National News

“Some years back a Greek finance minister, fed up with his country's waste and extravagance claimed that he could save money by shutting down the national railway and driving around its passengers in taxis.”

Yesterday in Wisconsin, Democrats tried to recall six GOP senators in an attempt to gain a foothold in the state's legislature—they lost in four of the races, failing to regain a majority in the state senate. Those losses came despite a $14 million effort waged by unions and liberal groups from across the country, including the AFL-CIO, UAW, AFSCME, MoveOn.org, Teamsters, UFCW, NEA, SEIU, and People for the American Way.

These results are consistent with recent research on managed care among the privately insured, which finds that HMOs and other forms of managed care achieve their savings largely through reduced prices rather than lower quantities....

"Unless students limit their debt burdens, choose fields of study that are in demand, and successfully complete their degrees on time, they will find themselves in worse financial positions and unable to earn the projected income that justified taking out their loans in the first place."

"With the new school year fast approaching and still no bill to reform the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, the Obama administration will provide a process for states to seek relief from key provisions of the law, provided that they are willing to embrace education reform."

Fox News and the Washington Examiner will sponsor a GOP debate this Thursday night. On Saturday, the Iowa State Fair straw poll will be held....

...the spending reductions in the deal negotiated by President Obama to raise the debt ceiling were inadequate, and S&P reacted as we predicted....

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The outlook on the long-term rating is negative....On Monday, we will issue separate releases concerning affected ratings in the funds, government-related entities, financial institutions, insurance, public finance, and structured finance sectors.

Click to view video....

"Energy costs certainly are affected by public policy measures at the federal, state and local levels. When policymakers focus on reining in taxes and removing regulatory burdens, that works to reduce energy costs to the benefit of entrepreneurs, businesses and consumers. But when focused on increasing energy taxes, expanding regulations, and creating governmental obstacles to energy development, the economy suffers accordingly."

During her 30-years of public service, Governor Lingle has always run issue-oriented campaigns. Should there be a future campaign, it too would be run on the issues, rather than based on personal attacks.

There is no place in Hawaii for these deplorable tactics by national partisan political staffers. The voters of Hawaii deserve better.

At yesterday's press briefing, White House spokesman Jay Carney admitted: "The White House does not create jobs." As the Examiner's senior political columnist Timothy P. Carney (no relation) later noted, conservatives should greet this statement as "a true and long-awaited admission of government's limits."

Americans are paying more for gasoline today than they were six weeks ago when President Obama released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In the Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, 10 drilling rigs -- more than one-third of the fleet -- have left on Obama’s watch.

This incomprehensible energy policy is not only costing Americans more money at the pump. Bureaucratic delays in Washington are also stunting job growth and adding to the budget deficit.

On Thursday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on Japanese high technology conglomerate Hitachi to end its business in Iran. Hitachi maintains an active presence in Iran, having provided Iran with gas turbines and induction motors used in its oil and gas sector.

The boundaries pit two Big Island Democrats against each other: Jerry Chang, D-Piihonua-Kaumana, and Mark Nakashima, D-Hawi-Hilo. On Oahu, Rida Cabanilla, D-Waipahu-Ewa, would face Kymberly Pine, R-Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point; and Mark Hashem, D-Hahaione Valley-Aina Haina, would compete against Barbara Marumoto, R-Kalani Valley-Diamond Head.

...good government means more than just saying what people want to hear. It means identifying problems that concern our community and proposing constructive solutions....

• Senate: Confirmation of Robert S. Mueller III to be Director of the FBI
• Senate: Budget Control Act of 2011
• House: North American-Made Energy Security Act
• House: Budget Control Act of 2011

In a Washington Post article published this morning, the national Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee takes the unusual step of attacking a Democratic Senate Primary candidate--Ed Case....DSCC is working hand in glove with Sen. Dan Inouye. Even DSCC’s choice of words -- “not honest” -- echoes Inouye’s lengthy record of attacks on Case.

Americans are disappointed. They are disappointed that the debate over our debt limit was about the needs of politicians instead of the needs of the country. They are disappointed with a broken government that refuses to fix itself. And they are disappointed that the Budget Control Act that passed the House last night and is likely to pass the Senate today does not make the transformative changes this nation requires. 

The poll shows Ed Case ahead of Mazie Hirono in the Democratic primary 53%-37% and ahead of Linda Lingle in the general 48%-38%, and Lingle ahead of Hirono in the general 48%-43%. 

 Put the security of the nation at risk or raise taxes. This is the sour "deal" liberal lawmakers are offering in exchange for insufficient spending cuts, according to reports of this weekend's debt negotiations in Washington....

Driving the compact is the memory of the 2000 presidential election, in which George W. Bush won the slimmest of electoral-vote majorities even though Al Gore gained a plurality of popular votes. But that election itself suggests a fatal flaw in the proposal....

Defense spending is 18% of Hawaii’s economy….

Even if the Boehner bill passed and became law, America would continue its downward spiral into a fiscal abyss with no end in sight....

Last week President Obama made an alarming statement to the nation's senior citizens. He told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley he couldn't guarantee that $20 billion in Social Security checks will go out on Aug. 3, the day after the government would go into default if it doesn't raise the debt ceiling. "[T]here may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said.

This statement completely overlooks the existence of the Social Security Trust Fund....

The Stimulus Program created 2,046 jobs in Hawaii.  The cost for these 2,046 jobs? $1.329-billion in taxpayer dollars!  That’s about $650,000 per job!

The Governor’s objectives are to avoid interruptions to programs that depend heavily on federal funding....

Hawai'i Bankers Association Executive Director Gary Fujitani said, “Our banking community has substantial liquidity that is ample to weather any temporary financial correction. We are ready to work with the state to ensure the continuance of a stable economy in Hawai'i.”

Say goodbye to cars and trucks as you know them. Say hello to a brave new future ushered in by the Environmental Protection Agency. It's one where the federal government reshapes a major U.S. industry by administrative fiat, all in pursuit of a policy goal that will cost money, jobs, and lives—all to satisfy the left's environmentalist factions while dishing out taxpayer dollars to an Obama-favored unionized industry.

As we look forward to 2012, I remain disappointed with our delegation's adherence to a partisan agenda that places party loyalty above the best interests of Hawaii's residents and our nation. If we are to protect and advance Hawaii's best interests in our nation's capital, we need a balanced delegation with representatives who can and will work with both Republicans and Democrats alike....

Do you heat your home? Light your rooms? Buy and cook food? Watch TV? If the answer is "yes," then you've fallen under federal regulation. And you're paying for it, too. Gattuso and Katz explain how every product imaginable costs more because of regulations....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) introduced legislation to raise the debt ceiling this week. In evaluating his plans for future government spending, it becomes clear that budgeting for prudent defense is considered just another line item.

...the East-West Center is under fire again, as Congress is looking at completely eliminating the center. The House Foreign Affairs Committee recently voted to wipe out the UH based facility. The center might again be saved in the U.S. Senate, but these difficulties will continue as long as Hawaii continues to send a one-sided and unbalanced delegation to Congress that is unable to speak with the new GOP majority in the U.S. House.... 

Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama's jobs record has plummeted 22 points from 53% down below a third. African Americans who believe the president's measures helped the economy have plunged from 77% to barely half.

Americans tuning in last night to watch President Barack Obama's primetime address from the East Room of the White House might have thought they stumbled upon yet another re-run from the networks.

 [T]here's a certain element of waiting for the markets to weigh in and show Congress that they have to get serious here...You see the Administration almost kind of, almost daring the markets to respond, yesterday saying that the Congress had to act by 4:00 yesterday afternoon before the Asian markets started to open.

• Senate: Military Construction-VA Appropriations, FY2012
• Senate: Motion to Table; Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011
• House: Cut, Cap, and Balance Act
• House: Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011
• House: Legislative Branch Appropriations, FY2012

Kaiser Permanente announced today that the Honolulu Clinic and Kihei and Lahaina Clinics on Maui, and their primary care providers have received the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Physician Practice Connections Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition....

Details about the 1941 Ewa Field Battlefield history and Section 106 process will be presented by the US Navy on August 4th at the DHHL Building in Kapolei. 

• Question: What religion produces the most terror attacks in the USA each year?
• Answer: Environmentalism

After years as the Congressional chief of staff for Rep Wu (D-OR), Julie Tippens this January quit to take a job as chief of staff for Rep Colleen Hanabusa (D-Oahu).

Residents of California and Hawaii are the most indebted individuals in America, but they’re also among a group that are making the most progress in paying down the amount they owe, according to a MoneyWatch analysis of state-by-state debt statistics....

The time has come for parents to think about their children’s future plans and decide if the university system is a viable option.

National Right to Life has released candidate comparisons on life issues for the 2012 Presidential Primary races.

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, Obamacare is just over one year old, it has been more than 800 days since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a budget, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors on Thursday--the first new federal agency in nearly a decade. You'll notice that no one is celebrating any of them.

We are still suffering from the bursting of the housing bubble created by low interest rates, lowered mortgage standards and subsidies to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now some people see signs that another bubble is bursting -- the higher education bubble.

The new draft reverses agency protection recommendations for many bird species and adds unrealistic deadlines that would lead to “rubber-stamping” of wind projects. ABC expects millions of migratory birds to be harmed by poorly-planned wind energy.

 a CNN poll completed yesterday showed 66% of Americans support the Cut, Cap and Balance plan to “raise the debt ceiling only if a balanced budget amendment were passed by both houses of Congress and substantial spending cuts and caps on future spending were approved.”

A Sound Balanced Budget Amendment Must Require Two-Thirds Majorities to Raise Federal Taxes.... 

...Abercrombie last week alerted the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services that the State of Hawai'i will be applying for the new ”Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge” grant competition....