A Dash of Calabash

Blogs sponsored by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii (GRIH) include:

This one, A Dash of Calabash. It is our central blog, so to speak. Your thoughts and comments are so important to us that we have put your ability to interact with us as the centerpiece of our website.

Your Voice Matters.

~ ~ ~

Akaka Talka. As you might guess this one is focused on the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (S147 H309) otherwise referred to as the Akaka Bill. It is a part of "Sunshine on the Akaka Bill" on the upper left of this homepage.

~ ~ ~

Education Beat Hawaii is a separate website that invites your comments. Click here to get the latest on Education Reform.

~ ~ ~

Feature - Projected State Spending Growth

Friday, July 22, 2005

Why are they afraid to debate the Akaka Bill?

Tuesday, July 19, 2005, from about 2:00 to about 3:10 PM, the US House Sub-Committee on Constitutional Issues met on the Akaka bill. Bruce Fein and Bill Burgess testified that the bill was unconstitutional. Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett represented the State of Hawaii, saying it was completely constitutional. Representative Ed Case (D) of Hawaii and Representative Neil Abercrombie (D) of Hawaii attended the hearing. Case said little, Abercrombie passed out macadamia nuts and leis and derided the 'philosophers' present. At the close of the deliberations, Bruce Fein approached Mark Bennett and offered to go to Hawaii and debate him, in public, regarding the Akaka bill. Bennett refused.

Please note this carefully: The government proponents of the Akaka bill explicitly and consistently do not want any genuine public discussion of the bill anywhere. But especially they want to avoid debate and discussion in Hawaii. They want the people of Hawaii kept uninformed while they lobby the U.S. Senate and House to pass a bill which would have enormous impact on every resident of our state.

We had a vote in 1959 regarding Hawaii's statehood. Some 94% of our voters said yes after the matter was fully discussed and debated. In other words, people were informed and voiced their consent.

Now we have a Native Hawaiian governing authority to be imposed on the state with no public discussion and no vote of the people of Hawaii. Just to make the situation even more evil, our state administration strives to avoid discussion in Hawaii at all costs.

The recently completed GRIH poll of all households in Hawaii revealed that two out of three respondents opposed the Akaka bill. The response of the proponents is to redouble the lobbying in Washington, D.C.

This stands democracy on its head. Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

(ror)