May 17, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, May 17, 2010

May 17, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:07 PM :: 11447 Views

Duke Aiona challenges “old guard” -- convention speech a huge media hit

GOP Convention: Djou’s leadership builds enthusiasm for fall campaign

State running out of money? Kawamura: “I cannot tell you what happens July 1”

"The entire state government is relying on economic recovery," (Kawamura) said. "What we all hope for is that the economy improves such that the state can make the payments earlier and not wait the statutory 90 days. But, for now, that situation doesn't allow us to do that."

Oshiro says one immediate concern is whether the state will be able to keep the lights on in July. In any given month, it costs roughly $429 million in program costs, salaries, benefits, to keep the government running. Add in the $335 million in deferred health care costs and tax refunds from last fiscal year and that means that in July, the state will have to summon about $774 million. That's more than double the roughly $360 million in monthly revenues the Hawaii Council of Revenues, which forecasts state revenues, estimates the state will pull in.

Kawamura says the state will rely on tax revenue between now and July to make the planned payments by summer time.

"We have high hopes, obviously, that this plan will work," she said. "We can't, by law, have a negative fund balance. We monitor every month what we are doing to avoid or prevent that from happening."

Kawamura cautions, however, about the unpredictability of the economy.

"Can I tell you what happens July 1?" she said. "I cannot. I would challenge anyone else who would say what happens July 1. These are our plans that we put in place today, and we are hopeful that things between now and July 1st will go well for our state."

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Burris: Three former governors like Democrats. OK, and then....?

One has to wonder how much good this does. Outside of their belief that a Republican should not be elected, the governors are divided, as is the party. Cayetano, ever the maverick, supports former Congressman Ed Case, who has made a career out of bucking the establishment. Waihee is backing Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, the favorite of Sens. Daniel Inouye and Dan Akaka as well as the unions. Ariyoshi, true to form, says he will let the voters decide.

SB: Ex-governors warn against Djou

Jonah Kaauwai, chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party, called the former governors' news conference "a last-minute attempt to hold onto power by people who have shown us how bad things can be when they have it."

In the written statement, Kaauwai said the governors are responsible for Hawaii's "broken political system"…

KHON: Former Governors: Keep Congressional seat Democratic

Kaauwai: Ka’auwai: Dem Governors perpetuate broken system they created

Broken Trust Levinson: State Constitution denies same-sex couples right to marry

Steven “Broken Trust” Levinson, the inventor of gay marriage, tries to con you into believing that the courts cannot use litigation surrounding gay civil unions to once again invent gay marriage. The Hawaii Judiciary has a long record of inventing justifications for the creation of new law from the bench. To suggest that it will somehow now follow precedent is not credible. To claim to know the outcome of a hypothetical lawsuit not yet filed over a law which is not in force is not credible.

Oh, by the way, here is a passage from Broken Trust pg 212:

“Bronster said she was prepared to subpoena the justices, if necessary, to hear their individual accounts. Justice Levinson took particular offense at this. He argued ardently that although the justices had acted unofficially in selecting trustees, they were still justices; it would not be proper to force them to cooperate in an investigation; the integrity of the judiciary was at stake—case law said so. By the time he finished, he had gone red in the face.”

And from the original Broken Trust essay:

When there is an opening on the state Supreme Court, the Judicial Selection Commission agrees upon a list of up to six names. The governor then selects someone from this list, and the Senate either confirms or rejects that selection. At least that is the way it's supposed to work.

A little known fact is that when Justices Robert G. Klein and Steven H. Levinson were selected in 1992, both names were not on the first list submitted by the commission. According to our sources, Waihee simply sent the list back, saying he wanted either a new list or an expanded one. A number of commission members were bothered by this, but Gerard Jervis insisted that the group give in to the governor's demands, and in the end, his importuning prevailed. Both names were on the revised list and they were the ones who got appointed. Several years later, Jervis was selected by the justices to be a Bishop Estate trustee. Other trustees selected during this era include former Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Peters and former President of the Senate Dickie Wong, who by virtue of their positions had a hand in the selection of individual commission members.

We would like to believe that a primary ingredient in the nomination and selection of Supreme Court justices has never been how willing they would be to appoint the "right" person to the Bishop Estate, but the circumstantial evidence to the contrary seems overwhelming.

Levinson is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii ACLU. You are being asked to trust his word on this matter.

SB: Crime should not pay

Under the new law, the intruder must be convicted of a felony during the incident ranging from violent crimes to murder for the property owner to be immune from lawsuits. An added provision supported by personal injury lawyers protects people ~~who had no criminal intention~~ the lawyers can get off with an excuse, such as entering the wrong house by mistake, to sue the property owner.

Transit Plan Out of City Hands

Mayor Mufi Hannemann has propelled the project forward for most of his term-and-a-half tenure, but is expected to announce this month that he will resign his city post to run for governor. Even if he remains in office until the July 20 candidate filing deadline, its unlikely the project will receive all the approvals it needs to begin construction by then.

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Six Years Later, Principals Still Don't Have Performance Contracts (Civil Beat becomes more creative in flacking for HSTA)

Three former Hawaii governors are proposing educational reforms that would, among other things, "give principals the power and resources to be true leaders of each school, and then hold them accountable."

But attempts since 2004 to institute an accountability system for principals have failed, raising the question of how this time would be any different.

(Aaah yes, it all makes sense now. This is Civil Beat still flacking for the HSTA in opposition to an appointed School Board. Here the failings of the current system are being used as an excuse to …protect the current system. Also notably the Omidyar mouthpiece says nothing about Abercrombie’s proposals for education reform which far more obviously fail the “why would it be different this time” test.)

REALITY: Abercrombie: My “emanations” will make DoE serve students first

Hawaii to start seeing effects of health act

young adults up to age 26 being able to stay on their parents' health plans as part of the act's overall goal of having everyone insured. The Hawaii Medical Service Association, the state's largest health insurer, is among insurers nationally that have agreed to implement this provision more than three months early.

On June 1 it will open its rolls to the young adults, allowing people who would ordinarily lose their health coverage because of age, school graduation or school status change to keep health care insurance through their parents' policies. They won't be eligible for the coverage if they have insurance from an employer group.

That potentially could affect health care coverage for thousands of people, said Fred Fortin, HMSA senior vice president. That's only one of a mind-numbing number of changes within the bill.

"We just felt this was the right thing to do," Fortin said.

(It is also a money spinner for the insurance business because young adults are usually healthy)

Seed industry growing strong

LIHU‘E — Biotechnology is a viable industry, said agricultural expert Douglas Jones during a luncheon hosted by the Hawai‘i Crop Improvement Association and the Chamber of Commerce last week at JJ’s Broiler.

The genetically modified seed industry in particular is seeing exponential growth and profitability, said Laurie Goodwin, Hawai‘i Crop Improvement Association vice president and Syngenta’s Hawai‘i outreach manager.

Hawai‘i’s seed crop industry increased in value from $450,000 in 1968 to $146 million in 2008, according to economic reports. The industry has also reportedly seen a more than 70 percent increase in job growth since 2006 and the number of full-time positions gained almost 270 percent in the past three years.

(But don’t worry. Fake environmentalists are working day and night to stop this.)

REALITY: The Future of Fraud

Hawaii jobless claims drop sharply

There were 2,272 initial claims filed last week, compared to 2,605 claims filed the same time last year, according to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The number of jobless weeks claimed fell 14.4 percent to 18,062 from 21,092 a year earlier.

Court: Sexually Dangerous Can Be Kept In Prison

President George W. Bush in 2006 signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which authorized the civil commitment of sexually dangerous federal inmates.

The act, named after the son of "America's Most Wanted" television host John Walsh, was challenged by four men who served prison terms ranging from three to eight years for possession of child pornography or sexual abuse of a minor. Their confinement was supposed to end more than two years ago, but prison officials said there would be a risk of sexually violent conduct or child molestation if they were released….

Chief Justice John Roberts last year granted an administration request to block the release of up to 77 inmates at a federal prison in North Carolina. These were people whose prison terms for sex offenses were ending. The justice's order was designed to allow time for the high court to consider the administration's appeal.

Just ignore these two completely unrelated articles: The Overhauling of Straight America, Child molester back at work at Hawaii Legislature