Is Abercrombie Vitousek?
Ed Case: Disagreeing With Inouye 'Cost me dearly'
Case Applies for Senate Vacancy
Sea Level Rise? Nonsense, Oahu is Rising From the Sea
How Christmas Came to Hawaii
Dead Fish Story at ‘Boss’ Inouye Memorial
SA: Jennifer Sabas, Inouye's chief of staff, in the most moving remarks, said Inouye would often tell the story of how his father would take him to Chinatown to buy a koi or a carp to eat.
"They'd pick out the fish. They'd put it in a big burlap bag and return home. And then they'd put it in a big bucket of water. And the koi would thrash and splash water all over young Dan, violently attempting to elude capture. But once his father was able to catch the fish and put it on the cutting board, the koi lay very still," she said.
HNN: Someone who called Inouye "boss" ….
Borreca: Inouye took an almost propriety interest in the goings-on back in Honolulu….Inouye believed in planning and management.
A congressional assistant once told me how Inouye, a great fan of aquariums, noticed that new fish had been introduced to his Washington, D.C., office tank.
“Inouye told his staff that no one was to ever put in anything, not a fish, a snail or a plant, without his approval,” the aide recalled. (Not even a ‘potted plant.’)
Hawaii political aspirants soon learned that Inouye’s nod would be an immeasurably valuable endorsement. And failure to have the Inouye stamp of approval would hurt much more than not having a “union-made” stamp on campaign brochures.
So it was not surprising that Inouye would carefully plan for his own successor. (Hint, hint, Neil.)
read … Dead Fish Stories
Star-Adv: Inouye ‘Trick’ to Pass Akaka Bill Beyond the Grave
SA: One such attempt by Inouye happened years ago when he inserted its bill number into a defense appropriations measure, an effort that was defeated because Senate rules barred policy legislation from being part of earmarks. And there have been other examples of language hidden away in bills to accomplish passage by stealth.
Could he really get the thing passed from beyond the grave through a measure in his honor? Now that would be a neat trick.
read … Desperate thinking from gang of thieves
Kiaaina Jumps In
Esther Kiaaina, a deputy director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, who lost a Democratic primary campaign this year for the 2nd Congressional District, has also applied for the vacancy. Kiaaina is a former legislative aide to Akaka and Case.
“It would be a tremendous honor and privilege to serve the people of Hawaii in the U.S. Senate," she said in a statement. “With Senator Inouye’s passing and Senator Akaka’s imminent departure, it is important to ensure that Hawaii has the strongest representation possible in our nation’s capitol. With their exemplary leadership and accomplishments, I pledge to build upon their foundation and continue to fight for the people of Hawaii.”
The state central committee is meeting on Wednesday ….
read … Esther Kiaaina
1 in 5 city towing bills inflated, invoices show
SA: About 1 in 5 vehicles picked up by the city's exclusive vendor for police-initiated tows were not taken to the company's closest storage lots, inflating the mileage fees charged to the owners, sometimes by more than two or three times, according to a Star-Advertiser review of more than 100 invoices over the past month and a half.
Most of the inflated bills from Leeward Auto Wreckers involved vehicles that were picked up near the company's Pearl City lot but were towed to a Kapolei lot instead, adding an extra eight to 10 miles roughly to the tab, the newspaper found.
At the $7.50-per-mile rate that the company charged until recently, that added an extra $60 to $75 to the bill….
The Star-Advertiser previously reported that Leeward Auto overbilled roughly 2,000 motorists whose cars were towed during the first month and a half under the five-year contract because it charged hookup and mileage fees higher than permitted.
Ilind: Getting beyond “he said this, but they said that” reporting
read … Inflated
Barking Sands: 430 Rocket Launches
The Kaua‘i Test Facility, operated by Sandia National Laboratories, pretends to be the “bad guys” to protect the “good guys.”
The facility, which is tucked into a remote corner of the Pacific Missile Range Facility, recently celebrated their 50th anniversary by doing what they do — launching a missile. The facility has launched more than 430 rockets, first to prepare for nuclear readiness, then for research, and now to support missile defense tests….
For more information, visit KTF’s website: http://www.sandia.gov/locations/kauai_test_facility.html online.
read … 430 Rockets
North Korea could have U.S. within missile range, says South
Reuters: This month's rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials said on Sunday, putting the U.S. West Coast in range.
read … About ‘containment’
Inouye: Great Friend of Israel
Haaretz: He was known as a principled man of the highest integrity who believed in American ideals and served them to the best of his ability as both a soldier and a civilian.
Inouye saw Israel as a country dedicated to these very same ideals. As someone who had displayed such great courage under fire himself, he admired Israel and Israelis for the courage they showed again and again when under attack by enemies far superior in numbers. He saw Israel as an ally of the United States and as a country that shared the same values and ideals as the United States. He saw no disparity between the two countries' strategic interests, and considered them one and the same. True to this belief, he utilized every opportunity to initiate or support congressional legislation that would be of assistance to Israel.
Inouye was the first senator I asked to see on becoming Israel's ambassador to Washington, and my advice to the ambassadors who succeeded me was to do the same on arriving in Washington.
read … Losing a great American friend
Obama Gives Kuhio Park Developer $300K
"This funding will enable Honolulu to further its discussions with local partners to plan strategies that will build a stronger, more sustainable community and address distressed housing, struggling schools and crime," said HUD Deputy Regional Administrator Wayne Sauseda in a news release. "HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative represents the next generation in a movement toward revitalizing entire neighborhoods to improve the quality of the lives of the residents who live there."
Choice Neighborhoods is one of the signature programs of the Obama administration's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which is designed to support broad-based strategies that bring public and private partners together to help break the cycle of poverty.
News Release: Announced this October 11
read … $300K
Gun Control Screeds:
CB: Armed Cops At Schools Is A Great Idea ... Not!
CB: Op-ed: Hiroshima in December
Carlisle Seeks to Build on Hands-Off Management Legacy
SA: Carlisle also faced criticism of having a "hands-off" style of managing, frequently going on trips to promote tourism or sister-city relations and leaving the daily management of the city to top aides such as Managing Director Doug Chin and department heads.
"His ‘hands-off' management style was perceived by many as too lax for the chief executive of one of the major metropolitan cities in the United States," Martin said….
Carlisle has no regrets, saying his management style was one of hiring good people and getting out of the way.
"If they're not doing it in terms of the overall scheme, I'll tell them what the scheme is and then they need to figure out how to get us there," he said. "But will I end up being some micromanager or some power and control nut? It's not going to happen."
Now Carlisle, 60, prepares for what he hopes will be a new job in the private sector that will allow him to build on some of the tourism and sister-city relations he worked on as mayor.
"What I hope to be able to do is to have the opportunity to continue those things that I've felt have enhanced Honolulu here as well as internationally," he said, without identifying his new employers. "I'll let them say it when they're ready."
He said he might take another run at office, particularly the one he has held the past two years.
"Now, that's not a guarantee," he said. "If I go off on this other tangent, which I hope to, there may be benefits in doing the type of work for this firm that I might say, ‘Hey, this is how I want to finish out my career.'"
HNN: Honolulu mayor-elect Caldwell to be sworn in Jan. 2
read … Delusional
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