii: $1,500

Related: Convicted Cocaine Dealer replaces Advertiser columnist as Ernie Martin’s Campaign Treasurer

Good News: A small elite no longer runs Hawaii -- Bad News: Mufi thinks he can change that

read … Where the Money Is

Global Warming “Scientists” Just Like the Anti-APEC Protesters

The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance helped organize the rally in an effort to ensure that indigenous voices are heard by APEC, said Poka Laenui, an alliance leader. Rather than "free trade" as advocated by APEC, he said, the group supports "fair trade" with reasonable wages and work conditions for all and the right to organize.

"Oftentimes people misconstrue it as a protest," Laenui said. "What we are doing is rallying to express ourselves, trying to give some direction to APEC. We believe in globalization of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in the right to maintain a people's culture without transnational capitalism swooping in and taking over the mom-and-pop stores, the saimin stands."

Laenui, who heard Bierbaum's speech, said it was "well documented and well presented," but he said APEC needs to listen to the people of the low island nations of the Pacific that are on the front lines of rising sea levels.

In her presentation, Bierbaum, a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, highlighted the devastating impact that climate change will have in developing countries.

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

read … Its all Hype

Squib: 30 show at First Anti-APEC Protest

But the mood on Monday was not so welcoming to the upcoming 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, planned for November. Hand painted cardboard signs leaned against the theater's entrance: “APEC = Global Warming,” “Fair trade,” and “Capitalism sucks we need a revolution.”

More than 30 people gathered under the shade of the theatre and on the lawn nearby to protest APEC. The event was one of the first of likely many protests leading up to the planned meeting that will bring business and government leaders from 21 countries to Honolulu.

Meanwhile, just two blocks away, about 10 Honolulu Police Department officers and their squad cars were camped out at the parking lot of Saint Francis School.

CB: Occupy Wall Street Message Spreads to Kauai

Video: Occupy Hilo draws usual suspects

HNN: APEC protests begin at global warming meeting

KHON: Anti-APEC protestors rally at UH Manoa

To read the ACLU's APEC first amendment toolkit click here.

read … Squib

Act 221 Scammers Back Assisted “Suicide”

FIDELL: …maybe it’s the best of times for a bill of the nature – they help change the subject and get us back to basics. It would in any event keep our minds off our fiscal problems. It would affect our way of life, and our quality of life at the end of life. We are at the painful intersection of cutting things short or prolonging them with modern medicine. We haven’t yet worked this out. Maybe we will this year.

Last year’s House Bill 1383 is at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1383. It was referred to the Health and Judiciary Committees, It was never set for hearing. Last year’s Senate Bill 803 is at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=803. It was referred to the Health and Judiciary and Judiciary Committees there too. At the recommendation of the chair, the bill was held.

But it’s not over for Death with Dignity. Given the two-year legislative cycle, HB1383 AND SB803 are still alive for consideration in the 2012 session. New bills on the subject may also be introduced, and we can expect that the same right to life questions will be raised. It’s anybody’s guess what will happen.

Want to get a handle on the subject? Blake Oshiro will appear on ThinkTech Radio this Wednesday, October 19th. We’ll talk with him to find out more about Death with Dignity. He’s be joined by Robert Orfali, a computer scientist.

read … Facilitate Elder Abuse

Late financial report leaves fiscal 2010 picture unclear

Four months into fiscal year 2012, Hawaii has still not officially closed the books on fiscal year 2010.

The lag in completing the state's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is not only an embarrassment for state administrators, it has had some real-world consequences.

The state has chosen not to sell new general-obligation bonds, fearing potential investors might be spooked about the state's finances. Nurses at the state's public hospitals have put off binding arbitration over a new contract, in part because the state's last audited bottom line is for June 30, 2009 -- 28 months ago.

Kalbert Young, state chief financial officer, said the financial report for fiscal year 2010 would likely be finished within the next three weeks.

More information: Go to the state Department of Accounting and General Services website at hawaii.gov/dags/accounting-division/Annual%20Financial%20Report.

read … Books still open

41 States - including Hawaii - Submit Requests to the U.S. DOE for a NCLB Waiver, But Critics Say That Will Hurt Schools in the Future

Thomas Stuart, an outspoken public school math teacher living on the island of Hawaii, believes Hawaii’s school district is taking a step in the wrong direction.

Stuart said this move by the DOE shows “desperation”: “The DOE is trying to dodge the tightening noose of ESEA and NCLB accountability while maintaining the pretense of compliance to keep those all important fed bucks flowing."

Stuart said in Hawaii, the DOE has not managed its responsibilities properly, and in fact, never established a curriculum for school children.

“Had the Hawaii DOE done the responsible thing when ESEA 02/NCLB first took effect back in FY 02, they would have promulgated an academic curriculum for grades K and 1 the first year, added to it for grade 2 the second year and so on until by the deadline year of 2014 we might indeed have been able to say we can teach all kids the basics in reading and computation skills that they might be proficient,” Stuart said.

“Instead DOE backed by the teacher union fought this attempt to make teachers accountable for results tooth and nail. DOE established all sorts of highly advanced ‘standards’, which, absent a curriculum, were nothing but pie in the sky.”

Stuart said the Hawaii DOE has pushed ahead a “mock compliance effort” with little success.

“The first year as I recall, only 3 percent of the kids had to test out ‘proficient’ in math according to how DOE defined ‘proficient’ for a school to have made ‘adequate yearly progress’ with seemingly exponential increases in the adequate yearly progress every couple of years until by the year 2014, 100 per cent of the kids would test out ‘proficient.’ This scheme fell apart for all to see when more than two thirds of the schools were labeled as ‘failing’ for having not met adequate yearly progress.”

Stuart said that “desperate measures were called for” and the old contractor who provided and scored the annual tests was fired and a new contractor hired. He recounts that tests were “watered down” one year with the result that "miraculous sudden improvement was noted the following year.”

read … Waiver

‘Rail~Volution’ Draws Honolulu Officials to DC

Among the attendees are City Council members Ikaika Anderson and Romy Cachola, Deputy Managing Director Chrystn Eads and Transit Oriented Development Manager Terrance Ware.

Earlier this month, the City Council approved accepting $17,500 to pay for the trip from Pacific Resource Partnership, a carpenters union organization that advocates unionized construction….

Inouye was scheduled to meet with City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, City Council member Breene Harimoto and HART board members Ivan Lui-Kwan and Keslie Hui, according to a spokesman for the senator.

read … Rail-Volution

1909 Law a Product of St Damien’s Work?

The provision reads, "[W]hen a duly licensed physician or osteopathic physician pronounces a person affected with any disease hopeless and beyond recovery and gives a written certificate to that effect to the person affected or the person's attendant, nothing herein shall forbid any person from giving or furnishing any remedial agent or measure when so requested by or on behalf of the affected person."

The provision likely arose out of now-canonized Father Damien's missionary work on the Island of Molokai with those who suffered from leprosy, experts said.

Opponents of assisted suicide like the Catholic Church and those who represent the disabled say Compassion and Choices is spreading misinformation.

Karen DiCostanzo of Aloha Life Advocates said the 1909 law was only intended to allow doctors to give patients nontraditional remedies for illnesses such as leprosy, tuberculosis and asthma.

Read … St Damien

Increase In Workplace Meth Use Recorded

According to a quarterly workforce drug study, the use of crystal methamphetamine rose from 0.4% to 0.7% from this quarter to the last.

The slight 0.3% was recorded by Diagnostic Laboratory Services and is well below the 1.1% use reported in the first quarter of 2011.

In September 2010, a mainland drug tester released the results of a 5 year study indicating that Hawaii's meth use was 410% greater than the national average….

Synthetic urine use dropped from 1.6% to 1.4%. Use of marijuana (THC) dropped from 3.2% to 3%. Cocaine use also dropped from 0.4% to 0.3% while the use of opiates remained the same at 0.2%.

Read … Dope Numbers

Taser Case Fails to Stun Full Panel of 9th Circuit

Police officers in Washington evaded federal excessive-force claims from a pregnant woman whom they stunned three times with a Taser for refusing to sign a speeding ticket, but they may be liable for assault and battery in state court, the full 9th Circuit ruled Monday.

Deciding two excessive-force cases involving Tasers, the en banc panel likewise ruled that officers in Hawaii are immune from the Fourth Amendment claims of a woman who they Tased during the arrest of her husband for a domestic disturbance.

The 10-judge panel in Pasadena was sharply divided, however, as to whether the two incidents amounted to excessive force. The majority found that they did, while Chief Judge Alex Kozinski argued that the Taser is a safe alternative to old-school police tools like the baton and the choke hold, and that both defendants had "breached the covenant of cooperation by refusing to comply with police orders."

The en banc panel found that the police officers in both cases have qualified immunity because the law governing the use of Tasers was not clearly established at the time.

In 2004, Seattle police officers deployed their Tasers three times on Malaika Brooks and dragged her from her car after she refused to sign a speeding ticket. She was seven months pregnant at the time. Prosecutors charged her with resisting arrest, but a jury was unable to reach a verdict and the charge was dismissed.

Jayzel Mattos got in the way of the Maui police officers arresting her intoxicated husband in 2006 after a domestic dispute. An officer used the Taser on Mattos once and arrested her for harassment and obstructing government operations. The charges were later dropped.

Both women filed Fourth Amendment excessive-force claims, and both enjoyed an initial victory at the trial court level.

read … Tased

Isles involved in outreach campaign to get homeless vets off the streets

Oahu and Kauai are two of 28 locations around the country chosen to participate in a new campaign to help homeless veterans.

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has set a goal: eliminate homelessness among the nation's veteran population by 2015….

In a Jan. 25 count of Oahu's homeless population, 332 people were found to be veterans, 185 "sheltered" and 147 "unsheltered."

read … Homeless

Luddites Demand GMO Labeling so they can Herd their Sheep to Boycott

A group of activists at the scene discussed the GMO labeling issue, saying that it’s not only the labeling they want. Ideally they would like to stop GMO processing completely.

The activists found common ground with the Occupy Wall Street protests, in saying that it was unfair that one company could defy the public’s interest in labeling the contents of their product. In this equation, some of the protesters feel that the real problem is with the legislative and economic systems also currently being debated by some Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Three police officers quietly observed from the entrance to Monsanto until the protest ended at noon, as scheduled.

Millions Morons Against Monsanto say they will continue to organize monthly protests until the Maui GMO labeling bill is passed and executed.

Reality: The Future of Fraud

read … Luddite Propaganda Tool

OHA Holds Annual Meetings on Hawaii Island

Native Hawaiians on Hawai‘i Island will get an opportunity next week to provide feedback to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) at a community forum, as well as a Board of Trustees meeting.

read … Cronies to Gather, Divide Spoils

Kawailoa: Mafia First Wind buys 30 Turbines from Siemens

BOSTON, Oct 18, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- First Wind, an independent U.S.-based wind energy company, today announced that its subsidiary, Kawailoa Wind LLC, has finalized an agreement with Siemens to purchase 30 SWT-2.3-101 wind turbines for the company's proposed 69 MW Kawailoa Wind project, representing the company's first purchase from Siemens.

Everything you need to know about First Wind: Hawaii Wind Developer tied to Largest-ever asset seizure by anti-Mafia police

What the turbines will look like in 10-20 years: Wind Energy's Ghosts

read … Kawailoa

PUNA: Redistricting hearing held in Kea’au

Many of the folks who testified before the County Redistricting Commission also shared their thoughts a few days earlier at a meeting in Pahoa. Most want to see Puna get two county council district seats when the commission redraws the island’s political boundaries based 2010 U.S. Census data.

Totally Related: Feds: Medical Marijuana Laws and Hawaii County Council Drive Growth in Drug Trade

watch … VIDEO

Hacker Vacuums $1.2 M from American Samoa Government Account

KHJ News in Pago Pago has been told that two Treasury staff members were contacted by a man by phone and asked for certain information which may have inadvertently helped the transaction.

It says while the funds were released from the American Samoan account, the transaction was stopped in Vietnam.

One senior government official said the incident illustrates how insecure and vulnerable the government’s financial management system is.

He says he is bewildered that confidential information could be provided over the phone without any verification of the person seeking the information.

Related: The Tsunami and Mufi’s Samoan Connection

read … Hacker

High Levels of Mercury Found in Hawaii Fish Jerky

Dangerous levels of mercury have been discovered in fish jerky sold in Hawaii stores, according to a study published last week in the Journal of Environmental Health.

The study found that mercury levels in marlin jerky were five to 28 times federal recommended limits. Such levels are believed to pose a particular danger for brain development in fetuses and young children. High mercury levels have also been tied to memory and vision loss and heart disease.

State health officials urged people to be cautious about the study, which only tested jerky, not fresh marlin. Peter Oshiro, environmental health program manager at the Hawaii Department of Health, said the agency is reviewing the study, which was published in a respected health journal and reviewed by other scientists before publication.

“Once people hear the word mercury or radiation a lot of people panic and it’s not needed,” he said.

read … Mercury

Hawaii-based Army soldier from Texas killed

The Department of Defense announced Monday Army Staff Sgt. Houston Taylor of Hurst, Texas, died Thursday in Kunar province after enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire.

The 25-year-old soldier was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks on Oahu.

He arrived to Schofield Barracks on March 1, 2010 and was assigned as a section leader for the Brigade Focused Targeting Force.

His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart and Army Commendation Medal.

He was married with two children.

read … Afghanistan