Prosecutor Defends Policy on Sex Trafficking
You Can Have That Road, Alphonse…No! You Take It, Gaston!
VIDEO: What’s the Future of Maunalua Bay?
Comparing the occupation of Haiti to the supposed “occupation” of Hawaii
ILind: An article in the Washington Post this week described the 1915 U.S. invasion and occupation of Haiti (“100 years ago, the U.S. invaded and occupied this country. Can you name it?).
The Post’s abbreviated history of the Haiti occupation cites “bloody battles” with insurgents, thousands of residents killed, brutal suppression of dissent over a period of years, shutting down the legislature for a decade, and practices that “included segregation and enforced chain gangs to build roads and other construction projects.”
The article quotes a 1920 report in The Nation Magazine:
“Machine guns have been turned into crowds of unarmed natives, and United States marines have, by accounts which several of them gave me in casual conversation, not troubled to investigate how many were killed or wounded.”
That was, indeed, a bloody American occupation.
One thing that strikes me is the stark contrast to the U.S. role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the relatively rapid incorporation of the islands into the United States as a territory.
During the 1893 coup that toppled Queen Liliuokalani, something short of 200 U.S. Marines landed at the request of the insurgent government, reportedly under orders to remain neutral. No shots were fired.
American and British troops had also landed after the election of Kalakaua in 1874, to “maintain order” when supporters of Queen Emma protested the results of the election.
In any case, it seems to me that attempts to call the subsequent history, up to the present, as an American “occupation” really ring hollow when compared to the reality of a military occupation, such as in Haiti, is actually like....
read ... Comparing the occupation of Haiti to the supposed “occupation” of Hawaii
Stopping TMT would be tragic for all in Hawaii
SA: ...those seeking to stop the construction of the magnificent telescope are making an enormous and seriously tragic mistake.
We believe the planned telescope should be seen and recognized as the eyes of a great and revered mountain, eyes which could enable it and the world to see billions of years into the past, to the Big Bang and to the very distant beginning of our and every other solar system.
This will eventually bring to the entire world the ability to see, and perhaps to understand, how our and every other universe miraculously came to be.
It could become important in protecting mankind from major disasters from conditions now beyond our capacity to see or avert.
It will also bring to Mauna Kea the reverence of not just the Hawaiian people, but of all the people in the world who possess the capability of receiving the amazing views seen by the telescopic eyes of Mauna Kea.
The particular benefits for Hawaii and especially for Hawaiians are manifold. They include, foremost, the education of many Hawaiian students in the advanced study of astronomy and important related subjects and their professional lives connected to the telescope and its amazing functions.
In addition are the huge amounts of money spent in Hawaii and added to our economy and that of the Big Island for the building, use and maintenance of the telescope and for its continued and long-term use as the leading eye of the world in viewing and understanding the cosmos.
A considerable portion of that expenditure could go to supporting the professional careers of highly educated citizens, many of them Hawaiians, who will play major roles in the use and maintenance of the telescope. If properly managed, the new telescope and its international importance could trigger huge success for Big Island tourism, the income from which would stay here in Hawaii and benefit many of our citizens, Hawaiians included.
In contrast, killing the plans for the new and amazing telescope will produce serious and lasting negative impacts on Hawaii, the University of Hawaii and all of our people. Hawaii is already seen as a bad place to do business. Killing the telescope, particularly after years of receiving approval — even initially from one of the Hawaiian’s most important organizations, the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs — will tag Hawaii as a place for business and major educational efforts to avoid.
read ... Tragic
Honolulu Rents up 14.8% In Year
SA: Home rental rates in Honolulu have risen steeply over the last year, according to a new report that says the increase locally is more than double the average for more than 30 major mainland metropolitan areas.
It cost $2,675 on average to rent a three-bedroom house in Honolulu in the second quarter, up 14.8 percent from $2,331 in the same quarter last year, according to the report from national residential property management company Real Property Management and Westminster, Colo.-based real estate information provider RentRange LLC.
The gain was the sixth-biggest among 34 major metropolitan areas, and compared with a 6.1 percent average increase to $1,320 for all the markets.
read ... Rent Up
In Trade-Dependent Hawaii, Entire Delegation Panders to Anti-Trade Know-Nothings
On state homeless crisis, governor is late to the table
Shapiro: The homelessness committee Ige formed — headed by himself and including Mayor Kirk Caldwell, City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, House and Senate money committee leaders, the state human services director and representatives of Hawaii's two U.S. senators — certainly has the muscle to get the job done.
The question is whether the group will dig deep into the roots of homelessness and find lasting solutions or just make another doomed attempt to push the homeless out of sight.
It's astonishing that it's taken nearly eight months into his term for the governor to step forward on this humanitarian tragedy and potential economic disaster.
He kept holdover state homelessness coordinator Colin Kippen in interim limbo since December, then dismissed Kippen last week before starting a search for a permanent director.
Little was accomplished during that time and the lost opportunity was costly.
For instance, Ige said a goal of his committee is to identify unmet needs and propose remedies to the 2016 Legislature.
If he had appointed a homelessness coordinator from the start and gotten his administration working on the problem quickly, he very well could have had remedies to present to the 2015 Legislature.
Ige prides himself on a deliberative approach to governing and said he wants his committee to be "thoughtful" in moving forward.
That's fine, as long as he recognizes the fine line between deliberating and dithering....
...it's outrageous that in the face of our housing and homelessness nightmare, more than 400 state public housing units are in disrepair and vacant — a number expected to rise because of unwise budget cuts.
Surely it would be a reasonable use of Ige's emergency powers to cut through the plodding bureaucratic process and get these units fixed and occupied....
SA: Break down barriers that delay solving homelessness
read ... Late
Police are pursuing mental health care, not arrests, for people who desperately need assistance
SA: Christopher coordinates the Honolulu Emergency Psychological Services and Jail Diversion Program. Launched in 2007, it aims to get mental health treatment to people who need it, rather than arresting and locking them up for minor infractions, a costly approach that often makes things worse. The program is a collaboration among the Honolulu Police Department, the state Health Department, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, the Institute for Human Services and several hospitals.
Despite pervasive fear of the mentally ill, the person in crisis usually poses a threat to himself or herself — not others. The call that Christopher handled that morning, for example, involved a man who was threatening to kill himself and had burned his beard with a lighter.
The jail diversion program has helped more than 10,000 people get immediate mental health care since it began. Last year, Honolulu police psychologists logged 3,090 calls, involving 2,106 people in crisis. That's a big jump from 2,100 calls in 2010, and nearly three times as many as the 1,200 in the first year of the program. The rise reflects the growing need for help as well as training of officers to spot signs of mental illness.
read ... Mental
Homeless Former DoE Teacher Will be tried for Murder of Homeless Man
WHT: A former Pahoa High School special education teacher accused of shooting a 32-year-old homeless man to death on the Hilo Bayfront in late 2012 has been found fit to stand trial.
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara ruled Thursday ordered 58-year-old Mark Anthony Whyne to stand trial for the Dec. 29, 2012, slaying of Faafetai Fiu on Bayfront Highway near Mooheau Park.
Hara set trial for Whyne, who’s charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and four other firearms offenses, on Jan. 19, 2016 at 10 a.m.
In December 2013, Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura found Whyne unfit to proceed and ordered him committed to Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe, Oahu.
HTH: Violent crimes hit new high
read ... Homelessness
Being mindful of what the average folks want
SA: The pressure is enough to make you fantasize about, even envy, other people's daily routines. What's the to-do list for recent neighbor island residents with active imaginations and time on their hands?
- Morning surf session.
- Show new $3 million listing to potential buyer from California.
- Call in to radio talk show to explain what Hawaiians really want.
- Raise hell about cane smoke.
- Stop by favorite vape shop to test new flavors.
- Update Etsy shop with pictures of "vintage old Hawaii" postcards.
read ... Routine
Luxury Realtors Could Shut Down HC&S, Build Condos--If they choose to Hype Public Over Maui Molasses Shipments
MN: HC&S General Manager Rick Volner said last week that HC&S currently ships molasses on a vessel managed by a third party, which he (wisely) declined to name. The shipments no longer go through Honolulu but are shipped directly from Kahului to buyers on the Mainland.
Since the spill, Matson has not shipped a drop of molasses, which has forced HC&S to find other means to sell and dispose of its molasses. Volner said that HC&S has not had to expand storage capacity at Kahului Harbor but is "continually investing in infrastructure to ensure it is in good repair."
He added that there are procedures in place to prevent spills and for timely detection of spills during loading.
There have also been molasses spills in Kahului Harbor. On Dec. 8, 2003, about 50,000 gallons of molasses spilled into Kahului Harbor due to a broken pipeline, according to reports in The Maui News the next day. The spill occurred at night and initially went unnoticed until the amounts of molasses pumped and taken aboard the Haleakala barge did not jibe in a reconciliation report. The response at the time was to let the molasses naturally dissipate in the ocean.... (Because Brian Schatz didn't then need to hype his response to the molasses spill to get elected.)
The plantation produced about 53,200 tons of molasses in 2014, down from 54,800 tons in 2013, the report said.
The report says that HC&S currently has the ability to store about 20 percent of its annual molasses production "before having to cease harvest and milling operations, which cessation would result in significant additional operating costs." (BINGO! Visualize a sea of condos from Kahului to Maalaea. Riches beyond the dreams of avarice can be ours. All we need are our pet protesters....)
"The frequency and timing of vessel arrivals to ship molasses off island are therefore important to A&B's ability to continue its sugar operations without interruption," the report said. (Hint, hint, hint....)
read ... Tactical Information
End of the Imperium: Rainforest-Cutting Biofuel Company Assets Sold
IM: ...The headline read "Renewable Energy Group to Acquire Imperium Renewables."
Accompanying the August 1, 2015 story was a Youtube video featuring Kat Brady which highlighted the disappearance of Imperium Renewables from Hawai`i.
The story started about a decade ago when Hawaiian Electric Company proposed building the 110-megawatt Campbell Industrial Estate Industrial Park Generation Station (Cobustion Turbine 1, or for short, CT-1).
Life of the Land was the only intervenor in the proceedings to approve HECO's CT-1 application (Docket 2005-0145) and the subsequent proposal to power the facility with biofuels to be produced by Seattle-based Imperium Renewables Inc (Docket 2007-0346).
Imperium proposed to import Borneo, Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil, to convert it to biodiesel in Seattle that could withstand freezing cold weather, thereby gaining a federal tax credit, and then to ship the biodiesel to the off-shore area of O`ahu. They had no plans on how to get the biodiesel on-shore.
Widespread community opposition to using rainforest biodiesel to power Hawai`i generators sprang up among community, religious, cultural, social and environmental groups in Hawai`i, Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere around the world.
The Public Utilities Commission held an Evidentiary Hearing. Thereafter HECO re-negotiated the contract at more unfavorable terms to ratepayers and a second Evidentiary Hearing was held. The contract was rejected by the Commission.
Imperium used federal tax credits to ship biodiesel to Europe to undercut European biodiesel companies. The European Commission targeted Imperium with a company-specific tariff....
read ... End of the Imperium
Maui Residents Blast NextEra Windfarm Lies--Lower Electric Bills? Not True!
MN: The Hawaiian Homes Commission hosted a public hearing Wednesday night at the Paukukalo Community Center that drew nearly 100 people. A similar hearing Thursday morning attracted about 150 people, officials said.
If HECO is acquired by NextEra, the Florida-based company will likely control MECO, thereby ensuring that a power-purchase agreement and lease are awarded, retired college professor Dick Mayer pointed out in his testimony Wednesday night.
He also raised concerns that the Delaware-based subsidiary of NextEra that is listed on project documents, Boulevard Associates, would not be around in 20 years to decommission the windmills. He urged the commission to require a comprehensive environmental impact statement instead of just an environmental assessment, and asked for reassurances that the energy generated from the wind farm would stay on Maui and that there'd be no undersea cable.
"When I see $300,000 for community benefits, that's trivial," Mayer said, estimating that NextEra would generate $30 million to $40 million in annual revenue to the company....
Andrea Buckman, who works for the Leeward Haleakala Restoration Partnership, pointed out that even if NextEra returns the land to the community, "you're never going to bring it back to what it once was."....
Resident Foster Ampong testified that developers promise that wind energy would reduce the exorbitant electric bills on Maui, but they have not yet delivered.
"So far the three windmills built on Maui have not provided any substantive relief for homesteaders or ratepayers on the island. . . . They say we need the wind farm so people will pay less electric bills, but that isn't true," Ampong said....
Commission Chairwoman Jobie Masagatani said after the Wednesday meeting that "the decision has not been made yet" and assured residents that their comments would be taken under consideration before the commission makes its decision in November.
"There's a lot of ifs, ifs, ifs to happen," Masagatani said, adding that the commission has hired a consultant to ensure it is doing its due diligence in evaluating the proposal.
To submit testimony, visit dhhl.hawaii.gov; email dhhl.planning@hawaii.gov; or send written comments to DHHL Planning Office, P.O. Box 1879, Honolulu 96805.
Related: DHHL Consultation Meetings on Proposed NextEra Maui Windfarm
read ... Testimony: Pros and cons of Kahikinui wind farm
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