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Monday, October 29, 2012
October 29, 2012 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 7:01 PM :: 5420 Views

Ward Polls: A Laughable Embarrassment

Djou: Our Polls Show us Ahead

Report: Hirono, Hanabusa Tax Proposal Will Cost Hawaii $3.9B

Pre-Plus: Hirono Takes Credit for Others' Innovation

Study: HSTA Strongest Teachers' Union in US

Molokai: Big Cable RFP Should be Delayed

PRP Targets Liliha

VIDEO: Djou Launches New TV Ad

Ward ‘Research’, Star-Adv Claim 22 point Margin in Senate Race

SA: Lingle has the advantage among Republicans and independents,….

Retired Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, Lingle's campaign manager, attacked the Hawaii Poll as "another skewed poll from Ward Research whose methodology is wildly out of step with that of real political polling firms."

The Lingle campaign provided a memo from its pollster, Voter/Consumer Research of Washington, D.C., that contends the distribution in the Hawaii Poll is too Demo­cratic. Sixty percent of respondents in the Hawaii Poll said they usually vote for Demo­crats, while exit polls taken after previous elections put the number of Demo­crats at 40 percent to 45 percent of voters.

Ward has explained that the partisan distribution in the Hawaii Poll mirrors voting patterns in a state that has overwhelmingly favored Demo­crats. The poll asks voters which party they usually vote with, not whether they consider themselves Demo­crats, so a share of the 60 percent who said they usually vote Demo­cratic would likely describe themselves in other surveys as independents.

"Based on incredibly strong debates by Gov. Lingle, our most recent tracking poll shows this race is a statistical dead heat," Lee said. "During the debates, the voters — even those who are unlikely Lingle supporters — were able to see that Mazie Hirono does not have the leadership history and qualifications to be an effective U.S. senator.

PR: `Wacky’

Complete Debunk: Ward Polls: A Laughable Embarrassment

read … Hirono leads Lingle in U.S. Senate race by 22-point margin

Poll Shows Djou 11 points Ahead of Lingle

SA: Hana­busa ahead of Djou 52 percent to 41 percent, with 7 percent undecided. The results are similar to the last Hawaii Poll, in July, when Hana­busa led Djou 50 percent to 41 percent.

Voters (60% Dems) also have a more favorable opinion of Hana­­busa — 61 percent, than Djou — 56 percent. But the poll found that Djou's favorability rating has increased significantly since July, when it was 48 percent.

Djou said his internal polling has told a different story from the Hawaii Poll. But he said polling does not matter as much as what his campaign would do to get out the vote in the week before the election.

"I've been up in polls and lost, and I've been down in polls and won," he said. "And the single most important poll is the one on election day, and that's the one that counts."

In the 2nd Congressional District, which covers rural Oahu and the neighbor islands, former Hono­lulu City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard leads homeless handyman Kawika Crowley 73 percent to 8 percent.

Complete Debunk: Ward Polls: A Laughable Embarrassment

Djou Responds: Our Polls Show us Ahead

read … Another Bogus Ward Poll

Hotel workers working to defeat House Speaker Calvin Say in 3-way Race

ILind: …there’s a wild card in the race–the active campaign support Bonk is getting from the hotel workers union, Unite Here Local 5, via their independent political expenditure committee, or Super PAC, Aikea.

Since the beginning of the year, the UNITE HERE TIP State and Local – Hawaii PAC has contributed $130,000 to Aikea. Beginning in July, Aikea has had paid canvassers as well as volunteers going door to door, according to its report for the period January 1 through July 27, 2012….

Keiko cover story in Honolulu Weekly.

Aikea also has a Facebook presence

SA: House leader Say challenged by 2 women Bonk has been endorsed by Veteran in Politics, Hawaii Ohana, Progressive PAC, Sierra Club, Hawaii Women's Progressive Caucus, Hawaii Demo­cratic LBGT Caucus, and Aikea. Say's endorsements include the Hawaii Building Trades Council, National Association of Social Workers (NASW-PACE), ILWU Local 142, Ironworkers Union Stabilization Fund, Equality Hawaii, Building Industry Association, Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, United Public Workers, State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers and Hawaii State Teachers Association. Allen has not yet received endorsements.

read … Local 5

Star-Adv: Vote ‘No’ on Honolulu Charter Amendments

SA: Mike Hansen, Carlisle's budget and fiscal services director, points out that the City Council's unilateral creation of special funds could result in proliferation of them, creating inflexibility in the budget process when the city "should use the least amount of individual funds as possible."

Hansen estimated that the 0.5 percent appropriation — totaling about $5 million a year — could result in cuts to city services. Though well-intended in the desire to aid nonprofits, such off-the-top generosity by the city can't be seen as a smart fiscal move while the country continues to recover from the recession.

This is no time for the City Council to try proliferating special funds from the next mayor, or to try to make up for federal shortfalls at the expense of basic city services. As much as possible, the integrity and accountability of the city budgeting process should be based on annual justification and be kept intact….

read … Just say No -- twice

VIDEO: KITV Interviews Kym Pine

KITV: Sitting for this interview on the University of Hawaii West Oahu campus, she underscored what drove her to run for office.

"This really is a symbol of giving opportunity to the Leeward Coast. That's what my whole career has been all about -- equal opportunity and end the types of things which I feel has been discrimination for this side of the island," said Pine.

Read … Pine

CNN: Hawaii's homeless candidate for Congress

CNN: Kawika Crowley lives, works and runs his U.S. congressional campaign out of a beat-up white minivan that he often parks overnight at a grocery store on Oahu. In the van's front seat, which is his office, is a homemade shelf for his laptop, a copy of the U.S. Constitution, and a flurry of index cards that are scattered like confetti after New Year's. On the cards are his ideas and talking points: pro-smoking (in bars, if the owner wants to allow it); anti-taxes; anti-commuter rail; pro-freedom. Each is written in meticulous penmanship, in thick black ink. He's been preparing for a debate.

read … Crowley

Hearings in Hilo, Kona, Kalihi: Biofuel Scammers Demand $8.32/mo from Big Isle, Oahu Ratepayers

BIN: A proposed electricity rate hike and a request for a biofuel surcharge will be the subjects of public hearings to be held by the state Public Utilities Commission on both sides of the Big Island early this week.

The Hilo meeting is scheduled for Monday at the Hilo High School cafeteria. A second meeting will be held Tuesday in Kailua-Kona at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria at 74-5000 Puohulihuli St.

Both start at 6 p.m.

Hawaii Electric Light Co. has asked the state Public Utilities Commission to approve a 4.2% increase in its rates.

If approved, the rate hike would add $8.32 to a typical 500 kilowatt-hour monthly electric bill. According to HELCO, the increase would result in $19.8 million in additional revenue for the Big Island’s electrical utility.

SA: Thursday, 6 p.m., Farrington High School Cafeteria, 1564 N. King St.

read … Pay us, we’re green

Hawaii Youth Suicide Rate Doubles in 5 Years

CB: The rate at which Hawaii teens and young adults are taking their own lives has more than doubled over the past five years, spurring some mental health experts to call it an emergency situation.

The number of suicides for youth ages 15 to 24 surged from 15 in 2007 to 36 in 2011, according to the most recent state Department of Health data. This makes it the leading cause of injury-related death for most age groups — all but the very young and the very old — outpacing car crashes, homicide, poisoning and drowning.

That means suicide is killing more people than anything but a serious illness….

Dan Galanis, an epidemiologist who heads the state's injury prevention program, examined hundreds of autopsy records in his effort to understand why the numbers are on the rise.

Combing through this third-hand knowledge, as he put it, illuminated some of the possible motivations — mental illness, relationship issues, family discord — but it didn't bring him much closer to an answer.

"When you're thinking about how to impact it, you're trying to fix the world's problems," Galanis said.

The numbers are as perplexing as they are startling, Grambs said, in part because they come at a time when some bullying statistics offer signs of hope.

For more than a decade, Hawaii led the nation in the percent of high school kids who thought about suicide, made plans to do so or attempted it. But the latest data, the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, shows the state has slid in the rankings.

Hawaii continues to lead the nation in other categories, including the number of middle school students who seriously considered attempting suicide — almost one out of four — and those who made a suicide plan.

HTH: Teen uses personal experience to fight meth on island

read … Suicide

Parents Discover Child in 99th Percentile, Flee Hawaii

HNN: they selected a school in North Carolina, where Robbie will be in kindergarten with other gifted kids his age and all the teachers have special certificates and training in teaching gifted students. They decided the lower cost of living made the Durham area a good place to live, especially since they lost money on the sale of their home in Hawaii.

But they are sad they don't feel Hawaii's education system allowed them to remain in the islands.

"The state has a responsibility to teach every child or at least give an opportunity to teach every child. In this case, we don't have that," Robin Bond said.

Michelle Bond added: "It's hard for me to understand why the state of Hawaii provides for the lower end of the spectrum but not the higher end of the spectrum."

read … Brain Drain

Spice: Mom Campaigns Against Drug Linked to Son’s Death

MC: Adam R. Hernandez, 28, had been in the U.S. Navy for eight years and planned on making a career out it.

He was fearless and full of life, eager to go skydiving, scuba diving, or kayak shark fishing in Hawaii where he was stationed.

But on June 20, Hernandez took his life, likely the result of his smoking Spice, a product that is sold as incense but is becoming known nationally as a potentially dangerous drug that has some of the same effects as synthetic marijuana.

read … Spice

Burial laws should be grounded in history and present-day reality

Roy Benham: Hawaii would be well served if a review of laws governing burial discoveries were undertaken, as the Star-Advertiser has suggested ("Laws protecting iwi need review," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Oct. 5). The review should be mindful of the impact of burial laws on the improvements necessary for a growing community, while being mindful of history and tradition.

In pre-contact Hawaii, the iwi (bones) of family members were not as important as the individual's spirit (uhane). Upon death, the family gathered around the body of the departed to chant and to ensure the uhane would go to the gathering place on an island where the spirit would meet with the Akua who would escort him or her to po — the Hawaiian heaven.

After the family mourning period was complete, one family member was assigned the task of burying what was left of the body, primarily the iwi.

Because the ancient Hawaiians believed that if someone living wished to cause something bad to happen to the family of the deceased that individual could find the bones and use them to cause bad events to befall the family. Therefore, one member of the family was chosen to dispose of the bones, and no one else would know where the bones were buried….

The idea among some Hawaiians today, that we should not disturb any bones discovered in the course of approved construction activities, is unrealistic.

To delay progress for fear of disturbing ancestral bones (iwi kupuna) is not the consensus of all Hawaiians. We should follow the example of our ancestors when burials are discovered. It should be permissible to remove bones encountered during construction activities, as long as the discovered bones are carefully reburied as near to the original location as possible.

read … Roy Benham

Gay Activists End Election Frantic over Possibility that Public Might Actually Get to vote on Gay ‘Marriage’

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