My goal and commitment to you in 2010 is to help elect a Republican Governor, a member of Congress and more Republicans to the legislature, council races and Board of Education.  As Party Chairman, I will work to ensure that Republicans contest all Legislative seats so that Hawaii voters have real choices on election day.

April 15th, 2009 was just the beginning of something huge.  We must keep our momentum going, and keep the pressure on our elected officials as they vote on how much more of our money they will spend, and how much more of our money they will confiscate. Congress is back in session this week, and the champions of big government will be working to pass a massive budget, a new national energy tax, government-run healthcare, and other policies that would cripple our economy even further.

If these bills are approved by April 21; the Legislature has a chance to override any veto before their scheduled adjournment on May 7:

• HB1747, HD1, SD1 INCOME TAX RATES
• SB1111, SD1,HD1  TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX RATE
• HB895 & HB1175  TAX ON TOBACCOPRODUCTS & CIGARETTES
• HB1741, HD1 SD1  PROPERTY CONVEYANCE TAX

With a Hawaii County internal investigation of Internet abuse by employees beginning to heat up as a political issue, perhaps the same people who chose to ignore now-mayor Billy Kenoi’s fundraising on behalf of Mafia murderer Malu Motta will become interested in questions about Kenoi’s possible campaign use of government computers, email accounts, office space, and telephones.

Before a boisterous crowd of approximately 20,000 in the Georgia Dome, the four Hawai‘i teams got down to business at the “Super Bowl off Smarts,” which started yesterday and wrapped up today.  They competed with close to 350 other teams from Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, the Philippines and the U.S. mainland.  The competition challenged the students to use their critical thinking skills and knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to maneuver robots they built themselves around a playing field.

The Legislature’s brief argues that the court’s ruling has “dangerously undermined” the Legislature’s constitutional authority to craft precise laws that reflect its policy choices....

(Since TV news viewers are being treated to daily spin on the remarks at and after the Austin TX Tea Party by Texas Governor Rick Perry, here is a flashback to another elected official who spoke about secession....)  

KASTE: Democratic Senator Dan Akaka, himself a native, wants Congress to let Hawaiians re-establish their national identity. He says his bill would give them a kind of legal parity with tribal governments on the mainland, but he says this sovereignty could eventually go further, perhaps even leading to outright independence.  

Sen. AKAKA: That could be. As far as what's going to happen at the other end, I'm leaving it up to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Joe Bertram believes sexual predators are clogging up our prisons and should be out of jail, free to lure more of our innocent children. I believe they belong behind bars and away from our communities.  Bertram’s actions are not only disgusting, they are dangerous.

State House and Senate members passed a $4 billion tax increase on the people of Hawaii today on the eve of the largest anti-tax protest in the nation’s history.

The legislature wants every resident in the state of Hawaii to pay more for gas, and more in vehicle registration fees and vehicle weight fees (Senate Bill 1611).

The legislature also passed tax increases which could put hotel employees out of work by increasing the Transient Accommodations Tax. Leaders in the hotel industry say that this new tax would hurt the hotel business and their ability to compete with other tourist destinations, especially during a bad economy. (Senate Bill 1111).

A tax increase was also levied on Internet sales. (Senate Bill 1678)

Under Act 228, county permitting agencies were prohibited from issuing permits for demolition, construction or other alteration of such structures until after the building or homeowner provided the black-and-white photos to SHPD, which then determined if the structure could be modified or demolished. 

We can all agree that our State is experiencing one of the worst economic downturns in its history. This 2009 Legislature has made numerous efforts to remedy this situation. Unfortunately, these efforts have resulted in high tax increases and anti-business legislation that will hurt rather than help our floundering economy.

I will be joining hundreds of other hard working Hawaii taxpayers at 4pm on April 15 at our state capitol to display our objection to government taking the easy way out and sending us a bigger tax bill.  Families across the nation are tightening their belts to deal with these difficult economic times and instead of doing the same, all levels of government want to simply make these times harder and raise our taxes.  This is unfair and unacceptable.

For those who feel they're paying too much and have a yen to vent, there's an event tomorrow just for you (assuming that you're not one of those last-minute procrastinators and have the time to attend). The "Tax Day Tea Party" will be held 4-7 p.m. at the state Capitol.

Here's the call to action from the organizer's Web site, www.overtaxedhawaii.com:

"Many of our elected state legislators in Hawaii are planning to enact massive tax increases in the weeks ahead when the legislative session ends on May 7th. YOU CAN HELP STOP THEM.

Once you start getting up to times 40 yes it can be a really powerful psychedelic, you'll see things shoot, you won't remember your name you'll start drooling a little bit your hands will sweat a little bit," said Sochocki.

"They become afraid may jump off buildings may do things like most hallucinogenic substances," said Kamita.

Individuals involved in ceded-lands litigation Kuroiwa v Lingle have issued two statements in response to Duke Aiona on Ceded Lands: High Court decision leaves no winners:

...while you might know it from Proposition 8's victory last year, voter initiatives to ban gay marriage are becoming harder and harder to pass every year.....

(This analysis is flawed by its reliance on 'white evangelicals' since in Hawaii opposition to gay marriage comes from evangelicals of all ethnic backgrounds.  Also in California, opposition to Prop 8 came from black and Hispanic precincts.  But the bottom line is the same.  Church-goers better start registering to vote in the same percentages that union members do.)

(Be sure to check out the videos of West Hollywood gay protesters shouting the n-word after the approval of Prop 8.)

...several division presidents and secretary-treasurers, have been convicted since 2001 of felonies ranging from embezzlement, falsifying official reports to government, mail fraud and conspiracy....

The firm’s main office was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last year.