Ige Again Claims He Opposed the Tax Increases He Voted For
Faleomavaega Rips Obama, Kerry Over PRIMNM Announcement
WESPAC: Obama Admin Did not Consult on Tuna Monument
ERP-SURF Integrates Core Hawaii Government Functions
Disabled? Honolulu Ranks 107th in Quality of Life
Attorney General facilitates lack of transparency
Djou Draws National Attention, Polling
CSM: ...In the coming days, the House GOP campaign arm is polling to gauge whether to invest in three other blue congressional districts that have only recently come onto the national radar, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations. Two of them comprise the eastern, more liberal half of Iowa. The other is in Obama’s native Hawaii....
Some Republicans are skeptical the party will ultimately pour money into the Iowa or Hawaii races when the polling is complete. The NRCC is facing a serious cash shortfall — through the end of August, it had been outraised by its Democratic counterpart by more than $33 million — that has limited the amount of money it can spend in races....
Asked if the NRCC would spend in the eastern Iowa or Hawaii races, Daniel Scarpinato, a committee spokesman, responded: “We have phenomenal candidates who are carrying their races on their own and putting the Democrats on defense.”
Politico: Biggest GOP House Majority Since Truman
read ... Democrats On Defense
Debate: Ige Admits Responsibility for HHSC Mess
PR: Hannemann, an independent, asked Ige why he did not do more as chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee to advance bills that would have allowed the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. to engage in public-private partnerships and transition into a nonprofit or public benefit corporation.
The state's public hospital system routinely requires emergency cash infusions from the Legislature to function, and some public hospital administrators are eager for change and the opportunity to partner with private-sector interests.
Aiona, a Republican, questioned whether Ige could stand up to the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state's largest public-sector labor union, which represents workers at public hospitals. The union, which has taken credit for killing a bill last session that would have allowed the system to transition into a nonprofit, has endorsed Ige.
Ige said lawmakers could not reach agreement on the bill but that the concept of public-private partnerships for public hospitals remains an option because of prior legislation he had worked on.
Asked by Aiona whether he would allow the union to drive public hospitals into bankruptcy, Ige responded: "Absolutely not. I have spent more time working on our public hospitals than either of you." (In other words, he is the most responsible for the current mess.)
Aiona singled out the HGEA as the obstacle. "If the HGEA takes the kind of stance that it takes," he said. "Obviously, the people of Hawaii are going to suffer."
Background: Hospital Reform? Randy Perriera Says "F*** You"
read ... KITV-Civil Beat governor's debate
Ige Burns $1.2B and Still Ends up in Debt
CB: ...during the past four years when Ige has chaired the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the state increased spending by over $1.2 billion and increased taxes by more than $800 million. He pointed out that the overspending could put Hawaii in the red by 2016....
AP: Hawaii governor hopefuls spar over budget
read ... Debt
Ige Struggles to Motivate Democrat Voters
MW: Edith Laeha didn’t serve stew, nor did she wear a T-shirt, but she’s a retired teacher and she’d come to the stew and rice with daughter Lisa to hear what the candidate had to say. Would she attend a similar event to check out Duke Aiona?
“No,” she replied emphatically. For Mufi Hannemann?
“No,” she replied, just as emphatically. “Then you’re an Ige supporter,” said I.
“Let’s say I’m curious,” said Laeha. “I hope when I hear him tonight he’ll justify my choice.
In the primary campaign, I don’t think he defined himself.”
Laeha had to listen to a handful of other candidates laud Ige and stress the importance of voting for Democrats. City Council candidate Carol Fukunaga, Congressional hopeful Mark Takai, and state Rep. Gregg Takeyama did the duty.
read ... Justify My Choice
Caldwell Uses Homeless Crisis to Re-Launch Ill-Fated City Housing Office
CB: Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell plans to create a temporary office to manage city properties, acquire housing for the homeless and advance his affordable housing strategy at a cost of about $500,000 a year, the city’s managing director says.
In a letter sent to the Honolulu City Council last month, Ember Shinn said the Strategic Development Office would be staffed by eight new employees with various expertise in property management and development. It would be attached to the Department of Community Services.
Money for the positions isn’t included in this year’s budget, but the Caldwell administration intends to tap funds from a provisional account for vacancies, the city’s Affordable Housing Fund, salary savings and federal homeless funds, according to Shinn’s letter.
read ... We're Baaack
Star-Adv Buys Big Island Papers
WHT: Oahu Publications Inc. announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire West Hawaii Today in Kona and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald in Hilo from Las Vegas-based Stephens Media LLC.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Dennis Francis, Oahu Publication’s president, said both newspapers will continue to be published daily and will be editorially independent from the company’s daily newspaper on Oahu, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The transaction will close Dec. 1....
In a related transaction, Sound Publishing, a subsidiary of Black Press, purchased the Aberdeen, Washington, Daily World and three weekly newspapers from Stephens in Washington state. That transaction closed today.
(They also own Kauai Garden Isle--only the Maui News remains independent.)
read ... Oahu Publication’s Inc. purchases West Hawaii Today and Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Scheme to Sucker Small Investors into Financing Industrial Solar
SA: Lawmakers and Hawaiian Electric Co. want to give utility customers who don't own rooftop space the opportunity to take advantage of certain benefits of renewable energy.
The plan is to create community solar farms or "solar gardens" that give people the option to invest in large-scale solar systems and lower their electrical bills.
Community solar will be one option for residents in the near future, HECO said at a legislative briefing Sept. 19. The utility proposed community solar as part of an energy transition plan it filed with the state Public Utilities Commission in August.
read ... Suckers
Common Core Criticisms Miss the Mark
CB: In their June 8, 2013 opinion piece published in The New York Times, co-writers Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus discuss students taking their “first Common Core State Standards tests.” They go on to imply that the standards are a curriculum complete with mandated assessments that create unhealthy stress on teachers and students and emphasize uniformity.
This kind of argument against the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is inaccurate and simply muddies the waters. Despite the erroneous nature of the argument, it contains echoes of concerns that I have heard outside the classroom, in professional development meetings, union meetings, policy pieces, and news outlets big and small.
read ... Common Core Criticisms Miss the Mark
The Problem With Being Pro-homeless
MW: There seems to be a cluster of compassionate folks opposed to any “criminalization” of the homeless — that is, they cringe at confiscating their sidewalk goods, forbidding them to sit or lie on sidewalks or, God forbid, arresting them.
Then there’s American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, which has defended the right of that De-Occupy group to establish tents, sofas, tables and generator-operated TVs on public sidewalks.
There seems to be some core misunderstanding here, and somebody needs to set things right. I guess that’s me.
There is no “right” in the federal or state constitutions, the Hawaii statutes or the county ordinances to encamp upon public-owned property....
There are a couple of classes of those who merit our compassion. Those temporarily down on their luck or genuinely unable to qualify for rental space, and those with mental problems and addictions. We need to spend the time and money to deal with those.
Then we have those who come here for our climate, won’t take available jobs that would get them off the streets, troll for casual drugs and get a kick out of hanging out in Waikiki. We need to deal with them, too, and that’s where sit lie and other laws come into play. A society has limits to its tolerance.
We never took the Waikiki hangouts seriously. We tolerated the sleeping, the drugs and those sidewalk merchants posing as “artists.”
Now the problem has risen up and bitten us. So we have to bat it down. Take back our sidewalks, even if a few temporary-down-and-outers get snared in the net.
The hardcore are wily, probably with some legal advice. You saw how fast after the Waikiki sit-lie law they tried out state land at DeRussy Beach.
...confiscating and trashing their tents, beach umbrellas, tarps and sleeping bags is a good, legal start at reclaiming our sidewalks and beaches. And maybe reconsider contributions to ACLU?
read ... Boycott ACLU
Luxury 'Hawaii Life' Realtors Bankroll Anti-GMO Madness
KE: Notice the pricey price tags on the houses, and the complete absence of any reference to volunteerism, giving back, agriculture, mingling with the larger community or multiculturalism, much less the indigenous culture. It's all about indulging one's own little narcissistic desires in a resort town that could be Anywhere Sunny USA.
Yup, that's Hawaii Life — the agency that supports the anti-GMO movement, mayoral hopeful Dustin Barca and sweeping changes in real life on Kauai. In addition to the $5,300 in Hawaii Life donations previously reported, Melissa Norman, whose husband Neal started Hawaii Life, recently gave Dustin $1,000. Pierce Brosnan's wife, Keely, kicked down $500.
read ... Don't Buy From Hawaii Life
Moral Citizen Condemns Anti-GMO Movement
KE: We know pesticides can harm, but we have no proof they are being misused by the seed companies. We know other entities on Kauai use pesticides, in greater concentrations, and in proximity to homes, schools, hospitals and waterways, yet only the seed companies have been targeted. We know other businesses — and even the “red shirts” themselves — are not transparent about their operations, but only the seed companies are being ordered to disclose.
We know that tourism results in a certifiable number of deaths and injuries each year, but only the seed companies, which have no verified deaths or injuries, are denounced as dangerous businesses. We know that certain politicians, like Councilman Gary Hooser, have waged this “battle,” fed and fomented divisiveness and deception for political gain, yet he continually portrays himself as the righteous David fighting the Goliath of craven multinational chemical companies.
We have allowed some of our political leaders to engage in a sanctioned witch hunt, openly discriminate, abandon the rule of law as we know it and declare the seed companies guilty as charged by an angry mob, with no evidence, no trial, just Facebook memes, rumor, hysteria and innuendo. And when the courts finally stepped in and said, Kauai County, you were wrong, those same politicians said no, we reject your ruling, we will carry on.
That is why I have found myself, a one-time GMO/pesticide foe, curiously on the side of the "blue shirts." I don't like pesticides, approve of the chem companies' business practices or unequivocally embrace GMOs. Nor am I a paid (or unpaid) biotech shill.
I'm just, to use Dominic's words, a moral citizen, trying to uphold what is morally right. And sometimes that means condemning actions, and movements, that are morally wrong, but trying to pass themselves off as morally right.
read ... Religious Debate
Honolulu Police Chief Shows New Cachola Video
HNN: HPD did bring additional surveillance video from that night. Video that has never been released publicly. It shows the minutes before and after the clip released to the media and explains HPD's reasons for not arresting Cachola. Police sources tell me it shows the girlfriend slap Cachola three times, then jump on him. The two wrestle then get up and laugh.
Chief Kealoha was ready to show the entire video at the public meeting, but lawmakers stopped him.
read ... Hammered
Soft on Crime: Lifelong Criminal Refuses to Testify Against Prison Gang
SA: Abihai is serving a life prison term for a 1985 state conviction for attempted murder. He also has convictions for rape, sex abuse, kidnapping, car theft and robbery.
In November 2006 Abihai failed to return to the Laumaka Work Furlough facility. State sheriff deputies recaptured him two months later, and the state charged him in 2009 with escape. A state judge dismissed the case because the state took too long to charge Abihai.
The state paroled Abihai in October 2009 but took him back into custody eight months later for violating parole.
DPS again placed Abihai on work furlough, but on June 10 he again failed to return to Laumaka. State sheriff and deputy U.S. marshals recaptured Abihai 19 days later.
read ... About a Typical Criminal Out on the Streets
Kauai Council Debating tax relief options designed to make Tax Hike Palatable
KGI: The Kauai County Council will consider today a set of seven measures that aim to reform current real property tax laws and assist some property owners who received noticeable increases on their tax bills over the past two months.
read ... Tax Hike
Hawaii Prisoners Become Issue in Arizona Election
ADS: Rotellini, who repeatedly interrupted Brnovich during the half-hour debate, also took off after his experience as a lobbyist for the private Corrections Corporation of America, something she said “made Arizonans less safe.”
She said Brnovich is on record as opposing 2006 legislation which would have precluded private prison companies from bringing in certain violent criminals from other states. The result, she said, is there are private prisons in Arizona housing inmates from Hawaii and Alaska.
Brnovich defended his role with the CCA, saying there’s a legitimate place for private prisons, with about 7,000 of Arizona’s own inmates housed in such facilities.
He then turned the tables on Rotellini, saying if she’s so opposed to private prisons, she should not have accepted campaign donations from former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini and Anne Mariucci, a former regent, since both sat on the CCA board.
read ... Prisons
Enrollment declines at UH Campuses
HTH: As of Tuesday, Hilo enrollment showed the largest drop in the UH system during the same time last year at 2.9 percent, while Manoa saw a decrease of 2.5 percent. West Oahu, which opened its new campus in Kapolei in August 2012, saw enrollment increase by 12.7 percent.
UH-Hilo’s enrollment peaked in 2012 at 4,157 students after eight years of continual growth, according to UH’s Institutional Research &Analysis Office.
Hawaii Community College in Hilo, meanwhile, has experienced enrollment declines for three years in a row, with numbers dipping this year by 6.4 percent. The school’s enrollment peaked in the fall of 2011 at 3,917 students.
All seven of the state’s community colleges saw enrollment declines this year of between 2.9 percent and 6.9 percent.
The decrease in enrollees means the UH-Hilo campus will take a hit of about $1 million to its anticipated revenues, Straney explained.
read ... Dropping Enrollment
Punatics Still Disturbed Over About Iselle, Election
HTH: The state Office of Elections was “absurdly out of touch” with the situation in Puna after Tropical Storm Iselle, state Sen. Russell Ruderman said Tuesday afternoon.
Ruderman was speaking to County Clerk Stewart Maeda and County Council’s Public Safety and Mass Transit Committee in Hilo, as they addressed the primary election situation. South Kona/Ka‘u Councilwoman Brenda Ford asked Maeda for an update on his plans for the upcoming General Election, particularly for Puna, where Pahoa is threatened by a lava flow.
“What’s inexcusable to me was the change in decision (from the plan to mail absentee ballots to voters in two Puna precincts closed following the storm),” Ruderman said. “To change that after having officially notified everyone who made their way to the polling place. We gave people a change in official notification, (with just) three days notice. … That’s not fair. I can’t believe that it’s legal.”
Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille asked why the entire election results weren’t thrown out.
“I’m not aware of any remaining remedy, except from the federal Department of Justice, which is aware of our complaints,” Ruderman said.
read ... Punatics
Consumer protection and safety at risk as new transit companies enter Hawaii marketplace
HR: Uber and Lyft are using private drivers and some licensed limousine and taxi operators, powered by the use of smartphones. Smartphones operate as the sole dispatch, way-finding and billing systems for both. This is not only dangerous, it is illegal according to Hawaii state law. The consequences can be tragic. On New Year's Eve 2013, a distracted Uber driver struck and killed a 6-year-old girl and injured her mother and 4-year-old sister in San Francisco.
Lyft and Uber drivers use their personal automobiles and do not provide insurance coverage for commercial transportation activities. TNCs claim to insure their drivers, but have not filed the evidence of such insurance with the PUC pursuant to motor carrier law and taxicab ordinances, which requires "evidence of financial responsibility."
As a result, hundreds of drivers with uncertain coverage are on our roads.
Consumer protection laws also are being flouted. Taximeters -- like other commercial measurement devices -- are regulated and annually inspect- ed for good reason. By using a smartphone's only somewhat accurate GPS system as the basis for calculating charges, Lyft and Uber are using an illegal and inaccurate commercial measurement device with no oversight or transparency.
Uber also uses something called "surge pricing" to escalate fares during peak hours or other high demand periods. Fares that go from $13 to $77, even fares jacked up as much as 800 percent, have been reported. This is directly counter to Hawaii's anti-price-gouging laws.
read ... Transit Companies
Precisely as Predicted: UH Manoa Begins Push for Polyamory
KL: More than 19 states including Hawai‘i have legalized gay marriage in the past decade due to increased public awareness and changing social views on what constitutes a romantic relationship. While this is great news, Americans are still strongly opposed to the idea of romance between more than two people. Here are a few guidelines on experimenting with ethical non-monogamy, or polyamory....
Last year, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law, allowing children to have three or more parents or legal guardians to reflect changing family structures. This is progress, but the status of households with multiple adults is ambiguous in the other 49 states. Furthermore, children could potentially be separated from the persons they know as parents.
Marriage of more than two people has been outlawed since the federal case Reynolds vs. United States of 1878. The Supreme Court ruled against a Mormon Church leader, creating a two-year prison sentence and a $500 fine as punishment for the “crime” of marriage between more than two people.
With the spread of the Internet, like-minded polyamorists have been able to find each other and share both positive and negative experiences online. This is a unique time in human history where love is consensual, marriage is not arranged and basic human rights are written into law – where real people can continue to explore the uncharted boundaries of love.
As Predicted: Beyond Marriage The Confession: Hawaii Gay marriage advocates let the polyamorous cat out of the bag
read ... Orgies
Atheists Become Frantic as Election Approaches
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