Case, Abercrombie support 'Beyond Gay'
A film depicting a nine-month gay pride pilgrimage made its United States premiere at the Aloha Theater in mid-January. Filmed around the world, the documentary, "Beyond Gay, The Politics of Pride," told the story of Ken Coolen's travels….
"This is about showing support for pride and equal diversity," Jen Johansen, HIP president said. "It's about showing support for an important piece of legislation. We are here to let our elected government officials known they cannot deny human rights. We are fighting for our right to love who we love, our unions to be protected and for homophobia to dissolve into the sea."
For over the past year, HIP members and supporters have been fighting to have H.B. 444 passed, allowing civil unions for same-sex couples.
Following the screening, Sen. Josh Green and Rep. Denny Coffman gave their unwavering support. (As did every Big Island Democrat except Rep Cindy Evans)
Neil Abercrombie's campaign representative, John Buckstead, read a support message from the gubernatorial candidate; Sen. Gary Hooser, former Congressman Ed Case and Hawai`i Democratic Chairman Brian Schatz all sent messages of support.
Human rights? Sen. Gary Hooser campaign website linked to Holocaust deniers
RELATED: Abercrombie and Hirono co-sponsor Gay Marriage Bill (The Broken Trust connection)
UNRELATED: First Legal Male Prostitute: "Sex Pioneer" Markus Compares Himself to Rosa Parks (Really)
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Bill seeks to privatize hospitals
The state Senate is set to discuss a bill Monday to privatize Hawaii Health Systems Corp. as a nonprofit organization.
RELATED: Legislative Report: Convert HHSC to non-profit, dump civil service (full text)
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Honolulu District Special Ed Teachers Get Paid to Make Up Lost Furlough Time
Special education teachers in the Honolulu District are getting paid to make up lost furlough time.
The Department of Education mandated all special education teachers to come up with ways to make up the lost time.
But special education teachers who teach in other districts say they are unaware of opportunities teachers in the Honolulu District are getting.
VIDEO: http://www.khon2.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3416@khon.web.entriq.net&navCatId=18
RELATED: DoE firing hundreds of Special Education skills trainers
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Progress: Anti-charter school HSTA teachers abandon Waianae school
Those challenges were compounded when Kamaile became a public charter school in the 2007-08 school year and lost half its teachers over concerns about possible loss of benefits in switching from a regular public school. (GOOD RIDDANCE!) Then-Superintendent of Schools Pat Hamamoto suggested that the school recruit TFA teachers to fill the void.
Since their arrival, De Lude said they've had a positive impact at the school.
"We want to get exceptional yearly progress, not just adequate progress here," he said, referring to the annual progress mandated under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "And quality teachers are the way to go."
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DOE Proposes to Increase Hawaii's Classroom Sizes
On Tuesday afternoon, the Board of Education took up a proposal to increase class sizes by as much as 15 percent in order to cut spending.
Under the plan from the Department of Education, average classroom size would have increased from 26 students per teacher to 28 in grades 3 through 6, and 30 per teacher in grades 7 through 12….
The department said bigger classes would have saved 18-point-five million dollars and slashed more than 428 non - tenured teaching positions.
Within the hour the budget committee ordered the DOE to find alternative savings without increasing class sizes….
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Bills aim to restore jobs in Film Office: Lingle administration says the cuts have not resulted in any losses for the state
"These were programs areas that were contributing significantly to the economy," said Sen. Carol Fukunaga, D-11th (Makiki, Pāwa'a), who held hearings on the DBEDT cuts last year and has introduced a bill, SB 2144, to restore some of the staffing.
A House bill, HB 2844, proposes to restore Film Office funding through the creation of a special fund. Other bills would remove the Film Office from DBEDT's direct management oversight by attaching it to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
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State bills could impact police chief, liquor director
LIHU‘E — A bill still alive at the state Legislature if made law would allow county mayors to remove county liquor control administrators even if that removal is contrary to county charters.
Senate Bill 2179, Senate Draft 1, crossed over to the state House of Representatives on Wednesday, and as currently worded would allow county mayors to remove county liquor administrators “notwithstanding charter provisions.”
A similar proposal also moving in the state Senate, Senate Bill 2177, Senate Draft 1, reads, in part, “A chief of police shall be appointed and may be removed as prescribed by the charter of each county.”
A state House version of the same bill, called “companion” legislation, reads the same.
“A reasonable person would conclude that it would change into another format, possibly giving the mayor the authority to select the chief of police as was announced in the recent Charter Commission meeting that was postponed.
“If this comes to fruition, then by extension the chief’s position would certainly become politicized. And that should be of concern to every community member,” said Perry.
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Census seeks full count of Hawaii
Reminder postcards are scheduled to be mailed in early March, followed by a mass mailout of official census forms by midmonth. Officials hope to receive the completed forms by April 1 — National Census Day. From April through July, census employees will conduct household visits to assist residents in completing the form.
Meanwhile, census officials are interviewing to hire thousands of census workers for jobs that pay up to $20 an hour. Among them will be the people who will visit your home if you don't fill out and return your form.
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Rally aims at cutting plastic pollution raising taxes
The coalition is supporting legislation that reduces plastic pollution through a statewide ban (Senate Bill 2559) or a small fee on single-use plastic bags (House Bill 2125).
Related: $98 designer ‘eco’-bags hit stores (cult followers take note—they said conscious--and conscience--so whip out your ‘plastic’ and run down to the store.)
REALITY: Hint to Hawaii: Plastic Bag Ban overturned by Calif. court -- no EIS
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Hawaii charges ahead with electric vehicles
Starting this month, state and county agencies buying new vehicles are required to give priority to electric vehicles, alternative-fuel vehicles and hybrids. And by the end of next year, government and private parking lots open to the public must have at least one space for electric vehicles and a vehicle charger for every 100 parking spaces….
The state's push to spur the adoption of electric cars could be premature, said Lowell Kalapa, president of the nonprofit Tax Foundation of Hawaii.
"It's well-intended, but not completely thought out on the economic side," he said. "Not only does it cost us taxpayers additional money to purchase those types of vehicles, but then we're going to have to build in these facilities for the electric vehicles.
"I think a lot more research needs to be done before we buy into a lot of these things, and the electric cars is one of them."
According to the state, there's expected to be 1,000 to 3,000 electric vehicles in Hawai'i in 2014….
To offset the costs of electric cars and special parking, the state plans to spend waste $4.25 million in federal stimulus money by an April 2012 deadline on chargers and grants….
Even without the proposed state grants and tax rebates, electric vehicle purchases may be eligible for a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500.
Ala Moana Center — which has the biggest parking lot in the Islands, has about 9,800 parking spaces. That means the shopping center will need to set aside 98 parking spaces for electric vehicles by the end of next year. Electric vehicle chargers can cost $2,000 or more, depending on features. (so Ala Moana has been commanded to waste $196,000 on plugs for cars that do not exist. And all they do is burn the same diesel we burn to produce electricity.)
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Solar facility could power Westside in emergency (Wrong. It would be a field of shattered glass.)
KEKAHA — Should a hurricane knock out the power generated by Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative on the Westside, Pacific Light & Power’s proposed concentrated solar thermal facility to be located between Kekaha and Waimea would be able to provide some 8,000 single-family homes on the sunny side of the island with their daytime electrical needs.
“In the case of emergency, our solar plant would power the Westside,” said the company’s CEO, Dick Roth. (Apparently he thinks all that glass is hurricane-proof. Ha!)
It would look like the Carrizo Plains, CA solar project, pictured below after its subsidies ran out….
MORE PICS: 10 Amazingly-Abandoned Renewable Energy Plants
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Oil demand has peaked in developed world: IEA (new mantra for eco-faddists)
"When we look at the OECD countries -- the U.S., Europe and Japan -- I think the level of demand that we have seen in 2006 and 2007, we will never see again," Fatih Birol told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"There may be some zig zags up and down but as a trend I think it will be a downward trend in terms of oil consumption."
(Of course this is absurd wishful thinking on the part of socialists who believe that the Obama has finally destroyed America. You can be certain to be hearing this quote bandied about by the “peak-oil” cult for the next 12 months as they hype tax increases and subsidies for every kind of bogus “alt-energy” tax scam for Hawaii.)
SEE NEXT ARTICLE . . .
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KIUC moves to increase its debt limit (money is being wasted on eco-nonsense)
LIHU‘E — Consumers are changing the way they utilize energy, said Brad Parsons of Kauaians for a Bright Future.
This is exactly why he agreed with Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative first-year Board of Directors member Ben Sullivan’s decision to vote against the co-op’s 10-Year Financial Forecast at the board’s meeting Jan. 26. The forecast was approved by a 6-to-1 vote.
The load growth forecast was part of the required application process for KIUC to qualify for a $168 million loan that follows a four-year construction plan, KIUC President and CEO Randy Hee said Sunday. The Construction Work Plan includes transmission line work, renewable energy projects and a Kapaia facility which would have the ability to generate energy from petroleum or biodiesel fuels….If plans follow through to build a proposed 10-megawatt solar thermal farm, as well as a 20-megawatt biomass-to-electricity plant on the Westside, “a substantial amount of power for the island” could potentially be supplied within the next decade, Barnes said. However, “due to capacity factors and other issues, determining actual output is not necessarily a simple mathematical calculation.”….
(but the eco-cult is not satisfied with that)
Parsons and others continue to point at how people are historically changing their ways. (In his dreams) They are using their cars differently (really?), development is not “continuing like it did in the past,” (thanks, lord Obama) and visitor numbers are declining, (thanks, lord Obama) he said. (wishing that Obama would permanently succeed in destroying the economy)
Last week Reuters reported that industrialized, wealthy countries “will never return to 2006 and 2007 levels” of oil use “because of more fuel efficiency and the use of alternatives,” according to the International Energy Agency’s chief economist…. (first reference of many to come, see article above)
The projection assumes pretty aggressive growth, Sullivan said during the board meeting. The question is what will happen if the growth does not actually occur as planned?
The impact of efficiency is not entirely being accounted for, he said.
(They are substituting their Pol Pot-ist dreams for reality.)
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