Do you heat your home? Light your rooms? Buy and cook food? Watch TV? If the answer is "yes," then you've fallen under federal regulation. And you're paying for it, too. Gattuso and Katz explain how every product imaginable costs more because of regulations....

A growing list of women leaders from across the state have joined the Executive Advisory Council for Hawai‘i’s 8^th annual International Women’s Leadership Conference (IWLC), taking place on September 20, 2011 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel and Resort.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) introduced legislation to raise the debt ceiling this week. In evaluating his plans for future government spending, it becomes clear that budgeting for prudent defense is considered just another line item.

• DATE: Friday, July 29th, 2011
• TIME: 11:30 am ~ 1:30 pm
• LOCATION: Japanese Cultural Center / Manoa Grand Ballroom, 2454 S Beretania St, 5th Floor

• HILO -- JULY 27, WEDNESDAY—1:00PM-3:00PM.
• MAUI -- JULY 28, THURSDAY-- 5PM youth session, 6:30PM general session.
• OAHU -- JULY 29, FRIDAY—6:30PM to 8:30PM.

The Council will meet quarterly and report annually to the Governor, the Legislature and county mayors, including policy recommendations supporting the statewide plan.

A program funded by the federal government allowed 60 Hawai‘i public schools to keep serving free breakfast and lunch this summer. All children 18 years old and younger, even those not enrolled in that particular school, are able to have a free meal ....

...the East-West Center is under fire again, as Congress is looking at completely eliminating the center. The House Foreign Affairs Committee recently voted to wipe out the UH based facility. The center might again be saved in the U.S. Senate, but these difficulties will continue as long as Hawaii continues to send a one-sided and unbalanced delegation to Congress that is unable to speak with the new GOP majority in the U.S. House.... 

Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, chairman of defense and aerospace group Finmeccanica (Parent Company of Honolulu Rail Contractor Ansaldo), has been put under investigation by Rome prosecutors examining allegations of secret slush funds, legal sources said on Friday.

The report, “Valuing the Invaluable: The Growing Contributions and Costs of Family Caregiving, 2011 Update”, finds that the “average” caregiver is a 49-year old woman who works outside of the home and spends nearly 20 hours per week providing unpaid care to her mother over the course of nearly five years.

Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama's jobs record has plummeted 22 points from 53% down below a third. African Americans who believe the president's measures helped the economy have plunged from 77% to barely half.

Americans tuning in last night to watch President Barack Obama's primetime address from the East Room of the White House might have thought they stumbled upon yet another re-run from the networks.

 [T]here's a certain element of waiting for the markets to weigh in and show Congress that they have to get serious here...You see the Administration almost kind of, almost daring the markets to respond, yesterday saying that the Congress had to act by 4:00 yesterday afternoon before the Asian markets started to open.

• Senate: Military Construction-VA Appropriations, FY2012
• Senate: Motion to Table; Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011
• House: Cut, Cap, and Balance Act
• House: Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011
• House: Legislative Branch Appropriations, FY2012

Kaiser Permanente announced today that the Honolulu Clinic and Kihei and Lahaina Clinics on Maui, and their primary care providers have received the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Physician Practice Connections Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition....

In the early 1990's Eric Ryan was the first student in Chaminade history to be convicted of forging student signatures and election ballots thus beginning his career of graphic design so he continue forging documents. He later took Chaminade to court for defamation of character.

Documents filed with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission show that a $1000 per person March 15 campaign fundraiser for Honolulu Council Chair Ernie Martin held at the home of Kamehameha Schools lobbyist Linda Y Wong was organized by convicted cocaine dealer Chad Tsuneyoshi—who now serves as Martin’s campaign treasurer.

Details about the 1941 Ewa Field Battlefield history and Section 106 process will be presented by the US Navy on August 4th at the DHHL Building in Kapolei. 

The requested increase would help cover the operations and maintenance costs of safely and reliably integrating existing and future renewable energy resources into MECO's three isolated, island electrical grids. Also included are energy storage projects which will help integrate even higher levels of variable resources such as wind and solar....

• Question: What religion produces the most terror attacks in the USA each year?
• Answer: Environmentalism

Here in Hawaii it seems that taxpayers suffer from a glut of omniscient soothsayers in elected office who believe they know it all and can predict the winner industry of the future....

The Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill is destined to plague our district for another decade or more unless we act to stop it.  General comments are being accepted up to August 13.

After years as the Congressional chief of staff for Rep Wu (D-OR), Julie Tippens this January quit to take a job as chief of staff for Rep Colleen Hanabusa (D-Oahu).

Residents of California and Hawaii are the most indebted individuals in America, but they’re also among a group that are making the most progress in paying down the amount they owe, according to a MoneyWatch analysis of state-by-state debt statistics....

this week ... Bt eggplant trials in the Philippines, GM wheat and potato test fields in Germany; and the recent Greenpeace "media event" destroying the GM wheat trial in Australia.  Not even the U.S is immune, as someone has destroyed thousands of GM papaya trees in Hawaii.

The time has come for parents to think about their children’s future plans and decide if the university system is a viable option.

 Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued an interim decision in Hawaiian Electric's 2011 rate case. It will result in a $3.31 a month increase for a typical Oahu residential customer

National Right to Life has released candidate comparisons on life issues for the 2012 Presidential Primary races.

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, Obamacare is just over one year old, it has been more than 800 days since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a budget, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors on Thursday--the first new federal agency in nearly a decade. You'll notice that no one is celebrating any of them.

We are still suffering from the bursting of the housing bubble created by low interest rates, lowered mortgage standards and subsidies to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now some people see signs that another bubble is bursting -- the higher education bubble.

On March 5, 2007--just four months after her 2006 Lt Governor run gave Hawaii Democrats their worst gubernatorial defeat since Statehood—Solomon led about 100 people to sit in at the the Federal District Courtroom of Judge Michael Seabright to support her friend, Shawn Aguiar—the Big Island's largest methamphetamines dealer.

The new draft reverses agency protection recommendations for many bird species and adds unrealistic deadlines that would lead to “rubber-stamping” of wind projects. ABC expects millions of migratory birds to be harmed by poorly-planned wind energy.

The initiative’s first site is located in Honoka'a, within the Hamakua Coast, where services will be provided at the North Hawai'i Education & Research Center (NHERC). The Rural Outreach Services initiative is a partnership between federal, state, county governments, and private non-profit agencies.

 a CNN poll completed yesterday showed 66% of Americans support the Cut, Cap and Balance plan to “raise the debt ceiling only if a balanced budget amendment were passed by both houses of Congress and substantial spending cuts and caps on future spending were approved.”

On one side are those who have come to realize it would be madness to let the political class borrow more without imposing a serious check on government spending. They have produced budgets and now an actual legislative plan to get things under control.

On the other, you find those who consider more spending, taxing, and borrowing a royal prerogative. They have produced nothing but rhetoric and empty promises and have pushed this debate to the brink.

A Sound Balanced Budget Amendment Must Require Two-Thirds Majorities to Raise Federal Taxes.... 

Eric Ryan wants to save Honolulu from the waste, fraud and corruption that he seems to find wherever he goes. Eric see’s himself as some sort of crusader fighting a lonely battle to expose the rampant misuse of power that only he is capable of seeing.

Almost everyone else see’s Eric as a garden-variety malcontent, angry about being fired and hell-bent on retaliation. 

“The Mayor is facing a turning point in his term, either he can direct resources to resolve flooding, drainage, water, sewer, and road repairs and embark upon upgrades to various treatment plants and recycling efforts, or continue to divert taxpayers’ money to fund a heavy-rail system riddled with graft on all fronts."

...Abercrombie last week alerted the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services that the State of Hawai'i will be applying for the new ”Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge” grant competition....

All of the clever rhetoric and recasting of history is designed to distract from the reality on the ground. The U.S. government has racked up $14 trillion in debt. For more than 800 days, the U.S. Senate has failed to pass a budget. President Obama continues his calls for "compromise" and "shared sacrifice," all while insisting on tax increases to fund spending.... 

Today, join us in making history when the first, all-Twitter Presidential Debate is held from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. (9AM-10:30AM HST)

The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth. And that's true of Democratic businessman and Republican businessman....

Today, the U.S. House is set to vote on a Republican-sponsored plan known as "Cut, Cap, and Balance" that "would cut spending by $5.8 trillion over 10 years, cap future spending and require Congress to approve a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget before raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion," as The Wall Street Journal reports. 

Researchers at the Beacon Hill Institute have conducted a cost-benefit analysis of 1,100 MWs of offshore wind power for New Jersey. The findings are as follows.

• TUESDAY 4:43AM HST
• WEDNESDAY 5:19AM HST

EIRs are required for plastic bag bans by (i) “larger” cities and counties and also (ii) small cities based on the cumulative impacts. Save The Plastic Bag Coalition has legal standing to enforce that requirement.... 

On July 14, 2011, we filed a cert petition, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P'ship....

 Recent Congressional Votes

• House: Better Use of Light Bulbs Act
• House: Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011
  • House: Energy-Water Appropriations, FY2012

As Congress struggles to find a way to cut spending as part of raising the $14 trillion debt ceiling, they should take a close look at the more than $1 trillion spent every year on welfare....

A new unprecedented statewide research survey on child abuse and neglect in Hawai‘i reveals that child abuse is a pervasive and serious issue. Nearly 40% of residents know a victim of child abuse, 9% say they experienced abuse themselves, and 80% of residents think child abuse is a major problem in society.