Hirono’s Netroots Nation: Ed Case "Odious, Turd, BoyToy"
Abercrombie Two Days Late With Judicial Nomination
Emergency Proclamation: Abercrombie Suspends Procurement Code, Environmental Regs for Maui Hwy Project
Vandals Seen Destroying Papaya Trees in Puna
Lingle Highlights Commitment to Emergency Preparedness
DoH to Grab 50% More Bottle Deposit Money
Do Solar Panels Produce as Much Energy as Consumed in their Manufacture?
Some Solar Panels Produce More Greenhouse Gasses Than Coal
Communist Party Mourns UPW Co-Founder Avelino ‘Abba’ Ramos
Honolulu Rail Agenda Requires Sabotaging The Best Bus System In The United States
Boylan: Republicans Could Pick Up Two Senate Seats
MW: Thus the Republicans’ chances of improving their numbers appear slim. Maybe a Senate seat, most likely in the Kailua-Hawaii Kai 25th, where a three-way Democratic primary may help former Sen. Fred Hemmings recapture the seat he gave up just two years ago, less likely but possible in Windward Oahu’s 23rd District, where former Republican state Rep. Colleen Meyer is challenging Democratic incumbent Clayton Hee.
read … Two Senate Wins?
Veteran Democrat Leader Resigns over Thielen Flap
SA: Tony Gill, chairman of the Oahu Democrats, said the Thielen dispute has raised an important legal issue that should eventually be tested in court. State elections law requires candidates to take oaths swearing that they are members of the parties they seek to represent. While Thielen is a member of the Democratic Party, she is not considered a member in good standing eligible to run for office.
"She thinks she has a right to run as a Democrat simply because she is a member, even though there are additional rules that say she cannot yet," Gill said. "So the legal question ultimately is whether the state of Hawaii has the authority to tell the Democratic Party that it cannot have such additional internal qualifications."
Gill said Democrats will have to decide whether Thielen should be able to defy the party's rules. "The party has the option to say, ‘That's very interesting. Guess what? You are no longer a member,'" he said.
Bart Dame, a progressive activist, had predicted that Democrats would have lost had they gone to court to object to Thielen's candidacy. Democrats agreed at their state convention in May to modify the eligibility rules for candidates — establishing criteria to judge potential candidates who have been party members for less than six months, a change Dame believes was an acknowledgement that the old rules were flawed.
"The party had a weak case. Had it gone to a neutral body like a court, we probably would have lost," Dame said. "And so rather than pursue that route, they are going to still try to persecute her, but using a very un-neutral body, their own internal deliberations, their own process where they think they can win."
Many Democrats had privately urged party leaders not to challenge Thielen's candidacy in court, warning that the entire episode has undermined the majority party's big-tent image. While the legal option is closed, the prospect that the party might now expel Thielen has alienated some influential activists.
Chuck Freedman, a veteran strategist who was brought in to help shape the party's message before the elections, was so disappointed over the Thielen dispute that he resigned as communications director. He said he had never even had a conversation with Thielen, but believes primary voters should be able to decide who is a worthy Democrat.
read … Thielen
Hirono 49% – 44% Over Lingle
CB: “Hirono holds an early 49 percent to 44 percent lead over Lingle, with 6 percent undecided. Case, by comparison, holds an early 52-36 lead with 12 percent undecided. Because 1,105 likely primary election voters were surveyed, the margin of error is +/- 2.9 percent.” These results come from our survey of all likely primary voters, not just those who said they’ll vote in the Democratic primary. We expect that some of the folks who vote in the Republican primary in August will also vote in the general election in November.
TPM: Poll: Democratic Primary For Hawaii Senate Seat A Dead Heat
read … Hirono Slams Civil Beat
Cayetano Slips Below 50% Mark, May Face Runoff
CB: Two months before the Aug. 11 vote that could determine the city's next chief, the former Hawaii governor remains the front-runner in a new Civil Beat Poll of likely primary voters with 44 percent support versus 23 percent for former Acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell and 21 percent for incumbent Mayor Peter Carlisle.
The survey of 799 voters islandwide is a snapshot of voter opinion at the time the poll was taken, between June 5 and June 7.1 The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percent.
Cayetano's number is down from 53 percent when Civil Beat surveyed voters in late February. Caldwell picked up most of the difference to leapfrog over Carlisle, though the gap between those two is within the margin of error and thus a statistical tie. Both polls asked voters who they'd back if the election were held "today."
The primary election winner would need more than 50 percent to avoid a runoff election against the second-place finisher. If the 12 percent of voters who are undecided were to split in the same proportions as the voters who say they've made a choice, Cayetano would be right at the 50 percent threshold.
read … Settled Aug 11?
Future of rail, development hinge on mayoral election
Shapiro: It deals a blow to the state's priority goal of agricultural self-sufficiency and puts off reckoning with the fact that our island has a finite amount of land to build on, and an economy tied to endless cycles of new development simply isn't sustainable.
Cayetano's candidacy makes the 2012 election a clear referendum on rail and the future of Oahu development.
If he wins, it'll be an undeniable mandate to stop rail and slow development of farmlands. Current frenzied efforts to tie his hands in advance will likely fail.
If Cayetano loses, opponents of rail and the new developments will have to get used to the idea that a majority of Oahuans are either OK with the current direction or just don't care.
Homer Simpson: Ben vs. the (mono)rail
read … Rail, Hoopili
Hirono, Case Pledge to Raise Social Security taxes, Case Would Cut Benefits, Too
SA: Hirono and Case both oppose privatizing Social Security and would lift the $110,100 cap on earnings subject to the payroll tax that finances the program so higher-income workers would pay a greater share. Case, however, said he would also gradually raise the retirement age for younger workers. Seniors can now get early retirement benefits at 62 and full benefits at 65 or 67, depending on when they were born.
MN: Debate focus on elder issues
CB: Hawaii U.S. Senate Race: The Maui Debate
read … Tax Pledge
What’s Good for Solar Scammers is Good for Hawaii?
Lets just skip to the comments: Hawaii_INTP wrote: “What’s wrong with picture? For starters google Jay Fidell’s ThinkTech video “Larry Gilbert on new investments at Kairos Energy Capital” where at 00:56 we learn Hawaii tax credits are being exported to “mostly mainland investors: big banks, insurance companies, large corporations. They are looking for tax benefits.” Add to that net energy metering (NEM) being one of HECO’s *most expensive* sources of electricity generation because non-PV ratepayers are subsidizing PV owners. So rather than exporting Hawaii dollars out-of-state to foreign oil producers, Hawaii dollars are being exported out-of-state to mainland equity tax financers making eye-popping lucrative returns. Add to that provision 19 of the HCEI Agreement that calls for the transition from NEM to time-of-day rates where PV owners will see their electricity bills skyrocket, there is a bait-and-switch. What’s wrong with this picture? Hawaii is being *scammed* by tax equity investors, project equity developers and solar installers who are making out like bandits.”
read … Gimme the Money
Ono Good! Decision expected soon on sea turtle petition
SA: We expect it any day," Pat Opay, endangered species branch chief for the Pacific Islands Regional Office of the fisheries service, said Tuesday. "The 90-day time frame is a guideline, but we do shoot for that. It will come out in the Federal Register."
Hawaii's green sea turtles have been listed as a threatened species since 1978. But Hawaiian civic clubs contend that the population has rebounded and the state should come up with a management plan that would include the harvest of turtles for food, in keeping with Hawaiian tradition.
If the petition is accepted, the federal agencies would begin a scientific review of the species and solicit public input before making any final decision on changing its status
read … Delicious Turtles
With Video Safely Tucked Away, Prosecutor Claims Deedy Started Fight
CB: Elderts was sitting at a table inside the McDonald’s when Deedy "calmly and professionally" showed the 23-year-old his "federal badge and credentials." Hart doesn't say why Deedy felt the need to pull out his badge.
After Deedy identified himself as a federal law enforcement officer, Elderts stood up while reaching into his waistband and "angrily" advanced toward Deedy, who then took several steps backward.
Elderts went past two witnesses, including Jessica West, the girlfriend of Deedy’s college roommate Adam Gutowski, who was also at the restaurant. As Elderts "menacingly aggressed toward" Deedy he entered the agent’s "personal space."
It’s at this point, Hart argues, that Elderts broke federal law by "assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer."
Deedy then "deployed a defensive frontal kick to Elderts’ shin area."
read … Lynch Mob
Man files lawsuit accusing dead Kailua priests of sexual abuse in 1973
SA: Another lawsuit against the Diocese of Honolulu has been filed under a new Hawaii law providing a two-year window for claims of sexual abuse against minors to be made, even if the statute of limitations has lapsed.
Attorneys for an unnamed Los Angeles man filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming he was sexually abused by two priests while a boy growing up in Hawaii. The suit claims that as a child, he was sodomized in 1973 by Rev. Joseph Henry at St. Anthony's in Kailua. The suit says the boy reported the abuse to several years later to Rev. Joseph Ferrario, who also sexually abused him.
In 1982, Ferrario was installed as Bishop of Honolulu. Both priests have since died.
Meanwhile the State is exempt: Hawaii Blind-Deaf School Homosexual Rape Gang Case
read … No defense possible?
Man arrested in threat against mayor of Maui
SA: A man allegedly carrying a knife and threatening to kill the Maui mayor came as close as his reception area Tuesday morning, leaving only after being told the mayor was not in the office.
The Wailuku man, 25, was later arrested by Maui police.
Mayor Alan Arakawa said he has no plans to change his open-door policy.
"I feel this is an isolated incident. … These doors will remain open," he said. "People need to feel free to come in, make an appointment and talk to their government officials."
Arakawa said the doors on his ninth-floor office will remain unlocked, as they have been since the start of his administration last year.
Arakawa said he was thankful to police for their quick response and to a female witness who promptly reported the threat.
read … Assassin?
Humane Society Takes Aim at Aquarium Collectors, Deploys Ward Rent-a-Poll
Most Hawaii residents support ending the commercial collection of reef wildlife for aquariums, according to a new poll commissioned by the Humane Society of the United States, which released the findings today.
Of 669 residents surveyed, 66 percent responded in favor of ending the trade in reef wildlife, the group said. Sixty-nine percent of residents of Hawaii island, where most of the collection occurs, support ending the practice, the poll found.
The statewide poll was conducted by Ward Research of Honolulu (always reliable when a predetermined result is needed.)
read … Howling Mobs of Hype-Fueled Ecomaniacs
Anti-Military Activists Deploy Debunked Sonar Claims Again
HTH: Underwater sonar use and detonations, and their potential harm to marine mammals top the list of concerns Hawaii and California residents have about a Navy training plan for the Pacific Ocean between the two states.
The Navy recently released a draft environmental impact statement and overseas environmental impact statement for the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing Study Area, which consists of the sea- and airspace within several ranges between the International Dateline and Southern California.
Hawaii Island residents may offer their input on the plan during a meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday at the East Hawaii Cultural Center in Hilo.
Almost 20 percent of the 228 comments submitted during early scoping meetings addressed sonar and underwater detonations. About another 19 percent addressed marine mammals, the document said.
read … Beached Humans