December 25, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

December 25, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:04 PM :: 10661 Views

In Hoc Anno Domini: So the light came into the world

How Christmas Came to Hawaii

VIDEO: Rep George Fontaine plays Santa at Kihei Youth Center

NYT: Abercrombie doubles down on Birther battle

Federal Cash Giveaway: Wind Energy Developers get one-year extension

Akaka Bill backers vow to plod on as foes cheer

(The words “Dan Inouye” do not occur anywhere in this article.)

Robin Danner, president and chief executive officer of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, said, "I'm hopeful and determined to keep working at it."

U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, who has watched the bill that bears his name sputter for a decade, delivered a speech from the Senate floor Wednesday, reaffirming his commitment to the measure.

Namuo said there is frustration in the native Hawaiian community, but the bill would provide "the legal shield we would need to defend against attacks on native Hawaiian programs." (Or corrupt trustees.)

Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, a professor at the University of Hawaii's Center for Hawaiian Studies, said, "I'm sure Hawaiians will achieve federal recognition in the near future."

She said she was buoyed by President Barack Obama's signing off Dec. 16 on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples….

REALITY: How Inouye sabotaged Akaka Bill

Priorities: Abercrombie steps up Birther war (This is what he got elected to do, right?)

SA: The state Department of Health says it has received 27 requests for information about Obama's birth certificate this month, compared with 16 in November. There were 16 requests alone in the first half of this week, although most came from a single person.

Despite the spike in requests, questions about Obama's birth certificate have largely been subsiding.

In May, then-Gov. Linda Lingle signed a law to allow the state to ignore repetitive requests from the same person. Earlier this year the state was receiving about 50 requests a month, but that started to decline before Lingle signed the law, state officials said.

Three weeks into his term, newly elected Gov. Neil Abercrombie told The New York Times that with regard to the birthers, he is "going to take care of that."

He said he is talking with the state attorney general's office and the director of the Health Department to see how he can release more information about the president's birth. The confidentiality of birth records is protected by state law.

"It's an insult to his mother and to his father, and I knew his mother and father; they were my friends, and I have an emotional interest in that," Abercrombie told the Times. "It's an emotional insult. It is disrespectful to the president; it is disrespectful to the office."

Abercombie was quoted by the Chicago Tribune as saying, "What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons," he said. "Maybe I'm the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, 'I was here when that baby was born.'"

HNN: Abercrombie offended by Obama citizenship questions

NYT: Abercrombie doubles down on Birther battle

A New Day In Hawaii: For Abercrombie, discrediting 'birthers' is a top priority

Maui businessman and Hawaii Democrat Donor accused of Ponzi scheme charged

Lloyd Kimura’s brother is Hawaii Co Prosecutor Jay Kimura. One of his investors is RNI-NV. RNI stands for Robert N Iwamoto trust. Robert’s Hawaii owner Iwamoto is father of Hawaii BoE member Mr. Kim Coco Iwamoto.

DETAILS: Hawaii No Paradise Escape for Bankrupt Businessman, Lawsuits, foreclosures, other issues trail isle CPA

The dopers do a rundown here: 23 Million Dollars Stolen On Maui

Presidential Gate-Crasher arrested at Sovereignty Activists’ camp

Police officers began pursuing Rodrigues and, when he turned onto Kailuana Place — where the president’s rented vacation home is situated — they switched on their blue lights.

Rodrigues drove out of the presidential checkpoint, and led police on a chase toward Halawa on the H-3 Freeway, police said. He turned around and headed back toward the Windward side.

He was stopped and arrested in Waimanalo at Puuhonua o Waimanalo, the village founded by Hawaiian activist Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele’s Nation of Hawaii. (Just ignore this.)

Abercrombie: Obama seeks embrace of thought control

tight circle of intimates like Eric Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt from Chicago, who are with him here….

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who knew Mr. Obama’s parents when they were students in Honolulu, says that what the president finds here is not so much privacy but “acceptability” — the protective cocoon that comes with being in (a one-party state) the warm embrace of a familiar place, where people regard him as “ohana,” Hawaiian for “extended family.”

“He’s not living in isolation; he’s living in the middle of the Kailua neighborhood,” the governor said. “So what I mean by acceptability, rather than privacy, is that everybody accepts that concept of ohana and family, (unlike those dirty Birthers who think Obama is the Devil and the American capitalists who are constantly competing with one another) and that it extends to him, most especially to him (since he is capo di tutti capi). We consider him a keiki o ka aina, a child of the land.” (Is this a prayer in the Abercrombie religion?)

COUNTERPOINT: Man charged for incident at Obama checkpoint

Obama arrives in Kailua, Abercrombie flees to Hana

Abercrombie, who became governor on Dec. 6, will begin his vacation with his wife Nancie Caraway on Saturday in the small town of Hana on the island's eastern end.

Spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz says Abercrombie will remain there until Jan. 3.

She says there are no current plans for the governor to meet President Barack Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Kailua. Abercrombie (likes to trumpet himself as) an old friend of Obama's (but they never seem to meet and rumor has it that Obama can’t stand him).

If only Mufi were Governor…. Hanauma Dec 29: Did Mufi threaten retaliation against Obama?

Abercrombie promises not to raid TAT

WAILUKU - Gov. Neil Abercrombie told Hawaii's mayors Thursday that he would not try to balance the state's budget by raiding the counties' share of the transient accommodations tax, also known as the hotel room tax.

Abercrombie's pledge came during his first official meeting with the mayors, including Maui County Mayor-elect Alan Arakawa and outgoing Mayor Charmaine Tavares.

"He won't be attacking our TAT because he believes it's part of the funding the counties count on for our budgets," Arakawa said. "He was very clear about that."

Arakawa added that the governor could not speak for the state Legislature, which annually considers grabbing some of the counties' share of room tax money to supplement state coffers. The funding will be a tempting target for lawmakers as they grapple with a projected state budget shortfall of $800 million over two years.

This fiscal year, Maui County has budgeted to receive about $18 million in hotel room tax revenue….

Hawaii County spends $4.89M on Councilwoman’s former employer

Hawaii County taxpayers have paid more than $8 million over the past five years to a private company to process 212,000 tons of greenwaste into mulch at two county sites.

Of that, about $4.89 million went toward paying Big Island EKO Systems Inc. to turn about 129,000 tons of greenwaste into mulch for free use by residential and commercial customers at the Kealakehe Transfer Station, Department of Environmental Management Director Frank DeMarco said.

The company came under increased scrutiny during the recent County Council elections, when EKO Systems Office Manager Brittany Smart won the District 6 seat formerly held by Guy Enriques. Smart resigned her position with the company and is now chairwoman of the council's Environmental Management Committee.

Voluntary effort reduces plastic bag use by 700K in six weeks

Foodland Super Market, Hawaii's largest supermarket chain, said its customers avoided using 702,375 plastic bags during a challenge that ran from Oct. 20 to Nov. 30.

The company offered discounts and prizes to customers who shopped with reusable bags during the period at any of its 32 Foodland, Sack N Save and Foodland Farms stores.

More sewage in water near Obama vacation home

The heavy rains that hit Windward Oahu Friday night were to blame for a sewer overflow near the Kaneohe Pre-Treatment Plant.

A sewer manhole near the plant overflowed and discharged into Kaneohe Stream.

The Department of Health estimated the discharged is over 1,000 gallons.

Waimanalo Gulch Landfill runoff reaches sea, spurring probe but no alerts

A state Health Department solid waste inspector ~~discovered~~ (confirmed) the water runoff on Thursday, she said. (Dec 23)

The inspector notified state Clean Water Branch officials, who are conducting an investigation.

City spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy said landfill operator Waste Management of Hawaii followed protocol and notified the state Solid Waste Branch on Monday of the discharge. (Dec 20)

She said state Clean Water Branch inspectors visited the landfill Tuesday. (Dec 21)

"The Health Department did not raise any issues or concerns at that time," she said….

Okubo said the landfill will test water samples. (How generous of them.)

Okubo said warning signs were not posted because state health officials were not sure about the concentration of potential pollutants and felt the discharge had dissipated in the ocean.

Okubo said officials did not know how much potentially contaminated water entered the ocean. (And it seems that they don’t want to know.)

KITV: State: Landfill Dumped Contaminated Water Into Ocean The state said it learned Thursday that a "large quantity of storm water potentially contaminated with landfill waste" was released into the ocean between Ko Olina and the Kahe Power Plant from Sunday through Thursday (Dec 19 thru 23).

Vanuatu Quake could cause sea level changes in Hawaii

The Christmas quake rattled the southwest Pacific island at about 3:17 a.m. about 140 miles south of Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was about 15 miles below the ocean floor.

At 3:28 a.m., the warning center notified Hawaii Civil Defense that the tsunami threat was to the Vanuatu region only.

But the center, based in Ewa Beach, said some coastal areas in Hawaii could “experience small nondestructive sea level changes and strong and unusual currents lasting up to several hours,” starting at 10:51 a.m.