September 4, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, September 4, 2009

September 4, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 11:12 AM :: 7011 Views

LINK: FULL TEXT: Governor Lingle's Internet Address on Budget, Negotiations -- And Responses

SB: Feds owe more to migrants (Please bail the HGEA out!)

Congress seemed magnanimous in 1985 when it approved a compact allowing people from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau access to health and education benefits while living in the United States. Most of the expense has been placed on Hawaii, where more than 7,000 such immigrants from Pacific island nations reside, and Congress should at long last take responsibility for the cost. (Because if we can't afford the HGEA, how will our precious Democrats get elected?)

City Workers To Be Directly Observed At Drug Testing

(Here is a quick look at some of the employees we are bailing out)

Some Oahu city workers who tested positive for drugs in the past will be directly observed when they give follow-up urine samples, KITV has learned.

That is because of a new federal requirement that already has city employees complaining about invasion of privacy.

The new policy applies to city lifeguards, refuse truck drivers and road maintenance workers who take follow-up or return-to-work urine tests because they tested positive for drugs before or refused to take a prior drug test. (To get an observed test, they have to be inept enough to not fake the first test.)

(Without the feds this would not be happening. But the entire State is supposed to be turned inside-out to save employees who cannot even be drug tested properly.)

Litany of cutback articles

(This is the real union/Democrat response to the State's budget crisis)

Vector Control Staff Cut Nearly 65 Percent

Film industry says cuts will hurt

$5.7M cut in library budget rejected (BoE continues to evade responsibility for anything)

but here's one that doesn't fit the template...

Invasive species funds could be rerouted

State Agriculture Chairwoman Sandra Kunimoto told a skeptical House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday that she's hoping to dip into an invasive species special fund to restore 25 of the 52 agricultural inspection positions currently targeted for layoffs.

(Nature Conservancy is not happy....)

Dashefsky and Ako among TV layoffs

KHNL-TV reporter Leland Kim was the first of the KHNL/KFVE-TV and KGMB-TV employees being laid off to make the news public, announcing via Twitter and Facebook he was "officially laid off." That's a good place for the announcement since nobody is watching TV any more.....

Lockheed locked in on clean energy

OTEC, as it is commonly called, stands for ocean thermal energy conversion, a technology that exploits temperature differences between surface water and water found several thousand feet deep to run generators, desalinate water and possibly produce other types of fuels.

In an OTEC system, warm water is used to heat up a fluid with a low boiling point. In turn, this steam turns blades on a generator before being cooled down again by cold water pumped up from the ocean depths.

Both Hawai'i and Lockheed have a history with OTEC, with the world's only successful floating OTEC system being built and operated off the Big Island in the late 1970s. That project was funded by the National Science Foundation and funding dried up for the project as concern about spiking oil prices subsided.

(Enviros are already plotting ways to block this.)

No quick fixes for Valley Isle

Maui County's recovery will be slow, heavily reliant on tourism, economist says.

(Want a quick fix? Bring back the Superferry. Oooops too, late. The enviros, the Supreme Court and the Leg chased it away.)

Adv: Kaka'ako moves toward a vibrant future

Nobody's going to protest THIS development. The reason is obvious.

Coffee production up, but value drops

Most of the production increase occurred because farms on one or more of the islands of Kaua'i, Maui, Moloka'i and O'ahu had higher yields. The four islands harvested 3,400 acres this season, unchanged from last season, but obtained 4.6 million pounds of saleable coffee, up from 3.6 million pounds. The average price was $1.75, down 6 cents from last season.

On the Big Island, farmers produced 4 million pounds of coffee this season, up from 3.9 million pounds last season. The production increase was achieved despite 100 fewer acres being harvested. The average price was $5.30, down from $6.50.

Hokulia road funding on track

Oceanside 1250 has kept its bond premiums paid and intends to make its annual payment before a Sept. 13 due date, County Council members learned Wednesday.

"The bonds only cover Hokulia building the road," Ford said of the $26 million secured by the bonds. "They do not cover the county taxpayers building the road. ... It's a loser for us financially (to build the road).

Council OKs tent bill (affordable housing solution?)

It's now up to Mayor Billy Kenoi to decide if eligible Puna landowners may live a tent while building a legally permitted home.

Council Kills Bus BO Bill (Still legal to urinate on bus)

About a dozen people testified on the code of conduct bill, which also would have outlawed spitting, urinating and being intoxicated on city buses.

Mufi sings on hold at Honolulu Hale

City operators said callers have not complained, but not everyone likes it.

"He can't carry a tune anyway. No one will tell him that. Everyone's afraid to tell him that," Kakaako resident Rico Leffanta said.

It was pretty hard to find anyone who wants to criticize the mayor about the situation. Even council members, who were surprised to learn the mayor was on their phones, did not have too much to say.

Democrat Burris: No sign of dynastic politics here

Over the years, there has been a recurring joke that Hawai'i's political system combines the best of Japan's (hide-bound) bureaucratic system and New Orleans' entrenched good-old-boys system. That's funny, but if so, where is the evidence?

If Hawai'i was truly a dynastic system, where are the powerful leaders of today named Burns or Ariyoshi, Waihee or Cayetano, Inouye or Fasi?

(The akamai reader will note the methodology. Burris asks a question about "old boy" politics and "bureaucratic system(s)". He then pretends to dismiss his own question by answering a completely different question about "dynastic politics." But "old boy" "bureaucratic system(s)" do not equal "dynastic politics" WHEN THE SYSTEM IS BASED ON EVERYBODY EVADING DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING.)