Mainland Homosexuals Laugh at Hawaii Single-Issue Candidates
March 21, 2014: Election Commission Releases Updated Candidate List
Hawaii Health Connector: Only 23 Employers Applied March 1-15
VIDEO: Rand Paul Gets Rousing Welcome at UC Berkeley
Video: Freedom and Film
Catch the Wave of HOPE with Nick Vujicic at Aloha Stadium
HCR102 Pushes DBEDT Energy Agenda: Big Cable, AKP, Crony Capitalism
IM: House Concurrent Resolution 102 proposes that the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) creates a community plan for Hawai’i’s energy future....
DBEDT is actively pushing the interisland cable....
DBEDT favored the HECO-HELCO-Aina Koa Pono boondoggle....
DBEDT favored the contract and the subsidies....
DBEDT promotes business interests....
DBEDT’s Energy Office provides maintains a list of “current renewable energy projects in Hawaii.”
The current DBEDT Energy list includes Aina Koa Pono, Lana’i Big Wind (200 MW) and Moloka’i Big Wind (200 MW).
The DBEDT web page has no information of environmental, cultural or fiscal impacts associated with any proposed project.
HCR 102 states that IRP planning should focus on “lowering costs to customers.” DBEDT supported and continues to support the most expensive energy boondoggles in state history (Aina Koa Pono, Inter-island Cable).
HCR 102 states that the PUC “has not taken sufficient and timely action to implement the [IRP] plan.”
The HECO Companies IRP process was a failure.
HCR 102 is being heard by a House Committee on Tuesday March 25.
read ... Resolution promotes DBEDT-driven energy policy
Feds Deny Hawaii health exchange money request
AP: Officials from Hawaii Health Connector had asked for more time to spend what remains of about $205 million in federal funds. Most of the money has to be spent by the end of 2014. But the federal government denied the request made by Hawaii and other states....
The Hawaii Legislature has been considering giving money to the Connector if it can't come up with a plan to sustain itself. Matsuda has said he will present lawmakers with a sustainability plan in the next few weeks....
Best Comment: "So the federal government had us build this health connector despite us not needing nor wanting it. The outcome has been a mess and the original director left/fled after being paid a fortune to waste $M's. Now the feds cut off funding (a good thing) and our state is thinking about wasting our tax dollars. This getting more ridiculous every day."
read ... Tightening the Vise
Council Considers Tax Hike on Non-Profits
SA: A bill creating new tax classifications for Oahu bed-and-breakfast operations and transient vacation units has been deferred so a panel of experts can review it.
Bill 23 was one of three tax-related measures held up by the Council Budget Committee on Wednesday. Also deferred were Bill 18, increasing the minimum property tax for nonprofits and public service groups, and Bill 19, creating a tiered tax system for residential properties designated as historic.
Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said she wants a property tax advisory commission, which is expected to convene soon, to offer recommendations on the bills. After Wednesday's meeting she said her committee could revisit any or all of the bills before completing the city budget in May.
read ... Non-Profit tax
Challenge to U.S. Shipping Law: Still Hoping in Hawaii
Barron's: Carroll has mounted several unsuccessful legal challenges to the act. His latest has been denied by two courts, and now sits with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Hawaii....
One plaintiff, Patrick Novak, says higher shipping costs "in a very challenging economy" eroded margins "to a point that I was forced to close my 28-year-old company," which specialized in frozen pastry dough. This has led Carroll, a former state legislator and gubernatorial candidate, to add a twist to his legal argument. He contends that the Jones Act violated Novak's Fifth Amendment rights to protection against seizure of property without due process.
Hawaii Shippers Council head Michael Hansen also favors reform, but doubts that this argument will persuade the courts. In any case, he says, reform "is a political, not a constitutional legal issue." Still, 82% of Hawaiians in an online poll last year favored reform.
read ... Jones Act
Cachola Angered by Expose of Corruption Allegations
SA: Cachola's office said he believes the inquiry, which should have been kept confidential, somehow was leaked to the media. He said he planned to uphold his end of the confidential nature of the communications by not making any further comments.
In the statement, Cachola voiced concern that one or more of his past opponents could be using the commission's inquiry "as a means to unfairly discredit and punish me, my family, supporters and friends."
Cachola, 74, previously a Honolulu City Council member, returned to the state House in 2012 after narrowly defeating 26-year-old first-time candidate Nicole Velasco, who worked as a researcher at the state House and for the state auditor before becoming executive secretary of Mayor Kirk Caldwell's Neighborhood Commission.
Cachola told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser he received the inquiry from the commission a few days prior to the information going public and that he has until some time in April to respond.
read ... Secrecy for Corruption
Puna Residents Angered by Ruderman's Help to Illegal Land Developer
HTH: A group of Puna residents is intensifying its battle against a bill that would authorize Hawaii and Maui counties to issue so-called “sustainable living research permits” that would skirt building and zoning codes on parcels from 1 to 15 acres.
Senate Bill 2274, sponsored by Sen. Russell Ruderman, a Puna Democrat, would promote sustainable living through renewable fuel and energy generation, provision of water, sewage treatment, organic food production and shared living situations, according to a House Water and Land Committee report on the bill.
It cleared the House on March 13 with two voting no and nine voting yes with reservations out of the 51-member body. It now goes to the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection.
Sheryle “Sativa” Sultan, a Seaview Estates resident, and eight other residents filed an ethics complaint March 10 against Ruderman, saying the bill was written by Graham Ellis, president of the Hawaii Sustainable Community Alliance and a Puna developer, who is featured in a Ruderman campaign brochure....
“It appears to us that Sen. Ruderman used his position as a senator to ‘secure unwarranted privileges and exemptions for others’ by introducing special interest legislation, authored by the special interest group who could financially gain from its passage,” Sultan said, quoting from the Fair Treatment provision of the state ethics code.
Sultan said Friday the group has amended its complaint to include a 35-minute recorded phone conversation with Ruderman, who she said tried to threaten her.
March 11, 2014: Reward Campaign Contributions from Illegal Mainland Developers? Ruderman says "That's what we do"
read ... Sustainability bill faces opposition
Ruderman Secretly Lobbies Against Appointment of Pro-GMO Farmer to Ag Board
HTH: A Big Island state senator has started an email campaign seeking to stop colleagues from reappointing Richard Ha to the state Board of Agriculture.
“If any of you share my revulsion at Richard Ha being appointed to the State Ag Board, it’s not too late to do something,” Sen. Russell Ruderman said in the email sent March 13 on his personal account.
Ha, owner of Hamakua Springs Country Farms, has been at odds with Ruderman over issues of genetically modified crops and geothermal energy. Ha also criticized Ruderman in Hawaii media for supporting legislation against transgenic food, known commonly as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, while owning natural food stores on the Big Island.
In the email, Ruderman, D-Puna, touched on those issues.
“Mr. Ha is pro-GMO, pro-geothermal and tried to accuse me of conflict of interest for speaking out,” he said.
“Please spread the word. If each senator gets 100 emails in opposition this will not fly.”
Ruderman, who owns Island Naturals, (hence the screaming conflict of interest) told the Tribune-Herald the email was intended for those with “concerns about his appointment.” He said he did not expect the email to be seen by the general public and was not ready to make a statement on the issue. (Idiot.)
read ... Another Anti-GMO Idiot Busted
Hawaii lawmakers to end to prostitution exemption
AP: Hawaii lawmakers say they plan to change a bill to end a police exemption under the state's prostitution laws.
Currently, police acting in the course of their duties in Hawaii are legally allowed to have sex with prostitutes. Law enforcement experts and women's advocates have called that provision unnecessary and an invitation to abuse.
Lawmakers have been working to revamp and toughen Hawaii's decades-old law against prostitution, and had proposed scrapping the sex exemption for officers on duty.
But Honolulu police officials told lawmakers the exemption is a valuable crime-fighting tool, and an amended version of the bill later passed the House with the exemption intact.
On Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from citizens, advocates and lawyers who argued against the exemption. No police testified, and Committee Chairman Clayton Hee said he would amend the bill to end the exemption.
read ... Loss of Benefits
Abercrombie pledges corrections system overhaul
HTH: Visiting the class with state Department of Public Safety Director Ted Sakai, Abercrombie said that the planned reopening of Kulani Correctional Facility in early July is just a start, and plans are in the works to replace antiquated and overcrowded Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo and build a jail facility in Kona.
“As you know, the west side of the island is growing in numbers and density and in ways there’s a new Judiciary complex over there. So, my plan includes building jail facilities, correctional facilities on the Kona side and eliminating the necessity of going back and forth with prisoners,” he said. “… What that means is there are going to be more opportunities in terms of professional openings on that side. … There are going to be new opportunities in what are now nonexistent positions and responsibilities. All that’s part of an integrated plan and opening Kulani is just a step in an overall plan for the Big Island.”....
Abercrombie said he has a six-year plan for revamping the state’s corrections system that includes closing Oahu Community Correctional Center, which he described as “inadequate” from the day it opened. He said he believes he can find a private developer who can make a better use of the land OCCC occupies in the lower Kalihi neighborhood of Honolulu and who will fund and build a jail elsewhere....
“… The question that has to be asked right now is, ‘What’s the cost of sending people out of the state?’ Not just in dollars-and-cents terms, (yeah. better skip that because Arizona is waaaay cheaper.) but in lost opportunities for dealing with our own difficulties, in our own (UPW) way, inside our own (HGEA) home, inside our (Union-controlled) state.”
read ... Overhaul
Reforms Put More Students on Busses at Less Cost
SA: Tim Ammon, vice president of Maryland-based Management Partnership Services, the consultant the DOE hired to recommend ways to improve the program, said the department has already saved $200,000 and expects to save $500,000 by the end of the fiscal year.
"Within the first six months of the pilot area, as a result of pursuing some of these efficiency initiatives, we've actually increased ridership … while at the same time we've had a nine-bus reduction just by more complete and more thorough collection of information, and the result of that is obviously a reduction in expenditures," Ammon said.
The department has increased service since August by about 1,500 students on morning routes and by about 1,200 students on afternoon routes.
The new contracting model and technology tools will be expanded to the rest of Oahu for the 2014-15 school year. Neighbor island contracts will be revised for the following school year.
Ammon said a key part of the overhaul is the revamped vendor contracts that address the anti-competitive behavior cited by the state auditor. A record-high six vendors competed for the Oahu bus contracts for the upcoming 2014-15 school year. (Roberts Hawaii and Ground Transport were selected.)
Ultimately, Ammon said, the reforms could save the department $5 million to $6 million in about two years.
read ... Bus Reforms
Kahoolawe funding bill advances in Senate
MN: Introduced by East Maui Rep. Mele Carroll, House Bill 2101 won the approval of the Senate Committees of Hawaiian Affairs and Water and Land on Wednesday....
The current version of the bill has the effective date as July 1 and sets aside 10 percent of the conveyance tax for the Kahoolawe fund. However, there's a cap of no more than $3.5 million per fiscal year, and the repeal date was changed to June 30, 2020, or when there's recognition of a sovereign Native Hawaiian governing entity, whichever comes first.
Background: Audit: Kahoolawe Money Gone After 18 years Without a Plan , The Varmint Goats of Kahoolawe
read ... Kahoolawe Cash
Obama's team to visit Hawaii next month to talk about presidential library
PBN: President Barack Obama’s team is expected to land in Honolulu on April 1 to talk with local officials about their plans and vision to locate a facility in Kakaako that will preserve the Hawaii-born president’s White House legacy, a speaker at the event, told PBN on Friday.
The news comes a day after the Barack Obama Foundation’s release of a request for qualifications on Thursday that outlines the requirements for the presidential library.
One of the speakers at the April 1 event told PBN it is scheduled to be held at a site in the area of Kakaako Makai where the presidential library would be located (soon to be inundated by sea-level rise, LOL!)
CST: Don’t split up Obama library
read ... Global Warming deniers Push Kakaako
Complete Streets to be Completely Jammed: Caldwell Begins Eliminating Lanes
KITV: Narrowed streets, reverse parking and new road signs might not sound like popular ideas, but the city says it is willing to challenge the public for the sake of making Hawaii cities safer (imposing a utopian anti-car ideology).
Marking the start of a new initiative, $41,000 in repainted lines and new signs have transformed this high-traffic (already jammed and now becoming even more jammed) drag across from Aiea High School....
Ulune Street is one of three roads this year changing for what is called the city's "Complete Streets" Project. The street tests different ways to make roads safer for cars, bikes, and people (test--means they don't know what they're doing)....
About 20 new parking spaces give Oahu its first taste of "Back-In Angle Parking." City planners are making their case for why the community will learn to like it. (They're going to jam this down your throat)
“I know it will take time to get used to, (you're not going to be happy) but it's safer because when you back out of a stall, that's when most accidents occur,” (yup, its all about fender-benders) said Honolulu City Councilmember Breene Harimoto.
Also, passengers and your trunk will be channeled away from the street and toward the sidewalk.
SA: Complete Streets project put to test in Aiea
read ... City reveals beginning of "Complete Streets" project
HCDA Condo Approval Headed for Court
SA: A state agency overseeing development in Kakaako won't consider an appeal of a decision it made in August permitting a new condominium tower project called The Collection.
Board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority voted 8-0 on Wednesday to deny a petition filed by the association of condo owners at One Waterfront Towers and the organization Kaka'ako United that attempted to appeal and invalidate a permit for the 43-story tower.
Linda Paul, an attorney representing the petitioners, said her clients may elect to appeal the case to Circuit Court. "I think it's a good case to appeal," she said, adding that she still needs to review a written order from HCDA and meet with her clients to see whether they want to move ahead with a court appeal.
HCDA's board, which was advised by a state deputy attorney general, rejected the petition for appeal based on an agency staff recommendation that in part essentially said agency rules and state law don't allow the agency to entertain an appeal of a development permit after public hearings and a board decision.
The petitioners had requested something called a contested-case hearing. HCDA said its regular public hearing process served as the contested case.
read ... Heading for Court
Homosexual Child Molestation Leads to Another Lawsuit
SA: According to the lawsuit, George Silva, 81, taught a religion class and used his position of authority to become a mentor and confidant to Saunders, who felt isolated from his family at the time.
Trusting Silva, Saunders asked whether he could change into his gym clothes in Silva's classroom instead of the school's locker room to avoid another student the boy perceived as a bully. (Now watch how two homosexual child molesters separately take advantage of the opportunity created by the bullying.)
Silva allowed him to do so but used the opportunity to start sexual conversations that eventually led to him having sex with the boy and committing sexual violence on him regularly for six months, the suit alleges.
When Saunders reported the abuse to another brother at the school, the brother became jealous and asked Saunders why he was performing sexual acts for Silva if he were unwilling to do them for him, the lawsuit says.
(Summary: Bullies and homosexual child molesters are allies.)
read ... Former Damien student files suit over molestation at school
Bill allows more 'medical' pot
SA: Last year the platform for medical marijuana moved from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Health, establishing it as enhancing the illusion it is a mainstream medical program.
SB 2574 SD 1, relating to medical marijuana, permits board-certified pain specialist (Doc I got paaain) physicians, oncologists, ophthalmologists and board-certified palliative care physicians to prescribe medical marijuana beginning Jan. 2. Currently, only primary care physicians are authorized to prescribe.
"We are committed to increasing access to medical marijuana for patients who require it for chronic disease," says Sen. Josh Green, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health....
It also clouds the mind, can be fatiguing and, in the long run, may diminish motivation. As with alcohol, the earlier in the day one starts, the more challenging the drug can be to maintaining a healthy lifestyle (but its medicine, see). those who start using in the morning typically need to re-dose several times during the day. When smoking, the primary effect lasts roughly three hours and results in changing blood sugar levels, leaving one prone to mood swings (ie mental illness). Among those most devastated (by this 'medicine' we are prescribing) are our youth who start to use regularly in their early teens and then suffer permanent social deficits (but hey, it 1/3 of our program for utopia--sex, drugs, rocknroll--so the price is acceptable.)
"The Senate Committee on Health intends to continue expanding access to medical marijuana to Hawaii's patients, including proposals for a pilot dispensary program that will provide safe, quality medicine that meets the standard of medical care," Green says....
Note: None of the providers at Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center prescribe medical marijuana. (My co-workers made me include this disclaimer so all you dopers don't jam the lines Monday.)
read ... Dope Dispensaries Coming?
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