Convicted Felon Keanu Sai is the source
Dear Editor,
This article inaccurately states that Pres. McKinley signed a "Treaty of Annexation". Please present a copy of such "Annexation Treaty", To my knowledge, it doesn't exist. Unless you can demonstrate that it exists, I would respectfully request, on behalf of all U.S. citizens, that you print a correction, to this article. Further in the article you cite that McKinley signed a Congressional "resolution" to annex Hawaii. As Congressional resolutions are not treaties and such resolutions have no bearing beyond the borders of the United States, this too is not a treaty of Annexation. Furthermore and for edification purposes, I am not a member of any sovereignty group. Please review the soon to be published by UH Press, dissertation of Phd Dr. Keanu Sai, professor at UH and MCC, which is online, in support of this, my above statement
Best regards
Brother Christopher Fishkin
Wailuku, Maui
Editor’s Response: The article should read “President McKinley signed the resolution ratifying the Treaty of Annexation”
Here is the TREATY and the Resolution approving Annexation based on the treaty LINK and here is a news account of the vote in the US Senate.
“Whereas the Government of the Republic of Hawaii having, in due form, signified its consent, in the manner provided by its constitution, to cede absolutely and without reserve to the United States of America all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind in and over the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies, and also to cede and transfer to the United States the absolute fee and ownership of all public, Government, or Crown lands, public buildings or edifices, ports, harbors, military equipment, and all other public property of every kind and description belonging to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands, together with every right and appurtenance thereunto appertaining: Therefore, Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That said cession is accepted, ratified, and confirmed….”
Yes. Hawaii really is part of the USA—and yes you do have to pay your house note.
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Save Kalaeloa from KREP July 19
Dear Editor,
Ford Island Ventures (FIV), Hunt Corp-Navy Region Hawaii- have released their Ewa Field Memorial Plan... called "Kalaeloa Renewable Energy Park" - or KREP! (Hunt Corp is FIV).
They DON'T want to mention that this is actually about destroying the Ewa Field battlefield, so they use the "Kalaeloa Renewable Energy Park" concept because that sure SOUNDS a lot better! GREEN-WASHING at its best...
Just when you think it can't get much worse- the Navy and Hunt Corp want to cover the CENTER of the December 7, 1941 Ewa Battlefield, with Peoples Republic of China solar panels! Another great way to send US $$$ to China!
And, what a fitting Dec. 7 MEMORIAL PARK to US Marines killed in action on December 7- it will have a high security fence all around it with 46 KV power lines overhead! BEAUTIFUL! And so thoughtful of them- PROFIT comes
FIRST!
Hu Jintao, Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China will be pleased...
Keep in mind- the US Tax-Payers PAID FOR THIS LAND originally, and US Marines PAID WITH THEIR BLOOD to protect it- and now Hunt Corp believes-after being handed this property by the Navy for NEXT TO NOTHING in 2008 (an
insider "sweet-heart deal"), ...that they should make an endless PROFIT from it and send some of it to China too!
You can certainly tell that the Navy and Hunt Corp want to "do the right thing" and HONOR the US Marines KIA December 7! Making a profit from an American Battlefield is their way of "giving back" (to certain politicians!)
Every other Pearl Harbor battle site- Ford Island, Hickam, Kaneohe, Wheeler have been made National Landmarks and preserved for future generations. But Hunt Corp and the Navy believe Ewa Field and the Ewa Community doesn't rate
a National American Battlefield and deserve instead ---just another industrial park!
In 2009 the Hawaii legislature voted for a preserved Ewa Field park and memorial- but in 2011 you don't hear any of them sticking up for Ewa Field because Hunt Corp has been sending out a lot of checks to buy their silence.
The continuous disgusting greed and dishonor of Ewa Field and the Marines KIA there is just amazing...
If any of this bothers you and you can tear yourself away from your TV for awhile- please consider sending in a comment- OR- attend the July 19th PUBLIC HEARING at the DHHL Hawaii Pono'i Bldg.
That's Tuesday July 19, 2011, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. 91-5420 Kapolei Parkway, Kapolei, Hawaii.
For any more info on this meeting send an email to: cnrh.pao@navy.mil OR call them at: Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs Office, (808) 473-0664
John Bond
Save Ewa Field
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Dearest DOE: Not Just Any Substitute Teacher
Dear Editor,
Recently, I watched Oprah’s Master Class on OWN. What I learned from the program is that Oprah was an unwanted child. She lived with her grandmother until she was six years old, after which, she was returned to her mother who worked for a white woman as a maid. At this point in the story, Oprah begins to cry, saying that the white woman would not allow her to sleep inside her house. For years, Oprah says that she slept on the front porch of this white woman’s house. Rejected in this way, Oprah was raped at age nine and pregnant by age fourteen.
My theory is that this treatment, this rejection was the impetus for Oprah’s increased motivation in third grade, where she finally received some love, attention and recognition for her work. Beginning in third grade, Oprah became an all A student, laying the foundation for all of her future successes. She says that she does what she does for all those individuals who come into the world unwanted. Wow!
Those of us who have achieved some form of success in our lives can look back to an individual who gave us the gift that was given to Oprah in third grade: not knowledge and instruction, but love, acceptance, recognition and approval. I have a daughter who is very successful. She is working on her master’s degree in nursing. “Soon,” she tells me, “I will have my own clinic.” Wow! I remember one of her teachers from Pahoa Elementary School: “Look at your daughters art work,” her teacher once said to me, “She is an exceptional artist and a very bright student.” This teacher saw to it that my daughter’s art work was posted in the Mayor’s office in Hilo. This teacher had a capacity for love. Is success in life commensurate with the amount of love, respect and approval we receive as children? I believe that it is.
I once met a very kind man with a great capacity for love. This meeting became the changing point in my life. I read and studied everything he gave me on health and disease prevention, finding a new sense of purpose in my life. I believe that the power of love is life changing. The reason that I feel I deserve to teach is that I know I am one of those people; someone with a capacity for love, understanding, forgiveness and compassion. I thought about all of the people in our society who have never had the privilege of meeting inspired loved filled people during their childhoods. We see them in the street. We see them in prison and we see them in the hospitals. But those who have never developed a capacity for love are also in our schools and in our homes. A great philosopher once said, “Slow and steady wins the race.” I believe that developing a capacity for love involves slowing down and making choices that fill our lives with meaning and purpose. My hope is that this coming school year, we as teachers begin to infuse education with this precious gift-- to all those who would receive it, students and co-workers alike. Education is not just a means to an end; it’s an opportunity for love, acceptance, recognition and approval for a job well done. Without love, we may still get the funds, but we will not make the grade. Everything we do, we do to ourselves. We really do reap what we sow.
I love teaching, and feel that I am a great teacher because I have a high degree of intelligence, good content knowledge, and tremendous compassion, love and understanding. I hope that you will support me in my desire to teach this coming school year. I want you to know that I am not just any substitute teacher.
Dianne Hensley
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Biofuels could Lead to Economic Self-Sufficiency for Hawaii if Government would Get Out Of The Way
To The Editor
Hawai’i is an excellent microcosm of the planet. We have almost every climate from permafrost to rain forest to desert. We also have enough cultural diversity for an entire continent; including every possible kind of NIMBY. As a result Hawai’i is an excellent laboratory to study many of the planets problems and opportunities. Independence for food and energy are commonly heard causes in Hawai’i. There is a potential to make significant progress on multiple issues, reduce pollution, increase energy independence, increase food independence and create jobs. To do this everyone must lead, follow or get out of the way.
Hawai’i used to have an industrial size agriculture economy. Today we have crocodile tears about the lack of agriculture, but an anti-agriculture tax and permit structure. Gasoline that contains ethanol gets a tax break, but the ethanol, which is not even very a good fuel, comes from Iowa-- or Brazil. How about a big tax break for fuel produced in Hawai’i? How about a tax break for agricultural fuel? Why should a farm tractor pay highway tax?
Biofuel can be a big asset to Hawai’i’s economic future. As recently as 1980 Hawai’i produced a million tons of sugar a year. A million tons of sugar could be turned into at least a half a million tons of quality fuel, over 200 million gallons. Nearly half our total need. Coupled with our other abundant natural energy sources Hawai’i could be an energy empire, a net exporter! Too much of good thing…is wonderful. Surplus low cost energy will make other enterprises like farming, competitive again.
Producing that fuel would create good jobs, not the hoe and machete stoop labor of the old sugar industry. Sugar cultivation today uses trucks, tractors and combines, machinery that needs engineers, operators and mechanics. Combines don’t need the fields burned before harvest. Most sugar was not irrigated and modern mills recycle their water. The land in question need not be taken out of food production, because it’s only being used for weed production. Putting the land under cultivation again makes it available for food production also. Rotating food crops with fuel crops would be good farming practice to help maintain soil. Restoring a major crop industry will revitalize other agriculture here as the infrastructure to support a major crop provides goods and services to support other farmers. Jobs for tradesmen, shopkeepers and everyone else will inevitably result.
Sugar was abandoned for the wrong reasons. Growers, with visions of sugar plum subdivisions dancing in their heads, complained about high labor cost in America. Instead of modernizing they used the high cost of labor intensive methods as an excuse to abandon sugar. Yet Maui, Florida, Louisiana and Texas continue to produce cane sugar.
Sugar can be converted to diesel (jet) fuel, or butanol that can replace gasoline or diesel. It can even be converted with a little more effort to gasoline. Sugar and its cousin sweet sorghum are among the most efficient plants at converting sunshine to biomass. There are other crops that can yield substantial amounts of bio-diesel per acre. Biofuels are a plug-in solution. They can be used in existing engines via existing infrastructure with little or no modification. They work best if blended with petroleum, but that is a simple procedure.
America’s military is already committed to biofuel independence. They recognize the critical strategic importance of not being dependent on oil from unfriendly regimes. Half the battles in WWII were over control of the oil supply to fuel the war machines.
Naturally plant growth absorbs carbon dioxide a greenhouse villain. Bio-refineries can be as clean as a bakery and some of the byproducts are excellent fertilizer. Some biofuel processes capture and sequester carbon. Refineries create quality jobs for technicians, managers, office workers and scientists.
Hawai’i has made some progress from having America’s worst business climate; but we’re only up to number 47.
Government in Hawai’i makes it unnecessarily difficult to start any enterprise.
The governor, mayors, legislators and councils need to lead: take a hard look at the permit hurdles they have created and eliminate every permit requirement they cannot critically justify, and simplify the process for all the others. For example the county adopted the “International Building Code” that imposes insulation requirements that make absolutely no sense for most structures in Hawai’i, structures which have no heating or air conditioning. How many obsolete or unnecessary rules did you eliminate this year?
Officials need to follow up. When someone applies for a permit, do everything reasonable to get that permit approved, or even exempted. Act without delay. Don’t pass people off with non-answers like (based on personal experience) “You can get a permit application on line”, or “Just submit an application and see if it’s approved.” Be the go-to-gal that makes things happen, not the gatekeeper that slows things down. Be the answer man that knows what needs to be done and how to make it happen. Ask yourself why we require this or that permit, can it be eliminated? Then work to simplify. Publish the rules, explicitly. It should not be necessary to fill out an application and wait just to find out what the rule is.
We need a one stop permit center where a person or company can get enthusiastic help to obtain all permits instead of having to search and research and risk being fined or shut down if they miss one. Hopefully get them all in one day like New Zealand. Eliminate the requirements to get permits from multiple departments for virtually the same thing. At least we only have two local levels there are no municipalities to add another level of permitting for the same thing.
Hawai’i can become economically self sufficient on a biofuel based economy if the government will aggressively get out of the way. Why wait for the world economy to improve and rescue us when we can start the revolution here?
Ken Obenski
Kaohe, Hawaii
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Hawaii County Resolution 60-11 Development Moratorium
Dear Editor,
I am writing in regards to Resolution 60-11 that is before the Hawaii County Council, which temporarily delays Council action on general plan amendments and rezoning applications in the district of Kau.
This resolution will hinder the Kahuku Village project because they need to seek a general plan amendment as they continue through the process to develop their property. This is a costly and time consuming process that will negatively impact the project if they are forced to wait until Resolution 60-11 expires.
The community and developer should be allowed to continue the process to decide the outcome of this project. Another concern that I have is that Resolution 60-11 will hurt businesses and individuals in Kau that are seeking rezoning applications. In the past six months Kau has had two rezoning requests, bills 4 and 5, pass unanimously with Councilwoman Smart's support.
These two applications would have had to wait a year or more if this resolution had already been in place. Resolution 60-11 also contradicts the County's advocacy of the State of Hawaii Land Use Commission to stop granting special permits that undermine the County's rezoning application process on property designated agriculture.
This is not about undermining the CDP process. The CDP will complement the current process, not replace it. I encourage the Hawaii County Council to vote against Resolution 60-11.
Lee McIntosh
Naalehu, Hawaii