November 22, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Sunday, November 22, 2009

November 22, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:24 PM :: 14665 Views

KGI: Unions Back to the table

(You can always tell when things are being negotiated behind the scenes in Hawaii because the media suddenly clams up. For instance, the ONLY article or editorial on FURLOUGHS today is in the Kaua`i Garden Isle (below). The absence of coverage elsewhere means that the ball is firmly in the HSTA and HGEA's court and the media don't want to write a bunch of stories pointing to the fact that these two unions are balking. Somebody didn't give KGI the memo.)

KGI: It’s not fair (or legal) to expect anybody to work for free, and of course we need our teachers to understand the valued role they play in our society, but our fiscally strapped state government cannot be expected to foot the entire bill.

Teachers, and more importantly teachers union representatives, have to be willing to concede certain short-term points for the future of our children.

We hope the educators remember that they are in this field to help students learn and grow.

And so we urge the teachers, like the legislators, to do their part in making this two-pronged proposal a reality.

If you’re a teacher, and you don’t agree with that bargaining position, give your union rep a call and tell them to be a bit more reasonable in this critical time of need. Together, you are serving our children to equip them for success in life after school.

In this game of chicken, both sides need to back down, take a deep breath and realize that these macho maneuverings are punishing those who need our help the most.

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Hawaii lands coveted APEC meeting with concerted effort

Honolulu's bid to host the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting, featuring President Obama and 18 other heads of state, began with a phone call to state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert from a former U.S. ambassador to APEC with local ties.

(The accurate story of how the Lingle Admin nailed APEC for Honolulu. Hardly a local Democrat mentioned...and boy are they pissed.)

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Shapiro: Par for the Course

Mayor Mufi Hannemann got $500 a head to sing at his gubernatorial fundraiser, while Elton John's top price is only $157 for his Blaisdell concert in January. The difference is "Rocket Man" can't hand out transit contracts as door prizes.

75% of city workers on flu shot list

Approximately three-fourths of the workers employed by the City and County of Honolulu — from bus drivers to lifeguards, parks employees and police officers — have been identified as critical to keep government operating in the face of a widespread flu outbreak or other emergency.

(And so shots are being distributed according to one's importance to government, not one's risk from the disease. Power trumps medicine. It is a lot easier to set this kind of precedent when a disease is mostly hype.)

Isles, nation demand focus on joblessness

Entire editorial on rising unemployment, does not mention Obama even once.

REALITY: Stimulating unemployment: Hawaii loses 17,000 jobs , 10% Unemployment Shows Objective Failure of Obama Stimulus

Even though the state's crime rate is at a record low, the public has the perception that it's worse than usual

Crime in Hawaii has fallen to its lowest level since data collection started in 1975, with theft and murder rates plunging over the past decade.

Led by a steep drop in property offenses, which account for the vast majority of crimes in Hawaii, the state's overall crime rate in 2008 dropped 13 percent over the previous year and 23 percent over the past decade. Altogether, 3,839 offenses per 100,000 residents were reported to police in 2008, down from 4,835 a decade earlier.

(Typical Gramscian article--its all about the alleged public perceptions of crime, rather than crime itself.)

Carlisle said murder rates were higher in the past here due partly to organized crime.

"But now it basically boils down to, if you commit a murder, you are going to jail and you are getting a life sentence," Carlisle said. "Hawaii is a very uninviting place to commit murder and the police department has a very high closure rate."

Hawaii's steep rise in aggravated assaults over the decade, however, is bucking the downward trend in crime. There were 158 aggravated assaults per 100,000 residents last year, up from 113 a decade earlier.

All's very well with Hawaii's healthy rank

The ratings are determined yearly by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention....

Hawaii's strongest ratings result from comprehensive health care: generous public health funding and few preventable hospitalizations and cancer and cardiovascular deaths and high ratings in nearly every category related to medical care.

Overall, with the state's health care system as entrenched as the year-round mild climate, Hawaii residents can and should feel fit for the years ahead.

REALITY: Hawaii Hospitals: Not Quite Catching Up To Africa

SB Oi: DUI 'shame' Web site probably won't work

Oi, doing her best to save her beloved Legislators and OHA Trustees from future embarrassment writes: "Will 24 hours of embarrassment, fleeting shame, be successful?"
(Ask Ron Menor.)

Maui County moves to settle on landfills

WAILUKU - Maui County is in the process of reaching settlements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health over alleged violations at the county's landfills from more than three years ago.

Maui News: Out of touch with reality

Normally, we are strong believers in free-market principles. But, it is simply not working in health care. The health care industry cannot keep demanding double-digit increases annually when companies' revenues are plummeting and the average Joe's wages have been slashed.

Health care reform should be stopped in its tracks unless it contains real oversight of the spiraling inflation in the industry.

(Yep, the "progressives" are threatening to reject Obamacare UNLESS workers knuckle under.)

Hawaii platoon leader died for his comrades at the battle of Wanat

(And now the Advertiser is using his death as propaganda for surrender.)

In their 14-plus months in Afghanistan, the soldiers of the 173rd Brigade gained a reputation for being overly aggressive, willing to bomb villages (how dare they!) suspected of harboring insurgents. They made more enemies than allies as they pursued the Taliban, according to the Army analysis. (Amazing. The 'country' which harbored alQaeda is now a place where we are "making" enemies? Is anybody stupid enough to fall for this?)

When a small group was sent to a remote and hostile valley to establish a new outpost, it was an opportunity for the insurgents to take revenge. (They take revenge on US?)

Many of the American soldiers who fought at Wanat predicted they would be attacked while in the village.

Wanat was a suicide mission that they knew "was going to be a bloodbath," Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling, 20, told his father before being killed.

Wanat has been recorded in history as a grim milestone in the still evolving U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Over the past five months, The Advertiser reviewed documents and interviewed survivors of Wanat and families of the soldiers who died there to piece together the events leading up to the fatal firefight, the firefight itself and lessons they hold for the continuing U.S. engagement in the graveyard of empires.

Here are some stories of heroism without the propaganda: http://www.americanvalor.net/