‘Lodging Development’ Planned for Hana Ranch?
Meet the Insurance Executive Behind Assisted Suicide in Hawaii
Destined to Follow in Greece’s Footsteps?
Abercrombie, Gay Activists Plan Push for Gay Marriage in Next Legislative Session
SA: ...the issue of same-sex unions ... re-ignited in the courts here this month, as a federal judge rejected a lawsuit contending that Hawaii's ban of same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. The case is headed for appeal, but it creates no legal blockage for the Legislature to turn around the prohibition. In fact, the ruling seems to invite legislative recourse on the issue….
Federal Judge Alan Kay made clear in his 117-page ruling on Aug. 8 that simple legislation, not a constitutional amendment, could turn around Hawaii's marriage law. If marriage were to be "restructured," he wrote, it could "be done by a democratically elected legislature," not necessarily as a constitutional amendment.
"Judge Kay was pretty clear that if the plaintiffs want the change, they should do it through the Legislature," said James Hochberg, attorney for the Christian-based Hawaii Family Forum. "I don't think the Legislature wants to do it."
The Abercrombie administration is likely not to decide at least until November whether to propose same-sex marriage in the next session of the Legislature in January, a spokesman said.
"The gay activists are at the Legislature asking for these remedies all the time," Hochberg said, "and they file a lawsuit and then go back to the Legislature and say, you know, 'We can settle this lawsuit if you guys pass it,' and so it's sort of a negotiation thing, it seems to me. I think the people in the state of Hawaii don't want to have marriage include anything more than one man and one woman."
Hochberg pointed to Equality Hawaii's July 20 "Equality Gala," where nearly $70,000 was raised, assuming that it would be piled "into politicians' war chests and stuff like that."
Donald L. Bentz, the organization's executive director, said Equality Hawaii is "definitely considering introducing something" in Hawaii's upcoming Legislature, and was looking at options "to make sure that the timing on everything is right."
"We have every intention of working ... with our legislative and community partners in the weeks and months to come on advancing marriage equality legislation," Bentz said. "We are hopeful that the will exists in both chambers to introduce such legislation."
"I know we have strong support in both the House and the Senate side," said Tambry Young, president of Citizens for Equal Rights, another same-sex marriage group. "Once the general election gets over in November, I think then there will be a stronger move where the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities would want to go," she said. They also are engaged in "a lot of talk" about moving to repeal nationally DOMA, which the Obama administration has opposed.
"Formally, nothing has come down as far as what course we're going to take," Young said.
read … It all depends on the results of the Election
If Lingle Loses, Hawaii Will Be a One Party State Again
Borreca: Today the party is more a question mark than a statement.
With Rep. Barbara Marumoto's retirement, Rep. Kymberly Pine's switch to a City Council race and Rep. Gil Riviere's primary election defeat, the GOP is just barely there. The eight state House members could slip to five. GOP Sen. Sam Slom has a general election race, but the veteran legislator is considered the favorite against Democratic newcomer Kurt Lajala.
There is some potential for former Sen. Fred Hemmings to return, as well as former GOP Rep. Colleen Meyer. Hemmings will have to defeat Laura Thielen, who handily disposed of incumbent Sen. Pohai Ryan in the primary, and Meyer will have to take out the well-known veteran Democrat, Sen. Clayton Hee….
It was Lingle, who after her gubernatorial defeat in 1998, threw herself into rebuilding the local GOP as its most dynamic party chair. She was able to both pump up the party regulars and recruit scores of likely supporters and potential candidates.
Lingle's hard work was reflected in the state House opening in 2000 with 19 GOP members. Today Lingle is gone, the House could be at five minority members and if everything doesn't break the GOP's way, Slom could be the lone GOP senator….
The last two Hawaii Polls have shown that Lingle would lose by a nearly 20 percentage point margin to U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono in the U.S. Senate race. So Lingle's election is certainly not an assured outcome.
A Lingle defeat also would do much to move the Hawaii GOP from the emergency room to hospice care.
read … One Party State
Democrats Counting on Hordes of Obamabots to Save Lazy Mazie
SA: Many of the ingredients that contributed to Lingle's 52 percent to 47 percent victory over Hirono in the 2002 governor's race are missing this year, while Hirono's highest obstacle that year — lower Democratic turnout — may be solved with Hawaii-born President Barack Obama on the ballot for re-election and the political control of the Senate at stake….
A district-by-district analysis (of 2002) by the Honolulu Advertiser showed that Lingle did well in traditionally more conservative districts in East Honolulu and the Windward side, as well as swing districts in Mililani and Kapolei and in growing communities on Maui and Hawaii island. Lingle claimed 14 of the 16 House districts the moderate Case had won in the primary, an indication that Case voters broke for Lingle.
While Hirono held most of the traditionally Democratic territory across the state, voter turnout in many of those districts had fallen….
OVERALL VOTER turnout was 57 percent, down from 68.6 percent in 1998. But the story was in the raw numbers: In an election decided by about 17,000 votes, Hirono had nearly 25,000 votes less than Cayetano did four years before, while Lingle had nearly 2,000 votes less than she had earned in the previous campaign….
Despite an aggressive advertising campaign by Lingle before the primary, 17 percent of primary voters chose Republican ballots, compared with 29 percent in the primary in 2002. In raw numbers, Lingle received about 44,000 votes this year in the primary to Hirono's 134,000. In 2002, Lingle received about 70,000 votes in the primary to Hirono's 76,000 (in a 3-way primary race)….
read … 2002 Redux?
More cuts to The Bus begin Sunday
KITV: The loud and vocal push back over changes to 21 city bus routes that began June 3 has yet to subside. Even so, Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle's administration is moving forward with changes to 12 additional routes Sunday as the city looks to save $10 million in fuel and labor costs….
One of the most notable changes is to the No. 4 bus, a popular route among students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. However, the popular route will no longer run down the length of Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki.
“I don't understand why they would cut the four,” said Brandon Pickhardt, who was catching the No. 4 bus on Saturday with his friends. “It always seems to be really crowded….”
On Wednesday, the city council passed a unanimous resolution that urges the mayor to find the necessary funds to restore some, if not all, of the cuts to The Bus.
Another resolution, which also passed with nine votes, suspends the city's mandate that 27 to 33 percent of the cost of operating bus service must come from the fare box.
Meanwhile, Councilman Tom Berg is urging Carlisle to reopen Bill 14, the city's $1.96 billion operating budget. Berg wants Carlisle to revisit the bill so that funds can be moved for operation of The Bus.
For more information on the bus changes go to http://thebus.org/updates/ServiceChange_20120819.asp
HW: Honolulu’s Big Bus Shibai
read … The Bus
New Lane on H1 Eases Traffic, Concerns Rail Advocates
SA: (Eventually there will be an accident. SA is setting the stage to use this accident as an excuse to eliminate the 4th lane. It is critical to keep Honolulu traffic jammed in order to generate demand fro rail.) Meanwhile …
Sluyter said drivers can email their feedback to the DOT's public affairs office at dotpao@hawaii.gov.
Sluyter did not respond when asked how many comments DOT officials have received but said, "As with any change we have received both positive and negative feedback. So far the feedback appears to be more on the positive side. We realize that restriping is not a perfect fix, but the DOT wanted to do something to try to help alleviate the bottleneck in this area. This demonstration project was chosen because it is a relatively inexpensive project ($200,000) that could be completed in several weeks as opposed to a build-out of the freeway, which would cost an estimated $650 million and require a complete shutdown of the freeway for an extended period of time."
Several companies and organizations that dispatch drivers told the Star-Advertiser that they have no complaints about the narrower lanes and have not experienced accidents.
"We have no issues with it," said Roger Morton, president and general manager of Oahu Transit Services, which operates TheBus.
"We haven't heard anything negative regarding re-striping," said John DeLong, president of Hawaiian Cement.
Dale Evans, president of Charley's Taxi, said, "I think it's working well. It's good we have the extra capacity."
Gary McCarty, a Realtor from Nuuanu, also supports the project and applauds the efforts by the DOT to do something to ease congestion along the H-1 freeway….
Smoother traffic means Boisvert can shave 10 minutes off of a fare from Honolulu Airport to Waikiki….
read … Rail Advertiser
Inouye: Raise Taxes to Pay for Rail, Akaka Bill, and Hirono
MN: U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye will turn 88 next month. And, if his health keeps holding up, the spry World War II hero said on Saturday that he will run for another six-year term in four years. (Until he is 98)
Inouye's been in Congress since 1959…. Democrats need numbers in Congress to deal with national debt (which Inouye did nothing to create) by, in part, making the top 1 percent of wage earners "pay their fair share" in taxes, he said.
Besides, Inouye said, "I'm supporting Mazie Hirono because I believe both philosophically and politically we seem to be on the same wavelength."….
Inouye also repeatedly stressed his support of allowing Congress to exercise its constitutional right, or "control the purse strings" and be able to deliver earmark funds for (un) necessary local projects, such as improving transportation options. (ie Rail)
"if it's the last thing I do," he will make sure the Akaka Bill passes. "I gave (Akaka) my word," he said.
read … Age 88
Message to Pattern Energy: ‘No Big Wind on Molokai!’
MN: The meeting was the second of three meetings this week organized by Pattern Energy and Biological Capital, which have recently formed the exploratory group Molokai Renewables LLC to study the feasibility of bringing a 200-megawatt wind turbine generating project to Molokai.
The community attitude toward this group of wind developers was perhaps best summed up by Kanohowailuku Helm, one of the organizers of the opposition group I Aloha Moloka’i (IAM): “Just go!”
The passionate emotions and frustrations felt by those opposed to this project came to the surface in shout outs that threatened any order to the meeting. Exclamations of, “stop lying!”, “speak clearly!” and “what about ‘no’ don’t you understand!” were heard when the audience was not satisfied with a given explanation.
A central question that led to the numerous outbursts involved the true intentions of Pattern Energy. The question: Would Pattern Energy recommend to the State of Hawaii an alternative to Big Wind if they determined that the Molokai community overwhelmingly opposed the project? “Listen to OUR truth,” implored the questioner.
After much equivocating, a representative of Pattern Energy said, “If the community doesn’t support this it will not happen.” This answer was met with boisterous applause….
When questioned about the 15 percent renewable energy penetration limit that has been reached on the Kaunakakai circuit, Alm said a new report on this problem will be issued by HECO in July. At this time no new solar energy projects can be installed because of the potential instability this could cause the power grid.
Colette Machado, chairperson for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said that the State of Hawaii, not OHA, will decide if wind farms can be built on Hawaiian ceded lands. She did add that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has publicly stated its policy of no wind farms on homestead land. Personally, Machado said, “I can’t see us (Molokai) being an industrial wasteland for Oahu.”
read … Message to Pattern Energy: ‘No Big Wind on Molokai!’
UH deserves a big, fat 'F' in wake of Donovan debacle
Shapiro: The University of Hawaii is giving us an object lesson on money-walking and BS-talking as we plant tongue in cheek and "flASHback" on the week's news that amused and confused:
» UH athletic director Jim Donovan was cleared of wrongdoing for losing $200,000 in the Stevie Wonder concert scam and then given a cushy new $200,000-a-year job. If he'd known that's how it works, he would have lost $400,000.
» UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple described Donovan's job transfer from the athletic department to the academic side as a "compromise." Right, a compromise between a whitewash and a cover-up.
» Apple, newly hired by UH for $439,008 a year, outlined the deal at a news conference described in the media as "bizarre," "bewildering" and "puzzling." This leadership gives new meaning to the old faculty joke: What do you call an administrator with half a brain? Gifted.
» UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, who promised accountability for the lost concert money, was nowhere to be seen as the week's turmoil played out. She sets the tone for failure and lets others work out the details of rewarding it.
read … MRC Greenwood
Islam Day Author Forces UPW, HGEA Members Out of a Job, Plans to Close Mayor Wright for Rail TOD
SA: Ouansafi said there was some initial pushback to changing the culture and some employees left, but that was because the previous lack of direction had left a lot of employees confused.
"Some of (the employees) gave up," he said. "Some of them forgot what public service was all about.
"If we don't have the hearts and the desire to be of service to the people that need us the most, then we do not belong in this agency."….
Gierlach, the board chairman, said Ouansafi is working with the board to find public-private partnerships to build more public housing.
"We are looking very closely at the Mayor Wright project to see how that might be transformed in light of the inevitable rail development that's coming," Gierlach said. He said the board was still in the planning stages and may make an announcement before the end of the year.
All You Need to Know: Hawaii “Islam Day” secretly marks September 11
read … Making Americans Unemployed, Homeless
Environmentalists jubilant over water ruling rejection
MN: The justices last week rejected for errors or omissions the Commission on Water Resource Management's decision to restore about a third of the stream water recommended by fellow board member Dr. Lawrence Miike.
The justices stated in its 88-page opinion that "the commission violated the public trust in its treatment of (stream) diversions."
The issue had pitted some business interests versus those of taro farmers and environmentalists who want to see more water returned to all four Na Wai Eha streams - Waikapu, Iao, Waiehu and Waihee - revitalizing traditional practices, aquatic life and the aquifer.
"Basically, we won on all counts, and we're very, very, very happy. It's hard to put it into words," said John Duey, a farmer and lead plaintiff with Hui o Na Wai Eha, an environmental group advocating for the restoration of traditional water rights.
However, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. and others who support the commission's 2010 decision - to return 12.5 million gallons per day to the Waihee and Waiehu streams, but nothing to the Iao and Waikapu streams - said the state Supreme Court's action won't necessarily change the status quo.
HC&S General Manager Rick Volner remained confident last week that the plantation would continue to have access to Na Wai Eha water for sugar cultivation.
He said that while the Supreme Court's ruling called for further review, the commission has more than an "adequate basis for its original conclusions" and would strike a beneficial balance.
read … Water
Maui Voter Doesn’t Have ID, Gets to Vote Anyway
These laws require people to apply for and go get and pay for (state)identification if they have no driver's license. This is known to hold down Democratic votes (because we Dems are ‘feral’)
You do not need a driver's license or any special ID to vote in this great state - or in most states. But that doesn't stop the volunteer poll worker from asking for ID. So I decided to refuse to provide ID and see what happened. I was met with nothing but warm aloha. The poll worker had to ask the supervisor what to do about me, and the supervisor asked me for my address and my date of birth, and to sign my name. Then they let me vote.
Lucky we live Hawaii, where voting is encouraged whether you're old or poor or even if you're a Democrat.
read … Democrats are a bunch of bums says one
Kauai Prosecutor candidates debate Tuesday
KGI: Incumbent County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and her opponent, Deputy County Attorney Justin Kollar, are scheduled to debate from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in the Exhibition Area.
The Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce is hosting the debate. Doors open to Chamber members at 5:30 p.m. and to the general public at 5:45 p.m. Admission is free.
read … Prosecutor
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