Entries for September 2008

Kenoi vs Pilago in November 4 runoff for Big Island Mayor.  This is what happens when the entire political class has its hands in the cookie jar and can’t agree over how to divide up the cookies. 

Enriques and his volunteers worked to bring new voters into the process and to mobilize discouraged voters.  They won with 52.2% of the vote defeating incumbent councilman Bob Jacobson by more than 10 percentage points 2,354 to 1,894.

According to Big Island Weekly editor Kristine Kubat's  September 3 column, “If you think the U.S. government was behind the 9-11 attack, you are not alone.”  Kubat then proceeds to promote “9-11 Truth Awareness” by inviting them to a 9-11 denier demonstration ...

Ritte’s phony “Save La`au” campaign has been falsely portrayed as an anti-development battle, but in reality it is a battle between two competing developers each tied to a different government group. 

Information is emerging that Obama acted to keep troops deployed. In a September 15 New York Post editorial, CNN and BBC contributor Amir Taheri writes that, according to Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Senator Obama in June told visiting Iraqi officials that President Bush’s government was in a ‘”state of weakness and political confusion’” so the negotiations should be postponed until after the election.

Plastic Bag Ban: Micromanaging our lives, Ban the banners, Free Speech vs. Political Correctness, DoE’s Drive for Mediocrity, SHPDA stalls W. Maui Hospital, Urgent Care in Puna  

Reporters have not noted Obama’s glaring conflict of interest—the Lehman debt owed to a bank possibly owned by the financier who loaned millions of dollars to Tony Rezko.

Your house is not the only target.  The bill also slams hospitals.   In the midst of Hawai`i’s medical crisis, a new 100,000 sq foot hospital would be required to fork out $545,100 to the county.  A 100,000 sq foot commercial center would be hit with $496,800 in new fees.  A new 100,000 sq foot school?  $108,000.  Nursing home?  $190,300.  Also targeted churches, industry, and warehouses. 

Our Primary Election endorsements:

There is nobody worthy of our endorsement running in the Hawai`i County Mayor’s race. Here are some quick points on the poor choices facing voters:

After 54 years of Yoshito Takamine and Dwight Takamine ruling HD 1 unchallenged, Takamine suddenly faces challenges both within and outside his own party. In late 2006 he attempted to “shed more blood, not less” of Ed Case supporters in the Legislature after Case’s defeat in the Democratic Senate Primary. Takamine failed and lost his powerful chairmanship of the House Finance Committee. Shunned, Takamine then racked up the worst attendance of any Legislator in the 2007 session. He then fled the House, announcing his campaign for the Senate District 1 seat being vacated by Sen. Lorraine’s decision to seek the Hawai`i County Mayor’s seat.

While activists and politicians futilely beg government to fund Urgent Care in Puna, private enterprise provides it. Thanks to what Dr Ed Gutteling calls “a very favorable deal” on rental of a Shipman-Estate-owned building near the Kea`au Police Station, Kea`au Urgent Care is up and running. Initial hours are M-F 8:30A -6P. Call 966-7942 for info.

Banning plastic bags – like banning other legal products (light bulbs, electric water heaters, etc)-- is much more than an inconvenience. Our individual-freedom-based “people first” way of life is being hijacked by a so-called environmental “earth first” dictatorship.

In Forbes magazine’s annual list of best states in which to do business, released July 31, Hawai`i jumped 10 spots to 27th place, compared to 37th in 2007 and 42nd in 2006. Of the six criteria taken into account, Hawai`i ranked fourth in the nation for economic climate and 10th for labor. This is a vast improvement from March 2002, when Forbes’ infamous article said doing business in Honolulu had “become nearly equivalent to suicide.”

In August, I helped launch a new after-school program at Hilo Intermediate School for students who are left alone and unsupervised once the school bell rings.

Usual suspects against telescope, Stop Bill 324, Fascist Takamine?, Tooo Stooopid to reelect Council, Kaua`i water victory, Marine Acquitted --- Injustice Remains, Against law to deny schooling, HSTA vs Con-Con