"These new laws will help free Hawai'i from the grip of our foreign oil addiction," said Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Blue Planet Foundation, which lobbied for the measures.

Mikulina and others are still waiting to see whether Lingle signs HB 1271, which would increase the tax on a barrel of imported oil by $1. The hike is expected to generate more than $30 million annually to fund clean-energy and food-security initiatives paid propagandist positions for the eco-loons who have destroyed agriculture and fisheries in Hawai'i.

Advertiser:  Enforcing conservation rules a challenge

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Anti-Superferry protester Rep. Morita: HB 1271 Most significant energy bill awaits Lingle’s signature (tries to peddle barrel tax)

“This is the most significant bill we are passing out of the Legislature this year,” she said Thursday evening during the Apollo Kaua‘i meeting at the Lihu‘e Civic Center. “It is the lynch pin to everything that we’re doing because if we don’t get the funding, everything falls apart.”

(And that is exactly why it should be vetoed--so their socialist scheme falls apart)

The primary purpose of the bill is to help Hawai‘i achieve energy and food self-sufficiency.
The bill says it would “make various amendments, establish various initiatives and appropriate funds to promote economic development for local food and energy businesses, ensuring that Hawai‘i is energy and food self-sufficient and sustainable to the maximum extent feasible.”
Approximately 85 percent of the state’s food and 95 percent of its energy are imported and it is estimated that $8.6 billion was spent last year on importing food and oil, according to the legislation.
HB 1271 also says Hawai‘i only has enough supply of fresh produce to last no more than 10 days; and 90 percent of beef, 76 percent of fresh vegetables, 65 percent of fresh fruits and 70 percent of milk are imported.

(And so after blocking the Superferry and raising taxes and serving the tort bar, Moritia wants to "save" agriculture from the lack of a Superferry the high taxes and the high insurance fees.)

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Kalapa: Pay cut better than no paycheck at all

The general fund is really at the heart of the problem as it represents nearly half of the total state budget or about $5.4 billion of spending for each year of the fiscal biennium. While there are other resources for the general fund, the bulk of the proceeds comes from taxes. Thus, when the Council on Revenues revised its forecast of general fund tax revenues downwards creating more than a $2 billion shortfall, that hole represented more than 20 percent of all state general fund spending for the next two years. And it appears that actual tax collections may sink even lower before this fiscal year is over.

To raise $1 billion per year from current general fund tax resources, rates would have to be increased to generate another 25 percent in general fund tax collections. But raising taxes by that amount in a slumping economy probably won’t generate anywhere near the amount needed because of the slower economic pace. Thus, state officials have very few options for generating additional revenues despite the call by the public employee unions for an increase in taxes.

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Father faces 20 years for daughter's injuries

If he gets the life sentence, he will have to spend at least 20 years in prison before he is eligible for parole because he has three prior felony convictions.

Eli pleaded guilty in 2004 to first-degree assault and two counts of carrying a firearm without a permit. He was on parole for those convictions when he injured his daughter.

He also has convictions for misdemeanor abuse of a family or household member in 2000 and 2003.

Sarah Fuller, the girl's mother and Eli's girlfriend, testified that Eli threw the girl to the third row seat of the van from the second row, threw her down hard on the second row seat and threw the child seat on top of her on Oct. 24, 2007 at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Fuller said she and Eli were arguing over her intention to leave him and to call off their wedding. She said Eli blamed the baby for Fuller's change of heart.

(And the soft-on-crime court system is to blame for this person being out on the streets in the first place)

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Tomorrow, city to begin clearing Nanakuli coast stretch of longtime camps

Years ago, Kawaauhao lived on the mountain side of Farrington Highway, directly across from Depots Beach. Today, she recognizes some of the same faces she remembers seeing back then. She and Bernard are with the U.S. Veterans Initiative, the organization that operates the Wai'anae Civic Center emergency shelter in Wai'anae.

"If you are interested in getting off the beach, out of the parks and into a facility where you can begin rebuilding your life, let one of our outreach workers know," the fliers state. "We can assist you today."

But those who have remained on the beaches since the Wai'anae shelter opened on March 1, 2007, are less eager to enter the program than were the newly homeless families who accepted help two years ago. Many remaining beach dwellers are single, middle aged and independent. They are of the type referred to as the chronic homeless.

"I've been on this beach at least a good seven, eight years," said one Depots Beach dweller, who identified himself as Mike B. "I'm trying to make my situation go from worse to better, not better to worse."

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Matson-union deal averts strike

Matson Navigation Co. and three unions avoided a widespread shipping strike yesterday after reaching a tentative agreement on a four-year contract for ship captains, officers, radio operators and engineers.

Advertiser:  Matson strike is over

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