Governor Lingle applauds confirmation of Mark Recktenwald as Chief Justice
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Study: Hawaii roads #1 in potholes, #47 in cost effectiveness
SA endorses Schatz, Finnegan for Lt Governor
On the Republican side, Finnegan is an experienced candidate with a track record of service to her community and as a dynamic leader within the GOP caucus.
Finnegan has represented the 32nd district (Waimalu, Aliamanu, Airport) since 2002 and has risen to the rank of minority leader in the state House. She has championed funding for charter schools, both as a parent and a legislator, and would bolster the charter movement within the public school system. Finnegan also has advocated entrusting local school communities with the power to define their own needs and priorities, something that education reform advocates would find appealing.
Finnegan supports incentives for renewable energy sources, walkable urban communities and other elements that find bipartisan support in Hawaii's often fractious state government.
Successful lieutenant governors of the past have parlayed their second-in-command status into the governorship. Till then, though, the job at hand can be more -- and certainly should be, if the incoming governor can delegate meaningful responsibilities. Schatz for the Democrats, or Finnegan for the Republicans: Either would welcome and run with the opportunity.
Brian Schatz photographed in Larry Mehau's Barn: Big Island Rancher Larry Mehau Hosts Community Rally for Sen. Akaka
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Gary Okino endorses Charles Djou for Congress
Unlike the party’s gay activists, who chose between Democrats largely based on the civil-union’s vote, Okino has endorsed Democrats and Republicans based on whether they are against abortion and civil unions.
So Okino picks Cam Cavasso, a Republican, over U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii; U.S. Rep. Charles Djou, R-Hawaii, over state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa; and Julia Allen, a Republican, over state House Speaker Calvin Say.
“For me, it’s not party,” he explained Thursday. “It’s what people believe.” (Okino will likely face efforts by gay Democrats to expel him from the party.)
RELATED: GLBT Democratic Caucus Recommendations for Primary Election
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Star-Advertiser Gaian Religionists demand submission while complaining about Jesus
How long might it take for our egocentric species to accept a place within the planetary ecosphere rather than appointing ourselves as its master? We have reluctantly accepted many counterintuitive aspects that place us outside the center of the physical universe. They have been hard won against the Weltanschauung of our species that refuses to relinquish its centrality as we continue to insist on living inside a cloistered, emotionally egocentric universe.
(Weltanschauung = “the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing natural philosophy, fundamental existential and normative postulates or themes, values, emotions, and ethics.” In other words, the Gaians demand we al abandon our beliefs and follow them. If we fail to obey, the planet will be destroyed. If they can get an animal to tell me this, I’ll listen. Until then this is just a status seeking scam by the self-anointed priesthood of “enlightened, conscious, and progressive” wanna-be dictators. )
Is our vanity so great that we would let the planet that created us, nourishes us, and from which we extract and exploit such a tremendous diversity of resources degrade beyond sustainability merely because we selfishly refuse to acknowledge ourselves as one link in the planetary ecosystem?
(What is the difference between this guy and the Discovery Channel hostage-taker? Not much.)
We are indeed an awesome species, but our continuing illogical belief that the capability of our large brains to reason elevates us above the other wondrous life on the planet defies logic. (No it doesn’t.) Accepting our place as organisms within the great web of life on the planet does not diminish our grandeur, but rather enhances it. (No it doesn’t. Irk a Gaian. Gobble down a big plate of pork adobo today.)
Meanwhile Gaian practitioner and anti-Superferry protester Lance Holter babbles: Don't use religion as a political wedge
And Democrat Borreca whines: Primary election is developing biblical edge, and not in a good way “Meanwhile, Abercrombie is praying that voters remember him as the noncombatant in Hawaii's religious war.” (that’s quite a statement considering that Abercrombie’s atheist religion dictates we all kneel down and embrace gay marriage.)
(They think we are so stupid we will not notice their hypocrisy. Coming from the likes of them, that is quite an insult.)
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Indictment: Case, Omidyar’s ML&P used alleged slavery contractor (Eco-slavery)
(From KHON, one of the few media outlets not owned by Case or Omidyar) -- The three men and three women named in the indictment were associated with "Global Horizons Manpower," a Los Angeles based company.
According to court documents, the company brought 400 Thai nationals to Hawaii between May 2004 and September 2005 with promises of high wages and good working conditions.
"And the accusation is when they got here, they were low wage jobs, their passports were taken from them and were told if they didn't continue to work their homes would be foreclosed on in Thailand and they would lose their family homes," said Simon.
Investigators say "Global Horizons Manpower" provided the workers to farms on a temporary basis.
"The indictment alleges there are some farms on the West Coast of the mainland that are involved however all 400 of the victims we allege in the indictment did cycle through Hawaii farms," said Simon.
14 farms on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island -- including Maui Pineapple Farm, which is no longer in business, and Aloun Farms -- the owners of which are scheduled to be sentenced next month in a case with similar circumstances.
"There is overlapping conduct in it but you should look at the Aloun farms case and this indictment as two totally separate legal entities," said Simon.
None of the 14 Hawaii farms were charged in this latest indictment. (The enlightened, conscious, and progressive get a free pass?)
The FBI is still investigating whether they knew about the forced labor conditions.
A story you can’t find in Star-Advertiser or Civil Beat: Green hypocrites: Case & Omidyar’s Maui Land & Pine tied to human trafficking case
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No fuss, no muss: Senators unanimously approve CJ Recktenwald
HONOLULU -- State senators on Thursday unanimously approved the nomination of Mark Recktenwald to be Hawaii's next Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Full senate approval came after Recktenwald's unanimous approval Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary committee.
Recktenwald was surrounded by family and friends after the senators' vote.
Recktenwald will be sworn in as Chief Justice September 14.
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Kaua‘i a second stop, today, in Aiona’s ‘Connecting’ campaign
LIHU‘E — Republican Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, a candidate for governor, stated in a press release Kaua‘i is his second stop, today, in his statewide Connecting Communities initiative.
The series of 20 talk-story sessions began Wednesday on Lana‘i, with the first of two Kaua‘i stops from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Aiona headquarters at 3416 Rice St. in Nawiliwili’s Anchor Cove shopping center.
He’ll return Oct. 26, making Kaua‘i the last of 20 stops that also includes an early stop in his own town, Kapolei on O‘ahu, later this month.
The new statewide effort to connect working families and concerned citizens to each other and the issues they care about most follows Aiona’s small-business initiative in which he met owners and operators of more than 120 small businesses in 100 days.
“It is only through an active and engaged public that we will be able to achieve lasting solutions to the issues we face,” Aiona said in a press release.
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SD25 Faulty ballots raise election concerns
The names of all candidates for state senate district 25 (Hawaii Kai, Waimanalo, Kailua) are missing from 1,600 absentee ballots mailed to voters in Hawaii Kai.
New ballots with all candidate names will be sent to voters soon, but there are concerns the mix-up may alter election results.
"If anything the public may lose a lot of confidence in the results," Ryan commented.
Nago said the mix-up will not cost the taxpayers a cent. He told Hawaii News Now Hart InterCivic will pay the unexpected printing and postage expenses.
SA: New ballots will go out tomorrow to replace 1,600 mailed with errors
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Rod Tam hungry to be Mayor
Tam faces perhaps the toughest road on the way to Honolulu Hale. In a recent Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now poll, Tam was last among the four major candidates, pulling just 4 percent of the vote. His favorability rating also was the lowest, at just 9 percent.
Still, Tam believes his message is resonating with voters, based on some of the comments he gets from constituents.
IGNORE THIS: Ousted Zoning Chair Rod Tam is secret partner in $1 Billion North Shore development hui
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Kauai Mayor candidate pushes hemp
“There’s a tremendous need to change. We have to learn to let go of what no longer works,” she said. The future is for the children, so people really need to look at where the island is heading, she said. Westside children have been left behind and are suffering for many years from the mechanical fields, cane fields, genetically-modified-organism companies, the dump site and other assaults, said LaBedz.
(Wrong. They are suffering from a surfeit of eco-wackos.)
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Hawaii County Council candidates woo ag votes
(Of course Flickinger’s WHT put Brenda Ford’s opponent waaaay down at the end of the story AGAIN. No agenda here, eh?)
Enock Freire, running in the South Kona District, emphasized lowering the tax burden on farmers and helping increase exposure. He also proposed talking to coffee farmers about stricter labeling requirements.
"If I'm drinking a cup of coffee and it's 10 percent of anything, I can't call it that," Freire said, answering questions about Kona coffee blends. "We should push to increase that. What if we made it 85 percent?"
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Leaving Hawaii to go from Homeless to Homeowner
James is working with volunteers from Habitat for Humanity to build a home on Green Bay's west side.
James came to Wisconsin to escape a life based on drugs in Hawaii. He secured a job here, but he wasn't making enough money to pay all of his rent in one installment. James, his wife, Nanea, and their five children were evicted from their home. They were forced to live out of their car.
Freedom House Ministries is one of the organizations working with the Mawaes.
"Now, they're going to go from homelessness - from a homeless shelter - to home owners. That's just fantastic," Freedom House President Robyn Davis said.
(Another Hawaii resident escapes the old boy system.)
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