In This Issue: Hawaii Tax Day Protest, International Climate Change Conference 2009, Podcasts, Videos, Events, and More!

2009 Hawaii Tax Day Tea Party
Citizens Commit to Hold Elected Officials Accountable

Hawaii’s taxpayers have had enough, and on April 15th their voices were heard loud and clear. The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii co-sponsored the first-ever Honolulu Tax Day Tea Party at the Hawaii state capitol. In the largest tax protest in Hawaii history, up to 2000 attendees expressed their frustration with wasteful government spending at the local, state, and national levels. Children, retirees, blue-collar workers, and small business owners all showed up to protest the stranglehold government has on families and businesses.

.(To read more, click here.)

Blooming Free Markets
GRIH Scholar and Daughter Share Free Enterprise Info in Europe During Spring Break 2009
By Kenli and Ken Schoolland

The Polish American Foundation for Economic Research and Education (PAFERE) hosted us for presentations at 17 schools, universities, and public events in five cities around Poland over spring break. Interviews were provided to radio, television, and newspaper journalists and meetings were held with the Łódź Political Club, the Nowogrodzka 44 Discussion Club, and the PAFERE Conference on “Ethical Sources of the Present Crisis: What Will Be the Future of Capitalism?”

Audiences were most interested in hearing about causes and cures for the global monetary crisis. They have a healthy skepticism of the panicked clamor to give trillion dollar bailouts to cronies in the financial sector. In fact, many Poles felt that the “recession” was being over-hyped. How else could American politicians get away with bailout pledges that amounted to more than double the total expense of World War II?

.(To read more, click here.)

GRASSROOT PERSPECTIVE

A Climate of Common Sense
International Climate Change Conference 2009
By Pearl Hahn

During the Heartland Institute’s recent International Climate Change Conference in New York City (co-sponsored by GRIH), Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus declared that the true plans and ambitions of climate change alarmists are “to stop economic development, and return mankind centuries back.”

I was lucky enough to hear him first-hand in support of a growing movement demanding common sense instead of knee-jerk, harmful, government regulations as an approach to the climate issue. In his speech, President Klaus hit upon a crucial point previously made in GRIH’s first climate change brief—that alarmists are still “not able to explain why the global temperature increased from 1918 to 1940, decreased from 1940 to 1976, increased from 1976 to 1998, and decreased from 1998 to the present, irrespective of the fact that the people have been adding increasing amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.”

(To read more, click here.)

LIBERTY NEWS

SBH Announces Annual Business Awards and Banquet

The annual SBH Business Awards will be presented at the annual business banquet, Friday, May 15 at the Waialae Country Club from 5:30-8 pm. From 1984 until last year, the SBH awards had been given during the annual business conference in January. Last year, the Directors felt it was better to carve out a special day and event to honor the business awardees, and mid-May is now that time.

(To read more, click here.)

Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest

The 2009 Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest is an international competition open to college students and untenured college teachers under 36 years old. The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest encourages college students and young college professors around the world to study the meaning and significance of economic and personal liberty. This year entrants are invited to examine the relationship between freedom, virtue and civil society. Top student essays will be awarded $2,500 and junior faculty, $10,000. The entry deadline is May 1st. Winners will be announced in October, 2009 . The 2009 Templeton Fellowships will be awarded for the best essay on the topic: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”—Benjamin Franklin. Which virtues contribute the most toward achieving freedom, and how can the institutions of civil society encourage the exercise of those virtues?

Co-sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the Independent Institute, the essay contest honors Sir John M. Templeton and is held annually with a different topic each year. Created in 1974 by Olive W. Garvey, the Fellowship contest has drawn essay submissions from more than 75 countries on 5 continents. Winners have since become some of the finest of scholars, business and civic leaders, and journalists, applying and advancing public knowledge and appreciation around the world for the ideas of individual liberty and personal responsibility. The Independent Institute will publish the winning essays on this website and seek to have them published elsewhere in major magazines and journals.

For more information please visit http://www.independent.org/students/essay/.

-GIR-

LIBERTY EVENTS

Information on the Institute’s upcoming events, research publication dates and speaking engagements are always available and updated via our website. The Grassroot Institute has regular meetings on Oahu, Maui, The Big Island, and Kauai. Please contact our office for more details.

Family Brain Gain Seminars 
Please join us for "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed", an award-winning documentary by Ben Stein. The movie uncovers the dramatic persecution of educators and scientists who are being denied tenure -- and even fired in some cases -- for their belief in the evidence of "design" in nature, challenging the idea that life is a result of random chance or the result of evolution. A very timely film you won't want to miss!

Friday, April 17, 2009
6:45 PM
Trinity Presbyterian Church and School
875 Auloa Rd in Kailua (just off the Pali Highway)

Dick Rowland, GRIH Founder and Youth Program Director, will be the moderator. You are welcome to invite friends and family. Please RSVP since space may be limited. Reservations: Please email Lora Burbage at LLburbage@yahoo.com. If you have any questions, call Lora at 772-0787 or Dick at 864-1776. Donations to help defer expenses will be gratefully accepted. Mahalo nui loa to Trinity Presbyterian Church and School for their support!

Li Zhao's The Foolish Things Idea Exchange
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Speakers/Topic: Dan Douglass and Larry Bartley debating Party Schisms
Cost: $5 monthly (or $40 annual) membership donation. Heavy pupus.
Location: The Schoolland's, 94-1072 Alelo St., Waipahu, HI
RSVP to 808-676-0825 or Li.Schoolland@gmail.com

Heritage Resource Bank
 Los Angeles, California
 April 23-26, 2009
TeamGrassroot is looking forward to attending this year's event, held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza and featuring management and leadership experts providing strategies for advancing free markets and limited government. This is a valuable session for all grassroots advocates, policy leaders and think tank staff. The two-day event features a State Think Tank Dinner, Atlas Liberty discussion forum and the SPN Leadership Development Breakfast. For more information please visit http://www.heritage.org/about/community/resourcebank.cfm

-GIR-

Grassroot Media Hits

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• As co-sponsor of the 2009 Hawaii Tax Day Tea Party, GRIH has received some media coverage including an article in The Honolulu Advertiser.

• Hawaii Reporter recently published several news releases from GRIH and articles from Grassroot Institute members. You can also read our weekly Pork Fact from the 2009 Hawaii Pork Report. Please visit: http://www.hawaiireporter.com.

• The nationally recognized and popular site http://www.townhall.com has recently picked up for national distribution many of the articles you read in Grassroot in Review.

-GIR-

GRASSROOT TV

Please check out three NEW videos we have at GTV!
http://www.youtube.com/user/GrassrootHawaii

-GIR-

'GRASSROOT INSIGHT' PODCASTS

GRIH Director of Communications Tom McAuliffe interviews VIPs, community leaders, and special guests from the liberty and freedom movement. The FREE audio interviews are available for download to your portable listening device or for listening via the Internet.

Tune in next issue for a live podcast from the 2009 Tax Day Tea Party!

Meanwhile please check out our recent podcasts with:
• Citizens Against Government Waste's David Williams
• Author Dr. Ken Conklin on the Akaka Bill and Hawaiian history
• Jack McHugh from the Mackinac Center and MichiganVotes.org
• GRIH Youth Coordinator Lora Burbage on education reform
• Hawaii State Senator Sam Slom

-GIR-

FAVORITE GRASSROOT BLOGS
Join the conversation and express your views! Use these links to access our interactive sites.

• Check out HawaiiVotes for the latest on the Hawaii State Legislature.
http://www.hawaiivotes.org

• Hawaii Sunshine Government Transparency Web Site
http://www.hawaiisunshine.org/

• The Mystery of Hawaiian History
http://historymystery.grassrootinstitute.org

• Hawaii Sunshine Chronicles
http://www.sunshinechronicles.wordpress.com

• Aloha For All
http://www.aloha4all.org

Read what others have written and add your own thoughts. See you there!

-GIR-

NEED A GOOD SPEAKER?
From taxation to education and health care to transportation, the Institute’s staff is excited to address your group regarding the important policy issues facing all citizens of Hawaii. Call (808) 591-9193 to check availability and make arrangements, or e-mail us at tom@grassrootinstitute.org.

-GIR-

SUPPORT GOOD PUBLIC POLICY IN HAWAII!
Please help us continue to provide independent research on issues important to Hawaii! The Grassroot Institute operates only through the generous donations of friends and benefactors from around Hawaii and the United States, and even the smallest of donations can be used to accomplish great things for the future of our beloved state.

Will you please consider becoming a supporter today? Donations are tax deductible and it's quick, easy and secure. Click here!

-GIR-

Grassroot Institute is a proud member of the State Policy Network, Townhall.com, Americans for Tax Reform, The Sam Adams Alliance and more.