"... in order to pay for this latest $26 billion bailout of states, the Democrat-controlled Congress cut almost $12 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), at a time when a record number of Americans – including almost 141,300 Hawai‘i residents – depend on this assistance to subsidize their food purchases.

“In addition, Congress rescinded $2.2 billion in unobligated highway funds, including an estimated $10 million that would have been used for Hawai‘i highway projects. 

With unemployment at 9.5 percent and the national debt at an all-time high, the last thing middle-class families need is more of the Democrats’ reckless spending agenda. Instead of calling Congress back into session to create private-sector jobs, House Democrats have once again dismissed an opportunity to rein in runaway government spending and provide the fiscal discipline needed to create jobs.

(08/10/10) HONOLULU – A comprehensive settlement has been reached with the City and County of Honolulu that will address Clean Water Act compliance at Honolulu’s wastewater collection and treatment systems, the Justice Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, Hawaii Department of Health, and three environmental groups announced today.

The settlement which also resolves lawsuits brought by the Sierra Club, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends and Our Children’s Earth Foundation, includes a comprehensive compliance schedule for the city to upgrade its wastewater collection system by June 2020. Under the settlement, the Honouliuli wastewater treatment plant will need to be upgraded to secondary treatment by 2024. The Sand Island plant will need to be upgraded by 2035, but could be extended to 2038 based on a showing of economic hardship.

“The problem in Congress today is that it seems that the universal answer to every one of our nation’s problems is spend, spend, and—if that doesn’t work—spend some more. And this particular bill that we’re voting on today fits exactly in that genre—‘Spending can fix all of our nation’s woes.’

Editor's Note: For decades, Hawaii Democrats have based their power on their ability to get federal pork from DC.  Charles Djou is directly challenging the desirability of their pork.  This vote is probably the most direct challenge in decades to Hawaii Democrats' basic strategy.  Will it be a winning issue for Djou?  Election Day is Nov 2.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled last week that a voter-approved amendment to California’s constitution that limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, based that ruling in part on his finding that a child does not need and has no right to a mother.

Nor, he found, does a child have a need or a right to a father.

Last Friday, some 19 months after the stimulus bill became law, the Labor Department issued its monthly jobs report showing the U.S. economy shed 131,000 jobs and unemployment tread water at 9.5% as 181,000 workers left the workforce entirely. These numbers are so terrible that the Federal Reserve is expected to downgrade its assessment of the U.S. economic outlook when it meets tomorrow.

According to the study, 186 special funds spread across twenty different departments hold an estimated $1,412,357,203 in unspent revenues over and above their operational requirements. Some of the special funds were tagged by the auditor almost a decade ago for repeal.

Here are a few words from the individual most responsible for invention of Furlough Fridays.  How much money will be put up to promote the status quo and promulgate these arguments for continuing the structure which makes the waste, fraud, and corruption in the DoE possible?  Will the HSTA spend $100K in NEA money to oppose an appointed BoE just as they did in opposition to local school boards?  We will soon find out.

“I was honored to attend the mobilization ceremony today (Sunday Aug 8, 2010) for the 305^th MPAD/9^th MSC. It was a particularly special honor to be with a number of soldiers from the 1101^st GSU, my former unit in the Army Reserve, who will be deploying to Iraq with the 305^th."

The State argues: ...the Court has made new law that will significantly affect multiple sectors of our community, all levels of state and county government, and countless administrative and judicial proceedings that are pending in the courts and before state and county land use and environmental regulatory agencies." 

The words “Colleen Hanabusa” appear in almost none of the coverage of this charade.  We’d just like to point that out.

KHON: "I cannot just trust that she will grow into this position. I cannot just trust that she will become a good leader and administrator," said Sen. Rosalyn Baker (D-Kapalua, Lahaina, Kihei).  (BTW: Sen Roz Baker showed who she CAN trust in an administrative position when she hired convicted child molester Leon Rouse as a committee aide in 2006.) 

SA: "Sen. Clayton Hee, in opposition, raised concerns about whether Leonard would be open enough to Native Hawaiian rights. A court that strictly follows the rule of law may not have led to the recognition of customary Hawaiian rights, he said."

Investigations for my new book, Wingnuts, revealed that the Birther conspiracy theory was first concocted by renegade members of the original Obama haters, Party Unity My Ass, known more commonly by their acronym, the PUMAs. They were a splinter group of hard-core Hillary Clinton supporters who did not want to give up the ghost after the bitter 50-state Bataan Death March to the 2008 Democratic nomination.

In the early summer of '08, message boards on sites like PUMAParty.com began lighting up with the ultimate reversal-of-fortune fantasy—that their party's nomination could be overturned on constitutional grounds....

Washington, DC — Congressman Charles K. Djou (HI-01) appeared on MSNBC today with guest host Cenk Uygur to discuss the current economy, today’s disappointing jobs numbers and the need to create more private sector jobs by enacting pro-growth policies.

“The 14 senators who voted down Judge Leonard’s confirmation represent the height of hypocrisy, given that earlier this year they all voted for a resolution calling on me to appoint more women to the bench.  Yet, when given the opportunity to confirm my nomination of a woman who is eminently qualified to serve in the highest judicial position in the state, these senators revealed their true colors that their so-called resolution was purely for show. 

“It’s also very telling that not one woman senator supported Judge Leonard’s confirmation, despite being so impassioned about getting more women on the bench.

“I commend Senators Espero, Gabbard, Galuteria, Green, Hemmings, Sakamoto, Slom and Tsutsui who recognized Judge Leonard was eminently qualified to be the next Chief Justice.

“Judge Leonard was more than qualified, as evidenced by her unanimous approval as appellate judge and the outpouring of testimony from the legal community in support of her appointment to Chief Justice.

“I call on my potential opponents and Hawai‘i’s other candidates to join me in strongly objecting to this misguided decision.

“The people of Hawai‘i deserve principled decision-makers, not political partisans.”

Here's the real reason: "Sen. Clayton Hee, in opposition, raised concerns about whether Leonard would be open enough to Native Hawaiian rights. A court that strictly follows the rule of law may not have led to the recognition of customary Hawaiian rights, he said."

Shapiro: "First senators try to embarrass Lingle by criticizing her for not appointing enough women judges, then they try to embarrass her by rejecting the most prominent woman she does appoint.  Shame on them for polluting our Judiciary with their bush league politics."

Mufi to Neil:  "You can't know the private sector...."

Neil on Mufi: "...name-calling and finger pointing there..."

Neil on Birthers: "(Obama) was born yesterday in Kapiolani Hospital in 1961, I can assure you...."  (Defeating birthers to become Gubernatorial priority???)   ...  and much, much more....

Congressman Djou articulated his concerns about the impact of Micronesian immigration to Hawaii on the City and County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii's social service programs. Congressman Djou and Ambassador George both acknowledge that the status quo is not working.

Washington- The Obama White House promised this would be a summer of economic recovery, but after another disappointing month of high unemployment it is evident that is simply not the case. Now, Hawaii families can add another false promise to their growing list of grievances against Colleen Hanabusa's out-of-touch Democrat friends, whose runaway spending addiction has led the economy astray. With unemployment standing at 9.5 percent and over 130,000 jobs lost last month, Hawaii families are feeling burned by Hanabusa's Washington friends, whose trillion-dollar stimulus has failed to bring them out of this jobless recovery.

“To ignore the Hawai‘i State Bar Association’s rating for Judge To‘oto‘o, but not for Judge Leonard makes no sense and creates a double standard. 

“Judge Leonard is eminently qualified, as evidenced by the overwhelming testimony and support from the legal community. 

“Both the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office and the State Public Defender’s Office – who take opposing sides in the courtroom – testified in her favor, saying she is fair.  That’s exactly the type of chief justice that should be on the bench – someone who both sides consider fair." 

“Democrats in the Senate have tried every trick in the book to prevent Governor Linda Lingle from appointing the next Chief Justice. They put a question on the ballot to change the retirement age for judges which was voted down by voters and now they are trying to vote down an obviously qualified judge, with Judiciary Chair Brian Tanaguchi telling the media after the hearing that the five men on the list were all qualified. This is height of hypocrisy."

But Pelosi agreed to offer her support when the Abercrombie camp sought to counter a tough ad that attacked Abercrombie’s attendance record in the House, his March resignation from Congress to run for governor, and calls him a “follower.”   (Gee. I wonder where they got THAT idea?)

“His early resignation cost President Obama critical support for healthcare and Wall Street reform,” the ad says. “Neil says to look at his record. We agree.”

Three months after Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) won a key special election in one of the blue state's two House districts, the RGA is signaling that it thinks it can win that state's governor's race too.

The TV and radio ads are 100 percent positive and don't mention Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona's (R) Democratic opponents. They feature Aiona himself and talk about his efforts to control drugs in the state.

“In these tough economic times, people want ideas and solutions.  Duke Aiona’s creation of the Drug Court is an example of finding a better way to improve lives.  People want their leaders to be positive, not divisive and negative.  That’s what Duke’s whole life has been about.” 

This Tuesday voters in Missouri, by a 40-point margin, approved a ballot measure rejecting the individual mandate at the core of President Barack Obama's health care law. Asked what the vote meant to the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said: "Nothing." Yesterday in San Francisco, federal judge Vaughn Walker gave the exact same weight to a California ballot measure that affirmed marriage as an institution between one man and one woman. Specifically Judge Walker overturned the California Marriage Protection Act after concluding, as a matter of fact, that the majority of Californians who voted to protect marriage were bigots who had no rational basis to define marriage on their own terms.

JUDGE: THE RIGHT TO MARRY PROTECTS AN INDIVIDUAL’S CHOICE OF MARITAL PARTNER REGARDLESS OF GENDER...

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS DO NOT SATISFY CALIFORNIA’S OBLIGATION TO ALLOW PLAINTIFFS TO MARRY...

"The achievements in Hawaii's public schools this year are truly remarkable and inspiring, and we are especially pleased with the results coming from the 14 schools in our Alliance partnership that achieved AYP targets," said Babette Moreno, EdisonLearning's Regional General Manager for Hawaii.  "The outcomes are a solid testament to the work done in the schools by the principals, teachers, students, and our dedicated partners at the DOE – who are all helping students to learn."

...among the various concerns facing us today, the most important one is the right to life. Without this most fundamental and “unalienable” right, we need not worry about any other issues. Accordingly, we must identify who among the candidates running for office will stand firm in defense of this right, for all people at all times, regardless of the circumstances.

Hawaii Right to Life PAC has researched the candidates (and when applicable, ballot questions) and provides the following information to assist you, the voter, in choosing life with your vote. By each of us taking a principled stand with our vote, we can make a real difference to save countless lives and improve Hawai‘i Nei for generations to come.

Could Sen. Dan Inouye be next?  The US Senate equivalents of the Waters charges could easly be brought to bear against him if the political will exists.  While Waters was allegedly seeking help for her husband’s bank, Inouye allegedly sought help for Central Pacific Bank.  At the time, CPB stock made up an estimated 66% of Inouye’s personal net worth.

On Sunday, August 1, at approximately 6:39 a.m., two video cameras captured a Caucasian male, approximately 60 years old, stealing one of Arakawa’s campaign signs from privately owned property in Wailuku town. The suspect’s silver Nissan vehicle had a license plate identification ending with “722.”

“The Hawai‘i State Bar Association’s (HSBA) ‘unqualified’ ratings of Judge Katherine Leonard and Judge Faauuga To‘oto‘o are outrageous and are clearly not based on the legal experience and qualifications of these two highly qualified nominees,” said Governor Lingle.

“The State Bar Association’s review process was unfair, flawed, and conducted under a veil of secrecy, with no accountability to the public.  The HSBA has refused to state its reasons for its ratings.

“It is impossible to know whether there is political, gender or ethnic bias on the part of the HSBA, since they refuse to state their reasons. 

Adoption of national standards by states appears to be only an attempt to gain federal grants—not real reform. But in taking Washington’s money, are states sacrificing their educational autonomy for short-term budgetary security?

Just two-and-a-half months after winning his special election in HI-01, a new poll from Rep. Charles Djou's (R) camp shows he starts the general election in a rather strong position. In the survey, Djou led state Senate Pres. Colleen Hanabusa (D) 50-42%.

HONOLULU - Lt. Governor Duke Aiona today announced that he has raised more than $370,000 in the first six months of 2010, including more than 1,350 donations of $100 or less. In the last six months of 2009, Duke Aiona raised nearly 950 donations of $100 or less.

Aiona has raised more than $2.3 million during his gubernatorial campaign. Approximately 88 percent of his donations have come from Hawai`i residents.

Aloha State conservatives still have a 7% edge—28% to 21%--over liberals.  Hawaii’s 47% of self-identified moderates tops the nation. 

Mainland gay activists are doing everything they can to make sure that Hawaii remains under the thumb of child-molester advocate Rep Joe Bertram (D-Kihei) and HB444 sponsor Rep Blake Oshiro (D-Aiea).  The multi-million dollar Washington, DC-based Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund names Oshiro as one of its “featured candidates” pumping mainland gay money into Oshiro’s campaign as he faces off against a strong Democrat Primary challenge from Honolulu Councilmember Gary Okino, a firm opponent of HB444.

As Governor, I will:

• Cut red tape and unnecessary regulatory burdens
• Keep taxes low to promote a business-friendly environment
• Invest in human capital to compete in the global economy
• Develop new economic sectors in naturally competitive areas
• Transform Hawai`i into a world model for clean energy
• Accelerate infrastructure modernization projects: airports, harbors, highways, and broadband

When researcher Trevor Loudon in a July 12 NewZeal article posted at Hawai’i Free Press brought out evidence that Neil Abercrombie has for years been a secret member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the “birthers” at World Net Daily, were quick to cover the story--thus providing Abercrombie with the handy foil Abercrombie needed to falsely dismiss Loudon’s questions as the rantings of conspiracists. 

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle today heralded the designation of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site, as another major milestone in the continuing effort to protect and preserve one of the most historically and culturally significant resources of Hawai‘i.  Papahānaumokuākea was inscribed as a World Heritage site at approximately 3:30 p.m. HST on Friday, July 30, 2010.

Hawai‘i has become one of the least business-friendly states in America. Having served in the Hawai‘i State House and on the Honolulu City Council, I know that we cannot continue to punish businesses and still provide for a prosperous Hawai‘i.

But the anti-business policies that I fought in state and local government are dwarfed by the tax-and-spend agenda that I am battling in the United States Congress. It seems that for every problem facing our nation, the government’s answer is to spend and spend some more.

President Obama has quietly been reworking the country’s education system, doing an end-run around normal legislative procedure. With the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) funding doubled thanks to the so-called "stimulus," the Administration has little need or incentive to bother negotiating its education agenda through Congress. Instead, the DOE is using that windfall of funding and power to stage a significant overhaul of local schools; dangling grant money before cash-strapped states on the condition they adopt key pieces of the Obama education agenda.

Lambda legal staff attorney Tara Borelli: “Because of the way Hawaii’s constitution was amended in 1998, that amendment reserves for the legislature, the decision about whether to allow marriage equality for same-sex couples. So we aren’t able to ask the court for marriage equality, it’s a case instead that seeks access to the complete package of legal tools to protect families.”

Hawaii state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, who split the Democratic vote with former Rep. Ed Case in the May special election, is the party's presumptive nominee against Djou.

"We now have sweetness and light in Hawaii — or at least we don't have a lot of darkness," Hoyer said.

In what appears to be a deliberate new strategy, gay legal groups are targeting some of the states that have banned marriage by constitutional amendment. In Montana, (and now Hawaii) the ACLU sued the state for equal rights on behalf of several same-sex couples, arguing that even if marriage was foreclosed by law, the equality principles in the constitution still require that Montana offer all the rights and benefits of marriage to gay couples, short of the name itself.

In David Shapiro’s July 28 column, he implies that Governor Linda Lingle’s legacy will be narrowly defined by her judicial appointments. While Shapiro correctly points out that the Governor has appointed 3 of the 5 Supreme Court Justices, pending Judge Katherine Leonard’s confirmation as Chief Justice, 5 of the 6 judges on the Intermediate Court of Appeals and more than half of the Circuit Court judges, he is vastly overlooking the Governor’s many other accomplishments of her nearly 8 year service.

Congressman Djou’s amendment would’ve restored, through offsets, the necessary funding to one of the largest movements of military assets in decades while helping to maintain a robust military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Congressman Djou’s amendment would’ve increased funding for military construction projects necessary to realign Marine Corps forces to Guam.  The funds would come from offsets within H.R. 5822....

As Ian Lind notes, "Mainstream media haven't told us much about Chief Justice nominee's legal views" and "[t]he only thing I’ve seen about Leonard’s actual judicial performance and views was a review of Leonard’s decisions from the legal blog, Inversecondemnation.com." The only other coverage we've seen has been further references to our post by law blogger Charley Foster at Planet Kauai, and by alternative journos Hawaii Reporter and Hawaii Free Press. The only words we've heard from traditional media has been from the Star-Advertiser's Dave Shapiro, and then primarily via his Volcanic Ash blog.