Photos: Chinese spy ship off Hawaii
VIDEO: Who benefits from push for Hawaiian “tribe”?
Bipartisan Action to Get Hawaii Veterans Immediate Access to Care
KIUC to hit 50% Renewables in 2015
“Renewable energy” is a scientific contradiction
IM: One of the great confusions is what is meant by renewable energy.
Einstein wrote e=mc2 which simply means that matter and energy can be converted to each other.
Energy and matter can’t be created or destroyed, they can only change forms.
Thus “renewable energy” is a scientific contradiction; it is a man-made construction, an artificial definition, used to shape public perception.
Hawai`i and Vermont use the term quite differently.
Hawai`i defines nine categories of renewable energy of which only one has to be derived from renewable sources....
Vermont’s definition focuses on time, flow and process rather than categories....
The goal is a buzz word phrase.
read ... The Goal of 100% Renewable Energy is a Bad Idea
98,000 absentee ballots mailed to Oahu voters
KHON: The Office of the City Clerk says it mailed out 98,000 primary absentee ballots to voters Friday.
Another 9,000 ballots will be mailed Monday.
If you’d like to vote via absentee ballot in the primary election, you have until Saturday, August 2, to request one.
Click here for more information.
read ... It Begins
OHA Roll Full of Dead People
MM: After weeks of oral and written testimony in nearly unanimous opposition to federal recognition the only moral action for OHA to take is to abandon Act 195, the Kanaʻolowalu roll and the pursuit of a governing entity as a 'governing entity' is only relevant to federal or state recognition. But we have learned that OHA is indeed proceeding with the status quo, proving that they do not represent the concerns and hopes of the Hawaiian community. The question then remains, who is OHA working for? Who do they represent? Why have they turned a deaf ear to the many voices of the people? Why have they abandoned their own publicly announced commitment to an open and neutral process, their own commitment to be “hands off”.
OHA might state they are obliged to the 125,000 on the Native Hawaiian roll, also known as Kanaʻiolowalu. We would remind OHA that they are obliged to all beneficiaries, 3/4 of whom chose not to sign up for the roll. We must also emphasize that 3/4 of the so called 125,000 names on the roll did not chose to be on the roll but rather were hijacked by Kanaʻiolowalu from other Native Hawaiian databases. In addition, many have found the names of deceased relatives who passed away before the roll was ever created and who the roll commission will not allow living loved ones to disenroll, this being one of the most egregious and deceptive flaws of the roll.
OHA cannot move forward with the corrupted and offensive native Hawaiian roll and cannot move toward a so called governing entity. Doing so without any mandate or consent of the people is unprincipled and undemocratic.
read ... Mana Statement
Hawaii VA Now 2nd Worst in USA
SA: Military veterans seeking their first appointment with a primary care physician in Honolulu no longer have the ignoble distinction of suffering the longest delays in the entire Veterans Affairs system.
The average wait time to see a primary care physician for the first time in Honolulu has fallen from 145 days in mid-May to 81 days as of July 1, according to bimonthly data released by the VA on Friday.
Fayetteville, N.C., with an average wait time of 92 days, replaced Honolulu with the worst record in the VA system. (Aloha Fayetteville, Mahalo for being worse than us!)
Honolulu's improvement follows a pledge made June 16 by Wayne Pfeffer, the new director of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, to dramatically reduce the wait time for new patients to just 30 days within three months.
Meanwhile: Bipartisan Action to Get Hawaii Veterans Immediate Access to Care
read ... A great achievement! We're #2!
Access ruling a must-read for all officials
SA: The state Supreme Court ruling that lays out in inspiring detail why it's so important to have criminal trials open to the public should be required reading for all government officials in Hawaii, elected or appointed. Even though the 66-page decision directly affects public access to criminal proceedings, its foundational arguments ring true for any government operation.
The message is clear: The government functions better when it operates openly, under the scrutiny of the public it is designed to serve.
read ... Access ruling a must-read for all officials
Buzz-worthy bioengineering has sound fundamentals
SA: Imagine using gene therapy to grow a new biological pacemaker for your heart. That's right. No operation. No implanted device. No batteries. No electrodes.
Soon it may be possible. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles recently injected specialized genes into pig hearts that by the second day showed biological pacemaker activity. Biomedical engineering combines technology, engineering and the practice of medicine, and now garners the attention of America's top universities, corporate boardrooms, strategic investors and the nation's millennial generation as they search for careers.
read ... Medical GMOs
Schatz Wastes $3.5M on Biofool Cronies
WHT: Cellana, a leading biofuel company based at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, will receive a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop an integrated, high-yield algae biofuel feedstock production system at their Kona Demonstration Facility, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) announced.
read ... Campaign Contributions
Reprieve for Kalaheo Clinic while HHSC Explores Partnership with Wilcox
KGI: Kalaheo Clinic will remain open, at least for the next six months, while Hawaii Health Systems Corporation officials explore options to upright operations at the island’s two public hospitals and four clinics....
Regional officials, McFarland said, are also looking at ways to create a public-private partnership model with Wilcox Memorial Hospital that would allow HHSC to share services with the not-for-profit health care provider.
”We can no longer compete with Wilcox — it makes no sense for us, as HHSC, to do so,” McFarland said. “We need to complement each other and align in a way that exceeds the community’s expectations.”...
read ... Reprieve for Kalaheo Clinic
Liberal Arts Profs Want More Money
SA: Robert Cooney, vice chairman of the UH-Manoa Faculty Senate, said the campus spends too much student tuition money on athletics, the medical school and the Cancer Center.
"More money should go back to students," he said. "If the underlying problem that caused this isn't getting solved, it's just going to get worse."
Cooney said the hiring freeze may also reduce available class sections, making it harder to get into courses.
Apple, who introduced his plan in a memo to deans and directors Wednesday, said he hopes the plan will save $10 million -- about 2.5 percent of the budget -- for each of the next two years.
read ... Gimme Gimme Gimme
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