AARP: Hawaii Health Connector Needs Transparency & Accountability
Pew: Five States Which Paid to Keep National Parks, Monuments Open
Installing a Solar PV System? Check with HECO first
Oversight Hearing to Evaluate Foster Homes, Adult Residential Care Homes
Raising the Cost of “Affordable Housing”
Reso 12-149: Where is the Audit of HART Propaganda Machine?
Hoshijo Announces Plan to Impose Public Accommodations Law on Churches
SA: If disputes arise over the state's public accommodations law, they can be filed in court, or they can be handled with an administrative complaint before the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission (packed with gay activists). Bill Hoshijo, executive director of the commission, drafted an analysis that examines various scenarios....
The overarching conclusion is that the commission sees the need to uphold the state's public accommodations law, with targeted exceptions as expressed in the bill.
"Opening the door to broad or numerous exemptions or exceptions to our state civil rights laws undermines the state's compelling interest in prohibiting discrimination, weakens our discrimination laws, and invites constitutional challenges," Hoshijo wrote. "It is not necessary to create exemptions to our civil rights laws in order to enact marriage equality legislation, and to do so will weaken existing civil rights protections."
Reality: Civil Rights: What’s Worse than Being ‘Forced’ to Conduct Gay Marriages?
read ... How the Government Will Order Your Religion to Change
Abercrombie's Same-Sex Marriage Bill Unconstitutional
SA: Many are concerned with how the bill might affect rights protected by the U.S. and state constitutions.
The idea that the same-sex marriage bill requires religious protections in the first place has raised concerns about infringement of First Amendment (U.S. Constitution) and Article 1, Section 4 (Hawaii Constitution) freedoms. Even more troubling is that the bill will be considered during a five-day session and cannot be amended.
...the governor has neutered the public-input process with his unwillingness to entertain amendments from proponents and opponents alike. Rather than being a forum to discuss and improve the merits of a bill, public testimo- ny will be little more than a dog-and-pony show.
Analysis of religious exemptions in the governor's draft same-sex marriage bill, dated Sept. 9, indicates they do not provide the same level of religious protection contained in legislation adopted by the 13 states and District of Columbia that have legalized same-sex unions. The proposed Hawaii bill only specifies limited protections for religious organizations and facilities in connection with the state public accommodations law. Other states, such as Washington, specifically exempt religious organizations and their affiliates from the dictates of public accommodations laws.
read ... Col Dan Melton (ret)
Exemptions to protect religious freedom are too weak to be effective
SA: Where is the balance between the competing claims of religious freedom and equal treatment? The answer to this question of balance is elusive, say the experts who track such things ....
(WRONG. All the other states were able to figure this out only Abercrombie is trying to push through a bill designed to impose a re-write of religion. Only the Star-Adv editors ACLU and the other usual suspects are so arrogant as to attempt to sell the idea that this violation of the First Amendment protection of religious freedom is somehow not way out in left field. The question for legislators: Are they smart enough to spot the deception for themselves?)
read ... Still Trying to pass this unconstitutional bill
Trash-talking starts early for Schatz-Hanabusa race
Borreca: The trash-talking has started in Hawaii's U.S. Senate campaign as U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz came out with a campaign memo last week sneering at his opponent's efforts.
It is unusual for a campaign to get such an early start hooting and disrespecting an opponent, so the Schatz effort puzzles.
The Schatz memo was the first major negative piece in his Democratic primary campaign against U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
read ... Trash-talking starts early for Schatz-Hanabusa race
Leaders' failure causes isles to lose out in GMO debate
Shapiro: ... In 1975, the Hawaii County Council voted to add fluoride to the island's water — nationally popular for fighting tooth decay in children — at the behest of the dental association and the ILWU....
fluoride opponents got the issue on the 1976 ballot. Voters not only rejected fluoridation by a wide margin, but also threw out six of the nine Council members.
Modern councils on Kauai and Hawaii island remember the political spanking and have embraced the anti-GMO emotionalism to a point that borders on pandering.
GMO advocates today are taking a beating because they didn't learn the real lessons from 1976: You don't fight the battle by calling the public ignorant, nor do you tell people they don't get to control what goes into their bodies because scientists and government know better what's good for them.
The Abercrombie administration and Legislature could have provided sorely needed leadership by promoting objective fact-finding, reasonable GMO labeling and meaningful safeguards in the fields.
Instead, they listened to the jingle of biotech campaign donations and did nothing as GMO fever rose on the neighbor islands.
The 11th-hour attempt by the governor and Kauai legislators to head off GMO regulations by Kauai County with an alternative that depended on voluntary industry compliance was laughable....
read ... Pandering Starts at the Top
Will Mayor Veto Anti-GMO Bill?
KGI: The controversial bill passed last week, and is aimed at putting restriction on large companies that use pesticides.
Carvalho preferred the county defer the matter.
After the county passed it, the mayor said he would have to review it fully before deciding whether to sign it. It reached his desk late last week.
Carvalho could veto it, but the council could override that veto. Carvalho declined to comment on the attorneys’ letter, but said through a spokesman he is still awaiting a legal briefing from the County Attorney and has all options on the table.
read ... Attorneys to mayor: Sign Bill 2491
NPR: Kauai Activists Blame GMO for (Insert illness here)
NPR: Those fields behind me belong to Pioneer, one of the big seed companies here in Kauai. The prevailing winds here blow out of the northeast. And the residents here say that when those winds blow, they bring dust and pesticides from these fields down into their neighborhoods and homes.
read ... A Bunch of Fearmongering
Star-Adv: Counties can help maintain DHHL homes
SA: On one level, it's not at all surprising that the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which has fallen so short in meeting obligations to its constituency, has failed to manage its property in other ways.
But the physical evidence of that failure — neighborhoods scarred by unkempt, even dilapidated homes, some of which are abandoned — is a jarring sight. And it sounds an alarm heard well beyond the community of DHHL beneficiaries.
read ... DHHL?
Another look at the Democratic Party lawsuit against state’s “open primary”
ILind: The case is a classic clash of two constitutional rights. On the one hand is a provision added to the Hawaii State Constitution in 1978 providing for “secrecy of voting and choice of political party affiliation or nonpartisanship.” Adoption of this constitutional amendment required the state to do away with the previous “closed primary” that required voters to public declare a party preference. But the Democratic Party’s lawsuit says the “open primary” violates its right of association under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and argues the state should be compelled to go back to a closed primary open only to party members and supporters. To win the case, the party has to prove that the restriction on its right of association
read ... Closed Primary
UHH enrollment down
HTH: Student enrollment at University of Hawaii at Hilo dipped by 3 percent this year, bringing to an end at least a decade of regular, record-breaking population increases.
This fall semester, UHH’s student population fell by 138 students, or 3.3 percent, to a total of 4,034, according to university enrollment figures.
“We retained higher numbers for incoming freshmen,” explained Chancellor Donald Straney, “but the problem was with retaining students who were already here. … Enrollment has been growing by between 2 and 3 percent every year for several years. All summer long, new student enrollments were strong, but then we didn’t have as many students return.”
read ... Straney's Excuses
Revolving Door: First Wind Hires former Compliance officer
MN: Prior to joining First Wind, Unser, who lives on Oahu, worked as an environmental scientist at SWCA Environmental Consultants, where she assisted with the biological assessments of First Wind's sites on Oahu and as a permit compliance monitor during construction.
read ... Bought n paid for
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