Tribal Agenda: Abercrombie led push to Exempt Akaka Tribe from State, Federal Laws
Public to be Excluded from Honolulu Tribe Hearing—Protest Set
Hearings Mask Scheme to Seize Control of Hawaiian Homelands
How Hawaii Can Grow the Pie
PRP Settlement Buys Insurance for Hanabusa Against Truth Coming Out
SA: Hart said he is "not surprised that Ben is taking this personally" or turning it in a direction that potentially helps Hanabusa. "It settles some scores for him and it helps his candidate."
Other political analysts, speaking privately, said the Hanabusa campaign would likely use Winer's link to PRP as sort of an insurance policy against any negative attacks from Schatz or his allies against the congresswoman. Expect, sources say, to hear the Hanabusa campaign complain of "PRP-style" politics at the hint of any negativity from the Schatz camp.
Reality: www.TheRealHanabusa.com
read ... Insurance Policy
No Surprise: Star-Adv Editors back Latest Akaka Tribe Scam
SA: The upcoming hearings, to be held on all the major Hawaiian islands, are vitally important to all the people of this state....
The Obama administration's outreach, offered amid the Hawaii-born president's final term, offers the most concrete opportunity in years to advance Native Hawaiian sovereignty.
We welcome this process, and hope that Native Hawaiians will accept the Interior Department's help to galvanize a noble effort toward self-determination that has bogged down too many times before.
Reality: Tribal Agenda: Abercrombie led push to Exempt Akaka Tribe from State, Federal Laws
read ... Help clarify options for Hawaiians
The train will prove an expensive anachronism
SA: Even pro-rail optimists would have a hard time describing a bright future for Honolulu 25 years from now.
The environmental impact statement made clear that traffic congestion would be substantially worse with rail than it was back in 2014. And bus commuters will have been forced out of their express buses into feeder buses that only go to the nearest train station, so they can take train cars to more buses that finally take them to their respective destinations.
read ... The Four Plaintiffs
How Holzman Manipulated UH president search to Pick Lassner
SA: ....before we leave the 2014 UH presidential selection process to the history books, we -- two former state attorneys general -- cannot remain silent about the unfair selection process that resulted in Lassner's appointment to the top job in the UH system.
This selection process was rushed and obviously slanted in favor of a sitting interim president who should not have even been considered for the permanent job in the first place. In fact, when he was first appointed interim president, Lassner publicly stated that he absolutely did not want to serve as permanent president and actually wanted to return to his "dream job" as the head of UH's information technology services.
And yet, on July 1, he will become the 15th UH president. This is largely due to the influences of Board of Regents Chairman John Holzman, who wanted to anoint a new president before his term as a regent ends on June 30.
This farce of a selection process was aided and abetted by nefarious players. On March 6, 2014, 15 UH deans and directors signed a letter addressed to Holzman -- not to BOR member Carl Carlson who chaired the presidential selection committee -- asking Holzman to directly appoint Lassner to the permanent post "as soon as possible," thereby skipping the formal search process.
The words "nomination" or "nominate" do not appear anywhere in this letter. However, Holzman touted this document on several occasions as being the "nomination" letter that elevated Lassner from someone who was not interested in applying for the UH president's job to being one of the two finalists.
During the week of May 6, Hawaii News Now interviewed well-respected Linda Johnsrud, former UH executive vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer, who had toiled 25 years at UH-Manoa before relocating to the University of Texas in Austin.
Johnsrud said that after former UH President M.R.C. Greenwood announced plans to step down last year, she was told by Holzman that whoever became interim UH president would not be considered for the permanent position.
"It was made clear that if I were the interim, I couldn't be a candidate for the permanent position, and so I declined the interim," Johnsrud said.
read ... UH president search was deeply flawed
Brower Refuses Comment on Proposed Sledgehammer Ban
CB: Janet Grace, a Republican challenger to state Rep. Tom Brower, a Democrat, called on the Hawaii State Ethics Commission to “ban the use of legislative office funds to purchase sledgehammers and other weapons or instruments that could be used to bring harm to property or individuals.” Brower declined comment on the matter. As Nathan Eagle reported, Brower bought a sledgehammer to destroy shopping carts being used by homeless people with public money. But after an outcry over the stunt, he reimbursed the House.
Background: Grace for Waikiki: Ethics Commission Should Ban Sledgehammer Purchases by Legislators
read ... Sledgehammer Legal?
HD5 Bateman Calls for Tax Cuts
HTH: Bateman called for a 20 percent reduction in personal income tax and reductions in the general excise tax, reducing energy costs by increasing renewable sources and creating new jobs in agriculture.
In regard to the high cost of doing business in Hawaii, Bateman again said residents are excessively taxed.
“The GET is a pyramid — 11 percent. You’re in effect paying more in retail tax than California and Washington,” said Bateman, who called for easier permitting and licensing.
“Get the government off our backs,” he said. “We need a government that says yes you can, not no you can’t.”
read ... Bateman for House 5
Unopposed Cachola Sign of Weak Demos
Shapiro: A tellingsign of our fading democracy at the legislative level is state Rep. Romy Cachola, who in 2012 was accused of winning his Kalihi seat by "helping" elderly voters with their mail-in ballots; fellow lawmakers passed a bill unofficially named after him barring the practice.
This year he's accused of misusing campaign funds to buy and maintain an SUV he allegedly put to personal use.
You'd think he'd be a target for reform-minded Democrats or Republicans looking to increase their numbers, right?
Wrong. He's unopposed for re-election.
read ... Weak Democracy
Veterans Buying Private Insurance Because VA Won't Help Them
SA: Tsuneyoshi ended up buying his own Kaiser medical insurance last year after he could not get an appointment at the Matsunaga VA for a painful right knee that he attributes to his days running in combat boots.
Tsuneyoshi instead hobbled into Pali Momi Medical Center where he was diagnosed with avascular necrosis, sometimes referred to as "bone death."
"The blood didn't get to the bone, the bone started dying and it was basically fractured," Tsuneyoshi said.
Asked why he paid out of his own pocket to get his knee diagnosed and then surgically replaced through Kaiser, the 67-year-old Vietnam War veteran said, "If I had to rely on the VA, I would probably be dead."
read ... All About Single Payer
Hawaii Faces Prescription Drug Overdose Epidemic
SA: First, he started smoking pot because his friends did.
Then he turned to prescription pills -- mainly powerful painkillers, initially prescribed by his doctor or dentist after he broke a bone or had dental work done.
Jeff Nash liked the buzz so much that he soon began raiding family medicine cabinets or exaggerating his health problems to dupe physicians into prescribing more.
By the time Nash graduated from high school, he was a full-blown addict, taking pills and shooting heroin. Even when he spent time in a Honolulu hospital for an addiction-related problem, Nash several times a day secretly injected heroin, using an intravenous line that was supposed to be for his prescribed medication.
read ... Epidemic Coming
HELCO using new timeline for geothermal project
HTH: The Hawaii Electric Light Co. is using a new timeline for approving another geothermal power project for Hawaii Island as it attempts to address issues raised by the state Public Utilities Commission and an independent observer.
In a letter to the PUC earlier this month, the utility company said it will seek to complete its evaluation process of bids Feb. 14, with an executed agreement available for regulatory review by the end of April.
That will provide time for bidders to provide a “best and final offer” that, in part, allows for lower cost bids to be submitted.
It also will follow completion of an updated Power Supply Improvement Plan, scheduled for Aug. 26.
Related: Solomon Pushes for Approval of Mililani Trask's Overpriced Geothermal Contract
IDG Geothermal Scammers Could Score $0.195 per Kwh Sandwich Profits
read ... HELCO using new timeline for geothermal project
Mandatory minimum law on property crime takes effect
KHON: Today Governor Neil Abercrombie signed a bill into law that says anyone convicted of three property crimes within five years will have to spend at least a year in prison even if it's three nonviolent misdemeanors.
read ... This is what passes for 'tough on crime'?
Styrofoam food containers may be banned in near future
KHON: A bill banning styrofoam food containers is up for vote in the City Council on Thursday. City Councilman Stanley Chang believes it’s time to outlaw those containers, and he’s introduced Bill 40 to do just that....
If Bill 40 passes, no styrofoam food containers can be used on Oahu come January 2016.
There’s a decided difference in opinion on the proposed ban from businessmen like Eddie Flores of L&L Hawaiian Barbeque, much of it has to do with economics.
“For the styrofoam box, it costs about 10 cents,” Flores said. “For the compost box, it will be about 40 cents. That’s about four times more … and at the end, the consumer is going to pay for it.”
Reality: Study: Styrofoam Better for Environment than Tree Killing Paper Products
read ... Phony Eco Hype Causing Real Price Hikes
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