October 8, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Thursday, October 7, 2010

October 8, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:52 PM :: 14051 Views

Rep Jessica Wooley admits her van involved in thefts of campaign signs, blames volunteers

Abercrombie: Brian Schatz would control which nonprofits get federal funds

WaTimes: GOP lawmaker may hold onto Hawaii seat

Nat’l Federation of Independent Business endorses Djou

Djou wins endorsement of Trust in Small Business PAC

Maui Chamber of Commerce backs Aiona-Finnegan

Mike Molina Endorses Alan Arakawa for Maui Mayor

2010 Nobel Peace Prize recipient argued with UH Manoa perfessers

Liu, the main author of Charter 08 -- an impassioned call for more freedom and human rights in China -- was a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the Spring of 1989, but left Hawaii when university students in China began democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

Liu is credited with saving the lives of many of the students by persuading them to leave before Chinese army tanks rolled into the square on June 4, 1989.

Liu spent 20 months in jail for his role in the Tiananmen protests.

On Christmas Day last year, a Chinese court sentenced Liu, 54, to 11 years in prison for subversion because of Charter 08.

The manifesto, which also urges a peaceful end to one-party rule in China, is an echo of Charter 77, the famous call for human rights in then-Czechoslovakia that led to the 1989 Velvet Revolution that swept away the communist regime. "The democratization of Chinese politics can be put off no longer," it says….

Ames said Liu favored Western ideas over traditional Chinese philosophies. He recalled a heated argument between a (typical) UH faculty member and Liu during a lecture Liu gave comparing Daoism and Nietzscheism. (Fortunately the Gramscian filth which infests UH Manoa lost that argument.)

(Interestingly the SA article does not mention the fact that LAST YEAR’S Nobel Peace prize recipient ALSO had a Hawaii connection. But I guess everybody is trying to forget that embarrassment now that the Nobel committee has finally decided to recognize somebody worthy of the prize.)

FREE Liu XiaoBo: http://www.liuxiaobo.eu/

Abercrombie plans to ‘add positions’, make government more powerful, says DoE isn’t broken

Abercrombie tried to convince us that he isn’t at odds with the concerns of most business leaders, that when looked at in total our educational system isn’t broken and that he will focus on creating a more effective government – even if that means adding staff in certain areas.

Abercrombie insisted that people don’t think there is necessarily too much business regulation … but he’s hearing from people who are concerned that Hawaii’s state government is perceived as too ineffective.

Abercrombie wants No. 2 job to have more heft, in spite of being stuck with Schatz

Brian Schatz would be in charge of maximizing federal and private-sector dollars available to Hawaii. (In other words he would punish you if you get out of line and reward your loyalty if you serve The Abercrombie.)

KITV: Abercrombie Announces Economic Plan (The cornerstone of which is Brian Schatz getting his hands on your cash flow.)

Abercrombie: 10-07-2010 - Hawaii Fair Share Initiative

REALITY: Abercrombie: Brian Schatz would control which nonprofits get federal funds, Democrat team: Abercrombie, Schatz, and Larry Mehau

GOP's Charles Djou Fending Off Democrat Colleen Hanabusa

Chances of unseating Charles Djou: Hanabusa may make this one of the few Democratic pick-ups in the country, but that's far from certain. Partisan polling has shown close races for both candidates, indicating the race remains a toss-up. Hanabusa's sole saving grace may be the fact the district is rated +11 for Democrats by the Cook Partisan Index, but she can't bank on demographics this year.

Republicans Offer To Help Hanabusa Move

HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Republican Party on Thursday took a humorous approach in its offer to help Democratic congressional candidate Colleen Hanabusa to move into the district she is running for.

The Republican Party chairman, executive director and other staffers delivered moving boxes to Hanabusa's headquarters.

The stunt was orchestrated to remind voters Hanabusa does not live in Hawaii's 1st Congressional District. She has promised to move there if elected.

Two constitutional amendments on ballot

The first, HB2376, proposes to amend the Hawaii Constitution to change the Board of Education to a board appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, as provided by law. Currently, the Board of Education is an elected board.

The second, SB2807, proposes a constitutional amendment to authorize the Legislature to determine whether excess funds should be used as tax refunds or tax credits to taxpayers of the state, or be diverted into a rainy day fund for times of emergency, economic downturn, or unforeseen reduction in revenue.

Negative political ads a risky tactic

Coffman doesn't believe political culture in Hawaii forbids negative campaigning. It's how you do it.

"I think what we can infer as a generalization (from the flyer fallout) is that you have to tie negative ads to an issue, not the personality," he says. "The flyer defines the line you do not want to cross."

The compare-and-decide format is classic political advertising, Milner said, and many of the elements in the flyer "were precisely along the lines of the campaign: "I have experience running a city. I have solved problems. I have a vision for Hawaii.'

"It was the gratuitous stuff -- the wives comparison, the beard contest, the school for dummies -- that caused the problems."

8,000 pot heads in Hawaii, 4,665 on Big island

The majority of license-holders, 4,938 in all, were prescribed medical marijuana for claims of severe pain, he said. The drug is also being prescribed to patients complaining of headaches, pain from wearing high heels, dry skin, insomnia and other ailments, he said…."The Big Island is our overachiever," he said about the island's 4,665 registered patients….

Of those Big Island patients, 2,957 received their medical marijuana license from one doctor in Hawi, Kamita said.

Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union gave Million dollar bonuses to execs

The most egregious of the allegations stems from a June 2008 board of directors decision to give three managers large payments based not on merit, but on reaching a specified age. The deal involved payment of approximately $1 million to then-president Michael Asam, $750,000 to one senior vice president, Rodney Watanabe, and $650,000 to another senior vice president, Dean Uemura, according to the lawsuit….

The lawsuit alleges Inaba unearthed evidence of credit union managers charging bar tabs to the bank, managers using credit union funds as their "personal checkbooks," and their use of credit union money to fund travel to a Maui luxury resort for the bank's management and board of directors.

Inaba also discovered contracts totaling more than $200,000 involving apparent conflicts of interest for printing and mailing, and janitorial services.

Public disclosure of rail contract poses early test for incoming Mayor Carlisle’s administration as Hokulia crowd turns to attack

It appears Honolulu city officials are still trying to keep transit contracts under wraps, and the issue poses an immediate test of incoming mayor Peter Carlisle campaign commitment to transparency in his administration.

Honolulu attorney David Kimo Frankel (who, as Hawaii Co. Sierra Club boss, hired Jack Kelley to launch the attack on Hokulia) offered up this account of his attempts to examine the first large construction contract….

Also: NJ Governor rethinking planned $8.7 billion train tunnel…could it happen here?

Bedbugs in Hawaii (thank an environmentalist)

Cliff Nakamura, branch manager for Orkin Commercial Services in Hawaii, says they’ve discovered bedbugs on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, in dormitories, medical facilities, hotels, motels, apartments, condos and single-family homes. “It’s an increasing situation,” says Nakamura. “In 2009, our requests for bedbug inspections and treatment doubled that of 2008.” This year, the company expects another 100-percent increase in requests.

Bedbugs practically vanished from the United States in the 1950s through the use of DDT and other pesticides. (The chemical was banned in 1972 for its [non-existent] effects on the environment and [scare talk about] potential harm to humans.) The resurgence has been blamed on their resistance to many common pesticides, as well as increased international travel (in order to disguise the fat that environmentalists are 100% responsible).

Access the database at http://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/productsearch, or you can get tips about preventing bed bug infestations at http://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/.

Waianae School Bullying Complaint Filed With Feds

The Hogans said their daughter endured harassment by fellow students until she broke down and told them what was happening.

“She started to wake up crying in the middle of the night and then she confided they were threatening her. They said watch your back,” said Pamela Hogan.

“They were saying things like 'haole cockroaches can’t use these stairs.' They were physically threatening her, taunting her about her appearance, said Robert Hogan.

After flagging the problem at the school level and at the district level to the DOE hot line, the Hogans say they didn’t hear back, so they filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education.

HNN: Students reveal just how bad bullying can get

(Isn’t the DoE truly a glorious institution. We must elect Abercrombie so he can protect these fine people from the evil Audit.)

Shapiro: Vagrant rights trump safe sidewalk passage

A bill that passed the Public Infrastructure Committee and will go before the full council later this month would create an 8-foot-wide sidewalk use zone for pedestrians from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. — later in Waikiki.

It seems a reasonable measure modeled after a Portland law that has passed legal muster, but naturally it’s opposed by the local ACLU in its unending battle to enable squatters who claim the right to game the system and pitch their tents wherever they please on public property.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs: Writ or Wrong

…what ever happened to the much-ballyhooed OHA petition to force money out of the Hawaii legislature? I remember when they filed it with the Hawaii Supreme Court….

…it turns out that the State Supreme Court has ruled on OHA’s petition for a Writ of Mandamus, though in order to learn what happened, I had to read a small column in the lower right corner of page 7 of OHA’s monthly newspaper. No email blasts for this one, I guess.

As you may have surmised, the OHA petition was denied based on (in the article’s somewhat mendacious words) the court’s, “understanding of the technical requirements for a mandamus action.” Allow me to translate this into plain language: The court said no, based on the fact that the OHA petition was a bit of public grandstanding with no legal merit.

HMSA plays hardball in hospital negotiations

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - HMSA told its members Thursday that they could pay more for care at several Hawaii hospitals if a new contract agreement is not reached before the current expires next year.

"We are disappointed in HMSA's actions and view on the situation, which we only learned of through their public statements," said Chuck Sted, CEO of Hawaii Pacific Health, which operates the Straub, Kapiolani, Pali Momi and Wilcox hospitals.

Attempt to reject Kula Ridge affordable housing development fails

On Thursday, Nishiki recommended denial of architect Clayton Nishikawa's project featuring 70 affordable homes.

(Is Nishiki going after Dowling’s competitor?)

The rezoning of Laie land pits a desire for jobs against infrastructure worries

BYUH's Envision Laie Development would bring badly needed affordable housing that proponents say would help keep young North Shore residents home, while helping to attract potential new industries that could create jobs outside the university and its Polynesian Cultural Center.

Opponents say that Kamehameha Highway -- the only way into and out of the area -- is already congested and that there is not enough water and sewer capacity to handle any more development.

"In public meetings, people have been divided pretty close to 50-50," said David Tanoue, director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting. "Clearly we won't reach consensus, so we decided to push it out the door and vet it more openly and more publicly."

Some Chinese Leaders Say They'll Continue Fireworks Tradition Despite Ban

A $25 city permit allows consumers to set off up to 5,000 small firecrackers on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July and Chinese New Year’s Day.

Chinese community leaders say they appreciate that the new law made room for their important holiday.

But some leaders say they have a problem with the hours those fireworks will be allowed -- 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“It would be like nine hours too late. The temples are open from the eve to the next morning, and right at midnight, people like to do their worship and all that. So right at midnight, people would be setting off fireworks,” said Jeffrey Lam, of the Chinese Lion Dance Association.

Lam was among the Chinese community leaders who urged Caldwell to veto the fireworks ban.

“The bill will not work because it will infringe on our civil rights,” Lam said.

Locally Caught Ahi Limit Nears (thank an environmentalist)

HONOLULU -- Hawaii's bigeye tuna fishery is on course to hit its annual catch limit for waters west of the islands on Nov. 19, meaning the supply of locally caught ahi could drop sharply more than a month before demand peaks during the year-end holidays….Dalzell said fishing vessels could still catch ahi in the Eastern Pacific, which begins 150 miles east of the Big Island. Last year, 20 percent of Hawaii's ahi was caught in the Eastern Pacific and 80 percent in the Western Pacific, he said.

December is typically the peak of demand for sashimi for the holidays.

Where's pharma settlement money going?

The companies will pay out approximately $35 million directly to the state, which will go into the general budget. The federal government will receive the rest, minus $12 million that will be paid in attorney’s fees.

How Many Print Reporters are Left in Honolulu?

86 daily reporters in 2005

61 daily reporters in 2010

Kauai Council candidates weigh in on economy, safety, transparency

PRINCEVILLE — In less than four weeks, voters will decide who keeps their seat with the Kaua‘i County Council and what newcomers will come aboard.

On Tuesday night the 14 candidates fighting for the seven council seats shared their plans with North Shore residents during a three-hour-long forum at the Prince Golf Course clubhouse.

Teachers create a new generation of voters

This article exists solely to promote the political future of failed Democrat LG candidate Lyla “Islam day” Berg.

Another one: Students prepare to cast their vote in general election