GMOs: Abercrombie to Impose Pesticide Standards, Setbacks on Farmers
Kauai MMA Fighter Leading Protests Threatens to "grab" Seed Farmers
VIDEO: Angered by Electric Bill, Hilo Man Chains Himself to HELCO Front Door
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted September 23, 2013
Study Looks at Mexican Immigrants to Hawaii
Borreca to Legislators: "Force churches to marry gay couples"
Borreca: (After 5 paras of selective memory designed to fool legislators into thinking that the anti-gay marriage vote is not real, Borreca slips this admission in:) Today as the Legislature prepares for an October special session to take up the question of legalizing gay marriage, the issue is mostly about what will be the impact on churches. The issue is whether the law will force churches to marry gay couples even if it violates the church's beliefs....
In some aspects, the issue has become one not of civil rights, but religious freedom....
(Quick IQ Test: True or False -- Religious freedom is a civil right.)
The religious vote in Hawaii, which has always been more imagined than real, is now not likely to have much impact at all ... (so feel free to violate the 1st Amendment.)
Reality: First Amendment: 14 Gay Marriage Laws vs Abercrombie
read ... Focus of marriage debate now about religious freedom
Hollywood Pushes Gay Marriage on Hawaii
SA: Singer-actor Matthew Morrison, known to millions of "Gleeks" around the world as Mr. Schuester on the Fox hit show "Glee," has long been an advocate for gay rights, but even he was "blown away" to find out that Hawaii has yet to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
Morrison, 34, a Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony nominee, was the guest of honor at Saturday's 2013 Equality Gala presented by the Sheraton Waikiki at Aloha Tower Marketplace. The event was a fundraiser for the Equality Hawaii Foundation, dedicated to securing equality for Hawaii's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and a leader in the campaign to change the legal definition of marriage....
Photos: KITV video, Honolulu Pulse, eXpression!, Honolulu Magazine.
read ... Mainland Pressure
October 1: Obama, Senate Democrats Threaten to Shut Down Government to Save Obamacare
HMSA-Kaiser Monopoly Connector Criticized by Star-Adv
SA: ...the Hawaii Health Connector, was constituted by state law but is run as a private nonprofit organization. Hawaii's two dominant insurance carriers, Hawaii Medical Service Association and Kaiser Permanente, are the only two to have votes on the governing board. By design or not, these companies are also the only two to be offering plans on the exchange so far, with most of the marketing at this stage further bolstering their position.
Considering that the informational campaign is underwritten by federal funds, this is distressing....
The Legislature should consider restructuring the Connector board to avoid conflicts of interests, as Green and other lawmakers, as well as community advocates, would have preferred from the outset. Insurance carriers should be ex-officio members of the board, and the roster should include more of them.
"Insurer input should definitely be solicited by the exchange but they should not have a vote on the board," said Rosemarie Day, an independent industry consultant who addressed lawmakers during the 2012 session. Unfortunately, they didn't listen....
HMAA's Reg Baker said there were efforts to keep them involved in the process of setting up the Connector. Still, a more inclusive board may have encouraged greater participation in the exchange, which remains the ultimate goal.
There should be moves to clear confusion about how the exchange functions, and to clarify consumer choices. Individuals now uninsured should be helped to find plans that best suit their needs, on or off the exchange. Of course, only the exchange can offer the individual subsidies to help with premiums and the tax credits to give small businesses an assist, which is why ... (HMSA and Kaiser are laughing all the way to the bank--and why next year will be too late.)
read ... Connector needs more participants
Mermaid is anti-GMO 'Expert' at Hawaii Co Hearing
HTH: A day of fact-finding by the Hawaii County Council on genetically altered crops ended without a resolution Monday, ensuring that the marathon debate would continue at least another week.
The council adjourned until Oct. 1, following nearly eight hours of discussion regarding Bill 113, during which council members poured over questions while addressing experts on topics ranging from the plight of bees to the use of pesticides and herbicides.
At times, the meeting was a re-run of past sessions with similar arguments for and against genetically modified organisms being made. But it nonetheless presented council members with one of the first opportunities to ask significant questions regarding biology and agriculture since legislation to restrict transgenic crops was first introduced in May.
Among the experts were University of Hawaii scientists; Dennis Gonsalves, the creator of transgenic papaya; Kauai County Councilman (airhead) Gary Hooser; (shakedown) Walter Ritte of Molokai; a (quack) naturopathy practitioner; a gynecologist who referred to herself while speaking to a reporter as a “mermaid against GMO” ('nuff said); and one nationally prominent GMO critic, Jeffrey Smith (makes hype documentaries followed by all of the above)....
BIVN VIDEO: Experts weigh-in on Hawaii County’s GMO bill
Related: The Future of Fraud
read ... Science vs Lunacy
EPA to investigate Matson spill
HNN: Sources say that EPA's investigation will be conducted separately from the state Health Department's investigation, which has been the lead investigative agency since the spill was discovered.
"I think it's a good thing the EPA is getting involved and it's entirely appropriate given the environmental devastation that we've seen happen rolling out in the last week and a half," said David Henkin, attorney for Earthjustice.
News of the federal probe prompted some state lawmakers to postpone their own hearings on the environmental disaster.
It comes just days after the state Department of Transportation admitted that it had warned Matson about leaks from its molasses pipeline more than a year ago but took no enforcement actions to stop the leaks.
"I do not have any faith in the state handling this matter," said local environmental activist Carroll Cox.
SA: Matson 'can't say' it will fund restoration
read ... EPA
HCC put on warning by accreditation team--Challenge Online Courses
HNN: Honolulu Community College has been placed on warning accreditation status by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, the only of the University of Hawaii's ten campuses to get such a warning.
The accrediting panel gave the 4,400-student campus the warning after an evaluation visit to the Kalihi school last fall. ...
More than 100 HCC faculty members teach courses online and that's where the accreditation panel leveled its most serious criticism.
"The college should compare the instructional quality of face-to-face and distance education courses and develop a strategic plan for distance education," the accrediting panel wrote.
HCC History Professor Patrick Patterson teaches about 30 students online this semester.
He said the college is documenting how students in online courses are getting the same services, including tutoring and financial aid, as students in more traditional face-to-face classes.
"We are now in the process of building up this assessment system so we can prove that our courses are as good as we say they are," Patterson said.
The college has now put together a distance education strategic plan as well as a survey of all the services online students receive, including financial aid, tutoring, counseling.
SA: College fixes shortcomings, chancellor says
PDF: Honolulu Community College Accreditation Letter
read ... Warning
Occupy Sues City Over Homeless Sweeps (Again)
DN: A second lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Honolulu by members of the (de)Occupy encampment against the City and County of Honolulu. This lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages and a preliminary injunction against the City’s application of “Bill 7” to seize plaintiffs’ property in raids on the encampment.
LINK: Full Text
read ... Occupy
Hawaii Ag Theft Becomes International News
IBT: “I’m pretty sure that they sold them for slaughter, which is sad considering that they were pregnant nannies and very friendly nannies at that. So it hurts,” Pontin said, adding that other nearby farms have been hit by thieves.
“It’s not isolated with us. They hit us a lot harder than the other guys,” Pontin said.
Pontin contacted Honolulu Police who have classified the case as second-degree theft, Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu. He is offering an undisclosed reward to return the goats.
read ... International News
Lawsuit alleges teacher assault
HTH: The suit alleges that during a social studies class on Sept. 23, 2011, Arcaina struck the boy, then a seventh-grader, “in the head/face area while holding a pen. The filing claims that the teacher struck the boy without justification and that the boy “did not threaten Arcaina or anyone else in the class prior to being struck by Arcaina” and didn’t “exhibit any violence or other aggressive behavior.”
According to the suit, the boy “suffered bodily injury, including a handprint and observable redness and swelling of the affected areas” and “a noticeable impression … caused by the pen that Arcaina was holding at the time.”
The lawsuit states that a witness — an adult, according to Zamber — took the boy to a counselor, and that the counselor took him to Gomes’ office instead of to the health room for treatment. The boy allegedly asked the counselor if he could call his father to tell him what happened and the counselor, according to the filing, told the boy he could, but that Gomes then told the boy that he couldn’t speak to his father until she had contacted him to discuss the incident.
The suit states that the boy was then taken to the health room where he was given an ice pack and “after being shuffled around by PHIS administrators” was told to return to the class. It also states that the father went to the campus on the date of the incident and although he “saw the principal and the health aide, neither of them reported to him what had occurred.” The filing further alleges that Arcaina later telephoned the father “to discuss issues regarding (the boy’s) school performance, but Arcaina failed to reveal that she had struck” the boy.
read ... Assault?
Dobelle: Hired Again, in Trouble Again
IHE: Less than a decade after Evan Dobelle departed the University of Hawaii system presidency amid accusations he had misspent money, lied and been unfit to lead, he is back in hot water as president of Westfield State University in Massachusetts.
In a series of revelations, Dobelle has been accused – as he was at Hawaii – of spending university money extravagantly and, at times, on himself and his family.
This raises questions about how and why Westfield, a public university of 6,000 students, hired Dobelle after his flameout in Hawaii in 2004.
read ... About Dobelle's 5th College Presidency
Attention: Geothermal Drilling is not 'Fracking'
CB: We understand there are concerns here in Hawaii that stem from past experience, many of them negative. To the people of Hawaii we say: address those concerns with facts, not with fears. I was sorry to read reports of bills being moved forward to ban “fracking” in geothermal development. This is an example of how information gets distorted. The negative experience of natural gas extraction from shale is being conflated with what is done to get at the geothermal resource. Geothermal drilling is undertaken with great consideration of land and resource. It is not fracking as represented by others.
read ... A Message to the Hyped
Honolulu Home Prices Rising Fastest in USA
SA: Honolulu topped the list of 100 major U.S. metropolitan areas in terms of the increase in home prices year over year in July, according to Homes.com, a Norfolk, Va., real estate website.
The real estate site calculates a Local Market Index based on sales data from the same homes over time. The survey includes homes sold in July 2012 and again a year later. Honolulu scored a 29.17 on the index in July, up 13.5 percent from July 2012.
Honolulu had the largest point jump in its index number in the past year. The next top eight markets were all in California.
Among midsize markets, Hilo saw the largest year-over-year gain in its index number to 34.19, or up 17.43 percent, while Kahului-Wailuku was third with a 25.25 on the index, up 13.23 percent in a year.
read ... We're Number One
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