Hilo, Kona, TEA Party events to mark September 11 attacks
Schatz, Hirono, Hanabusa, Hannemann, ineligible for Democratic Party support
VIDEO: Djou releases new commercial
Abercrombie frames himself as an agent for grubbing pocket change from military industrial complex
Sometimes, when Neil Abercrombie is on a roll, he gets so explosive it appears he might just levitate.
You get a sense that underneath his plain coat and tie is that superhero costume with the peace sign on the chest that appeared on a poster for his quixotic campaign for U.S. Senate 40 years ago.
The long-haired, bushy-bearded war protester may have evolved into a more manicured state lawmaker, city councilman and congressman. But in his heart there is still a roaring, uncompromising fight with the status quo…. (until they donate to his campaign, then he’s fine.)
Abercrombie lists as among his proudest accomplishments not his antiwar votes, but his support for the Military Housing Privatization Initiative of 1996, a public-private partnership to improve military housing for soldiers and their families….
Military housing? Funny he should mention that: Follow the money: $10B Guam pork project benefits Abercrombie contributor
DePledge makes no mention of Abercrombie’s religion at all: Hawaii media suddenly converts Abercrombie to Episcopalian
(The Episcopalians deserve an apology for this insult.)
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RTTT to fund teacher bonuses (No accountability here)
As part of education reforms linked to the competitive $75 million Race to the Top grant Hawaii won last month, the Department of Education wants to hang on to teachers by:
» Offering new bonuses of $3,000 or more for teachers who stay put in hard-to-staff areas on the Leeward Coast and neighbor islands.
» Beefing up mentorship and professional development programs for all teachers.
» Steering young, inexperienced teachers to less challenging school environments.
DOE officials believe new efforts to turn around low-performing schools will also improve retention by giving teachers greater job satisfaction.
(Notice the words “accountability” and “performance incentives” are missing. Precisely as predicted.)
REALITY: RTTT “farce”? HSTA, progressives already scheming to fudge accountability requirements
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Finnegan: “If we were truly supportive of charter schools, we would have equal funding by now”
After several other candidates praised charter schools, Republican state Rep. Lynn Finnegan said she was "surprised everyone is so supportive of equal funding for charter schools. It never happens at the state Capitol. ... If we were truly supportive of charter schools, we would have equal funding by now."
Finnegan, who had two children attend Voyager charter school, said charter schools provide "a sneak peek into what the DOE can look like."
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Borreca: “This year there is a strong and vocal Republican minority”
this year there is a strong and vocal Republican minority that really wants you to know they are out there.
"I am a tea party supporter and a conservative Republican," said a Kailua housewife.
"I want our representatives to pay attention to us," she announced.
Another woman voter in Honolulu said she also was voting Republican in the primary because, "I don't approve of the high taxes we are getting."
A young Honolulu voter who said she was a U.S. Defense Department analyst reported doing a serious search for information about the candidates. She ignored the elaborate Web pages put up by Abercrombie and Hannemann and instead looked for independent accounts of the two Democrats. Happily for us pencil pushers, she "also got a lot of information from reading the daily newspaper."
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RAIL: Kobayashi nails Mufi’s EIS “idiot version” costing $33,022/month
Kobayashi questioned the $6.3 million being spent for public and government relations and singled out a $1.7 million contract to Lychee Productions to provide media and public relations that includes a stipulation to prepare what the contract describes as an "idiot" version of the 3,222-page Environmental Impact Statement for the project.
The contract for Lychee Productions, which is paid $33,022 a month for community and media relations efforts, is one of 13 firms hired for media, government and community relations efforts, Kobayashi said.
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Case family Star-Advertiser: Human trafficking must stop (hypocrisy must stop first)
(OK Dan H Case, instead of blaming Thai authorities, just tell your son Steve and his buddy Pierre to own up!)
Although Thailand has been slow to make progress in following a comprehensive anti-human trafficking law that went into effect there in 2008, according to the State Department report, one of the six indicted in Honolulu was recently charged in Thailand with recruitment fraud. The Thai Community Development Center in Los Angeles has provided services to victims, indicating a valuable level of cooperation with authorities.
While the Los Angeles company, Global Horizons Manpower Inc., is tied to the alleged abuse, the FBI is trying to determine the extent of other farms' participation.
Brothers Alec and Mike Sou, owners of Aloun Farms here, have pleaded guilty to wrongdoing and await sentencing in federal court. (And Cayetano, Waihee and half the organic progressives in Hawaii are defending them.) The Sous reportedly used Global Horizons for a brief period but later decided instead to engage directly in the worker recruitment.
AUDIO: Listen to Radio Australia's Interview with Special Agent Brandon Simpson of the Honolulu FBI on HUMAN TRAFFICKING in HAWAII
RELATED: http://www.traffickjamming.org/
REALITY:
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Green Can Have Dear Economic Price
Because many of these programs probably could not have competed with programs and services that government has traditionally been charged with providing like education and health and safety, advocates of these "green" initiatives resorted to utilizing existing taxes that basically fly below the radar in that they are rarely paid by the general population or are paid by businesses who must then pass the cost on in the price of their products or services. As a result, the cost of those taxes and the funding of those programs is not transparent.
For example, the tax on the conveyance of real property is probably paid by an individual or family perhaps only once or twice in the taxpayer’s lifetime or not at all if the taxpayer is a renter of his or her shelter. The conveyance tax began merely as a means of recording the value of a sale of real property so that the real property tax assessor had an indication of the value of the properties in a certain area or neighborhood. It had been set at a nominal nickel per hundred dollars of value. The proceeds went into the state’s general fund.
However, as state finances became strained in the early 1990’s and programs were put on the chopping block, advocates of the state’s natural area reserve program pushed to double the tax rate and take the proceeds of the increased rate for not only the natural area reserve program….
And how is that money being spent … Hawaii DLNR gives 11 acres to 9-11 truther group
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24 apply to be next schools chief (as BoE prepares to pick Matayoshi)
Matayoshi guided the state Department of Education through its successful bid for $75 million in competitive Race to the Top funds and has been praised for her efforts to improve DOE communications with the community.
Some have raised concerns, however, about her lack of an education background. (To these critics, Matayoshi is not sufficiently imbued with the DoE’s culture of failure.)
Matayoshi has a law degree and, before joining the DOE as a deputy superintendent in 2009, she was executive director of the Hawaii Business Roundtable.
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Panos Prevedouros winning PBN online poll
If you voted today, who would be your choice for Honolulu mayor? 39% pick Panos.
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Birds of a feather: Lyla “Islam Day” Berg endorses Neil Abercrombie
"Both Neil Abercrombie's and my own # 1 priorities are education. While there are many critical issues that need to be addressed on day one -- our local economy and jobs being at the top of the list -- Neil Abercrombie has made it clear that Hawaii's faltering education system would receive his immediate attention upon his election. It is my hope that if elected, Neil Abercrombie will direct the LG to be his liaison to the DOE."
(Fishing for a job, but she isn’t going to get the nomination. And remember this has absolutely nothing to do with those rumors that Abercrombie is going to hand DHHL over to Clayton Hee who does have something in …uhhh...common with Lyla Berg.)
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ILind prepares gay atheist lobby for Fall Campaign
…Then there’s “Demonizing the opposition”. Some Hannemann supporters have pushed the old image of Abercrombie as a wild, long-haired, bearded druggie, although Hannemann himself has stayed away from publicly using this approach. I’ve already rejected several comments left on this site which used this tactic.
But the real “demonization” tactic has been used by the GOP against both Hannemann and Abercrombie.
The recent message sent out by Hawaii GOP chairman Jonah Kaauwai which used biblical language and images along with direct claims that Republican Duke Aiona’s campaign is favored by Jesus while his opponents are termed “the unrighteous enemy.”
Another interesting although somewhat scholarly article (written by the usual whining leftist academics) takes a close look at “Karl Rove’s Playbook“, the negative campaign tactics honed by the GOP strategist.
It’s interesting to see how many of these techniques were adopted by Mufi Hannemann’s campaign, beginning with taking the offensive from the beginning and attacking your opponent’s strengths.
Hannemann’s campaign approach from Day 1 was to take Abercrombie’s strength–his 20 years in Congress–and attempt to define it as a negative (not executive experience)….
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Atheists, others attack Tulsi Gabbard over non-profit
The tax-exempt organization Stand Up For America was formed by the Gabbards after 9/11 to promote patriotism, but Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo’s opponents are up in arms that the SUFA website contained an announcement of her council candidacy and a link to her campaign website (since removed)….
Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, a longtime adversary of the Gabbards, has also entered the fray by filing a tax complaint.
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Shapiro: Where are the leaders in Election 2010?
…After my item a couple of days ago about D.G. “Andy” Anderson, I got into an e-mail exchange with him about his role in helping his nephew Ikaika get elected to the City Council and the need for generational change in Hawai‘i politics.
“For some unknown reason,” he said, “I have been invited this campaign year to sit and meet with at least eight or so young people running. I have met with each, from Congress to the City Council, R’s and D’s.
“While some are in the wrong races, no money and or organization etc., their sincerity, commitment, education, honesty and qualifications in their particular fields are most impressive. Hawaii is changing however slowly, but I say for the better….
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More candidate profiles:
Indigenous groups gather to heal
These people are not white. Really.
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