July 20, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

July 20, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:59 PM :: 10801 Views

“National Ocean Council” to impose “zoning”, sparks fears of recreational fishing ban

America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution

Great news! Mufi Hannemann to resign as Honolulu Mayor today

What a wonderful year this has been! First Abercrombie resigns, then Hannemann.

The city council will meet on Thursday to discuss when to hold a special election for mayor.

It will either be during the September 18th primary, or the November 2nd general election.

Carlisle wants September

Caldwell/Hannemann wants November

CB: Date Could be a Factor in Mayoral Election Outcome

SA: Hannemann resigns, files election papers this afternoon (Better make sure he doesn’t try to slip in after 4:30PM)

OHA Claims 59 votes for Akaka Bill: 60 needed

The CEO of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Clyde Namuo: “So at this point there are approximately only 58 votes in the Senate right now made up of majority members, soon to be 59 with Senator Bird’s replacement. We need one more vote confirmed before the bill can be scheduled and it requires 60 votes to get the bill past cloture and cloture means to end debate on the bill.”

Democrat Borreca: Keep raising taxes and don’t check on how the money is spent

Aiona is promising an administration with no tax increases; Hannemann thinks he will have time to run a full audit of state finances; and Abercrombie is promising a wondrous new school system, with no apparent tax increases. (Only Aiona’s position is correctly described here….)

There are flaws upon flaws in that thinking.

(So Democrat Borreca is against any end to tax increases and he is against an audit. Amazing. But not surprising considering that the Advertiser twice made a fool of itself by criticizing Aiona’s call for a full DoE audit. it seems the Advertiser’s position is “keep raising taxes and don’t check too carefully on how the money is spent”.)

Democrat Shapiro: Djou “low on food chain”

Shapiro responds to this: Djou “Rapidly becoming one of most active and outspoken US Reps”

Fascinating. A Democrat columnist isn’t impressed. How “low on the food chain” is his opponent?

Aloun Farm owners deny threats

The brothers and two co-conspirators are charged with signing the agricultural workers to contracts, then, when they arrived in Hawaii, paying them less than what they were promised. The government says the workers mortgaged their family homes and subsistence farms to pay recruiters $16,000 upfront for 3 1/2 -year contracts to work at Aloun Farms.

As part of their plea agreements, both brothers admitted that they, along with a recruiter in Thailand and a broker from California, told the workers after they arrived in Hawaii that their contracts were worthless. The Sous' plea agreements also say they told the workers they would send them back to Thailand, with no opportunity to pay off their loans, if they disobeyed, failed to follow directions or tried to leave.

But yesterday Alec Sou said, "Myself and my brother never threatened any workers."

Mollway told the Sous if she is to sentence them, they need to say why they believe they are guilty. Otherwise, they should seek to withdraw their pleas.

Mike Sou's lawyer, Eric Seitz, said the government rushed the plea agreements under threat of additional charges.

Federal prosecutor Susan French said she was ready to present a new indictment against the Sous to a grand jury last December and that it was their lawyers who sought the plea agreements to head off additional charges against their clients.

(And Hawaii “progressives” including Waihee and Cayetano are cheering for these admitted slavers.)

Omidyar’s CB: Step Out For Air, Get Locked Out of Court, Aloun Farms Owners Appear to Waffle on Human Trafficking Guilty Plea; Judge Delays Sentencing

Abercrombie gave $33,000 to state Democratic Party

Abercrombie has $240,000 in federal campaign committee dollars he cannot use for his Gubernatorial campaign. Take a look at how he is spreading those dollars around…

Hannemann announces new city mapping software

New software similar to Google's satellite map technology will allow the city to better manage its property, such as land and buildings, while also giving emergency personnel the ability to pinpoint locations of mobile 911 callers, city officials said.

The geographic information system software was among four announcements made yesterday by Mayor Mufi Hannemann in his final news conference at City Hall.

(Which campaign contributions are tied to this contract—and why don’t they just use Google maps?)

CB: Hannemann's PR Sprint to the Finish Line

PBN: Honolulu upgrades city computer systems

Thousands in Hawaii lose unemployment benefits

HONOLULU (AP) â€” Unemployment benefits ended for an estimated 6,000 Hawaii workers last month.

The money dried up when Congress decided against extending an emergency unemployment insurance program.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations says an additional 2,150 island workers are expected to lose their benefits each month the program isn't funded.

The U.S. House voted last month to approve extending the emergency benefits. Republicans in the U.S. Senate are holding up the measure, saying the spending will put too much strain on the federal deficit.

PBN: Hawaii's unemployment rate falls to 6.3%

State delays making cuts to program for at-risk children

Planned cuts to a program that helps special-needs children assimilate into early childhood education have been delayed because a state department failed to draft the necessary administrative rules to legally make the changes.

The cuts to the state Department of Health’s early intervention program, also known as the Part C program, were scheduled to take effect July 1….

Under pressure from lawmakers to reduce costs in order to balance the state budget, the Department of Health had proposed changing the eligibility requirements by limiting who qualifies for the services.

Website: http://hawaii.gov/health/family-child-health/eis/index.html

City clears Maili Point of homeless campers after officials say residents complained: Homeless man torches tent

In the last few weeks, Waianae Community Outreach placed about 20 families from Maili Point at its Onelauena shelter in Kalaeloa, and other families found space in some of the other shelters along the Leeward Coast, Placencia said.

But most of the homeless people swept out of Maili Point yesterday will not find room at shelters, many of which have waiting lists, she said.

Most of them will merely go "further and further into the bushes on this coast," Placencia said. "Most are local from this community, and they want to remain in the community."

72 dogs rescued during Leeward coast homeless sweep

Some of the pups are in pretty bad shape, one black lab mix named Rodgers had open sores all over his body.

"They don't have the means to take care of them. That''s why we are here -- some have skin conditions, health problems heart worms," said Badedeviney.

GTMO Greenwell arrested after scuffle with police

The incident started at 1:38 p.m. Saturday after police using a handheld laser clocked Greenwell going 51 mph in a 35 mph zone on Queen Kaahumanu Highway near the Kona Police Station, said Assistant Chief Henry Tavares.

Police say Greenwell first refused to stop, then after stopping, became confrontational. He was arrested at 2 p.m., taken to the Kealakehe Station for booking and released on his own recognizance at 3:10 p.m., Tavares said.
Greenwell has been openly critical of the Hawaii County Police Department and has sponsored a series of resolutions and bills calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and other drugs. But Tavares said there was no indication the traffic officers knew who Greenwell was
before stopping him -- and they treated him no differently from any other traffic offender.

Kaho‘ohalahala residency hearing comes to a close

"There were no fisticuffs and no major drama, but I did think that Sol testified from his heart how he's always considered Lanai, and no other place, his home," said Lovell, who was there to represent Maui County Clerk Jeffrey Kuwada.

Lanai resident Michael "Phoenix" Dupree has challenged, through his attorney, Ken Kupchak, Kuwada's approval in October of Kaho'ohalahala's registration to vote as a Lanai resident.

Dupree has argued that Kaho'ohalahala doesn't meet residency requirements, and a number of Lanai residents have said for years that they rarely saw Kaho'ohalahala in the tightknit community of about 3,200.

SA: Maui County councilman in 2 legal battles

UPDATE: Dela Cruz: Farm House Size Limit "Dead"

A bill that would have restricted farm dwellings on Oahu's agricultural land to 1,500 square feet apiece will not make it out of committee, according to the lawmaker who authored it.

Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, soon to be a candidate for mayor, said Monday afternoon that Bill 23 [pdf] was "dead." Instead, the Honolulu City Council will defer to the Important Agricultural Lands process to deal with so-called "gentlemen's farms."

Another measure, Bill 24 (CD1) [pdf], was amended earlier this month to remove the provision. The amended version of the Land Use Ordinance housekeeping measure passed out of the Zoning Committee July 6. It was then passed on second reading July 14, and will go back to the Zoning Committee for further changes, possibly as soon as August 3.

Dela Cruz's office on Monday provided a digest explaining all the changes [doc] between the current version of Bill 24 and the original version [pdf]. The removal of the farm dwelling provision is one of numerous adjustments.

Hawaii Superferry shorted state

Good. Let’s make Hanabusa and Say pay the difference since it is they who failed to act to correct the result of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Grid Battery Maker Xtreme Power To Unfurl More Funding

More clues to the contents of the Xtreme mystery box technology:

“The company's dry-cell battery was initially developed in the early 90s by Corning, British Aerospace and Ford Aerospace….

“Analysts have varied views of the company. Some believe it could provide battery packs that undercut the cost of lithium ion for grid storage. $500 a kilowatt hour, a level lithium has yet to reach, is within the capabilities of Xtreme, some have said. Others sniff that it's an advanced lead acid battery.”

Notably, the cost of lithium was cited as being only $250 per KWh in THIS previous article and the Xtreme cost was OVER $500 per KWH in Hawaii. Do they just keep making this stuff up as they go along? >>> Xtreme Power: A Pig-in-a-poke For Hawaii Wind Farm

ALSO: Electric car blowing in to isles

Story of Kamehameha student might be filmed

The story of Kalani Rosell, the non-Hawaiian student whose admission to Kamehameha Schools Maui in 2002 sparked community outrage, might become a motion picture.

Hawaii to Receive $740M for Military Construction Projects

WASHINGTON - Hawaii will receive $747,286,000 for an array of military construction and veterans affairs projects in FY2011 including infrastructure projects at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, a new building for the Welding School Shop at Pearl Harbor and a new federal fire station at West Loch, Senate Committee on Appropriations Chairman Daniel K. Inouye announced today.

The Future of Government?

And within IFTF’s recent massively multiplayer forecasting game Superstruct, players designed dozens of prototype governance structures. Among my favorites was the group Quantum Governance. Quantum governance was a thought experiment that originated from a group of political scientists and students at the University of Hawaii in the early 1980s. It is based on the idea that we need to re-design government around insights from new physics, such as holism, uncertainty, and the effects of observers on reality—a very different approach from the mechanical system in place now.