A bureaucrat, not a leader: Hamamoto just gave up and walked away (with 4 days notice)
SB: School's out
Wearing a red-and-green aloha shirt and bluejeans, the 65-year-old career educator looked relaxed and comfortable yesterday in her new role as a retiree as she spoke to the news media for the first time since her resignation became public.
Although some members of the Board of Education expressed surprise at her departure, she insisted her decision was far from precipitous.
"It was something that comes to mind at about this time of your life: 'How will I start to exit?'" she said....
Hamamoto said she wants to spend more time with family, including her daughter in New Mexico.
"It's like trying to change the tires on a car that's rolling along."
(When you can't stop your car from going over cliff, jump out while car still rolling.)
ADV: Resignation personal
"It's a very personal decision about what I want to do with the next phase of my life."
"I'm not walking away leaving pukas, or the place in shambles." (wow)
While Hamamoto said politics were not part of her decision to resign, she spoke out yesterday against a state constitutional amendment proposed by Lingle (and Abercrombie) to make the DOE superintendent a Cabinet-level position, under the governor's control.
"Politics should not be part of what goes on in the school room," Hamamoto said. "The superintendent has to be able to advocate for what is right for the kids. You have to be apolitical in order to advocate for the children. That should be the first priority of a superintendent. The second priority is ensuring organizational stability. How do you ensure stability if teachers and administrators think they will be jerked around every four or eight years?"
(Stability? She just walked out in the middle of the furlough crisis and she speaks of "stability"???)
KGMB/KHNL: Hamamoto breaks silence for first time since retirement decision
Acting schools superintendent, BOE chair to speak on vacancy at 3PM
Hawaii State Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi and Acting Superintendent Kathy Matayoshi are scheduled to hold a news conference Monday afternoon to talk about the job of schools superintendent, which became vacant on Friday.
Who is Matayoshi? Cayetano's DCCA director. Here is the mess she left behind:
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Makua Valley eyed for counterinsurgency, road bomb training
The Army wants to spend about $3.7 million to transform Makua Valley into a "world-class" roadside bomb and counterinsurgency training center with convoy live fire along hillside roads, simulated explosions and multiple "villages" to replicate the roadside bomb threat in Iraq and Afghanistan — the No. 1 killer of Americans.
As that occurs, the Army said it also wants to eventually transition some of its storm-the-hill traditional live-fire training from Makua to Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.
ADV poll: What do you think about the Army’s plan to re-focus on ROADSIDE BOMB TRAINING at Makua Valley?
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Hawaii will probably hold public hearings on Honolulu rail transit (Mufi's candidacy twists in wind)
The state hearings follow numerous public hearings held by the city over the past three-plus years. The primary public input on the project came in November 2008, when 53 percent of voters approved the city's rail plan.
The process of the state scheduling and holding public hearings could delay by several weeks plans to break ground on the rail project.
When the hearings will take place is still unknown and depends on when the city receives federal approval to release the project's final environmental study. The city had expected to release the study last fall then break ground in December (delusional).
(Poor little Mufi, his candidacy is twisting in the wind.)
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SB: Failed anti-rail effort reveals Charter flaw
A Hawaii appeals court has upheld a former city clerk's blocking of a ballot measure challenging construction of the rail transit between Kapolei and Ala Moana....
When the group Stop Rail Now submitted a petition for a special election on the issue in September 2008, then-City Clerk Denise DeCosta rejected it because the petition was flawed. It contained too few signatures and called for a special election too close to that year's general election.
However, part of the confusion about the requirements was caused by what the Intermediate Court of Appeals described last week as "ambiguous" wording. The City Council should rewrite that part of the City Charter to clarify the process for bringing initiatives to a vote.
Stop Rail Now gathered more than 35,000 signatures under the misunderstanding that at least 10 percent of the number of registered voters in the last mayoral election would suffice to trigger a special election. DeCosta pointed out that the Charter requires that petition be accompanied by signatures of 10 percent of all registered voters or 15 percent of those who actually voted in mayoral race, or at least 49,000 signatures.
The Stop Rail Now petition also erred in calling for a "special election" when it should have sought a general election initiative. Special elections cannot be conducted if the petition has been submitted within 180 days of a general election....
ADV: Stop Rail Now appeal rejected
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Budget cuts eliminate post moves job of HIV advocate to different department
Nancy Kern, who has worked 19 years with the Health Department on HIV prevention and services, is moving to the department's Injury Prevention Branch beginning today.
(Obviously an attempt to enlist yet another Democrat constituency in demanding tax increases.)
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Project HOPE boosts success of probation
HOPE consists of actually enforcing the requirements of probation. When probationers experience this some of them decide they don't want to go back and commit more crimes. Here's an idea: Let's enforce the requirements of probation on ALL probationers. Amazing concept, huh?
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Water problems keep Gartley Hall unusable
A Business College building above Gartley had to be torn down because of underground water problems, and the School of Architecture Building, Saunders Hall and Queen Liliuokalani Student Center are all experiencing some settling, Hafner said.
"We suspect the water is creating the settling," he said. "We have a long-term concern about Manoa Stream and the potential for additional flood damage on campus."
UH had proposed to spend $3 million on a comprehensive storm water and flood control plan for the campus. But all funds for repairs and maintenance were taken out of the UH budget by the governor, Hafner said.
(False. The Gov cut funds to UH in response to the reduction in State revenues. The UH Admin decided how to distribute those cuts. As usual, they cut maintenance, as they always have before.)
SB: UH students' debt load rising
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Watson: Dear Mr. President... 10 for 2010
Now, I am not so arrogant as to think on your last night of your vacation here, you would sit around and read my blog (or that you would ever read my blog period for that matter), so I like to think of this as an adult version of a "Dear Santa" letter.
(Yup. Obama is Santa Claus to this Advertiser columnist.)
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OK, but ...
Several activists who call themselves “disaffected Democrats” plan to wave signs on Saturday (Jan 2) outside President Obama’s Kailua vacation rental expressing their disappointment in some of his actions during his first year in the White House. (didn't see any coverage of them in the paper Jan 3 if it was Bush it would have been front page)
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Maui News: 2000 to 2010 decade in review: Fear at center of Y2K set tone for the next 10 years
With the bogus Y2K bug scam, Gramscians demonstrated their ability to use the media to generate mass hysteria. 10 years later, that ability has been mitigated, but not destroyed, as proven by the Global Warming scam, anti-GMO scam, and now the cell-phone cancer scam.
READ: Antonio Gramsci Reading List
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Test papayas for genetic modification
This cultivar and the later developed "SunUp" were created by injecting DNA (genetic material) of the ring spot virus into DNA of a papaya plant. This created an immune response in the plant to the disease, meaning they resisted ring spot virus.
These two GMO cultivars are currently sold on the U.S. mainland and in Canada, without labeling to indicate that they are GMO products. Certified "organic" (fraudulent category) farmers cannot sell GMO fruit, however, and many countries including the European Union and Japan ban GMO crops (because it gives them an excuse for protectionist legislation).
This is an opportunity for non-GMO papaya growers to learn if accidental GMO cross-pollination has occurred on their farm. (No need test. If your papaya is alive on the Big Island, it is GMO. If it is dying from ring spot, it is not.) Those who sell their fruit may want to inform consumers of the test results allowing them freedom of choice.
REALITY: The Future of Fraud
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