LINK>>>Socialist health care passes 219-212: Honolulu voters will be first to pass judgment

LINK>>>Lingle: Obamacare passage will cost State $300M, endanger QUEST

LINK>>>Djou: “Trillion dollar bill will do little to improve health care”

ATOMIC MONKEY: Abercrombie MIA on Obama’s Health Care Showdown , Abercrombie seeks unlikely redemption from Christian Right

State reviving plan for Lahaina homes: (War with OHA over affordable housing)

In 1993, an affiliate of C. Brewer Homes was selected to develop an initial phase with 320 affordable homes and 210 market homes. Presales for the first 20 affordable homes and 83 market homes were completed in mid-1994. But the Office of Hawaiian Affairs sued to block the state from selling ceded land at Leiali'i and another affordable housing project on the Big Island called La'i'opua.

Ceded land refers to nearly 2 million acres of former Hawaiian crown and government lands transferred to the state under the 1959 Admission Act, to be held in trust for public benefits, including improving the lot of Native Hawaiians.

Though OHA was entitled to 20 percent of sale proceeds from ceded land, the agency objected to the valuation of the land and whether the state should be allowed to sell such property.

OHA's challenge initially was defeated in state Circuit Court. But the Hawai'i Supreme Court overturned the lower court's decision in 2008 and said claims of Native Hawaiians had to be resolved before ceded land could be sold.

Then last year, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Hawai'i Supreme Court, which prompted the Legislature and Gov. Linda Lingle to pass a law that requires a two-thirds approval from the Legislature to convey ceded land to any third party.

Hawai'i Housing Finance said it will comply with the law either by leasing the land under Leiali'i to homebuyers or obtaining approval to sell the land. 

(Will the Legislature vote 2/3 to allow working class Hawaii residents the chance to own their own homes?) 

(Thanks to OHA, Hawaiians and other Hawaii residents can’t become fee-simple homeowners.  Landlordism is preserved.  And yes, this is OHA’s goal—to keep us makaainana/commoners under the thumb of trustees who see themselves as the new alii.)

REALITY EXPLAINED: OHA driving Hawaiians out of Hawaii

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Health care reform: Hirono, lying through her teeth, sees immediate benefits for seniors

(Thats funny, just last month, Hirono was calling Senate Obamacare a muli-billion dollar giveaway to the insurance companies: How Obama bought Hirono's vote) 

(After paragraph upon paragraph of Hirono/AARP propaganda, the reality finally slips in at the end of the article….)

In a statement after the vote, Gov. Linda Lingle said the program forces Hawaii and all the states into a "one-size-fits-all" program that is "financially unstable."

She argued the legislation will cost Hawaii residents about $300 million over five years for costs to Medicaid programs, which are already losing money.

Hirono said the cost to Hawaii residents still needs to be calculated.  (In other words, she cannot rebut Lingle’s point.)

Lingle contended the legislation will raise premiums, impede economic growth and job creation, and require cuts to Medicare.

KITV: Hawaii Politicians, Residents React To Health Care Bill: As Congress Votes, Opposition Remains

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Midweek’s Bob Jones appoints himself arbiter of truth

(Typical Liberal tries to decree reality:)

There is fear afoot that the new healthcare reform law will restrict your care and — if you were to believe the House minority leader — end your choice of health providers.

Factually, that's wrong. It's a lie. (S when Lingle says this will result in cuts to Medicare, she’s lying?)

You keep your doctor and your insurance company if you want them. But you must have health insurance. If you can't afford it, there will be a government subsidy. If you can't find it, there will be exchanges to offer it to you. If you live in Hawaii, nothing will change about your employer-provided insurance program.

Those are facts….  (Unless you take into account the forcible bankruptcy of your insurer and possibly your doctor.  When that happens, you can’t keep them, right bob?)

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Reforms Could Mean Fewer Earmarks For Hawaii

HONOLULU -- (In exchange for political support) Scores of private companies, nonprofit groups and state agencies this year will divvy up more than $412 million in earmarked federal funds that were designated by one or more of Hawaii's four members of Congress.

The watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense says that's $318 for every Hawaii resident, the largest per capita amount in the nation. (Did you get your $318?  Oh, that means you aren’t a Dan Inouye crony.)

But that largesse may shrink considerably in coming years. Democrats in the U.S. House say they will no longer sponsor earmarks for for-profit firms.  (And boy is Dan pissed.)

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Obama’s Double-whammy for homeowners: Borrowers who ask for help see their credit scores dive

For borrowers who are making their payments on time but are on the verge of default, the Obama administration's loan modification program can reduce their credit score as much as 100 points. That makes it harder to get a loan and can present a problem when applying for a new job, but it makes them more likely to go on welfare and become completely subject to the control of the government.

Housing counselors say it's unfair, especially since the news often comes as a surprise to those homeowners who actually believed Obama was God.

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SB: Rules needed for passengers in truck beds

No hearings were conducted in the current session on a proposal by Sen. Will Espero to ban passengers in pickup truck beds. A modified measure to require passengers to buckle up in truck beds should be considered by next year's Legislature.

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More mayoral power not in the public’s interest

Strengthening the mayor’s power may be in the mayor’s interest. However, by the adoption in 2002 of the Power Authority and the adoption in 2008 of the Fire Commission our citizens recognized the compelling public interest need for some government operations to be more autonomous.

The core benefit of the manager system is to have government operations handled by a person qualified by education and training rather than one personally popular. A familiar position exists. Without active citizen involvement such as in the Ethics Board case the future course on these issues is highly predictable.

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Stripping anonymity from the 'Net

The article points some possible ways forward and is a thought-provoking read, but what mainly caught my attention were the comments (click the tab under the headline.)

There were 82 of them and they were mostly thoughtful, civil and on point — in other words, the opposite of the nasty, ill-mannered, threatening and often racist reader comments you see attached to stories in most U.S. papers including the Advertiser.

Color me jealous.

The main difference is that the WSJ, one of the few newspapers that charges for its content, bills its comment section as a "community," with community rules that require that real names, civility and focus on the subject.

(The difference between anonymous and real name comments is the difference between civilized humans and uncivilized humans.)

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