As the Akaka Bill, S 1011, languishes before the US Senate, the Special Election Hawaii First Congressional District race marks the first time a Hawaii election has been fought between major candidates with differing views on the Akaka Bill. It is telling that the candidate who favors the bill's current version--Colleen Hanabusa--appears to be far behind.

The U.S. economy has now lost a net of 2.6 million jobs since President Barack Obama signed his $862 billion stimulus plan. We are 7.6 million jobs short of the 137.8 million he promised the American economy would support by 2010.

Complete details for Hawaii military and overseas voters....

This legislative session, in the face of the worst fiscal and economic crisis in our state’s history, the people of Hawaii were counting on their elected representatives to find solutions to balance the budget, create jobs, stimulate the economy, control the spiraling cost of living for our residents, reduce government spending, improve the quality of education and move us toward energy independence.

The Republicans said yes to the public. The Democrats said no.

For five and a half years, the US has hunted for Ahmed Hashim Abed--code-named "Objective Amber."  Abed is the alleged ring-leader of an Islamist mob which murdered four US military contractors--including Pa`auilo resident Wesley Batalona--in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31, 2004....After being tracked for five and a half years by US personnel, Ahmed Hashim Abed was captured by Navy SEALS at the beginning of September....Then the complaining began. 

“We have some of the best and brightest minds right here in Hawai‘i,” said Lt. Governor Aiona. “Our long-term economic diversity and growth will depend in part on our ability to transform Hawai‘i into an economy based on knowledge and innovation.”

Hawaii GOP Chairman Jonah Ka’auwai responded to the new television ad: 

“Ed Case will do absolutely anything to get elected.  In the course of this campaign, Case has described himself as an Independent, a strong Democrat, a moderate and a conservative.   During Monday night’s OHA, Honolulu Advertiser and Hawaii News Now debate, he told us he voted for the Bush tax cuts before he voted against them.  The truth is, Case has voted for dozens of tax increases and seems to have a hard time keeping his positions straight in his own head.

A recent study has found that global warming has impacted the nature of symptoms experienced by obsessive compulsive disorder patients. Climate change related obsessions and/or compulsions were identified in 28% of patients presenting with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

As Unemployment Rises, White House Waves White Flag On Creating Jobs While Pushing Job-Killing, European-Style Agenda--White House to allow high jobless rate to be 'new normal'

Asked if the committee would continue to spend money in the 1st District special election, Van Hollen responded: “We’ll have to re-evaluate based on the situation. The Democrats haven’t been able to come together and resolve this issue. Right now, it’s extremely difficult. So right now, we’ll have to re-evaluate that.”

A study by Edmunds.com, the premier resource for automotive information, shows that owning a vehicle in Alaska, California or Hawaii over a five-year period is about $10,000 more expensive than owning the same vehicle in New Hampshire, South Dakota or South Carolina for the same duration.

This is how the Dem media will spin a Djou victory.  It is not going to be acknowledged as an expression of changing voter attitudes, it is just Democrat infighting.  Yeah, right—liberals should just keep on believing that.  Their self-deception will prevent them from recalibrating their message as they go to their political demise.

Approximately 200 Soldiers assigned to Headquarters, Headquarters Company (HHC) and Bravo Company, 307th ESB, are deploying to Afghanistan for one year to provide signal support as part of the Operation Enduring Freedom surge.

Keynote speakers are scheduled to include Hawaii's Lt. Governor James R. "Duke" Aiona and Major General Susan S. Lawrence, Commanding General, United States Army Network Enterprise Technology Command and 9th Signal Command.

As a student at the University of Hawai'i in the early 1970s, Thompson was a Vietnam War protester and ethnic-studies instructor, said John Witeck, a fellow activist who now works in human resources at the school in Honolulu. 

"Pete was one of the spark plugs, very bright, a charismatic speaker," Witeck said in a March 12 telephone interview. "He was always good with numbers. He's very meticulous, always very organized."

Thompson didn't know the market was failing when he sold the state the bonds, he said in a March 24 interview as he handed out samples of his wife's vegetarian food at a farmers market near downtown Honolulu.

Nago told our interviewer he was unable to provide an estimate of how many ballots have been received by his office so far.  But in a separate story today, KHON reported: "According to the office of elections, fewer than one fifth of the ballots have been sent back in by voters.  Just 60,000 so far out of the 317,000 issued."

 Twenty years ago, the liberal intelligentsia in Europe and the United States rallied around Rushdie and denounced the murder threat. That took real courage. One of Rushdie's translators was murdered and another stabbed. Several Norwegian bookstores were bombed, a British hotel was attacked by a suicide bomber, and more than 50 people were killed in anti-Rushdie rioting around the world.

Despite the danger, Berman writes: "A good many intellectuals reached out to their endangered Arab and Muslim counterparts and colleagues, and celebrated the courage of everyone who refused to be intimidated."

In contrast, today, the intellectuals' reaction often is to target the victim.

Each lawmaker is rated, regardless of political party, from 1 to 5.

• 1 = "most supportive and outspoken advocate for a better business climate"
• 5 = "least supportive of small business and an improved Hawaii business climate" 

Ratings may be helpful at election time.

HONOLULU--Chairman of the Hawai'i Republican Party Jonah Ka'auwai responded to the announcement by U.S. Rep. David Obey that he would not seek reelection this November:

“Today, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, the author of $862 billon failed stimulus, has announced he will retire from Congress.  Clearly an entrenched Congressman like Obey who has been in Congress for over 40 years is afraid to face his constituents because his hallmark bill failed to keep the national unemployment rate under 8 percent, like he promised.  Which poses the question: Why do Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa still support the so-called stimulus that failed to create real jobs and only drove our country deeper into debt?”

OAHU – Over 4,000 volunteers will fan out on May 8^th across Oahu as part of a herculean effort to renew and beautify 47 city and state parks throughout the island as part of the ‘Mormon Helping Hands’ program.  In all, 6,500 volunteers throughout the state plan to clean-up a total of 81 parks in this one-day effort.

In April 2009 in Strasbourg, France, President Barack Obama was asked at a press conference if he "subscribe[d], as many of your predecessors have, to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world, or do you have a slightly different philosophy?" President Obama then responded: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

The Medicaid assistance, set to expire at the end of December, has become a critical component in many state budgets during a time of devastating deficits. So critical, in fact, that two-thirds of the states crafted 2011 budgets assuming that more of it would come through, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

For a while, this looked like a safe bet. The House had included the states’ extension in its original version of health care reform. But by the time Congress produced a final bill for President Obama to sign in March, the aid to states had disappeared into the legislative ether. Now, with Congress ratcheting up its scrutiny of new spending, it’s not at all clear that the Medicaid assistance will ever materialize.

The live Talk Story event embraced by the Djou campaign falls within their new media strategy that has enabled them to communicate directly with thousands of voters throughout the district through digital means.  The results of their strategy have resulted in 4008 fans on Facebook, 9 times more than Ed Case and 5 times more than Colleen Hanabusa.   

Duke Aiona captures 43% of Independents against both Democrats, with another quarter of Independents remaining undecided in each race.  Further, though Aiona gains the support of 73% and 76% of Republicans in each match-up, Hannemann can rely on just 63% of Democrats and Abercrombie ticks up to just two thirds of Democrats (67%).

Dennis Gonsalves, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo, Hawaii, and professor emeritus of plant pathology at Cornell, detailed to the 63rd annual meeting of the Western Society of Weed Science in Hawaii how Hawaiian agriculture has done what no other ag sector has; win approval to market a genetically modified food crop in the U.S. and Japan.

“With the funding appropriated by the State Legislature, and the HSTA’s willingness to allow children to return to class on six non-instructional days, we have the resources to achieve a comprehensive solution to end teacher furloughs.

“Any comprehensive solution will require the involvement of the Governor, BOE, DOE and HSTA to come together and work out their differences. None of them can solve this issue alone, and all must come together in agreement. We are within reach of ending teacher furlough days, and there’s room for compromise."

Voters are already casting their ballots in the May 1-22 Special Election and the Democrats are still fighting over who should be running.  National Democrats think that all Hanabusa voters would automatically go to Case or vice-versa, but that’s not the way it works.  There are two parties within the one party and a faction which loses by these Chicago-style tactics will not line up to vote for Case in November.  Likewise Case voters will not line up to vote for Inouye’s Hawaii-style union thugs in November and many will cross over.  Either way Charles Djou wins.  Think “1986.”

As part of the Lingle-Aiona Administration’s comprehensive process of reviewing legislation passed this session by the Legislature, Governor Linda Lingle is encouraging the public to provide input and comments on 250 bills.  A list of these bills may be found here.

The Governor has until July 6 to sign, veto or allow the measures to become law without her signature.

Killed in the House, SB2646 would have designated two Hawaii surfing reserves, comprising surf breaks off Waikiki from Ala Wai to the War Memorial Natatorium and the north shore of Oahu from Alii beach in Haleiwa to Sunset beach.

MYTH: Ed Case said tonight he 'understood' DC and talked about his 'experience' representing Hawaii's other district. Case also attempted to defend his 148 missed votes, stating 148 was not that much.

FACT: Ed Case was rated one of the least effective members of Congress and missed numerous important votes:

“Two members of Congress ranked as some of the least effective – Rep. Ed Case [D-Hawaii] and Sen. Dan Akaka [D-Hawaii] – are battling over who has the worse rating on a national political Web site.” (Richard Borreca, “Case to Akaka, Akaka to Case: You’re ineffective,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 08/29/06)

The poll, conducted by the mainland Democrat polling firm Harstad Strategic Research, Inc., and paid for by the Democratic National Committee, shows amongst likely voters Djou actually does better than reported by the Honolulu Advertiser poll yesterday.  Among likely voters, the poll shows:

• Djou - 39%
• Case - 31%
• Hanabusa - 20%

See VIDEO clips from debate...

"Unlike my opponents, I am the only major candidate to live in the first Congressional district. Also unlike my opponents, I am not in this race for political gain; I am in this race to do what is best for the people of Hawaii.”

Last month the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to raise Djou's negatives by arguing that his signature on Americans for Tax Reform's pledge meant he'd honored a "special interest group" to protect tax breaks for evil corporations.  ATR punched back immediately and nonpartisan groups fact-checked the ad, finding it wanting.  (And I'm told that the many D.C. groups that try to get GOP candidates to sign their pledges are on notice to behave the same way when one of those candidates get hit.)

It's a simple story of the conservative base engaging while the Democratic base squabbles or sleeps.

The result of the special election is likely to be interpreted as a national referendum on the state of play in advance of the November midterm elections. But, remember that Democrats -- even if they lose later this month -- are likely to win the seat in the fall due to its strong lean toward their party and the fact that it will be a one on one race rather than a three-way battle….

(Obviously the Washington Post doesn't know what "1986" means.)

Also this weekend, the Honolulu Advertiser released a poll showing that Djou’s message of “lower taxes, limited government and fiscal responsibility is resonating” throughout the district.  Here is just a sampling of recent headlines on the race . . . 

HONOLULU - Students from 37 Hawai‘i schools participated in the Hawai‘i Regional Botball® Tournament this weekend at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. 

(Editor’s note: It’s amazing what they can do when DoE bureaucracy is not involved.)

Whether Saturday's failed attack turns out to be connected to Islamic radicalism or is the work of a lone wolf, there have now been 31 foiled terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11, eleven in New York City alone. Yesterday's plot was foiled by sheer luck and quick-thinking civilians. But luck is not an adequate strategy for protecting a nation.

According to the Fed research, “states with greater economic freedom – defined as the protection of private property and private markets operating with minimal government interference – experienced greater rates of employment growth.”

The last public poll done for this race by a local newspaper was conducted January 8-10th by the Honolulu Star Bulletin.  Since that poll, Djou has increased his ballot share by 19 points, while Case has dropped 9 points and Hanabusa fell 3 points, clearly showing momentum is on the Djou campaign’s side.

According to retired Congressman Neil Abercrombie, long time advocate for gay marriage,  “moral authority” should be the exclusive realm of the gay minority and state legislature.  The general public is of little concern to him and their “religious” views make their opinions illegitimate anyway.

In a very rare visit to the press cabin of Air Force One yesterday, President Barack Obama told reporters that the White House will not be leading any immigration reform efforts in 2010. Obama said: "…I've been working Congress pretty hard. So I know, there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue." Obama went on to assert that energy taxes were a higher priority, and that the election in November would make tackling immigration tough.

Apparently, Majority Leader Harry Reid didn't heed the President's advice. Several hours later, Reid, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and their colleagues from the left introduced an immigration reform framework that on the surface is identical to the legislation America rejected in 2007. When you dig down, it may be worse.

With Charles Djou clearly positioned as the only Congressional candidate opposed to Gay Marriage and Gay Civil Unions, the CD1 Special Election will be voters' first opportunity to register their reaction to the Legislature's vote.  

I share valid concerns with the 2010 Akaka Bill, including its limited definition of whom qualifies to be recognized as a member of the Native Hawaiian community; its ill-defined relationship between the Native Hawaiian governing entity and local, state and federal government; and its immediate establishment of sovereignty prior to further negotiations that could address outstanding issues like public safety, healthcare and property rights.

To achieve the type of broad-based support that this landmark legislation deserves, the amendments contained within the 2010 Akaka Bill should be fully vetted and resolved in the community through open and inclusive public hearings.

As an attorney and former state judge, I recognize that opponents of the 2010 Akaka Bill have rightly pointed out that failure to properly address these issues beforehand will likely result in difficult negotiations and protracted litigation following passage.

While my preference is for Congressional leaders to work out these issues before passing the 2010 Akaka Bill, I will continue to support the bill with reservations and work immediately to address any outstanding issues if elected Governor.

Last year the legislature, overriding vetoes from Lingle, enacted higher taxes on income, property, and tobacco products. Hawaii pays the highest state income tax rate in the country and have the 5^th highest tax burden among states. To add insult to injury, Harry Reid and Pelosi have piled on with $670 billion in higher taxes in just the past year. If Hawaii Democrats can’t hold off of raising taxes in such an environment, they never will. While ATR is urging the legislature to sustain Lingle’s veto, the legislature’s track record leaves little room for optimism. Fortunately for Hawaii taxpayers, November is fast approaching. If there is any state house in the country that could use a makeover, it’s Hawaii’s.

"If the Legislature wanted to establish the equivalent of same-sex marriage, they should have put it on the ballot for the people to decide."

"Hawaii voters have spoken very clearly in support of traditional marriage.  I am very disappointed that Colleen Hanabusa and the Hawaii State Legislature have clearly and blatantly ignored the will of the people of Hawaii on this issue.  Unlike both Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa, my two major opponents in this congressional campaign, I will not ignore Hawaii voters and look forward to their judgment in our upcoming special election."

Hawaii GOP Chair Jonah Kaauwai: "The decision to override this veto is a conscious and deliberate choice by Democrats in the legislature to increase the financial burden on Hawai’i’s families.

“As Republicans we believe in fiscal accountability and that government has enough of the people’s hard-earned money.  Democrats have proved that they cannot be trusted by the people of Hawai’i to make the right decisions.  Hawai’i needs principled leadership that will do what is right rather than do what is easy.”

House passes civil unions 31 to 20.  (5:10pm)

HB444 will now go to the Governor for either a signature or a veto.  Governor Lingle has not indicated her position on the bill although Lt Governor Duke Aiona is strongly opposed to HB444.  To override a veto, the House would need 34 votes.