Yet, as important as this their influence is, most Americans have no say in choosing their child’s teacher. Parents don’t have a choice when it comes to their child’s education, despite the fact their tax dollars pay for the public schools, and their children’s futures are at stake.

Parents in Los Angeles are getting some new transparency about their children’s schools this week.  The Los Angeles Times recently released the names of 6,000 elementary teachers and data showing how much each teacher’s students improved on standardized tests....

"Instead of an over-reliance on government spending, we must continue to focus our efforts on cultivating a business-friendly environment that creates job opportunities and instills confidence and transparency in government.

"Government doesn't create the jobs that fuel our economy over the long term, but we can make it easier for those who do."

VOTE EARLY! Here is a complete list of Walk-in absentee/early voting sites and hours for all four counties.

...the U.S. economy lost 125,000 jobs in June and then the August report found another 131,000 jobs were lost in July. Today the Labor Department released the September jobs report, showing nonfarm payrolls decreased again by 54,000 and that the nation's unemployment rate rose to 9.6%.

Washington- House Democrats’ summer recess is almost over and it’s time for Colleen Hanabusa and her out-of-touch friends to face the music. With another failed attempt at recovery under their belts, Democrats are facing a bruising uphill battle this November. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent and way above the once-promised eight percent, Democrats have officially run out of excuses. Their trillion-dollar stimulus failed to produce jobs and their runaway spending spree has left the nation in debt, putting their Democrat majority up for grabs this fall – and making Hanabusa accountable for supporting her party’s failed economic agenda.

Motorists in California and Hawaii have to look out for the most potholes on urban Interstates. In those two states, 25 percent of urban interstate pavement is in poor condition. ... Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii and New York have the least cost-effective roads.

THREE MONTHS after Intajak arrived in America, in October 2004, Global Horizons sent him to Hawaii to work for the Maui Pineapple Co. Here, the pay was better than in Yakima—$9.50 an hour—but the conditions were worse. One Global Horizons agent, Intajak and other workers told me, was in the habit of carrying a knife, a gun, or a baseball bat, and of threatening workers with "deportation" if they didn't behave or meet their quotas. Just four days in, Intajak says, he watched the man beat a coworker. 

The Maui Pineapple Co.'s land is nestled among gorgeous foothills, shrouded in mist and covered with volcanic soil the color of dark coffee. The now-defunct company was part of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., whose majority owner is Steve Case, cofounder of AOL; another primary shareholder is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, a generous benefactor of anti-slavery organizations.... 

“I am very pleased that the State Senate has voted unanimously to confirm Mark Recktenwald to be the fifth Chief Justice of the Hawai‘i State Supreme Court.

“The people of Hawai‘i can feel confident, as I am, that they will have a Chief Justice who will guide our courts with fairness and integrity in upholding the rule of law and our constitution.

Throughout the month of September, make your trip to the grocery store count for life by donating to Hawaii Right to Life through the Foodland/Sack 'n Save Give Aloha program.

In 2004, Hawaii required 677 signatures to qualify an entire new party, and 3,711 signatures to qualify an independent presidential candidate.  Ralph Nader and Michael Peroutka each tried to qualify as independent presidential candidates.  Even though each of them submitted more than 7,000 signatures, Hawaii elections officials invalidated over half of them.  Hawaii tends to disqualify signatures if the signer failed to show either the last four digits of his or Social Security number, or the full birthday.

Hawaii’s usually voluble homegrown secular humanists are stone silent because they agree with Ka’auwai.  For the same reason, Hawaii’s pro-Abercrombie media have greatly tempered their response.  In a recent Star-Advertiser poll, Republican crossover voters were shown to be backing Mufi Hannemann 72% to 28% against Neil Abercrombie.

But the national groups aren’t thinking about short-term local political calculations....

Just in time for September 11th, the State of Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural Resources, has announced a six-figure grant to the 9-11 truthers of the Malu Aina Peace Center.

Jim Albertini is a convicted felon and federal ex-convict once tagged as a "psychopath" by Judge Samuel Wilder King.  Along with his comrades from Malu-Aina, Albertini can be seen every Friday afternoon in front of Hilo’s Federal Building with an “Impeach Obama” sign.... 

The Republican Governors Association launched new television and radio advertisements in Hawai‘i today highlighting Duke Aiona’s plan to reduce the state’s dependence on oil and move it towards a green energy economy.

You and I both know that hundreds of thousands showed up in DC this weekend, and that even more marched on 9/12 last year. The good news is, the American people are wising up, too. They aren't buying the mainstream media's downplayed story, not when there is obvious photographic evidence discrediting them . . . and a political agenda motivating them.

So we're marching on 9/12 again.

The President again evinced the impression that he viewed Iraq as a distraction, and he twice said he wanted to "turn the page" to other issues. As forgettable as the address was however, once placed into the broader context of foreign policy speeches and actions, a clear Obama Doctrine can now be defined, as James Carafano and Kim Holmes do in a new paper released today....

Allen was responsible for organizing the volunteers at the 2010 iVote rally at the Capitol as well as organizing the neighbor island pastors and churches in the HB444 campaign.  He is a leader in our community and we are extremely blessed to have him take this key position.

Lt. Governor Aiona on Thursday delivered remarks on the importance of providing affordable, quality health care at a dedication ceremony for a new Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. The hospital will help provide specialty care and innovative research for children from Hawai`i and the Pacific Northwest.

Alaska's incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has conceded to TEA Party-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miler.

In his response, Abercrombie said that his opponent "spins facts."

"Congress.org is a Republican front organization that rates me in the same category as Sen. Daniel Inouye," he said, referring to Hawaii's longtime senator.

For the record, Congress.org is not —and has never been — a "Republican front organization." We are a news and information site run by the CQ-Roll Call Group, which also publishes CQ Today and Roll Call. Like those publications, we strive to be neutral and objective.

HONOLULU - Lt. Governor Duke Aiona, the leading Republican candidate for Governor, today announced that he will kick off his Connecting Communities initiative to hold 20 talk stories in 20 communities across the state. The new statewide effort to connect working families and concerned citizens to each other and the issues they care about most follows Duke Aiona's small business initiative in which he met with more than 120 small businesses in 100 days.