SB1 Would Impose New Tax on Churches—Even if they Accept Gay Marriage
Free Speech? Ethics Commission Issues Advisory on ‘Grassroots Lobbying’
ACLU: Regulation of Grassroots Lobbying Suppresses Free Speech
Bishop Silva: Respect Human Ecology, Gay Marriage is not 'Equal'
13 States with Gay Marriage: How Education Changed
Jackson v Abercrombie delayed until after Special Session
Welfare subsidies on the rise in Hawaii
Retiree Hit With $7000 'Recalculated' Water Bill
WSJ on Solar City: Cronyism in Full Force
HECO Warns Solar Contractors over Deceptive Sales Practices
WSJ: The Universal Pre-K Fallacy
UHERO: Shutdown did not Stop Hawaii Growth
Wespac: US Should Refuse Any Quota Reduction For Hawaii Bigeye Tuna
Sierra Club: Senate Should Reject Superferry’s only Supporter
Hawaii-Based New Age Hucksters Fight Over $5M Donation from “sap”
Proposed Law Would Protect Child Molesters
CB: Two local advocacy groups are sponsoring Hawaii legislation next session that would ban a type of mental-health counseling that aims to change the sexuality of children who identify as gay, bisexual or transgender.
"Conversion therapy," as it’s known, is typically nonconsensual counseling imposed on children by parents (Consent? Parents are responsible for their children.) or other adult figures and is widely seen as ineffective and intolerant (by gays who are hot for fresh young twinks). It’s already banned in California and New Jersey.
(Translation: An adult homosexual rapes your underage son. Then the government prevents you from counseling the victim of the rape and thereby possibly discovering the identity of the rapist.)
The Hawaii bill is being sponsored by GiRL FeST Hawaii, which (ineffectually) combats violence against women and girls, and the political advocacy organization IMUAlliance (run by that weird dude with the airbrushed wings). Bill sponsors say Rep. John Mizuno has agreed to help introduce the measure, with other lawmakers expected to hop on board as well.
read ... About the people who own your children
Government to Control Central Union Church, Kawaiahao Church by Nov 18
HuffPo: Last year, about 1.45 million Japanese tourists visited Hawaii, and a significant fraction of them came to get married or attend a wedding. The Central Union church (and Kawaiahao Church) in Honolulu, for example, conducts about fifty wedding ceremonies a month, most of them destination weddings.
Many churches in Hawaii rely heavily on the income from these wedding ceremonies to keep themselves running. Renting one of Central Union’s venues costs $1,800 (among other add-on options, a harpist is available for another $200).
But if a special session of the Hawaii state senate passes a bill legalizing same-sex marriage next week, these churches will face a very difficult decision.
(Notice the entire article is written as if the government actually has the right to impose a new marriage system on religion.)
According to the public accommodations law in Hawaii, any church that makes a profit from ceremonies conducted on its property may not discriminate against a certain group -- or couple -- from holding those ceremonies.
So, for those churches that are against same-sex marriage, the choice will come down to bottom lines: their accountant’s vs. the Bible’s. In order to keep any cash flow from weddings, they must allow same-sex ceremonies in their institutions. (Your rulers do not want you to consider 'lawsuit' as an option.)
At Central Union church, no decisions are being made quite yet. “The United Church of Christ is all over the place on this issue nationally as well as here,” Rev. David Hirano told KITV. “There are some who are against same sex marriage and others who are open to it but each church has to make that decision."
Should same-sex marriage become legal in Hawaii, Central Union’s church committee will make a recommendation and then let its congregation decide.
Churches won’t have much time to deliberate, however. If the special session allows same-sex marriage, ceremonies could begin as early as November 18. (The gay atheists are nothing if not arrogant.)
read ... Forced Government Religion
Souki: Litigation Gives Me Excuse to Switch Vote on Gay Marriage
Borreca: It is better, Souki said, to have the Legislature draft a bill rather than have the courts dictate the law overturning Hawaii current law saying marriage is between a man and a woman.
"The polls used to be 70 percent against same-sex; now it is split 50-50," he added. The 80-year-old Roman Catholic has slowly come over to supporting gay marriage, but can see why the issue is drawing such attention from the public.
"To the public, there is a fear of the unknown, the whole paradigm shift of marriage is threatening to them," Souki said.
The political equation also troubles some Democrats. Those in Honolulu proper may not feel threatened by the same-sex marriage vote, but legislators representing rural districts may have a more difficult political question.
"In rural areas, everyone knows everyone, they knew each other since childhood; it is not like the city where people move in and out," said Souki. So one issue is not likely to have the same impact in a district with many competing needs, but, Souki noted, a vote on same-sex marriage still has the potential to be controversial.
For Souki, who voted against the civil unions bill in past legislative sessions, his vote next week is going to be with what he said will be a majority in favor of the bill.
read ... Moving in and Out
Maui: ’14 candidates start to emerge
MN: Mayor Alan Arakawa has announced that he is running for re-election and he will be hard to beat. One tough potential challenger, Council Member Mike Victorino, announced his decision not to seek the job and will instead run again for his seat representing Wailuku, Waihee and Waikapu.
Former Council Members Danny Mateo and Mike Molina - who could not run last time because of term limits - have announced they are strongly considering running next year for their old seats representing Molokai and Makawao-Haiku-Paia, respectively.
This would ostensibly pit Mateo against incumbent Stacey Crivello and Molina against incumbent Mike White.
Another former council member, Joe Pontanilla, told The Maui News a couple of weeks ago he has thought about running for his old seat....
read ... 2014 Already
Abercrombie Refuses to Fill Vacant HCDA Seats in time for Special Session
CB: Major decisions about new skyrises in Honolulu loom, but Hawaii’s state development agency may have to make them at a time when it is understaffed in a way that critics say favors developers.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority has been missing two members of its Kakaako board since May, prompting lawmakers to urge Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill the seats in time for the Legislature’s special session next week.
But the governor’s spokeswoman said that’s not going to happen.
“He's still going through the process of reviewing the names and applicants,” Louise Kim McCoy, Abercrombie’s spokeswoman, said Thursday. She said Abercrombie doesn't have enough time before the special session to thoroughly vet the candidates.
Because the appointments require Senate confirmation, the delay means the board could remain incomplete until the Legislature convenes for its regular session in January.
Related: Senators: Abercrombie Should Fill HCDA Vacancies
read ... Why Hasn't Hawaii Gov Filled Development Agency Seats?
Serial Rapist Let Out Early, Accused of Rape Again
KHON: A decade ago, Michael Lee Carter was labeled a sexual predator.
"I'm a monster, I am. There's things I need to address," Carter said.
Honolulu police say last month he attacked again. Carter was arrested for kidnapping and raping a 21-year-old woman near Royal Elementary School. Police say she may have thought he was a police officer.
She reported it to authorities, but they couldn't find her attacker at the time.
On Wednesday, she spotted Carter near Fort Street and flagged down an officer identifying him as her attacker.
In 2005, Carter was sentenced to 10 years for posing as a police officer and raping two women. He was convicted of eight counts in all. Before that, he went to jail for sex assault and kidnapping in 1994.
read ... Soft on Crime
License granted for depleted uranium
HTH: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a license for the possession of depleted uranium at the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island and Schofield Barracks on Oahu.
The license, granted Wednesday, is in response to the revelation about six years ago that spotting rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett program were fired at both locations in the 1960s.
The rounds contained depleted uranium, a dense, weakly radioactive metal alloy left over from the uranium enrichment process.
read ... Former Locus of Free-Floating Anxiety
Education expert says emphasis on uniform standards stifles creativity
SA: Yong Zhao is no fan of the Common Core standards. Why risk the very traits that made America great — ingenuity, confidence and entrepreneurial zeal — in a quest for conformity in U.S. public schools? Zhao, the associate dean for global and online education at the University of Oregon, continually raises this question as he encourages schools to capitalize on a technological era that allows students to deeply explore subjects they care about and to share their ideas with the world.
The author of more than 20 books, including "World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students," and "Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Era of Globalization," Zhao engages educators around the world, in person and online. As a creator of the online learning platform ObaWorld, he's making headway with research arguing that personalized learning is not an aspiration, but a necessity in a world that has fundamentally changed.
Heartened that his message resonates even in states that have signed on to the Common Core — which includes Hawaii — Zhao urges teachers to believe in themselves and their students, and to resist narrowing instruction to meet the national standards....
read ... Common Core?
Kauai Council has Chance to Kill off Coco Palms Redevelopment
SA: Repealing an ordinance that expedites the permit process to rebuild structures destroyed by Hurricane Iniki will put an end to restoration plans for the Coco Palms Resort, the iconic Kauai hotel where Elvis Presley filmed "Blue Hawaii," argues Bob Jasper, who holds guided tours at the property.
"If it passes, it would pretty much be the death for the hotel," he said.
The Kauai County Council held a public hearing Wednesday on Bill 2502, which would repeal the so-called "Iniki Ordinance," which offers an expedited permit process to rebuild structures and buildings destroyed by the Category 4 storm that devastated the Garden Isle on Sept. 11, 1992.
The bill says the ordinance has served its purpose and is not needed.
In June, Mayor Bernard Carvalho sent a letter to the Planning Commission requesting the remaining section of the Iniki Ordinance be repealed, saying there has been ample time for property owners to use it.
read ... End of permit streamlining called doom for Coco Palms
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