At 0900 on Monday December 7th Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra will hear a motion for preliminary injunction to lift excessive restrictions on shipping to and from Hawaii that substantially increase the cost of living in Hawaii.The hearing will be held in his courtroom on the fourth floor of the Federal Building.
So few understand the significance of his decision; it is vital that all who do attend show support for lifting restrictions imposed by the Jones Act. Those who understand, please carpool as many as you can in time to arrive and be seated before 0900 a.m.
Note Well: These Jones Act restrictions violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments as well as the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Thank you,
Gayle Gardner on behalf of John Carroll Plaintiff Attorney
A mass email was recently distributed to friends, colleagues and contacts of mine.It was a smear on Hawaii gubernatorial candidate John Carroll and more pointedly, me.Whether you’ve received it or not, I’m compelled to make these comments.
1)The individual who sent the smear was fired from the Carroll campaign this past July for a litany of reasons.
2)The individual who sent the smear has been under investigation by the City Prosecutor’s office for nearly a year (The Carroll campaign found out that the investigation was still active shortly after he was fired.).Because of the current investigation I will make no further comment on this matter.
3)The individual who sent the smear has a history promoting manipulated and rhetorically embellished conspiracy theories.
4)I have done nothing illegal.
5)My personal regret is ever having been associated with someone so bizarre and manipulative.
For the past two years I have involved myself neck-deep in local politics.I personally despise the word politics.Nevertheless, what I learned early on is that politics is well-over 50% relationships.The relationships I have sought and desire to keep and demonstrate are based upon earned trust in demonstrating honesty through doing what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it through mutual agreement.I want to thank you for your calls and emails of concern, suggestion and inquiry.
Hat tip to former Maui resident now in Arizona, Warren Woodward, for sending this.
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says: “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”
However, in government, education, and in corporate America , more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse’s performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, costs less, has lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
And of course….
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
John Stossel is the best-known libertarian in the news media.
As the co-anchor of the long-running and immensely popular ABC News program 20/20, auteur of a continuing series of specials on topics ranging from corporate welfare to educational waste to laws criminalizing consensual adult behavior, and author of best-selling books such as Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity, Stossel brings a consistent message of liberty to millions of viewers on a weekly basis.
It wasnt always this way. Born in 1947, Stossel started out as a standard-issue consumer reporter, working in Oregon and New York before joining the staff of Good Morning America and, later, 20/20. He did scare stories about everything from pharmaceutical rip-offs to exploding coffee pots. Then, in the 1980s, he encountered reason, which radically changed his thinking about the benefits of laissez faire in economics and personal lifestyles.
“It was a revelation,” he writes in his 2004 memoir, Give Me a Break. “Here were writers who analyzed the benefits of free markets that I witnessed as a reporter. They called themselves libertarians, and their slogan was Free Minds and Free Markets. I wasnt exactly sure what that meant, but what they wrote sure made sense.”
Reason.tv caught up with Stossel in January in Los Angeles, where the newsman was filming a special episode of 20/20 based on six Reason.tv documentaries featuring Drew Carey. Among the topics: the desirability of open borders, the need to reform the nations drug laws, and the case against universal preschool. Ted Balaker, a Reason.tv producer, talked with Stossel about bailout mania, his hopes for the Obama years, and his attempt to educate a generation of school kids with a video series called Stossel in the Classroom.
Continuing on his way, Jonathan puzzled over the rules of this troubled island. Surely the people wouldn’t live with laws that made them so unhappy? There must be a good reason. The land looked so green and the air was so soft and warm—this should be paradise. Jonathan relaxed into his stride as he passed through the town.
He reached a stretch of road with formidable iron fences lining both sides. Behind the fence on his right stood strange animals of many sizes and shapes—tigers, zebras, monkeys—too many to count. Behind the other fence on the left paced dozens of men and women, all wearing black-and-white-striped shirts and pants. The two groups facing each other across the road looked bizarre. Spotting a man wearing a black uniform and twirling a short baton, Jonathan approached the guard as he marched between the locked gates.
Jonathan asked politely, “What are these fences are for?”
Keeping a steady rhythm with his feet and baton, the guard proudly replied, “One is our animal zoo.”
“Oh,” said Jonathan, staring at a group of furry animals with prehensile tails leaping from the walls of their cage.
The guard, accustomed to giving tours to the local children, continued to lecture. “See the excellent variety of animals over there.” He gestured toward the right side of the road. “They’re brought to us from all over the world. The fence keeps the animals safely in place where people can study them. Can’t have strange animals wandering around and harming society, you know.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Jonathan. “It must have cost you a fortune to bring animals from all over the world and to provide for them here.”
The guard smiled at Jonathan, and shook his head slightly. “Oh, I don’t pay for the zoo myself. Everyone on Corrumpo pays a zoo tax.”
“Everyone?” repeated Jonathan, self-consciously feeling the bottom of his empty pockets.
“Well, some folks try to avoid their responsibilities. These reluctant citizens say they have no interest in a zoo. Others refuse because they believe animals should be studied in their natural habitat.”
The guard turned to face the fence on the left of the road, rapping the heavy iron gate with his baton. “When citizens refuse to pay the zoo tax, we place them here, safely behind these bars. Such strange people can then be studied. They, too, are prevented from wandering around and harming society.”
Jonathan’s head began to spin from disbelief. Comparing the two groups behind the fences, he wondered if he would pay for the maintenance of this guard and two zoos. He gripped the iron bars and scrutinized the proud faces of the inmates in striped clothing. Then he studied the haughty expression on the face of the guard who continued to pace back and forth, twirling his baton.
Turning back to the road, Jonathan noticed that same yellow cat passing through the bars of the zoo, prowling for a meal. The guard pounded the bar loudly with his stick. The cat hid behind Jonathan, then sat down to lick his forepaw and scratch the fleas behind its torn ear.
“I’ll bet you love mice, don’t you cat? Lots of mice,” said Jonathan. “You and I are headed the same way so I might as well give you a name. How about ‘Mices’?” Jonathan christened his fellow traveler with a pat on the head. “You have been on both sides of the fence, Mices. Which side of the bars hold those of greater harm?”
Published as part of Hawaii Reporter’s ‘Growing Up in Hawaii’ series.
I grew up in the Salt Lake community of Honolulu until the summer of 1988 and Makakilo City (before it was and when it became Kapolei) for the rest of my youth. Although born in Honolulu my earliest memory as a three year old is of our family trip to visit my mom’s side of the family in the Philippines and then returning to pre-school at Keiki Kuleana. It was run out of Pearl Harbor Baptist Church on Arizona Road. This is the church with the distinctly pointed roof on the mauka side of the freeway when driving by the airport.
Pali Lookout, 1979
As an independent contractor, dad sold securities that met family needs and gave my sister and I the opportunity for a private education at Hawaii Baptist Academy. Tuition in kindergarten was under $1000 dollars in 1981. By the time I graduated in 1994, it was $6000 and worth every dime.
My mom was the first of seven immigrants in her family to become U.S. citizens. My sister and I grew up seeing our dad first help his father and mother-in-law and then four of his brother and sister-in-laws become U.S. citizens to pursue their American Dreams. It was around this time that political corruption and the assassination of Senator Ninoy Aquino led to social unrest and the people’s revolution in the Philippines. I clearly remember watching these events but more so, seeing shock and concern on my parents’ faces while they watched these events on CNN. We kept in close contact with our extended family that was directly affected.
It was also around this time that the Marcoses were exiled here, Cec Heftel (who as our Hawaii Congressman was a part of the fact-finding mission in the Philippines leading up to the people’s revolution) was smeared to defeat in his run for Hawaii Governor and the space shuttle Challenger with Hawaii’s Ellison Onizuka exploded.
Our grandparents on our dad’s side lived on the sixth floor of the same Hawaii Housing Authority building that we lived in the eleventh floor of while in Salt Lake. We regularly had views of double and triple rainbows over the hills and golf course from our mauka facing living room window. There was even a time our grandparents on our mom’s side and our Titos and Titas (Tagalog for uncles and aunts) lived a few blocks down Likini Street.
Several high-rises were built in the late 70s and throughout the 80s although most of the development took place after statehood in 60s through mid 70s.
Along with the old Gibsons store (now a car dealership) in Mapunapuna and Salt Lake Shopping Center, I also became very familiar running around the commercial district in Kaimuki. Grandpa (dad’s side) was a World War II veteran who became a Christian minister that finished his life serving as an elder at Kaimuki Christian Church and Pastor of Kaimuki Christian School for thirty years.
Haiku Gardens, 1989
Aside from church functions and a season of league baseball free time in Salt Lake included catching anole chameleons with neighbor friends, jogging around the Moanalua High School track with dad and picnicking at Moanalua Gardens.
The most fun events at this time for me had to be Hawaii Islanders (AAA minor league farm team for Major League, Pittsburg Pirates) baseball and UH and Bowl (Aloha, Hula and Pro) football games with dad. We had the Islanders final season tickets by first base over the visiting teams’ dugout at Rainbow Stadium (now Les Murakami Stadium). Heckling the visiting team and the umpires as a ten year old doubled the entertainment value at these games for my Dad and surrounding spectators.
Our family of four outgrew the apartment and moved to the house in older Makakilo. I remember the last sugarcane fire where Kapolei now developmentally booms not knowing at the time that it was the last. The ashes would land all over the neighborhood. From our porch you could see Campbell Industrial Park to Diamond Head. Mom called it our “million dollar view.” It was fascinating to watch the Kapolei subdivisions pop up over those months and years.
Prior to the Kapolei developments, Safeway and Gems department store in Waipahu were the nearest marketplaces, besides the tiny Makakilo Handy-Pantry. During free time, if you were bored of hiking around the hills, shooting pellet guns, basement or yard boxing, basketball, swimming at the rec-center, listening to Radio Free Hawaii, playing reggae music or video games with your neighbor friends, you’d catch TheBus to Pearlridge to walk around and look cool or watch a film like ‘Gremlins 2′ or ‘Uncle Buck’ at the Pearl four-plex (that’s now military recruiting offices) by Uncle John’s (that’s now a Denny’s).
If you or a friend had a car you could go to the nearest public beach, by Kahe power plant- we called it electric beach. Even better, if you could get onto Barber’s Point (now transferred back to the state and called Kalaeloa) by military or civilian pass you could body board, surf or swim at White Plains, eat at the closest McDonald’s or go bowling. There was also pre-Tiger Woods craze golf.
Our family typically commuted into town five days a week, did yard work on Saturday and would go to church on Sunday. Mom and I would pick mangos from our tree whenever they were in season.
It was also during these years that Ko’olina opened up and that upper Makakilo, the Ewa Plain, Kunia and Waikele continued or began significant development.
Our family was mixed culturally, in the most culturally mixed state in our nation, in the most culturally mixed nation of the world. As kids at school, in church, YMCA programs and in the neighborhood, we were simply accustomed to our many unique cultures. We were living out Martin Luther King Junior’s dream he delivered one to two decades prior.You played and ran around with friends that were chinese, japanese, korean, filipino, vietnamese, hawaiian, samoan, black, white, hispanic or whatever and any mix like it was nothing. Just be respectful where respect is due.Sometimes you liked what your friends’ parents cooked, sometimes you had to get used to it. The best tasting times for me as kid were when grandma on the sixth floor would make chicken dumplings and then I’d go home on the eleventh floor and mom would have champarado (filipino dish of hot, chocolate rice pudding) ready for me. To me that was the best of both sides of my families’ worlds in my satisfied stomach, right here in the center of the Pacific.
Ok, it’s official. We’re in a recession. We hear it everywhere. The question is, “What do we do?” I can tell you what most people are going to do. They are going to live and respond by fear, which means they are going to be left out of the recovery that always follows a recession.
So here’s what I want to do; give you the six very best abilities that you can have during a recession, plus one, so you can start getting ahead of the crowd before the recovery. Here they are:
1. Ability number one is Likeability. If you haven’t figured it out yet, you can be the smartest guy in the room. You can have great ideas. But if nobody likes you, no one’s going to adopt your ideas, and nothing you want is going to get done. Even in today’s market, people are selective about who they do business with. If you don’t have likeability, you’re going to be out in the cold.
2. The second best ability is Adaptability. Again, we’re in a recession, which means the rules are changing. I think we’re in a global transformation, or transition between old, corrupt, and sick systems, to new, more entrepreneurial, capitalistic-based. All that simply means is, you have to be adaptable. It’s not going to be “business as usual.” If you can’t roll with the punches, roll up your sleeves, you’re going to be left out.
3. Ability number three is Teachability. You’re going to have learn how to do new things like how to put up web sites and use technology and the internet. If you’re not teachable, then you’re going to be working at the drive-thru window at McDonalds.
4. The next best ability is Dependability. You show up and do what you say you will do. Here’s a hint. During these down times, make sure you cover the small bases. Be on time. If you have a meeting at 8:30, be there at 8:20. Be dependable. Do what you say, when you say you will do it. People have a long memory when it comes to this kind of stuff.
5. The sixth best ability is Humility. We’re living in a day when people aren’t impressed with your limousine and all your luxury items. They are not impressed with titles, accomplishments, and corner offices. They’re looking for people with genuine humility. These are the people who are not impressed with themselves, but who are all about the task. This is the attitude that says, “It’s not about me; it’s about you.” If you really, genuinely want to help people, it will come through in sense of humility.
6. And the best ability that trumps all the other abilities is Responsibility. Here I am not talking about reliability, or humility. I’m talking about response-ability. Take that word apart. You have the ability to respond. This trumps all the other abilities. Listen to what I am saying. Because we live in a reactionary time, that’s the worst possible thing you can do. What do you hear every single day? These four things repeated in their variations: We’ve got to hunker down, cut back, sell short, and wait it out. Those are all reactive responses motivated by fear.
If you’re going to be a part of the recovery that’s coming, the new world that’s being created, you have to learn how to be proactive and take initiative based on faith, vision, energy, enthusiasm, and the common good. Nothing else will be tolerated.
