July 11, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Sunday, July 11, 2010

July 11, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:37 PM :: 9476 Views

Gays respond to veto of HB444: “Lets put Jews up to a vote”

Top-heavy DOE called 'urban myth' (SA again makes fool of itself attacking Aiona)

Gubernatorial candidate James "Duke" Aiona, in outlining his education platform recently, echoed a perception that the state Department of Education is top-heavy and that not enough of its budget reaches the classroom. (And the SA is actually mentioning Aiona’s name in the first sentence because they are attacking him. If not, he would be buried in a trailing paragraph or not mentioned at all.)

But education officials counter that annual spending at the school complex and state office level - totaling $75 million annually - makes up just 6 percent of the department's $1.3 billion operating budget. (And some people may actually be fooled by this non-sequitur from the DoE. But not many.)

DOE budget documents show that 72 percent of its operating budget - or about $934 million - is spent by principals at the school level. (“by principals” is a lie—for instance do principals really make a decision to pay teachers? No. That is mandated by the HSTA contract.) An additional 22 percent is spent on "centralized services" for schools, including student transportation, food service, human resources operations and financial record-keeping. Those costs total $286 million.

James Brese, DOE chief financial officer, said it is an "urban myth" that DOE spends too much on administrative costs. (Is the DoE campaigning for Abercrombie? Obviously the SA is. Aiona calls for an Audit of the DoE, Abercrombie does not.)

REALITY: Hawaii DoE: Cost of waste, fraud, and corruption between $191M and $431m per year (note these are not necessarily ‘top heavy’ expenses)

(And look where they went for another quote…)

Corey Rosenlee, a parent of a 6-year-old at Holomua Elementary School and a member of Save Our Schools, an (pro-Abercrombie) advocacy group (made up mostly of UHM perfessers and the usual gaggle of “conscious, enlightened, and progressive” types), said the way to get more funding to schools is increasing legislative appropriations for education - not shipping more services to the school level. (It sounds so much more ‘enlightened” when perfessers say giving the DoE more money is the solution.)

SOS exposed: Furloughs: Advertiser sides with “sustainability” billionaires against “Save our Sports”, Furloughs: How Unions and the DoE aim to co-opt protesting parents

"Are we going to stop recruitment?" he said. "When they ask for standardized curriculum, who's going to be doing that standardized curriculum?" (So they’re against a standardized curriculum, also.)

SA July 6 also makes fool of itself: Cataluna: Aiona's fiscal accountability is not the answer (Must NOT audit DoE)

REALITY: Duke Aiona unveils Education Reform Plan, Abercrombie: My “emanations” will make DoE serve students first

In Hawaii Education, The Buck Stops Nowhere

Randall Roth dissects Hawaii's failed Department of Education

Roth's full 45 page analysis: http://www.hsblinks.com/mu

For voters, not candidates, it's calm before the storm (Hawaii Democrats in disarray)

Djou dominated the three-way race and actually won a few precincts over the combined totals of the two Democrats. Specifically, Djou picked up more votes than the totals of Hanabusa and Case in precincts around Black Point, Hahaione and Ewa Beach.

The biggest Djou negative was the Manoa School precinct, where he had 1,090 to a combined Democratic total of 2,542.

What about Ed Case voters: Can they flip the vote to Djou? Not likely. Case ran well in the far East Honolulu districts of Hawaii Kai and Niu, and then he won the hilltops in Waialae, St. Louis and Wilhelmina, plus Waikiki. That was it. The lights pretty much went out for Djou and Case after Makiki.

Djou's campaign argues that the Democrats are in disarray.

"Look at their party chair Dante (Carpenter) talking trash to Mufi (Hannemann)," says GOP Executive Director Dylan Nonaka.

Plus Djou has the advantage of incumbency and more people voted for him than Hanabusa, Nonaka says.

Permanent absentee vote offered

Jean Aoki, a former legislative liaison of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, said she supports efforts to increase voter participation. But she said she is personally concerned about permanent absentee voting for seniors, particularly those who live in nursing homes. If a senior becomes incapacitated, for example, his or her ballot could be filled out by a family member or caregiver. (That’s why this is being done.)

REALITY: Vote By Mail: “Tool of choice for voter fraud”

Hawaii is already seeing effects of global warming, con artists say

Temperatures at Hawaii's higher elevations are rising faster than the global average, said Deanna Spooner, coordinator of the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative.

"It's getting hotter here faster than anywhere else in the world up in the upper elevations," Spooner said at the Honolulu meeting of the federal Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force.

Rainfall levels, meanwhile, are falling. "Our freshwater resources are shrinking," she said.

CB: Islands Bear the Brunt of Climate Change

(You know. Some people still believe this crap. But after climategate the believers are just a few people left behind in ignorant backwaters known as newsrooms.)

REALITY: Wind Energy's Ghosts, No sea level rise: Pacific islands growing not shrinking, says study

Mysterious pufferfish deaths

After a lengthy description of scientists trying to diagnose an illness causing 11 recent pufferfish deaths, we get this line:

“Answering this question now could affect our future.”

(Of course answering ANY question may or may not affect your future, but we need to get an answer to when the dogmas of the Gaian Religion will stop being pushed on us.)

A ‘Replicable’ Energy Model In Hawaii?

The effort launched in 2008 when Hawaii set a goal of getting 70 percent of its power from clean sources—including more efficient technologies and renewable fuels—by 2030. That’s led to personnel sharing with the Department of Energy, as well as big investments in solar and wind. And according to energy administrator Ted Peck, the Aloha State is now on track to halve its emissions within a decade.

The big prize may be still to come. The state has attracted an enviable amount of private research money, spurring efforts to glean power from algae, animal fat, sea waves, and the islands’ plentiful volcanic heat. The goal, according to a 2008 DOE presentation, is a “replicable model” of energy independence. Of course, a workable model would be a start.

(There IS a “workable” model. It is called NUCLEAR ENERGY. And Hawaii already has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of nuclear reactors—at Pearl Harbor. The problem is that the morons in the Legislature have banned the use of similar reactors for civilian energy generation purposes.)

(Obama's) Loan program fails island homeowners

Big Island homeowner Denise Houghtaling said she has been getting the runaround for months and several times broke down on the phone from sheer frustration, sobbing as she spoke to a lender representative about yet another snag.

"It's been a nightmare," said Houghtaling, whose three other neighbors lost their homes through foreclosure while attempting to modify their loans. "You can't imagine what we've gone through."

Laura Motta, another Big Island homeowner, echoed those sentiments. Even though she has been in a temporary modification plan for more than a year and has been making regular payments, she said she recently got a notice claiming she wasn't in any plan and hasn't been making any payments.

The process, she said, is "cruel. It's really, really wrong. It makes you feel like you're a criminal, when you're not."

(This entire article was written without using the word “Obama” even once. That takes skill. And that kind of skill has already destroyed the Honolulu Advertiser. Star-Advertiser next.)

Kenoi 'priority' roads go nowhere

Public Works Director Warren Lee said Friday the county is still working to acquire land for the Lako Street project. He did not have a timeline for when that would happen. Troubles acquiring the land date back to Kim's administration, when litigation tied up the process. That litigation, and the uncertainty about when it would be finished, was one of the reasons former Public Works Director Bruce McClure gave to put the Lako project back on the shelf.

Design work for the Laaloa Avenue project was under way, Lee said, but state Department of Transportation officials required some adjustments at the proposed intersection with Kuakini Highway. Those changes mean the county will need to approach the landowners at the intersection again, he said.

Community concerns prompted a redesign of the Laaloa project in 2007. Lower Lako Street residents also voiced opposition to the extension of that project. In 2007, county officials estimated the Lako Street project could cost $5 million to $10 million.

ALSO: Palamanui stalled, despite relaxed conditions and promised progress

(These articles are part of an electoral strategy used to ensure the election of Kona-side Democrats running on a “death to Hilo” platform September 18. On Maui anti-Superferry protesters are working to create single-member council districts in order to replace island wide voting so that the same electoral strategy can be employed. The techniques come right out of Alinsky.)

Certification may be required for Hawaii dams

HONOLULU (AP) — The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has proposed requiring the certification of major dams and reservoirs in Hawaii.

The purpose of certifications would be to guard against a breach like the one on Kauai in 2006 that left seven people dead.

In all, 138 government and private dams and reservoirs would be regulated. Noncompliance could cost owners up to $25,000 per day.

read more

Wis. man: Hawaii gallery sold me Lennon forgeries

WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Hawaiian art gallery knowingly sold more than $100,000 worth of forged John Lennon artwork and memorabilia, a Wisconsin buyer has alleged in a recent federal lawsuit.

David Petersen, of Waukesha, claims Celebrities Galleries of Kihei, Hawaii, provided fraudulent certificates of authenticity when it sold him 14 sketches allegedly drawn by the late Beatle. His lawsuit, filed this month, seeks at least $131,285 in damages.

The UH Board of Regents will decide Thursday on a proposal, opposed by student leaders, to charge students $50 per semester for athletics

A proposal to assess Manoa students $50 per semester, raising nearly $2 million a year for UH's financially challenged athletic program, is on the Board of Regents' Thursday agenda.

But unlike UNT, where students voted 58.1 percent to 41.9 percent to accept the fee, UH is asking the regents to impose the fee, which has consistently been opposed by Associated Students of UH leaders.

"ASUH is strongly opposed to the proposed athletic fee because of the unclear process of student consultation, the timing of the proposal and the lack of student support for the fee," ASUH president Andrew K. Itsuno said in an e-mail.

SA: Students shouldn't be extorted to pay athletic department's bills