June 15, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

June 15, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:37 PM :: 12888 Views

Hannemann Pittsburgh fundraiser: Campaign Spending Commission not notified until after event

Aiona rejects call to act on HB444 while Lingle is out of state

Lingle talks visas and biofuels in Beijing

Djou’s first Legislation: Resolution calls for Free Trade Agreement with Philippines

Hanabusa to get same kind of National Democrat help Ed Case got

NRCC: “Colleen Hanabusa and her Washington friends have pushed the economy into a jobless recovery”

TEA Party leader launches campaign for Maui Mayor

House votes to annex Hawaii, June 15, 1898

HB444: Gay Lobby and Hawaii Media seek revenge against Business Roundtable

Alan Spector, legislative affairs co-chairman for Equality Hawaii, said the group has polled several members of the round table and learned some organizations were unaware of the letter to Lingle, adding they were uncertain whether their company was consulted.

Bentz noted that Bank of Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines have traditionally scored very high on the nondiscrimination "scorecard" kept by the Human Rights Campaign (hint, hint), while DFS U.S. Group Vice President Sharon Weiner was among the supporters listed on ads in support of HB 444 bought by the group Citizens for Equal Rights. All three businesses are round-table members.

(In other words, your PC cred and the $$$ that goes with it are at risk. Notice how none of these activists are responding to the substantive arguments made by the Business Roundtable? They LIKE the flaws in the bill which the Roundtable pointed out because those will become grounds for lawsuits which will allow the Hawaii State Judiciary to once again invent gay marriage.)

More of the same…CB: Did Roundtable Committee Have Member Support?
More of the same…CB: Study: Civil Unions Will Have 'Positive Fiscal Effects'

Federal Transit Administration approves EIS for Oahu's $5B rail project

The Federal Transit Administration has approved the final environmental impact statement for Oahu's rail transit project, but the document must be signed by Gov. Linda Lingle before ground can be broken on the $5 billion project.

(Stay tuned for weeks of incessatnt bleating "Why hasn't the Governor signed it yet?" Yawn.)

When, or if, that will happen is not known because the EIS has to go through a review process by the state Office of Environmental Quality Control, said Lenny Klompus, spokesman for the governor. Once the review is complete, the EIS will be sent to Lingle for further review.

The governor has said she wants to hold public hearings on the EIS and also do an analysis on cost-and-revenue estimates, a process that could take months and extend well beyond Lingle’s term.

The EIS executive summary will be available Tuesday at www.honolulutransit.org

IT company's relationship with the state Tax Department is being questioned (by HGEA-owned legislators seeking to reverse privatization)

That testimony, along with e-mail communication sent by CGI to Kawafuchi, indicates considerable friction existed between CGI personnel and some state employees (HGEA). One solution proposed by CGI in an October 2008 e-mail was removing oversight of the project from Kawafuchi.

Kawafuchi, who officially leaves office today, was relieved of oversight of CGI work by the administration of Gov. Linda Lingle in early 2009. Kawafuchi declined to comment for this story.

"On the advice of counsel, I have no comment at this time," he wrote in a text message to the Star-Advertiser….

The company noted that its compensation comes from the added tax income generated. (Commission vs hourly HGEA members)

"For the current assignment, CGI is paid for its services from a portion of the additional revenue collected. If the project does not generate any collections, CGI does not receive payment for services," CGI said.

Lowell Kalapa, head of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, said CGI's fees seem reasonable. CGI is a member of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii. (HGEA retaliation target.)

"I don't know if the fee is appropriate, but it is what the department negotiated," Kalapa said. "If they were hoodwinked ... that's the department's fault."

UPW salivates as State to investigate killing of island inmate in Arizona

Amid growing scrutiny of the state's practice of shipping inmates to the mainland (the SA defines this as the issue), a state Department of Public Safety team left for Arizona yesterday to investigate the killing of a 23-year-old Hawaii inmate at Saguaro Correctional Center. (If this happened at Halawa, it would have been covered up already. BTW, when is the last time you read a story about a prisoner being killed at Halawa?)

Arizona authorities expect to charge a 21-year-old Hawaii inmate in connection with the killing at Saguaro, a private prison in Arizona where nearly 1,900 Hawaii inmates are housed.

Eloy, Ariz., police said Mahinauli Silva strangled his cellmate, Clifford Medina, while the prison was in lockdown on last Tuesday.

AP: Inmate suspected in death of fellow Hawaii inmate

Bloomberg: Hawaii gov discusses tourism, energy in China (APEC-Green Energy connection?)

Separately, United States embassy officials asked about the possibility of Chinese companies learning from and investing in Hawaii's renewable energy projects during next year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Honolulu.

Hawaii ignition interlock bill signed into law

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A new law makes it tougher for people who get caught drinking and driving -- to do it again. After three years of lobbying by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the Ignition Interlock bill was signed into law (by whom???) Monday.

(HNN wrote this entire story without mentioning Duke Aiona even once. That is the kind of skill which creates job security for Hawaii journalists…until their newspaper goes out of business because it is so boring.)

Acting Governor Duke Aiona signs DUI ignition interlock bill

Don't combine schools in Waialua and Haleiwa

Should we shut down one of the two elementary schools serving the Waialua/Haleiwa area to save $700,000 per year?

Well, what percentage of the state's annual school operating budget would we save by eliminating a $700,000 expense?

The state spends about $1.1 billion on basic school operations every year.

So, to put things in perspective, closing down an elementary school on the North Shore will save the state about six one-hundredths of 1 percent of its annual school operations budget.

There is nothing wrong with saving six one-hundredths of 1 percent of your annual budget. Heck, if you do it 10 times, then you have saved a whole six-tenths of 1 percent.

Dozens of Vietnamese immigrants might have to leave the country over falsified documents

Fifty-one people face possible deportation because they came to Hawaii based on falsified paperwork prepared by Henry Hung Nguyen, a well-known businessman in the local Vietnamese community who helped dozens of his fellow countrymen immigrate to the islands.

Authorities are pursuing removal proceedings even though Nguyen's victims - mostly rural Vietnamese who speak little or no English, have limited education and few financial resources - were unaware he falsified their immigration papers, according to federal officials and attorneys for about a dozen victims.

"This is like Bernie Madoff (the Ponzi scheme criminal) walking free and all the victims he deceived end up being prosecuted," said David McCauley, a Honolulu attorney for two of Nguyen's victims. "It's exactly like that."

SA: Immigrants who expose fraud deserve consideration

Obamacare: Those laid off when the recession started will soon lose subsidized health insurance benefits

"There is an irony that a few months after the passage of health reform, the Cobra subsidy would come to an end," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "Health reform will significantly expand health coverage starting in a few years from now, but in the meanwhile more and more people who lose their jobs will lose their health care coverage."

Plenty of beachside in Ooma plan (30 years work is now juicy new shakedown target)

Ooma is again before the state Land Use Commission, which is considering the rezoning request from conservation to urban district. The rezone request includes 181 acres of the total parcel.

The LUC meets at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 16 and Thursday, June 17 at the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. Project consultants are expected provide testimony Wedneday; public testimony is scheduled to be heard starting at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

This is the third time the land sandwiched between NELHA and what is now the Kohanaiki golf course has been under consideration for rezoning. The previous efforts seeking hotel and resort uses – in the 1980s and again in the 1990s – failed.

(How much will OHA/NHLC demand to let this be built?)

RELATED: Hokulia Settlement Exposed

Construction Workers Abandon Big Island

He's with a four-man crew from the Big Island, part of the growing number of construction workers who are leaving the neighbor islands in search of jobs.

"We worked mostly for the people that owned Lear jets parked in Kona Airport," said carpenter James Johnson.

Johnson is from Waikoloa, and used to build mansions for millionaires and billionaires from the mainland. He moved to Oahu, and said jobs have dried up on the Big Island.

"It’s very slow, very few jobs. I just heard this morning that one of the larger companies is doing a lot of layoffs again. It’s just slow in general,” Johnson said.

KGI: Home on hold pending lawsuit

EPA issues penalties against County of Hawaii, Johnson Resort Properties

Hawaii County loves to ‘add positions’ but hasn’t solved the cesspool problem in five-plus years.

Ormat share rises as Hawaii geothermal plant reaches full production

Ormat today announced that its subsidiary, Puna Geothermal Venture, has completed the drilling and the mechanical cleaning of the production wells at the Puna Geothermal Power Plant located on the Big Island, Hawaii. The company statement said that following the well field work the power plant is now back at full production.

Hawaii Biotech to be sold at auction

HONOLULU — A Hawaii company conducting clinical trials to produce vaccines for dengue fever and the West Nile virus will be sold at auction.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Faris on Monday scheduled the auction for July 19. Bidders must submit their qualifications to the court by July 12.

(Your ACT 221 Tax credits at work)

Lahaina News: Voters support change in council election system

Overall, 61 percent of county residents support a change to the single member district system used on the Big Island and Honolulu, while support in Hana and Molokai is even higher at 69 and 74 percent, respectively.

Opposition is low -- just 17 percent of registered county voters.

Conducted from April 20 to May 1 with a sample of 503 Maui County residents, the poll was commissioned by the West Maui Charter Working Group….

The bipartisan group of West Side community members wants to promote democratic values and administrative efficiency in county government by recommending changes to the County Charter. Members include Gordon Cockett, Dr. George Lavenson, Dr. Flo Wiger and Nell Woods.

West Maui Councilwoman Jo Anne Johnson recently introduced the working group’s proposal for a single member district council member system, and it’s currently before the Committee of the Whole.

(This is a scam by anti-Superferry protesters to get their kind elected to the Maui County Council.)

Here is how the eco-shake-down wing of the Democratic Party manipulates voters on the Big Island: 'Lost Malihini Tribe' and PASH Aim to Take Over County Council

U.S. commander blasts Chinese navy's behavior

When asked how much of an actual threat China's anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) pose to the U.S. Navy, he did not answer directly, saying only, "I think it represents a continued advancement and maturing of technology."

He added: "If you remember, there were many, several years ago, who were critical of the missile defense program. Now we find the missile defense program as being something that's essential to our ability to operate freely."

Walsh seemed to imply that China's ASBM program, while not completed, is steadily moving toward deployment.

ASBMs are considered one of the major weapon systems along with submarines that could enable China to have what the United States calls "anti-access/area-denial" capabilities, which can prevent the U.S Navy from freely navigating and operating in the Western Pacific.

Offshore oil rigs are out of U.S. government's reach (Marshall Islands safety inspectors?)

Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands — a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean.

And the Marshall Islands, a maze of tiny atolls — some smaller than the ill-fated oil rig — outsourced many of its responsibilities to private companies.

Scientists (sic) study shifting attitude to climate change

Some of Australia's top scientists (sic) are gathering in Sydney today trying to work out how to "shift public attitudes" on climate change. (And how is this different than what they have been trying to do since AlGore became unemployed back in 2000?)
The aim, according to organisers, is to publicise the facts (sic) of climate science (sic) in the face of a so-far highly successful campaign by climate sceptics.