HEALTH DEAL UNRAVELING:  This fight isn't over yet, no matter how many times the media tries to declare the death of the public option. It'd only take one or two senators to unravel this deal, and progressive senators Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders both indicated last night that their support can't be taken for granted.   (...so sad...)

If you are one of the few Americans who still subscribes, your morning newspaper probably has a headline like this: Democrats Reach Deal on Health Plan. Don’t believe it.  Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is still light years away from producing the 60 votes necessary to pass Obamacare out of the Senate. And the few details that have leaked out about this new “broad agreement” only reveal just how desperate Reid is to get any bill on to President Obama’s desk by the New Year.

“Former OPM Director Linda Springer told FederalNewsRadio it will literally take an act of Congress to pull that off. ‘I flat out think that OPM doesn't have the capacity to do this type of role,’ said Springer. ‘Furthermore, I don't believe that OPM has the statutory authority to do it as well. But on both those counts, I don't think it would be a good call….”’

Our priorities include:

• stimulating the economy and creating jobs,
• reforming our public education system,
• developing clean energy sources while achieving energy security,
• modernizing our transportation infrastructure,
• protecting the environment, and
• creating brighter futures for our students through scholastic robotics and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education programs.

Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) said expanding Medicare "is putting more people in a boat that's already sinking."  The American Medical Association said it opposes expanding Medicare because doctors face steep pay cuts under the program and many Medicare patients are struggling to find a doctor. Hospitals also said expanding Medicare and Medicaid is a bad idea.

Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared carbon dioxide to be a dangerous pollutant under the Clean Air Act, granting itself authority for an enormous, unprecedented regulatory undertaking that would greatly expand the EPA’s power. Because 85 percent of the U.S. economy operates on fossil fuel, the EPA would essentially have the ability to regulate every aspect of life in America – and it would be able to enact draconian climate-change policies without any accountability to American voters.

Plutocrats from around the world have marshaled over 1,200 limos and 140 private planes to travel to and around Copenhagen over the next two weeks. When they are not participating in the world’s oldest profession, conferees will be negotiating over a successor treaty to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which obligated most developed nations to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 5 percent below 1990 baseline levels by 2012.

The HSTA has conspired with the DoE and BoE to make the furloughs as damaging as possible in order to put Hawaii schools so far out of the competition that the Hawaii Legislature will see no point in trying to enact the education reforms which could help win “Race to the Top” funding.

Four Hawai’i schools who competed at the Pan Pacific Championship qualified to advance to the VEX Robotics World Championship that will take place at the Dallas Convention Center and Arena April 22 - 24, 2010, including: Honokaa High School, Waiakea High School, McKinley High School, Pearl Highlands Intermediate.  At the World Championship, these winning teams will have the opportunity to challenge their top-ranked peers from other countries around the world, including teams from the Asian Robotics League, South America and Europe.

Undeterred by the complete failure of their past job creation efforts, leading leftist luminaries are again calling on the liberal majorities in Congress and President Obama to approve billions more in government spending for a third stimulus. Yesterday, President Obama hosted a “jobs summit” where academics, union leaders, and select big business leaders made their pitch for government largess. Among the ideas reported: Teamsters leader James Hoffa called for higher barriers to trade, President Obama insisted that all future aid to states go to preserving government jobs and not tax cuts, and others pushed to bring the “success” of Cash for Clunkers to a new Cash for Caulkers program.

The Senate began debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R.3590) this week. Senators on both sides of the aisle offered amendments to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s huge, 2074 page health care bill. The first votes to take place concerned preventative services for women.

With discussions stalled until mid-December, public unions bosses are showing their priorities do not lie with Hawai'i’s children.  They simply ignore the financial reality the rest of Hawai'i has already begun to face.  Instead of reallocating from the DOE/BOE bureaucracy, these uncaring public union leaders are mercilessly pulling more money from teachers’ pockets and valuable class time from students.

Almost three weeks since the plan was announced, we are still in lengthy and unproductive discussions with the State Teachers union.  It is disappointing that the next discussions aren’t scheduled again until December 15th and 16th. This delay will seriously impact the possibility of teachers voting on the contract changes and the convening of a special session to enact the necessary legislation to use the State’s Rainy Day Fund.  This will result in further loss of classroom time in the month of January.

... For some reason, they fail to mention the erupting volcano next door ....

Dan DiMicco, CEO of steelmaker Nucor Corp, who told the Wall Street Journal: “Companies large and small are saying, ‘I am not going to do anything until these things — health care, climate legislation — go away or are resolved.’” Or Porta-King CEO Steve Schulte who tells USA Today his company is not investing because “proposals in Congress to tackle climate change and overhaul health care would raise costs.”

Dr. Frank Sayre and Laura Mallery-Sayre experienced first-hand the heroism of the Hawai‘i Fire Department when they lost their son in a hiking accident in Polulu Valley.  The Hawai‘i Fire Department did not have rappelling ropes long enough to reach the bottom of the valley, so firefighters flew a helicopter into the narrow terrain at great personal risk.

Since then, Frank and Laura, motivated by the bravery and heroism of the firefighters, began the Daniel Sayre Foundation to raise money to buy equipment for the Hawai‘i Fire Department. Their efforts have been met with resounding success in the community, as they have raised more than $400,000 to provide essential life-saving equipment and training for our firefighters.

During the month of November, while President Barack Obama was dithering on whether or not to embrace General Stanley McChrystal’s strategy for winning in Afghanistan, something unexpected happened in American public opinion on the war. According to Gallup, the American public switched from 42% for and 44% against sending more troops to Afghanistan, to 47% for and only 39% against a troop build up. It is unclear why the American people came to support an increase in troops last month, but it is safe to rule out strong leadership from the White House as the cause. Hopefully the President’s incoherent address to a muted West Point audience will not reverse America’s growing support for victory.

Cadets await speech at West Point

"After vacillating for months, I am happy the President has finally made up his mind to confront the Taliban and defeat Islamic radicals.  This is the right decision and deserves our nation's full support," stated Djou.  "The war in Afghanistan is a fight we must win."

The ‘Small Business Survival Index' helps business owners and investors understand the public policy burdens placed on entrepreneurship and small business, with the states ranked accordingly.