June 27, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Sunday, June 27, 2010

June 27, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:49 AM :: 10188 Views

Aiona: Funds released for Rural Residency program

Time to Ship out? Congressman Djou revs up the debate on a Jones Act waiver for Hawaii (More back-handed support from the Case family paper)

Hawaii's freshman Congressman Charles Djou and other Republican colleagues are inserting the 1920 law into the public conversation over the spill cleanup—even though it is being misconstrued.

(My nephew Eddie was supposed to be doing this. He was! He was! He was!)

Angry remarks by Geert Visser, the Houston-based consul general for the Netherlands, maintained that the Jones Act's restriction on foreign shipping between U.S. ports has hampered the Gulf cleanup since the May 23 explosion, prompting calls to grant waivers to available foreign vessels.

In calling for the exemption, Djou said he was "disappointed that the president has failed to waive the Jones Act for foreign ships, who want to assist in the clean-up efforts."

However, authorization that allows foreign ships to help in oil spill cleanups appears to have already been made, four years ago, in a revision of the Jones Act, (REALLY???) otherwise known as the 1920 Merchant Marine Act. But it's clear that Djou and colleagues have found a highly public platform from which to attack the Jones Act itself.

In the current BP disaster, that would be Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the U.S. commander overseeing the oil cleanup, who has said that no waivers had been granted because none had been needed. He said 15 foreign-flag vessels have been involved in the cleanup, including one from the Netherlands.

Since Allen made that statement, Deputy Maritime Administrator David Matsuda said one Jones Act waiver request for a foreign deck barge to operate within three miles of the U.S. coast had been denied because American vessels were available to perform the same mission.

(But how could that be? The Starry Case Family Advertiser says authorization was granted four years ago. Maybe they are just lying. It worked at Grove Farm.)

REALITY: More Case family media manipulation ...

read more

Hawaii Congressman Backs McCain Bill on Jones Act

Sen. John McCain introduced legislation on Friday calling for the repeal of the Jones Act.

McCain, Djou and other Republicans have claimed the 90-year-old law bans foreign ships from helping with the Gulf of Mexico cleanup.

read more

Diploma distress

Eight Hawaii public high schools, among the state's largest campuses, have graduation rates under 75 percent and 28 saw their graduation rates decline in 2009, according to the latest Department of Education statistics.

The disappointing figures come as the Department of Education is looking to make big improvements to its graduation rate. In its application for competitive federal Race to the Top grants, submitted last month, the DOE said it wants to increase the overall graduation rate from 80 to 85 percent by 2011.

It's shooting for a 90 percent graduation rate by 2018.

(Maybe they can find a way to jimmy the figures.)

Isle ethanol efforts stall: The two surviving ventures face high hurdles

Four years ago companies were lining up to build ethanol production facilities in Hawaii after the state launched a program that offered generous tax credits and set a mandate that most gasoline sold in the state must contain 10 percent of the renewable fuel. Soaring ethanol prices, which hit a record $4.23 a gallon in the summer of 2006, also spurred interest. On the mainland, dozens of corn-based ethanol plants sprouted up across the Great Plains.

In Hawaii, meanwhile, plans were moving forward to erect ethanol plants that would mostly use sugar cane or sugar cane byproducts as a feedstock. Before any of the companies could get their permits approved, however, the price of ethanol collapsed, falling as low as $1.40 a gallon in late 2008. In addition to falling prices, difficulty in securing land to grow feedstocks and dwindling investor interest have made it difficult to get any new processing facilities up and running. (In summation: Hawaii’s corporatist scam is busted by Hawaii’s red tape.)

There were plans in recent years to build at least six plants in Hawaii to produce ethanol, an alcohol-based renewable fuel that can be made from a variety of organic materials, including sugar cane. Of the original six that were planned, only two are still on the books, and neither has a target date to begin construction.

(OK, then lets eliminate the 10% ethanol mandate.)

‘Modest job growth’ predicted

LIHU‘E — Jobs losses were “extreme” on Kaua‘i, but “modest job growth” is expected this year, according to the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization.

“Unemployment will begin to edge down, just not at a very rapid rate,” said University of Hawai‘i at Manoa economics Professor Byron Gangnes. “So it will remain higher than normal for several years.”

And it will “become more of a burden as more people hit the time limits on benefits,” he said.

“A lot depends on whether Congress continues to extend benefit time periods,” Gangnes said. “If benefits start to end for many unemployed workers, then that will reduce their spending on goods and services, which will slow (but not stop) the recovery process.”

(An economy based on federal hand outs)

‘CJ’ brought Hawaii the ‘Golden Age of Law’

Former Hawaii Chief Justice William S. Richardson has been described as a “down-to-earth dreamer” and an “activist judge”

(Notice how nobody mentions his ability to uphold the law or interpret the Constitution?)

Homeless camps cover 50 acres, from Waipio Point, around Middle Loch to Pearl City

WAIPAHU » Pastor Joe Hunkin picked his way around rusted car axles, propane tanks and two-by-fours studded with bent nails to find a homeless encampment where people have been cooking and sleeping directly behind Waipahu High School, in an area that received unwanted national attention this month.

In an episode of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" that aired on the A&E network two weeks ago, the Chapmans mounted mo-peds and switched their SUVs into four-wheel drive to navigate the area, where they discovered about 60 different encampments, Beth Chapman said last week in a telephone interview from Canada, where "Dog" was on a publicity tour....

Doran J. Porter, executive director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance, believes more and more homeless encampments like the one behind Waipahu High School are springing up on Oahu as Honolulu police and city officials continue to push Oahu's homeless off of beaches and out of city parks.

"I don't know why it would surprise anyone that they've found these places," Porter said. "You get kicked out of one place, you have to find somewhere else to survive the night. ... And now their desperation is starting to show."

(Actually more people are moving into shelters. The Homelessness Industry never gets tired of trying to move the homeless into the most profitable non-shelter locations possible.)

Defeating the "homelessness industry" before it gets a grip on Hawaii

"Taylor Camp" tells the story of idyllic youth of the '60s who found brief respite on Kauai (Formative experience of progressives)

Taylor Camp was a complex place that angered many on Kauai. Its "dark side" included violent conflicts with area neighbors and substance abuse among residents. The treehouse homes built by the campers were viewed as an eyesore by local officials who fielded complaints about thefts, unsanitary conditions, drugs and open nudity.

When the county evicted the residents in 1977, authorities set fire to the camp to ensure they wouldn't return.

Taylor Camp was started in 1969 by 13 people who ~~had fled campus riots and police brutality on the mainland~~ were really stoned. Police arrested them for vagrancy, but Kauai resident Howard Taylor - (idle rich) brother of actress Elizabeth Taylor - not only bailed them out, he let them live rent-free on his vacant property at Haena….

Their first version of the film was actually a 15-minute slide show that drew about 1,000 people to a theater with 300 seats. Afterward, former Taylor Camp residents approached the filmmakers to share their personal experiences, Stone said.

That gave rise to a series of potluck reunions where the filmmakers put the campers in front of a camera, said Stone, a 55-year-old Maui resident who has made videos for the last 35 years.

"I would say about 97 percent of the people said this was the best time of their lives," he said. "I think there was that sense of freedom and youth and vitality and living with nature and community that just makes an impact on a young person's life."

(Yep, they found the Garden of Eden and then stayed in Hawaii and took over. Now Neil Abercrombie is running for governor.)

Church of marijuana: Religious use of pot seen as legal refuge

As spiritual events go, it was an unusual request.

"If there's anybody here who's a member of law enforcement, you don't have to identify yourself, just please leave," the Rev. Timothy Tipton told a crowd at Denver's Oriental Theater. "This is a private event."

Thus went a stop on the Cannabis Church Revival Tour, a three-event swing along the Front Range last week promoting the religious use of marijuana and its potential as a legal defense against pot prosecution. The tour was organized by the Rev. Roger Christie, founder of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, as a way to spread awareness about his church and its affiliates. But Christie said his visit to Colorado had, in part, a more specific purpose: to reach out to people disgruntled by new state medical-marijuana laws they think are too restrictive.

(Once again Hawaii is the testing ground for the latest progressive scam.)

KGI: Attitudes on meth changing, survey shows

“We are just at the beginning stages,” she said in a phone interview between meetings while traveling around the state sharing the anti-drug message. “I hope it translates to change in behavior. ... It was just really great to see changes in attitudes.”

The survey shows 54 percent of teens and 67 percent of young adults see great risk in taking meth once or twice, up 10 points for each group from a year ago, and that 87 percent of young adults (ages 18 to 24) surveyed said they strongly disapprove of trying meth even once or twice, up six points from 2009’s benchmark survey.

“This research demonstrates we are making significant progress in our efforts to prevent meth use among Hawai‘i’s young people,” said Dr. Kevin Kunz, president of the American Board of Addiction Medicine.

“Teens and young adults are considerably more aware of the risks of methamphetamine, increasingly disapprove of its use, and are taking action by telling their friends not to try meth,” he said. “These changes in attitudes are key to reducing meth use so I am greatly encouraged by this new data.”

RELATED: Hawaii Meth Project

NYT: Hawaii to Test Public Money for an Election

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii is moving forward with a test run of publicly financed political campaigns this year, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling against a similar setup in Arizona.

Hawaii’s experiment starts with this fall’s Hawaii County Council election. Sixteen candidates applied to participate in the program before last Monday’s deadline, according to the Campaign Spending Commission.

(Once again Hawaii is the testing ground for the latest progressive scam.)

REALITY: 'Clean Elections' activist nailed by Campaign Spending Commission

SA: Refine fireworks bill before next election

Any new law should be in place in time to make the next New Year's Eve more ~~of a pleasant celebration~~ subdued, with people cowering in their closets rather than greeting the New Year with gusto and less of a fire and health hazard to be endured.

That may seem harsh to those whose fireworks traditions go back generations. But we don’t care. We’re conscious, enlightened and progressive. We’re smarter than you are.

Next president elected by just 15% of voters? Rapidly advancing movement to eliminate Electoral College shifts control to coasts

It is being promoted in state legislatures – it has been introduced in all 50 – as a compact among the states in which legislators commit their state's votes to the popular vote winner as soon as there are enough states to guarantee a victor with 270 Electoral College votes.

So far, Hawaii, with 4 votes; New Jersey, 15; Illinois, 20; Maryland, 10; and Washington, 11; have made commitments. As of now, there are active bills that could put another three states in that camp: New York, 31; Massachusetts, 12; and Delaware, 3.

That would total 106 of the needed 270 Electoral College votes.

(Once again Hawaii is the testing ground for the latest progressive scam.)

Small businesses set up shop in storage lockers

KALIHI (HawaiiNewsNow) - When Al Mitamura starts up his monogram machine, he punches out logos and custom made patches in a 300 square-foot storage locker.

"I was paying $1,900 a month for a space three buildings down and it was 1,150 square feet. Now it's costing me $730.00," said Mitamura who owns The Monogram Shop.

His business was the first business to move into Dillingham Blvd. Self Storage to run its operation. What some people rent to store extra stuff, Mitamura and dozens of other businesses rent for their offices and operations.

HNA is Chartered by OPEIU, AFL-CIO

The Hawai'i Nurses' Association (HNA) is proud to announce that their affiliation with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) AFL-CIO, CLC has been officially recognized by the International labor union in a ceremony conducted during the OPEIU annual convention held in Washington, D. C. this month.

The ceremony took place on June 21, 2010 with a traditional Hawaiian blessing performed by Kumu Hula Lehua Avilla-Livsey. HNA President Joan A. Craft said, "I am very proud that we have joined the OPEIU ohana (family). OPEIU is a strong, democratic and caring union. It is our home." The new OPEIU local is "HNA Local 50" referencing the 50th state.

Hawaii joins hands to protest off-shore oil drilling

Thus effectively demanding that offshore drilling be done outside US jurisdiction under less stringent environmental controls. Therefore these protesters are in fact increasing the chances of another oil spill. BTW what are they doing to help in the clean up? Are they fighting for a suspension of the Jones Act?

SA: Protesters target oil spill and US fuel dependence

REALITY: http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/oilspills.htm, http://library.thinkquest.org/C004218/OilLoc.htm

No birth certificate needed to verify Obama's old Arcadia job

Arcadia residents are delighted that a longtime rumor has been confirmed: President Barack Obama, Hawaii's best-known celebrity, once worked in food services at the Punahou Street retirement complex while attending Punahou School.

Emmet White, Arcadia president and CEO, went to the source since in-house records could not verify this small bit of Obama history. "Imperfect memories are not good enough," White said in a letter to Obama at the White House, "so we ask (for) your recollection."

The president responded, "I remember those days in Punahou and my time working at Arcadia, and I am still influenced by the aloha spirit and all the wonderful people of Hawaii. I learned so much from my family, my friends and teachers during that time."

(Must not be any commies there, how else could we explain Arcadia’s absence from “Dreams from my Father”?)

RELATED: Hey Obama, Who's Freddy?