List of Independence Day events statewide
Hawaii Family Forum Publishes Primary Voter Guide
The 1840 Hawaiian Constitution and the Fourth of July
Djou: Independence, the Strength to Vote for Change
Pat Saiki: Celebrate Independence by Voting for New Candidates with New Ideas
Alaska Rep Young Legislation Blocks Presidential Power to Lock Away Oceans
Hawaii Ranks 46th in Patriotism
The Verified Complaint In Equity: The Declaration Of Independence
‘We Have Not Forgotten’: Presidents on the Fourth of July
Testifiers Say No to Fake Indian Tribe at Waimea, Kona meetings
WHT: Hundreds of people attended public meetings in Waimea and Kailua-Kona to listen and provide testimony to the federal panel, tasked with gauging the reaction to the proposed re-establishment of a government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian community. A standing room only crowd spilled into the hallway at the Waimea Community Center, a venue deemed too small and not pono by attendees. At Kealakehe High, there was more than enough room for the estimated 160 people in attendance.
Rhea Suh, an assistant secretary with the Department of the Interior, said the federal agency is asking “dense” questions that the Native Hawaiian community needs to define the answers to. The department wants to know whether the Obama administration should facilitate the re-establishment of a government-to-government relationship with the community and help Native Hawaiians reorganize their government.
In two words: No thanks.
That was the response of many who spoke up at the meetings, saying the validity of the Hawaiian nation has never been in question.
“We never lost our sovereignty,” said Micah De Aguiar, speaking at Kealakehe High. “We lost our government. We never lost our identity as a country.”
Testifiers said they were not American Indians and didn’t want to be treated as such.
“The United States has broken nearly every treaty they have ever signed, including ours, but they also left the Indian people in poverty, in war with one another,” said Kaimana Freitas. “They continue to steal their lands and destroy their natural resources, and that is exactly what they intend to do with us.”
SA: "Let Native Hawaiians determine their own fate."
read ... No no no no no
Abercrombie, Ige Agree -- Nobody Wants Obamacare in Hawaii
AP: On the Hawaii Health Connector, which had numerous problems including a delayed opening and software problems despite more than $200 million in federal grants, Abercrombie and Ige agreed the insurance exchange has been less effective in Hawaii than in other states because residents already had a strong health care law in the Prepaid Health Care Act, a 1974 law that requires employers to provide insurance for many employees.
"It's disconnected from the Prepaid Health Care Act and the progressive policies that Hawaii has had all this time," said Abercrombie, who in 2012 touted Hawaii as the first state to declare its intent to run a state exchange under the federal law.
Ige says Hawaii already knew its law was in place.
"I would have asked for that waiver up front," he said.
read ... Nobody Wants Obamacare
Abercrombie: Keep the Homeless Here, No School for Kakaako
KITV: "No. That's one of the concerns I have with Kaka'ako. There is no plan for a school facility in the Kaka'ako region, especially no school for an elementary school level. That's a big concern of lots of residents in Kaka'ako," said Ige....
The candidates also discussed flying homeless out of the state, which was a point of disagreement too.
"Whether people can be picked up and forced out of the state, I suspect we will have legal implications very quickly," said Abercrombie.
"I think it makes sense where you have someone who might have been intrigued by coming to Hawaii and read urban myths online on having it easy out here. I do believe in that situation. It makes sense to fly those people home," said Ige.
read ... Abercrombie, Ige go head-to-head in governor debate
VIDEO: Geothermal royalties signed over to DHHL
BIVN: When the bill was first introduced in the legislature earlier this year, it proposed to give only twenty percent of geothermal royalties received by the State to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (with another twenty percent going to the county in which the geothermal resources are located). In March, after a request from DHHL chairperson Jobie Masagatani, Attorney General David M. Louie issued a Formal Opinion concluding that 100% percent of the royalties derived from geothermal resources development on Hawaiian home lands must be used for the benefit of native Hawaiians. Louie’s opinion also concluded that DHHL is the state entity authorized to manage geothermal resources on Hawaiian home lands.
“I hope (this bill) will act as an incentive and an urging to the PUC and to public opinion and opportunity to move forward on the incredible geothermal resources here on Hawaii Island.” -- Abercrombie
read ... Royalties
Abercrombie misrepresented geothermal potential
IM: Governor Neil Abercrombie spoke at the Hilo Yacht Club. “All over the world … where there are geothermal resources, they are being explored to the maximum. They are being utilized to the maximum.”
If that were true, then the entire world would be using only geothermal power.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes its Geothermal Energy Annual Report. The 2010 Report states that geothermal heat could power the world 2.8 times over. Using current technology, hydrothermal resources can be generated from 10-15 percent of the earth‘s surface.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study found that enhanced geothermal systems in the U.S. could produce 2,000 times the nation’s 2005 energy consumption.
Yet today geothermal accounts for only 0.3 percent of U.S. electricity production.
read ... Abercrombie misrepresented geothermal potential
Resignations Mount Amid Concerns Over Public Financial Disclosure Bill
CB: At least six state board members have now submitted letters of resignation since the Hawaii Legislature unanimously passed a bill in April that expands the list of boards whose members must disclose their financial interests.
Three Land Use Commission members — Ernest Matsumura, Dennis Esaki and Sheldon Biga — have submitted letters of resignation, the governor’s office confirmed Thursday.
And a third person serving on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents submitted his resignation Thursday, but that member’s name isn’t being released yet because Gov. Neil Abercrombie has yet to see it, his office said.
Regents Saedene Ota and John Dean resigned last month, citing Senate Bill 2682 as the reason.
Openings: Volunteers Sought for Vacancies Opening Up on Boards and Commissions as Ethics law Takes Effect
read ... Resignations
North Shore Senate Race a Litmus Test for Hawaii GOP
SA: Fale, 32, received a boost from last fall's special session as one of the most vocal critics of the marriage legislation, and says the race will be a litmus test for the Republican Party.
"This race will tell you: Is the Republican Party forward looking or is it backward looking?" Fale said. "Is the Republican Party going to make the necessary changes to make sure that it's a viable institution for the future of Hawaii? I believe I represent that...."
read ... Gay marriage, land use spur North Shore candidates
Politicking changes with early voting
KITV: In the 2008 primary, 14.2 percent of ballots cast statewide were absentee. That grew to 19 percent in 2010, and 20.7 percent in 2012. Similar growth was seen during the past three general elections, except turnout was much heavier in 2008 because of the presidential candidacy of Hawaii-born Barack Obama.
"Absentee mail voting has been growing by roughly 10 percent each election year," explains Honolulu elections administrator Glen Takahashi. "In fact, our first batch of absentee mail ballots that is going out will be about 100,000 pieces. If you look at any given primary election, there might be 200,000 persons voting on the island of Oahu. That's roughly half of the voters."
All four counties will begin mailing absentee ballots about 20 days before the Aug. 9 primary. Meanwhile, walk-in voting begins July 28 and runs through Aug. 7. The extended voting period means candidates must maintain TV and radio ads for weeks, while also sustaining their phone-banking and "get out the vote" efforts.
According to Hart, that's a major concern for those who worry about the amount of money flowing into political campaigns, especially from political action committees that may be far removed from local issues.
"It doesn't only bring more money in, it requires more money because instead of having one-week saturation, you know need one-month saturation," said Hart.
Borreca: Improved access to voting might improve turnout
read ... Politicking changes with early voting
Further Proof Scummy Politics Works
MW: That release of the Pacific Resource Partnership (PRP) emails by former governor and defeated mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano has roiled already ruffled political feathers this election year.
Why did Cayetano OK that? My guess is that 1) he wasn’t happy with that nearly grayed-out and not very apologetic PRP letter published in the Star-Advertiser and 2) he preempts any similar attacks on his preferred U.S. Senate candidate Colleen Hanabusa. He could call it “PRP-ing her.”
If you live in a cave and don’t know, the pro-train PRP tainted Cayetano as “corrupt” because his campaign (like many others of the time) accepted half-a-million dollars in unqualified contributions in an earlier governor’s race and later transferred them to Cayetano’s mayoral war chest.
It was pretty dirty pool (only the donors did anything illegal), but I liken it to the 1964 Johnson vs. Goldwater presidential campaign, when ads showed Goldwater with an atomic cloud. All’s fair in politics and war — especially if you win! Unless you get caught with nasty emails.
ILind: Error by Bob Jones shows lingering effect of misleading PRP “spin”
read ... Bob Jones
Abercrombie Ads Slick, Obnoxious, Sellathons
MW: I wish that the governor’s new ad wasn’t so slick.
How slick? It looked like it might slide right off the television screen and into the viewer’s living room. Too much money ($4 million-plus, at last count, in the governor’s campaign treasury) can be an obnoxious thing.
“Obnoxious” because it highlights once again how our elections have become sellathons, in which those with the most cash take home, far more often than not, the victory.
read ... Dan Boylan
Candidate Q&A — OHA At-Large Position: Keli’i Akina
CB: ...the misplaced efforts by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to build a separate race-based nation are dividing Hawaiians from non-Hawaiians and also dividing Hawaiians from each other. If elected, I will work to put an end to this dividing of people by race and focus OHA on uniting Hawaii’s people so that we will work together toward a better future as Hawaiians and Americans.
The second reason I am running for OHA is to meet the real needs of the Hawaiian people and all people in the islands. While OHA has spent tens of millions of dollars pursuing its political agenda, countless children of Hawaii have gone without quality education, health care, jobs, and housing. The state auditor has found that OHA is not using its vast financial resources in a way that truly benefits Hawaiians. If elected I will make it my priority to see that OHA quits wasting money on the pursuit of sovereignty and, instead, uses it to meet the real needs of Hawaii’s people....
read ... Candidate Q&A — OHA At-Large Position: Keli’i Akina
Hawaii VA Wait 109 Days -- Still Worst in USA
SA: The time veterans in Honolulu wait for their first appointment to see a primary care physician has dropped to an average of 109 days from 145 days in mid-May, but the local wait times are still the worst in the nation, new Department of Veterans Affairs data released on Thursday shows.
The next worst wait times are those in Fayetteville, N.C., with 93 days of average wait times.
Wayne Pfeffer, the director of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, said on June 16 that he hoped to dramatically reduce the wait time for new patients to just 30 days within three months.
The VA released its bi-monthly data update on Thursday showing what it said was progress on efforts to accelerate access to health care for veterans who have been waiting for appointments.
read ... We're Number 1!
Are you ‘mad as hell’ about business climate?
PBN: We could use a good dose of Howard Beale as we look into the face of yet another study that ranks Hawaii near the bottom of the 50 states as a place in which to do business.
The latest slam came from TV cable channel CNBC, which ranked the states according to 10 criteria. Hawaii finished 49th, and can thank Rhode Island for keeping it off the bottom.
In the words of Howard Beale, we should be shouting, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take this anymore.”
But, we’re not yelling. And, that’s the problem.
read ... Are you ‘mad as hell’ about business climate?
Lawsuit: Tax Hike to Pay for Health Exchange is Unconstitutional
WaPo: A broad new tax to fund the D.C. health exchange is unconstitutional and the city should be barred from collecting it, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court by a national insurance industry group.
The lawsuit alleges that the tax recently approved to prop up the D.C. exchange — one of the nation’s costliest per enrollee — will drive up premiums for residents on dozens of insurance products that receive no benefit from the exchange.
In its filing in U.S. District Court, the American Council of Life Insurers calls the arrangement an illegal taking under the Fifth Amendment as well as a violation of the Affordable Care Act, which calls for state-run exchanges to be financially self-sufficient by the end of the year.
“We have a number of constitutional claims that all point in the same direction,” saidPaul D. Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, who is representing the insurers.
“Governments have a lot of freedom to impose taxes on the general population, but what they don’t have is the ability to make one group of people pay for something that they don’t get some benefit from.”
read ... Unconstitutional
Cocaine use up among Hawaii workers and job applicants
SA: The number of workers testing positive for cocaine grew to 0.4 percent in the second quarter from 0.2 percent in the year-earlier period.
Amphetamine use also rose to 0.9 percent in the quarter from 0.6 percent a year earlier, while marijuana dropped to 2.2 percent from 3 percent and synthetic urine to 0.4 percent from 0.8 percent. Opiate use remained unchanged at 0.2 percent.
DLS' quarterly sample size typically includes between 7,000 and 10,000 drug tests for Hawaii workers and job applicants. (410 dopers per 10,000)
read ... On Drugs
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