Gay Marriage Opponents to Rally at Capitol TODAY
VIDEO: 10,000 Dead as Typhoon Haiyan Blasts Tacloban City, Leyte
Slowing Growth of Government Only Way to Avoid Another Shutdown
Ahu: Church Looks forward to Building Bridges with GLBT
KHON: Pastor Elwin Ahu of New Hope Metro issued a statement, which said in part: "While our community has been divided on this issue with many opinions and voice shared, I think I speak on behalf of many churches that we look forward to building bridges and relationships with our neighbors in the GLBT community both within and outside of the walls of our churches."
Meanwhile:
read ... Bridges
Adios to Aloha?
KGI: ...In 1986, Kalama’s mother, Elizabeth K. Kalama, helped craft the constitutional amendment that defined the aloha spirit. It described the spirit as a working philosophy, a trait of character “that expresses the charms warmth and sincerity of Hawaii’s people.”
“Aloha spirit is the coordination of mind and heart within each person,” statute 5-7.5 reads. “It brings each person to the self. Each person must think and emote good feelings to others.”
It goes on.
“Aloha is a mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return,” it reads....
Kalama’s reminder came when one of the most passionate, polarizing debates on Kauai had been well underway.
For the last six months, the island has been divided over the controversial Bill 2491, which would require large seed companies to disclose their use of restricted use pesticides, among other requirements.
The split over the bill led to reported physical threats on the mayor and other officials. The threats came shortly after the mayor stood outside of his office, in the atrium of the Moikeha Building, explaining his decision to veto the council-approved bill while an angry crowd jeered him.
“You’re not with us. You’re with the corporations,” one woman screamed at the mayor then....
A guest opinion by Alan Kennett in October said the spirit was being destroyed by the bill, co-introduced by County Councilman Gary Hooser, which is “pandering to the anti-GMO movement.”....
“There is less local people and Hawaiians like before and it is more mixed now,” he said. According to the 2010 Census, Kauai’s population jumped by roughly 10,000 people to 67,000.
related: Hawaii: Where agendized people go to live out their dreams
read ... Adios?
Hee, Rhoads admit Testimony Forced Concessions on Religious Freedom
SA: Some in both the House and Senate said privately that technical changes to the bill suggested by Rep. Sharon Har (D, Kapolei-Makakilo) as "friendly amendments" had some merit. But Oshiro and Har, who both voted against the bill, had put House leadership on the defensive with relentless attacks against the bill and the process, moves that were interpreted as strategic attempts to delay action.
If the Senate were to reject the House's version, the House and Senate would have had to go into a conference committee, which would have prolonged the debate and would have likely jeopardized the chances a bill would pass.
Hee defended the process and the special session. The Senate held an 11-hour hearing on the bill, while the House hearing took a record 56 hours of public testimony over five days.
"Anybody who has been around this building during the legislative session understands that this bill would not get near the kind of focus or attention but for the special session," Hee said.
Both Hee and Rep. Karl Rhoads (D, Chinatown-Iwilei-Kalihi), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, personally preferred a narrower religious exemption but agreed to an expansion in an effort to get the legislation passed. The House also chose to remove a section of the bill on parentage rights after hearing concerns from Native Hawaiians about how ancestry would be recorded for the children of same-sex couples.
"I would frame it more as a reaction to what we heard in our hearings," Rhoads said of the changes.
House lawmakers had expected that a leadership divide that still smoldered after House Speaker Joseph Souki (D, Waihee-Waiehu-Wailuku) took over in January with a coalition of progressive Democrats and minority Republicans would be exposed during the special session.
McDermott and other Republicans who oppose gay marriage sought to dissolve the coalition after failing to persuade Souki to replace Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kailua-Kaneohe) on the House Judiciary Committee. Thielen was the only Republican to vote for the bill.
While many in the Legislature anticipated that McDermott and other conservatives would lead the charge against gay marriage, few expected that Oshiro, who lost power when the new coalition took control, would be the agent of obstruction.
Oshiro insisted that he was motivated by improving the bill and ensuring a fair process, not undermining House leadership.
But many House lawmakers were privately baffled by Oshiro's tactics given his history on equal rights.
read ... They really wanted to force gay marriage into Churches
SB1HD1 Pre-Planned with Senate
KHON: Democratic Senate Judiciary Chair Clayton Hee laid out his plans Saturday after Friday night's passing of the same sex marriage bill in the house.
"Just before we reconvene at 10 a.m. my recommendation to the majority members of the Senate will be to agree to Senate Bill 1, House Draft 1," Senator Hee said.
Hee feels the vote will be 21 in support and 4 against if all 25 senators are present at Tuesday's hearing.
"If the previous floor session by the Senate on the 30th of October is any indication I would guess that the discussion to move the bill on final reading would take perhaps an hour I'd be surprised if it'd be much longer than that," Senator Hee said.
Representative Gene Ward who has opposed the bill from the beginning had a feeling the Senate would pass it.
"That is expected its not surprising in the sense that we heard rumors that they were already crafting it with Hee before they even did the HD1 so I'm not surprised," Representative Gene Ward said.
Rep. Ward who has been very vocal about the judicial process during the House hearing says he believes this issue has divided the state of Hawaii.
"The people feel like they were cheated the people feel like we're not listening to them and the people feel we already voted we showed up in force and you showed us no evidence that you heard us," Rep. Ward said.
read ... Pre-Planned
Courtroom will become next venue in fight over matrimony
SA: supporters of same-sex marriage... plan to celebrate and drop their federal lawsuit seeking to legalize same-sex marriages....
opponents ... plan to press a state lawsuit to invalidate the legislation....
Same-sex marriage supporters say they do not know of any court in the country that has taken away same-sex marriage rights....
Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto on Thursday declined to issue a restraining order sought by state Rep. Bob McDermott to halt action on the special session's same-sex marriage legislation. But the judge said once the law is adopted, he'll consider its constitutionality.
The judge raised questions about how voters who ratified the 1998 amendment knew that it authorized the Legislature to later approve same-sex marriages.
"I definitely viewed that as a very positive response," said Jack Dwyer, lawyer for the Republican representative.
But Steven Levinson, a staunch same-sex marriage advocate and the former Supreme Court associate justice who wrote the landmark 1993 opinion on same-sex marriage, said he thinks there's a "100 percent certainty" that the judge will turn down the request.
He said he doesn't know of any court case that negated same-sex marriage rights.... (purely political)
In Hawaii, the state Legislature adopted a measure in 1994 reserving marriage between a man and a woman; voters then passed an amendment in 1998 that states, "The Legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples."
At the time, same-sex marriage supporters believed the amendment was the most devastating blow for civil rights in Hawaii since statehood.
More than 30 other states adopted amendments, laws or both to ban same-sex marriage....
Advocates maintain that the amendment did not flat-out ban same-sex marriages, but was the result of a compromise to allow state lawmakers to change their minds in the future. "We think now it's our salvation," said Jackie Young, a supporter of same-sex marriage and a former state representative.
read ... Next Venue
State wasting cash but no one accepts blame
SA: » The dealings with CGI Group Inc. comprise the most distressing example of contract mismanagement. CGI, which has been in the headlines nationally for its involvement developing the troubled Healthcare.gov website, also is behind the faltering launch of the related Hawaii-based health-insurance marketplace, the Hawaii Health Connector online portal.
Now we learn that this is the same company that, 14 years ago, built a tax collection system for Hawaii that, according to official reports, has fallen woefully short. After pouring $87.5 million down the drain in CGI modernization jobs, the state is now poised to spend $32 million more on a do-over.
» The University of Hawaii Board of Regents has ordered an audit of the work on the Clarence T. C. Ching Athletic Complex. Failure to complete this long-delayed project, underwritten by the private Ching Foundation and matching state funds, could land UH in sanctions from the NCAA.
» The latest report on the state's HI-5 beverage container recycling program shows that its long-standing accountability gaps have not been closed, and potential fraud draining the public purse may continue indefinitely.
What all these cases have in common is a lack of disclosure about where decisions go wrong.
read ... No Accountability
Koa Ridge gains would include hospital
SA: Central Oahu needs a new hospital ASAP at the Koa Ridge site.
The new hospital would be developed within the 28-acre medical complex generously donated by Castle & Cooke. The site has been strategically located by The Wahiawa Hospital Association and Castle & Cooke to serve the residents of Waipahu, Mililani, Wahiawa and the North Shore. Koa Ridge is the right location to address the growing demand for health care and medical services for these communities. However, for a new hospital to be built at the site, the City Council needs to approve Castle & Cooke's Koa Ridge zoning request, which is scheduled for a final vote Wednesday.
As CEO of Wahiawa General Hospital, I know first-hand that our 60-year-old facility on 3.8 acres in Wahiawa does not have room to grow, or have the necessary infrastructure to support a modern high quality/high technology hospital. The new location would increase the hospital's service area from about 50,000 people to 150,000, which would increase the hospital's service area by 300 percent. The Koa Ridge location is optimal for supporting the greater Central Oahu area, including Wahiawa and the North Shore.
Timing for development of a new hospital is important because the community will most likely lose Wahiawa General Hospital if key acute care services are not relocated in the near future.
PBN: Wahiawa General Hospital's fate could depend on whether Castle & Cooke gets zoning for Koa Ridge
read ... Hospital
With Solar Scammers Profits on the Line, Eco-Lawyers Suddenly get interested in consumer costs
One Hawaii island resident said Hawaii Light and Electric Co. quoted him $7,800 for "relaying equipment" that would be needed to protect the grid from a relatively modest 3-kilowatt PV system he proposed.
Some members of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative who installed PV systems in saturated areas have paid KIUC nearly $5,000 to have new transformers installed in their neighborhoods.
The charges are fueling a debate over who should have to pay the costs associated with upgrading the grid to keep pace with the rapid growth of distributed solar power generation.
Officials from the local chapter of Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law organization, say the decision by Hawaii utilities to charge customers appears to run contrary to language in the state's "net energy metering" law designed to encourage homeowners to generate their own renewable energy.
Isaac Moriwake, an attorney for Earthjustice's Mid-Pacific Office, cited a section of the statute he said supports the group's view that the utilities should be paying for the upgrades: "Any new or additional charge, or other charge that would increase an eligible customer-generator's costs beyond those of other customers in the rate class to which the eligible customer-generator would otherwise be assigned are contrary to the intent of this section, and shall not form a part of net energy metering contracts or tariffs."
Reality: No Blackout: RevoluSun Exposed
read ... Anything for the solar scammers
Jury adds $1M to Sheehan property value After County Seizes Boatyard
KGI: Sheehan said his next step is to have the appellate and federal court decide if the county violated a doctrine of futurity by taking his property for a stated purpose and then using it for another. He believes this is a county plan to take over commercial tour boating from a private but environmentally sound boatyard operation.
A three-year old federal case is on hold pending the outcome of another 5th Circuit case that is before the Intermediate Court of Appeals review of a ruling on the propriety of the Planning Commission revocation of the commercial boatyard permits. He is claiming the county held executive sessions on matters in violation of the sunshine law.
Sheehan said he was of the idea of preserving the land as an expansion of Black Pot Beach and that he offered all seven acres to the county for the 2009 assessed commercial value of three acres at $10 million.
The county turned him down, Sheehan said, because of a conditional day-use only with no commercial operation clause. Instead the county revoked the permits and that reduced the highest use value from commercial to residential.
read ... Eminent Domain
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