ADV: Star- Bulletin owner to buy Honolulu Advertiser
Oahu Publications, Inc., the owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Midweek and other weekly newspapers and magazines, will acquire The Honolulu Advertiser, the Advertiser's owner and Oahu Publications said this afternoon in simultaneous announcements at both newspapers. 
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SB: Star-Bulletin to acquire Advertiser
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Peer News: Omidyar launches propaganda organ
John Temple, the former editor and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News who has joined Pierre Omidyar's Peer News in Honolulu as editor is scheduled to give the lunch talk at the March 18 event at the Plaza Club.
"NewsMorphosis 2.0" will feature discussions about the state of the local media with a number of local media executives, including Honolulu Advertiser Editor Mark Platte and KGMB9 News Director Chris Archer.
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Legislature considering storefront marijuana dispensaries
A separate bill that cleared its final Senate committee Monday would permit medical marijuana "compassion centers" to dispense the drug.
REALITY: Maui “medical”marijuana dispensary was front for drug dealers (duh!)
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Anne Keala Kelly:The Hawaiian nationalist and filmmaker says the Akaka Bill should be rejected
(In the midst of the sovereignty babble, AKK actually makes a good point.)
I also think that five or 10 or 20 lawyers, some of them Hawaiian and some of them not, are going to get stinking rich….This idea of us having to live off of federal aid, off of the welfare, the crumbs, that the United States is going to throw to us, is absurd and insulting. We're very capable of running our own affairs, without nonprofits like the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement telling us how to do it. It's the nonprofit industrial complex of the Hawaiian community that's going to be turned into a bunch of corporate entities. I promise you that those people (supporting the bill) are Hawaiians who are getting something from the government. And you can't really take those opinions seriously, because it's a conflict of interest.
Related articles by AKK: Akaka bill, Alaska Oil money, Native Alaskan Corporations, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
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ETHICS: The bills your legislator probably hates
But if you'd like your legislator to disclose his or her 2009 financial interests when the information could be useful — such as before the bills they voted on "cross over" to the opposite chamber — forget about it. Senate Bill 653 is stuck in the Judiciary and Government Operations committee.
Or if you'd like lobbyists to report campaign contributions on their expenditure statements — making it easier for you to track them — read SB 2870 or House Bill 2955 and hope for next year. They're trapped in their respective judiciary committees, too.
And do you think candidates for all-mail elections should file campaign spending reports so you can look at them before you cast your ballot? Then consider SB 2321; just remember that your legislator probably won't.
Even good-faith efforts to reform campaign finance laws have been prone to legislative mischief. Early versions of HB 2003 would have allowed any and all contractors doing business with the government to donate to political candidates. It took last-minute amendments to shrink this giant ethical loophole: Now only those with contracts of $50,000 or less can donate.
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Hawaii flights (projected) to grow by 6% more seats
Starving since early 2008, the corporatist beast dreams of a full belly.
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Oahu home prices may be stabilizing, with decline slowing as a State, Hawaii #2 in home price declines
The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday reported that O'ahu single-family home values in the fourth quarter of last year declined 5.8 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2008….To be sure, one quarter of sale data don't make a trend….
The agency also reported home values by state based on same-home purchases but not refinancing. The figure for Hawai'i was down 13.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier. Only one state, Nevada, had a bigger decrease, at 17.3 percent.
Hawai'i's poor ranking is largely a result of a high concentration of foreclosures in Neighbor Island resort markets.
(The contrast between Oahu and the sister islands underlines the effect of Gov. Quinn’s “second mahele”. On Oahu, land remains in the hands of land trusts which slowly allow their land to go into development, thus maintaining artificially the high real estate values which underlie their wealth.)
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Judge to decide remedy for HMC's unauthorized use of St. Francis funds
In a tentative decision filed Wednesday, Faris said about $4.5 million of a $9 million HMC bank account belonged to creditor and former owner St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii. The judge took the matter under advisement yesterday after hearing testimony from both sides….
"The unauthorized use of cash collateral is a significant offense and must not be condoned," Faris wrote in his tentative ruling.
The best remedy for the situation, Faris said, would be to require HMC to replace the money, which might not be possible for the cash-strapped centers.
"There's a process here to go through, but we are looking forward to its conclusion," said Salim Hasham, HMC's chief operating and restructuring officer
(What Salim needs is a TRIBAL COURT which, for small fee, would be happy to overlook the stolen $4.5M.)
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Cling: Depledge continues trying to figure out how to get Gay marriage enacted
Their study, which appeared in the December edition of the American Sociological Review, found that people who live in counties where traditional family structures and gender roles dominate are more likely to be strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.
No surprise. But the researchers also found that the effects of traditional family and gender roles are significantly stronger when community cohesion is weak, measured by residential instability (people who move a lot), lower rates of home ownership, and higher crime rates.
We explained these findings by arguing that traditional gender roles and family structures in local settings create a situation in which many residents are likely to view same-sex marriage as threatening to their interests and values.
(This is just the latest in a series of studies gay marriage advocates are picking thru looking for a way to create a “right” which never existed anywhere in the last million years of proto-hominid development—until being invented by Steven “Broken Trust” Levinson.)
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More propaganda: Civil unions support has basis in Gospels
I am Catholic, heterosexual and in a traditional loving marriage. I believe that one of the central messages of the Gospels is its inclusiveness and its constant reminder that God is to be found in all of humanity. I believe the strong, unmistakable call to social justice in the Gospel stories should move Catholics in Hawaii, as a matter of conscience, to support House Bill 444.
(Is gay marriage social justice/ This argument rests on the manufacture of a gay class. So the obvious question -- Why does Gore Vidal argue -- “There is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo -- or heterosexual acts. Most people are a mixture of impulses if not practices.”)
TOTALLY RELATED: Obama and the Disunited States
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Burris: Lessons in how to lead a community
Quiet heroes is an overused term. Yet you cannot fail to fall into that term after attending the latest celebratory (and yes, fundraising) dinner for the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs. This is a non-profit group generally focused on promoting what, might for a better word, might be called progressive politics.
LINK: http://www.hipaonline.com/
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More biofuels could get tax breaks
LIHU‘E — A handful of House bills related to tax incentives specifically for ethanol production companies could be expanded to encompass all biofuel facilities that extract energy from many different forms of organic matter.
One of these bills, House Bill 2237, would “expand the existing ethanol facility tax incentive to include other liquid biofuels.” Each “qualifying production facility” would be eligible for a tax credit of 30 cents per gallon.
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State to close 31 welfare-assistance offices
The jobs of 232 state workers would be eliminated under a cost-cutting proposal that advocates for the poor worry would reduce access to food stamps, cash assistance and medical benefits.
The Department of Human Services confirmed Thursday that its plan to close 31 welfare eligibility locations statewide would result in the loss of the positions.
Two large processing centers, one in Honolulu and another in Hilo, would be created to handle the work previously done in the local offices.
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GTMO Greenwell wants private jet owners to pay $2,500 a day to park at airport
This fool wants alQaeda to live freely on the big isle, but he wants to charge a parking fee for airplanes.
"We need to invite these people into our community," Greenwell told West Hawaii Today on Wednesday.
Does inviting them into the community mean sticking a hand out for cash?
"This could give them a chance to enter into dialogue," Greenwell said. "We need to entertain these people. We need to bring them out of their cloistered environment."
Yuen said private aircraft pay a landing fee of several hundred dollars and a $30 a day storage fee.
Greenwell thinks he can. "I think they would jump at the chance to be part of our society," he said.
Just wait ‘til Nancy finds out: Pelosi enjoys privacy at Hualalai after Palin is hounded off Maui
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KIUC hopefuls focus on rates, renewables
LIHU‘E — Electricity rates near the highest in the United States and dependence on oil for some 90 percent of the island’s energy needs is no longer feasible, each of the five candidates running for three positions on Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative’s Board of Directors said Wednesday evening.
Co-op members were able to learn where the candidates — Carol Bain, Pat Gegen, Carol Medeiros, Allan Smith and Jan TenBruggencate — stand on topics like renewable energy and rate volatility during the forum hosted by Kaua‘i Community College.
The deadline to vote for the candidates is noon on March 27 and ballots will be mailed early March.
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