“As Governor, one of my first acts will be to propose a fiscally responsible biennium budget based largely on the latest projections that will allow our state to spend within its means.

“It may take several years before general fund revenues return to pre-recession levels, which is why it is so important for the next Governor to hit the ground running in the right direction.

Cam is proud to have the endorsement of Honolulu City Councilman Gary Okino of Aiea. Councilman Okino's support shows that standing up for traditional values is a Hawaiian principle, not a partisan one--and that more people across the Islands need to be exposed to the facts on Senator Inouye's voting record.

Weekend retreats offer a safe, supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.

Faced with predictions of staggering losses for his party in November's midterm elections, President Barack Obama today appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and said, "If the election is a referendum on 'are people satisfied about the economy as it currently is,' then we're not going to do well, because I think everybody feels like this economy needs to do better than it's been doing." The prospect of that referendum is casting a long shadow over Washington as the President and candidates alike wrestle with America's frustration over a still-stagnant economy, despite $814 billion in stimulus spending.

So what's President Obama's solution? Kick into campaign mode and turn to even more destined-to-fail stimulus gimmicks, loaded with increased government spending and higher taxes.

Paychecks Hawaii, the private, independent, Smart Business Hawaii political action affiliate, announced its picks for the September 18 Primary Election....

“Just last week, Congressman Charles Djou cast his vote in the Primary election for Hawaii’s First Congressional District. His main opponent, however, has not cast her vote yet. In fact, she will not be voting in this election. As a candidate asking for the vote of the people, it’s worth asking: ‘If Colleen Hanabusa won’t be voting for herself, why should anyone else?’"

Due to an event scheduled at the same time by the League of Women Voters, the Townhall Meeting at Haha‘ione Elementary School Cafeteria for Tuesday, September 14 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. has been cancelled.

Complete list of employers planning to attend tomorrow's job fair.

In yesterday's New York Times, International Herald Tribune columnist Roger Cohen reported: "Since taking office, President Obama has reached out to the Muslim world as a whole, to China, to Turkey and to Iran, but has devoted scant serious diplomatic energy to Europe." Cohen then went on to quote prominent Paris-based defense analyst Camille Grand: "Europe is the object of benign U.S. neglect. Obama has not established or re-established a strategic relationship with any single European country or with Europe as a whole."

ARE YOU SICK AND TIRED OF:

• Paying the highest taxes in the USA?
• Joblessness and Unemployment?
• Too much government regulation/intervention?
• Voice of the people being ignored?
• Out of control government spending of tax $$$?
• Slowly losing your Individual Rights?

If your answer is "yes," then take these names to the polls on Saturday, September 18....

According to Article IX, Section 3 of the Party’s 2010 Constitution, which is available online, “candidates shall submit Candidate Statement Forms... indicating their agreement, disagreement, and/or reservations with the Platform and Resolutions of the State and County Party" and that, a "candidate who fails to abide by these requirements shall not be eligible for endorsement".

In the letter, Mr. Woerner notes that, “the majority of candidates (and especially incumbent candidates) either failed to return their forms at all, or failed to complete them as required”.

As thousands gather in Washington, DC, Hawaii Christian Coalition and Hawaii TEA Party groups will hold local rallies Maui, Kona, Hilo.

Local officials also predict an expensive future as new requirements—for technology, quality accounting and care coordination—start under the overhaul, which became law in March.

Moody's Investors Service said in April that many standalone hospitals won't have the resources to invest in information technology or manage bundled payments well. Many nonprofits have bad credit ratings and in a tight credit market cannot borrow money, either. Meantime, the federal government is expected to cut aid to hospitals….

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle today appointed Laura Figueira to fill the vacant O‘ahu North Shore Senate seat and Ronald Kouchi to fill the vacant Kaua‘i Senate seat.  They will serve on a temporary basis until new Senators are elected in the upcoming General Election and take the oath of office.  The two vacancies were created by the resignation of Robert Bunda and Gary Hooser in July. 

Breaking technology is now offering a safe and affordable alternative to large nuclear reactors, called Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs.  Even enlightened environmentalists have changed their minds about energy and now support nuclear. Greenpeace activist Patrick Moore, Gaia theorist James Lovelock, Greenpeace UK Executive Director Stephen Tindale,  Friends of the Earth board member Bishop Hugh Montefiore and environmental icon Stewart Brand have all switched sides in the nuclear energy debate....

Honolulu, HI — Congressman Charles K. Djou (HI-01) appeared on Hawaii News Now “Sunrise” this morning to discuss returning to Washington, the President’s latest economic proposals and the First Congressional District Job Fair this week:

Washington- It’s been more than 18 months since Colleen Hanabusa's Democrat friends passed a trillion-dollar stimulus bill promising to keep unemployment under eight percent and create four million jobs and, so far, one thing is clear: It’s an utter failure. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent, the economy in a complete tailspin and the nation deeply in debt, Democrats now want to ram through a $50 billion spending bill in a last ditch attempt to salvage their crumbling political careers.

According to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released today, only 26% of voters think the economy is going to be better in the next year, and 61% think the country is on the wrong track. Desperate to show Americans he's fighting "every single day, every single hour, every single minute" to turn the economy around, President Barack Obama unveiled yet another economic stimulus spending plan yesterday. This time the President is promising to spend $50 billion over six-years....

Charles Djou opens his Campaign HQ and releases his first campaign commercial of the fall election season. (VIdeo)

This Labor Day marks a milestone in the history of the U.S. union movement. It is the first Labor Day on which a majority of union members in United States work for the government. In January the Department of Labor reported that union membership in government has overtaken that in the private sector. Three times as many union members work in the Post Office as in the entire domestic auto industry. The face of the union movement is not a worker on the assembly line but a clerk at the DMV.

Neil Abercrombie has for years, maybe decades, been included among a small group of Congressmen who describe their religion as “unaffiliated” or “unspecified.”  But within the last seven days, Hawaii media outlets have suddenly begun describing Abercrombie as “Episcopalian.”

Remember, none of this has anything to do with how much money is coming out of your pocket to line theirs....

This year’s election offers the chance to bring to Hawaii an improved legislative body that will transform the way Hawaii politics works.  That historic change could be the beginning of an improved government.  What happens in the next two months has the potential to change the future of Hawaii forever.  Will you be a part of it?

I humbly ask that we dissolve any ethnic, religious, political or bitter barriers that separate us. Let us unite and seek love rather than hate. Let us seek love rather than ethnic and religious differences, let us vote principles above parties, character above campaign promises.  Let us stand together and be a part of the iVOTE movement to improve Hawaii’s future.

One of the most surprising endorsements of the campaign season was forwarded to this writer by Adrienne King’s Republican Lt Governor campaign last Friday....

Yet, as important as this their influence is, most Americans have no say in choosing their child’s teacher. Parents don’t have a choice when it comes to their child’s education, despite the fact their tax dollars pay for the public schools, and their children’s futures are at stake.

Parents in Los Angeles are getting some new transparency about their children’s schools this week.  The Los Angeles Times recently released the names of 6,000 elementary teachers and data showing how much each teacher’s students improved on standardized tests....

"Instead of an over-reliance on government spending, we must continue to focus our efforts on cultivating a business-friendly environment that creates job opportunities and instills confidence and transparency in government.

"Government doesn't create the jobs that fuel our economy over the long term, but we can make it easier for those who do."

VOTE EARLY! Here is a complete list of Walk-in absentee/early voting sites and hours for all four counties.

...the U.S. economy lost 125,000 jobs in June and then the August report found another 131,000 jobs were lost in July. Today the Labor Department released the September jobs report, showing nonfarm payrolls decreased again by 54,000 and that the nation's unemployment rate rose to 9.6%.

Washington- House Democrats’ summer recess is almost over and it’s time for Colleen Hanabusa and her out-of-touch friends to face the music. With another failed attempt at recovery under their belts, Democrats are facing a bruising uphill battle this November. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent and way above the once-promised eight percent, Democrats have officially run out of excuses. Their trillion-dollar stimulus failed to produce jobs and their runaway spending spree has left the nation in debt, putting their Democrat majority up for grabs this fall – and making Hanabusa accountable for supporting her party’s failed economic agenda.

Motorists in California and Hawaii have to look out for the most potholes on urban Interstates. In those two states, 25 percent of urban interstate pavement is in poor condition. ... Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii and New York have the least cost-effective roads.

THREE MONTHS after Intajak arrived in America, in October 2004, Global Horizons sent him to Hawaii to work for the Maui Pineapple Co. Here, the pay was better than in Yakima—$9.50 an hour—but the conditions were worse. One Global Horizons agent, Intajak and other workers told me, was in the habit of carrying a knife, a gun, or a baseball bat, and of threatening workers with "deportation" if they didn't behave or meet their quotas. Just four days in, Intajak says, he watched the man beat a coworker. 

The Maui Pineapple Co.'s land is nestled among gorgeous foothills, shrouded in mist and covered with volcanic soil the color of dark coffee. The now-defunct company was part of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., whose majority owner is Steve Case, cofounder of AOL; another primary shareholder is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, a generous benefactor of anti-slavery organizations.... 

“I am very pleased that the State Senate has voted unanimously to confirm Mark Recktenwald to be the fifth Chief Justice of the Hawai‘i State Supreme Court.

“The people of Hawai‘i can feel confident, as I am, that they will have a Chief Justice who will guide our courts with fairness and integrity in upholding the rule of law and our constitution.

Throughout the month of September, make your trip to the grocery store count for life by donating to Hawaii Right to Life through the Foodland/Sack 'n Save Give Aloha program.

In 2004, Hawaii required 677 signatures to qualify an entire new party, and 3,711 signatures to qualify an independent presidential candidate.  Ralph Nader and Michael Peroutka each tried to qualify as independent presidential candidates.  Even though each of them submitted more than 7,000 signatures, Hawaii elections officials invalidated over half of them.  Hawaii tends to disqualify signatures if the signer failed to show either the last four digits of his or Social Security number, or the full birthday.

Hawaii’s usually voluble homegrown secular humanists are stone silent because they agree with Ka’auwai.  For the same reason, Hawaii’s pro-Abercrombie media have greatly tempered their response.  In a recent Star-Advertiser poll, Republican crossover voters were shown to be backing Mufi Hannemann 72% to 28% against Neil Abercrombie.

But the national groups aren’t thinking about short-term local political calculations....

Just in time for September 11th, the State of Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural Resources, has announced a six-figure grant to the 9-11 truthers of the Malu Aina Peace Center.

Jim Albertini is a convicted felon and federal ex-convict once tagged as a "psychopath" by Judge Samuel Wilder King.  Along with his comrades from Malu-Aina, Albertini can be seen every Friday afternoon in front of Hilo’s Federal Building with an “Impeach Obama” sign.... 

The Republican Governors Association launched new television and radio advertisements in Hawai‘i today highlighting Duke Aiona’s plan to reduce the state’s dependence on oil and move it towards a green energy economy.

You and I both know that hundreds of thousands showed up in DC this weekend, and that even more marched on 9/12 last year. The good news is, the American people are wising up, too. They aren't buying the mainstream media's downplayed story, not when there is obvious photographic evidence discrediting them . . . and a political agenda motivating them.

So we're marching on 9/12 again.

The President again evinced the impression that he viewed Iraq as a distraction, and he twice said he wanted to "turn the page" to other issues. As forgettable as the address was however, once placed into the broader context of foreign policy speeches and actions, a clear Obama Doctrine can now be defined, as James Carafano and Kim Holmes do in a new paper released today....

Allen was responsible for organizing the volunteers at the 2010 iVote rally at the Capitol as well as organizing the neighbor island pastors and churches in the HB444 campaign.  He is a leader in our community and we are extremely blessed to have him take this key position.

Lt. Governor Aiona on Thursday delivered remarks on the importance of providing affordable, quality health care at a dedication ceremony for a new Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. The hospital will help provide specialty care and innovative research for children from Hawai`i and the Pacific Northwest.

Alaska's incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has conceded to TEA Party-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miler.

In his response, Abercrombie said that his opponent "spins facts."

"Congress.org is a Republican front organization that rates me in the same category as Sen. Daniel Inouye," he said, referring to Hawaii's longtime senator.

For the record, Congress.org is not —and has never been — a "Republican front organization." We are a news and information site run by the CQ-Roll Call Group, which also publishes CQ Today and Roll Call. Like those publications, we strive to be neutral and objective.

HONOLULU - Lt. Governor Duke Aiona, the leading Republican candidate for Governor, today announced that he will kick off his Connecting Communities initiative to hold 20 talk stories in 20 communities across the state. The new statewide effort to connect working families and concerned citizens to each other and the issues they care about most follows Duke Aiona's small business initiative in which he met with more than 120 small businesses in 100 days.

TWO VIDEOS...

According to the Board of Water Supply, there were 364 water main breaks per year between 2005 and 2009.

“Today marks a historic and monumental shift—and we have our brave men and women in uniform to thank for that. The progress made in Iraq has been difficult and undeniable. It is remarkable to reflect on how far Iraq has come from a nation ruled by a tyrant to a functioning democracy in the heart of the Arab Middle East. This is what our courageous troops have accomplished.

Instead of uniting the country behind our effort in Iraq, this is how President Obama chose to open his remarks: "As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war. As President, that is what I am doing. We have brought home more than 90,000 troops since I took office." The President's love affair with first person singular pronouns aside, this is just plain false.