Hawaiian Culture: "All politics was religious and all religions were political"
Helping to Drain the State Treasury With Tax Credits
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VIDEO: A Better Day with Senator Slom and Special Guest Linda Smith
Star-Adv: Ed Case was Right, We Support Hirono against Hanabusa
Star-Adv Editorial: …whether or not Abercrombie ultimately goes with Inouye’s pick and appoints U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, he could name the successor early and get her sworn in ahead of the other freshman senators coming to Capitol Hill. The apparent message here: Every little bit of seniority counts.
In the final analysis, though, such a maneuver reeks of gimmickry and probably wouldn’t make enough difference to be worthwhile, anyway. There simply is no getting away from the fact raised six years ago by former Congressman Ed Case who left his House seat to challenge U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka. Hawaii stood then on the brink of losing its seniority edge, Case said, and the only preventive solution would be to start early to rebuild it.
Whether or not one found Case’s challenge of Akaka unseemly, the point is we have arrived at the juncture he predicted…
If Hawaii ends up with a vacancy in the U.S. House that needs filling through a special election, how will that play out? Will Republicans put up Charles Djou again, and hope for a replay of 2009, when he slipped past two Democratic contenders for a U.S. House seat to win a special election for the same U.S. House seat? Can the Democrats manage to put forward only one champion of their own, so the vote doesn’t get split again?
Or will Abercrombie try to avoid that whole scenario and appoint someone other than Hanabusa?
The current realignment of political leadership is exceedingly important to the interests of everyone in the state, including myriad programs that now no longer can expect such a clear path to funding.
Policymakers will have to make budgetary plans with that reality clearly in mind..
No Surprise: Inouye Operative Richard Borreca Endorses Hanabusa
Related: Hirono Fights to Block Early Hanabusa Appointment
IC: Senate Vacancies, And Why Governors Must Pick Temporary Appointees Chosen By Political Parties
read … Forget Hanabusa
Harry Reid to Abercrombie: Ignore Hirono, Make Quick Appointment
Top of Form
POLITICO: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday urged Hawaii's governor to appoint a successor to the late Sen. Daniel Inouye before the New Year so the state is "fully represented" for a possible vote to avert the fiscal cliff.
Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie plans to appoint a replacement before Jan. 3, when the new Congress is sworn in. But the urgency of Reid's request, before Inouye is even laid to rest, suggests he'll need every vote he can muster for a post-Christmas effort to stave off the massive tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit next month.
Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and the Senate's most senior member, died Monday of respiratory complications at the age of 88.
"With the passing of my dear friend Senator Daniel Inouye, I have asked the governor of Hawaii to appoint Senator Inouye's successor with due haste," Reid said in a statement Saturday evening. "It is critically important to ensure that the people of Hawaii are fully represented in the pivotal decisions the Senate will be making before the end of the year."
Hawaii Democratic Party leaders have decided to meet sooner to pick the names of three finalists to submit to the governor, Chairman Dante Carpenter told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Rather than 5 p.m. Friday, party officials will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the day after Christmas.
Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Inouye's preferred successor, remains the front runner. If she is appointed and sworn in before Jan. 3, she will become the senior senator from Hawaii and make history as the Aloha State's first female senator and the upper chamber's first Asian American woman and Buddhist.
Otherwise, fellow Democratic Rep. Mazie Hirono, who won election last month to replace retiring Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka, would have that distinction, something POLITICO explored in a story earlier this week.
SA: "It's unfortunate. It's very unfortunate that we got to this point. But here we are."
SA: Hanabusa flying back to DC Tuesday night to be sworn in as Senator
Related: Hirono Fights to Block Early Hanabusa Appointment
WT: As Obama vacations in Hawaii, wounded Boehner fires back
read … Mazie Who?
ILind: Forget Hanabusa, Abercrombie Would Rather Appoint a Liberal
ILind: Neil was never among the cadre of Inouye acolytes. Neil built his own power base, and initially won election to Congress despite, or perhaps because, he was at odds with the senior senator. Over the years, as Neil continued to establish his own base, the two seem to have come to some accommodation, yielding to a sometimes testy coexistence.
So when a letter from Inouye calling for Colleen Hanabusa’s appointment was delivered by two longtime members of the senator’s inner circle of power brokers, it must have been an interesting moment.
According to the Star-Advertiser:
The letter was hand-delivered to Abercrombie by Walter Dods, former First Hawaiian Bank chairman and chief executive, and Jeffrey Watanabe, a retired attorney and chairman of Hawaiian Electric Industries, two of Inouye’s closest confidants, who are among the state’s most politically powerful business leaders.
I wonder if they came to deal and not simply deliver the message.
After all, some have been talking up the possibility of Hanabusa returning home in 2014 to challenge Abercrombie in his bid for reelection. That doesn’t sound like it would leave him feeling warm & fuzzy towards Hanabusa, unless perhaps the emissaries from the Inouye faction of the party offered up something significant in return. What would that be? A free ride in 2014 perhaps? I’m just speculating, of course, but it would have to be something worthwhile.
I’m sure Neil would prefer appointing someone who would strengthen his more liberal wing of the party, and enhance (or at least not undermine) his own place in the constellation of local power. Having someone he trusts in the Senate would be a big help to his personal political interests and those of those his backers.
ILind: Inouye was a warmonger
read … Ian Lind
Star-Adv: “Smaller than expected” Crowd at Inouye Memorial
Star-Adv: A smaller than expected (these three words were quickly edited out) crowd of several hundred Hawaii residents joined dignitaries at the state Capitol to pay respects to U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye this afternoon….The service was expected to crowd downtown Honolulu one day before final services for Inouye are held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific….
· SA: Security concerns prompt attendance cap
· KITV: 800 Tickets Run out for Punchbowl
· HNN: Hundreds bid aloha to Sen. Inouye at Punchbowl memorial service
read … We just wanted his money, now we don’t care
Obama Golfing in Hawaii With Pal Arrested in Prostitution Sting
ABC News: Obama is spending the first day of his holiday vacation golfing with friends and aides, including longtime pal Bobby Titcomb, who was arrested last year on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute….
Obama is golfing with close aide Marvin Nicholson, White House chef Sam Kass, and childhood friends Mike Ramos and Titcomb, whom the president has known since they attended Honolulu’s Punahou School together in the 1970s.
Titcomb was arrested in April 2011 in an undercover prostitution sting operation. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge and the conviction was reportedly later expunged from his record…. (Special treatment)
PTV: Report: Obama’s vacation likely to top $4 million
read … ‘Hook’ shot
Occupy Lawsuit Seeks Boost to Homelessness Industry
DN: Occupy asks federal court to enforce agreement and to impose sanctions for city conduct during Thursday raid….
Today a status conference was held on the lawsuit filed by (de)Occupy Honolulu on their “Motion for Sanctions, Enforcement of Agreement, and/or Temporary Restraining Order” resulting from allegations that the city violated its court-ordered agreement during the December 20, 2012 raid on the encampment.
An evidentiary hearing on the motion will be held on January 10, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. in federal court.
(The purpose is to eliminate the City’s one effective weapon against the homelessness industry.)
· DN: More of the same
· Reality: Defeating the "homelessness industry" before it gets a grip on Hawaii
· More Reality: Kapiolani Park: Homelessness industry takes Hawaii tourism hostage
· And Even More: Homeless tent cities: Seattle’s decade-long nightmare coming to Honolulu?
read … Keep ‘em on the streets
UPW’s For Profit Prison to Boost Hilo’s Economy?
HTH: The proposed reopening of East Hawaii’s Kulani prison will return more than $4.7 million to the local economy, according to state Public Safety Interim Director Ted Sakai.
(Concerned about for profit prisons? This is the UPW’s for-profit prison.)
That amounts to 90 new jobs, he said, while also helping to foster lower recidivism rates….
Sakai told attendees that, should the Legislature approve the plan to relaunch the prison, the Public Safety Department would be ready to move quickly. Gov. Neil Abercrombie has made a priority of returning Hawaii’s inmates to the state. In August, he released $250,000 to plan the Kulani reopening.
As for when that might happen, Sakai said much hinges on finding a new location for the ChalleNGe Academy.
“We want to make sure their needs are taken care of,” he said. “They have said they are more interested in relocating closer to Hilo, and the Department of Defense is working on that.
During a question and answer period after his presentation, Sakai said that currently the ChalleNGe program is eyeing the Keaukaha Military Reservation near the Hilo airport.
Sakai explained that the Kulani facility acted as an important link in the state prison system’s “decompression system” of graduated release for inmates.
(Translation: They are going to dump all the ex-cons in Hilo.)
read … Kulani reopening could provide economic boost
North Korea EMP attack could destroy U.S. — now
WT: Philip Yun, director of San Francisco’s Ploughshares Fund, a nuclear disarmament group, reportedly said, “The real threat from the launch was an overreaction that would lead to more defense spending on unnecessary systems. The sky is not falling. We shouldn’t be panicked.”
In fact, North Korea is a mortal nuclear threat to the United States— right now.
North Korea has already successfully tested and developed nuclear weapons. It has also already miniaturized nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery and has armed missiles with nuclear warheads. In 2011, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. General Ronald Burgess, testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea has weaponized its nuclear devices into warheads for ballistic missiles.
read … fortunately Obama is on the job
Sovereignty Activist Dies
SA: Political observers said Niheu, also known as "Soli," and other leaders of Kokua Hawaii (not to be confused with Jack Johnson's Kokua Hawaii Foundation) were at the vanguard of a social movement that empowered threatened ethnic communities and backed Native Hawaiian rights.
Kokua Hawaii supported the concept of "self-determination," empowering communities to determine their destinies, an idea that buoyed the concept of Native Hawaiian sovereignty.
Former Gov. John Waihee, who met Niheu while both worked in the federally funded Model Cities Program, said Kokua Hawaii became the training grounds for scores of volunteer community organizers.
"It wasn't an academic exercise," Waihee said. "They went into the community. That was the magic of it.
"The Hawaiian movement started back then with Kokua Hawaii."
Niheu became a symbol of the new island social consciousness, criticizing the destruction of ethnic communities for new housing developments. He helped form a group protesting the eviction of Hawaiian residents and farmers in Kalama Valley….
Retired university professor Haunani K. Trask said Niheu was the first to defend her when administrators wanted her removed in light of her political activity on behalf of Native Hawaiians.
She said Niheu's action helped to open the way for many politically active Hawaiians on university campuses.
"They may not know it, but they owe their current positions to Soli as much as anyone else," she said.
read … Community Organizing
Afghanistan: Continuing the Legacy
HR: One such legacy is an American flag cared for by Allen K. Hoe. The 25th Combat Aviation Brigade had the opportunity to be a small part of the legacy during its deployment to Afghanistan. The flag has been watching over Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam since 1967.
Allen Hoe began the legacy of the Hoe Battle Flag in December of 1967 during his time in Recon Team Snoopy, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam.
read … Continuing the Legacy
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