Satellite Loop: Two Hurricanes Approaching
Oahu, Maui, Hawaii County Shelter Locations
UPDATE: Iselle to Hit Hilo Thursday -- Julio Sunday
US Senators: DOI Effort to Create Fake Hawaiian Tribe is “Unlawful”
Squeezed by High Prices, Hawaii Consumers Spend the Least on Nonessentials
Candidate Forced by UH to Take Leave Without Pay
Am Samoa: Democrat Nod Goes to Faleomavaega in a Slick Maneuver
Has Hawaii’s governor lost his mojo?
GMO tobacco ‘mystery serum’ rescues Ebola virus victims
UH: GMO Crops Conserve Topsoil, Reduce Herbicide Use
GOP Seeking Primary Day Volunteers
Hawaii Lacks Hurricane Emergency Plan for Waikiki, Neighbor Islands
CB: A "statewide" plan addresses only Oahu, and its depiction of what would happen in a Category 4 hurricane here is frightening...And a statewide plan for a major hurricane only includes Oahu, not the neighbor islands, which have been hardest hit by hurricanes and tropical storms in past decades....
2005: As the Storm Fronts Line Up Off Shore, Residents are Asking if Oahu is Ready for a Hurricane
2007: Hurricane Shelters: Hawaii Still Counting on a Lucky Miss
read ... No Plan
Hawaii may elect a Republican governor in the fall
WT: The Aloha State, known for its clear blue waters and a deep-blue Democratic electorate, may be seeing red in the gubernatorial election in November.
Local polls by Hawaii News Now and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser put incumbent Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie facing a double-digit deficit to state Sen. David Ige ahead of Saturday’s primary.
More worrisome for the state’s long-dominant Democratic Party in President Obama’s home state, both Mr. Ige and Mr. Abercrombie now trail the likely Republican challenger, former Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, by 7 percentage points and 15 percentage points, respectively, in the general election.
“It’s virtually unprecedented in Hawaii. An incumbent governor hasn’t lost a race since 1962,” said Neal Milner, political analyst and former political science professor at the University of Hawaii.
read ... Hawaii may elect a Republican governor in the fall
Will Anti-GMO Candidates Lose Big in Primaries?
KE: ...the voters in that district will lose no matter who they pick. Jimmy is a good ole boy to da max, while Dylan is a tepid political novice who already has a pile of enemies at the state house due to the intense antipathy toward his father, former Senator and current Councilman Gary Hooser, and Dylan's own “shame” banner tactics there earlier this year.
Speaking of Gary, he's barely campaigned, though it's unclear whether it's due to indifference or arrogance. He can't possibly want another term on the Council, especially since he's ready to capitalize on his anti-GMO agenda as director of the nonprofit HAPA. If he's defeated, it will play right into his victim rhetoric, as in the big bad chemical companies succeeded in driving him out.
Uh, no. If Gary loses it will be because his fellow citizens have had it up to here with his grandstanding and self-serving antics at the expense of the county's social fabric and coffers.
Because isn't that what this election is really all about? Determining just how big the "silent majority" really is, and just how powerful the “red shirt” contingent that pushed through the pesticide/GMO regulatory Bill 2491/Ordinance truly is?
I'm predicting Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. will handily defeat Dustin Barca, newcomer Arryl Kaneshiro will show in the top seven, Arthur Brun will do well and Councilman Tim Bynum will be pushed out.. Councilman Mason Chock is also going to have trouble holding on to his seat, in large part due to the sketchy way he got appointed — the secretive, "you're only in if you'll vote to override the mayor's veto of 2491" action
read ... Nobody Wants the Antis
With Hurricane Coming, 90% of Homeless Would Rather Keep Doing Meth
HNN: An estimated 100 homeless people are believed to be living under the Nimitz viaduct.
"Today folks were pretty welcoming. Most of the time when we come down here the response is totally different. The response is, 'We don't want to go to IHS,' but the hurricane is prompting folks to listen to what we have to say and take us seriously and maybe think a little bit in advance about the seriousness of the flooding in this particular area where we're at," said Phillips.
Officials say it's a problematic area because of its proximity to a river and the multiple storm drains that pass under the overpass.
IHS outreach specialists hope at least 10% of the people they speak to will head to higher ground, but they say the folks living here are notoriously hard to move.
CB: Homeless booted out of Kakaako (Maybe they will finally go to a shelter?)
PBN: Oceanfront Homeless Shelter May Evacuate
read ... Don't Want to go to Shelter
Hawaii Wind Farm Employees to Stay Away--Fear Disaster
PBN: “The safety of our employees is our number one priority, so we have asked on-site team members to monitor plant activity remotely from safe locations,” Sempra U.S. Gas & Power Senior Director of Construction and Operations Kevin Gillespie told PBN via email. “We are also coordinating with Maui Electric Company to ensure that we are supporting the needs of the power grid and equipment, as well as keeping in close contact with Ulupalakua Ranch and local emergency response crews to provide any support that’s needed.”
CE: Will Hurricanes Iselle and Julio Destroy Hawaii’s Wind Farms?
read ... Hawaii wind farms prepare for impacts
Trask: Racist Rep. Chris Lee for Haole Geothermal Only
HR: Recently, I was forwarded links to blog posts by state Rep. Chris Lee, D-Lanikai/Waimanalo, who is running for re-election to the House, and a letter he sent to Hawaiian Homesteaders.
In these communications, Lee attacks me as well as my company, Indigenous Consultants, and the Innovations Development Group. He also tries to justify his successful efforts to kill all geothermal bills introduced in the Hawaii legislature. Lee never had the integrity to send me these blog entries or a copy of the letter, but they have been forwarded and I would like to reply to them directly....
I think racism is also involved in Lee’s opposition to the IDG and the effort of other Hawaiians to get geothermal development moving under the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative....
I am referring to SB 2274, legislation that Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Hawaii Island introduced allowing "Seaview Estates" to develop geothermal without any regulation.
Recently, Seaview has been in the news because they have operated for years on Hawaii Island without County and State permits and have encroached onto state conservation land to cut down and sell rare Hawaiian trees for illegal sale.
The only difference with the Seaview group and the Waimanalo Homesteaders is their ethnicity - they are haole and IDG, myself and the Homesteaders are Hawaiians.
Finally, Lee has told people that I support geothermal because I want to make millions of dollars.
Lee: "Special interests with millions of dollars on the line will do anything to get what they want"
read ... Mililani Trask
Using buzzwords to sell clean energy policies
IM: To promote a homegrown biofuel industry, Hawai`i altered its 2001 Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) law (HRS §269-91).
In Hawai`i "renewable energy means energy generated or produced using … biogas …biomass … [and] biofuels.” The bioenergy can be produced from renewable energy resources, fossil fuels or a combination thereof; or through destroying and mono-cropping the Amazon or Borneo rain forests....
Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS §243) includes in the definition of alternative fuel, “natural gas; liquefied petroleum gas; hydrogen; coal-derived liquid fuels … and any other fuel that is substantially not a petroleum product and that the governor determines would yield substantial energy security benefits or substantial environmental benefits.”
read ... Using buzzwords to sell clean energy policies
BoR Chair: "I think I understand" Apple Firing
SA: The UH-Manoa Graduate Student Organization and the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii delivered a letter Tuesday to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, asking him to launch an investigation into Apple's firing, calling the move by UH President David Lassner corrupt and nontransparent.
BoR Chair Randy Moore said Wednesday he hadn't heard about the request to the governor.
"Speaking for myself, I think I understand what happened, and I don't think an investigation would inform me," he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
He said he fully supports Lassner's July 30 decision to remove Apple as chancellor.
CB: Is the University of Hawaii Capable of Doing Better After the Latest Crisis?
Reality: Apple Unredacted: Did Attack on Carbone's $300K 'Assistant' Precipitate Removal of UHM Chancellor?
read ... Understanding
Allow homeowners to claim exemption
SA: The city never intended to nearly double the real property tax rate for owner-occupants of expensive homes. The point of carving out a separate Residential A tax class was to allow the municipal government to charge investors a higher property-tax rate on second homes worth $1 million or more, while protecting homeowner-occupants whose primary residences are worth that much.
Most owner-occupants have an existing exemption that automatically excludes them from the new, higher tax class. But not everyone who qualifies for the exemption applied for it, and some were therefore shifted over to the Residential A class. Now that the city realizes this, it should approve the limited relief contained in Resolution 14-179, which will be heard by the City Council on Aug. 13.
read ... Exemption
Hawaii Co Council Supports Milk Price Controls
HTH: The Hawaii County Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to ask the state Board of Agriculture to deny a local dairy the ability to sell milk at a lower wholesale price.
Council members said allowing Big Island Dairy to get a waiver to sell milk below the legal price to processor Meadow Gold could start a chain reaction, forcing other dairies out of business and ending with a milk monopoly causing higher prices later. (Which is exactly what price controls have done--created a California monopoly.) In addition, they said they had no assurance a cheaper wholesale price would be passed down to consumers. (Socialist moron talk.)
The state Milk Control Act sets milk prices to assure an adequate supply. Currently, there are two large dairies in Hawaii County: Cloverleaf Dairy located in North Kohala and Big Island Dairy located in Ookala, as well as other small or start-up dairies, including Mauna Kea Moo, Naked Cow Dairy and Hawaii Dairy Farms.
The state took testimony last month about the requested waiver in the minimum milk price, $3.06 a gallon for milk processed on the Big Island, and between $2.36 and $2.71 per gallon on Oahu-processed milk — the latter fluctuates depending on the price of California milk.
Big Island Dairy owner Steve Whitesides, who lives in Iowa, told Stephens Media Hawaii last month his company needs to be competitive with mainland-produced milk, which comprises about 80 percent of the milk consumed in Hawaii. (But the Council fails to grasp this point.)
read ... Milk Price Controls
High-speed rail inches along as Obama seeks new spending
NYT: While Republican opposition and community protests have slowed the projects here, transportation policy experts and members of both parties also place blame for the failures on missteps by the Obama administration — which in July asked Congress for nearly $10 billion more for high-speed initiatives....
"Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail," Obama said in his 2011 State of the Union address. "This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying — without the pat-down."
But as Obama's second term nears its midpoint, some experts say the president's words were a fantasy.
"The idea that we would have a high-speed system that 80 percent of Americans could access in that short period of time was unadulterated hype, and it didn't take an expert to see through it," said Kenneth Orski, the editor and publisher of an influential transportation newsletter who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations. "And scattering money all around the country rather than focusing it on areas ripe for high-speed rail, didn't help."...
"The Obama administration's management of previously appropriated high-speed rail funding has been as clumsy as its superintending of the Affordable Care Act's rollout," said Frank N. Wilner, a former chief of staff at the Surface Transportation Board, a bipartisan body with oversight of the nation's railroads.
read ... What a loser Obama is
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