2. American Tears..."A Time for Confronting" - article
3. Sarvodaya event on Nov 6 at EWC
4. Makahiki: The Return of LONO!... Air Dates
5. Online Petition: Support the Maori!
6. Maori resistance not terrorism - Moana Jackson
7. Police Terror Boss Has Activist Harassment History
8. Disappeared News - 6 new articles
10. sidewalk (anti-war) blog news for the week
11. No War, No Wiretaps, No Torture
12. [Cathy Garger] Open Letter to US Army Regarding Decision to Destroy
Hawaii
13. An Hawaiian contribution to the Superferry debate
14. AFSC fund for low-income & immigrant victims of San Diego fires
15. Superferry bill passes in House
1. Rumsfeld hit with torture lawsuit while visiting Paris
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:03:20 -1000
From: kepalo <kepalo@hawaii.rr.com>
 To bad they did not take him into custody. He may be the first who was
served personly. Now this is pono. kepalo
----- Original Message ----- From: viviane lerner
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 9:12 AM
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rumsfeld_hit_with_torture_complaint_while_1026.html
Rumsfeld hit with torture lawsuit while visiting Paris
10/26/2007 @ 11:58 am
Filed by Jason Rhyne
Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's jaunt to France was
interrupted today by an unscheduled itinerary item -- he was slapped with
a criminal complaint charging him with torture.
Rumsfeld, in Paris for a discussion sponsored by the magazine Foreign
Policy, was by tracked down by representatives of a coalition of
international human rights groups, who informed the architect of the US
invasion of Iraq that they had submitted a torture suit against him in
French court.
The filed documents allege that during his tenure, the former defense
secretary "ordered and authorized" torture of detainees at both the
American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the US military's detainment
facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The head of one of the groups responsible for bringing the charges, the
US-based Center for Constitutional Rights, told RAW STORY today by phone
that the suit was a long time coming.
"We've been working on cornering Rumsfeld and getting him indicted
somewhere going on three years now," said the Center's president, Michael
Ratner. "Four days ago, we got confidential information he was going to be
in France."
Joined by activists, attorneys for the human rights groups caught up with
Rumsfeld on his way to a breakfast meeting. "He was walking down the
street with just one person," said Ratner.
"Around 20 campaigners gave Rumsfeld a rowdy welcome...yelling 'murderer,'
waving a banner and trying to push into the building," reports AFP.
Ratner, who wasn't personally at the scene, says his sources told him that
the former defense secretary made some pre-scheduled remarks at the
meeting before ducking through a door leading to the US Embassy.
According to Ratner, France has a legal responsibility under international
law to prosecute Rumsfeld for torture abuses.
"If a torturer comes into your territory," he said, "there's an obligation
to either prosecute the person or return him to a place where he will be
prosecuted."
The rights groups notably cite three memorandums signed by the defense
secretary between October 2002 and April 2003 "legimitizing the use of
torture" including the "hooding" of detainees, sleep deprivation and the
use of dogs.
Although his group has been a part of previous attempts to bring charges
against Rumsfeld, including two former tries in Germany, Ratner believes
French court has the highest chance of success.
"There are Guantananamo detainees who were tortured that are living in
France," he said. "It gives French courts another reason to prosecute."
Ratner says Europe is "getting very hot for Rumsfeld," and suggests a
French court could at least issue its version of a subpoena.
"We hope that this case will move forward," he said, "especially as the US
says it can continue to torture people."
Other groups involved in the complaint include the International
Federation of Human Rights, the French League for Human Rights and
Germany's European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.
More details about the lawsuit are available at the website of the Center
for Constitutional Rights.
________________________________________________________________________________
2. American Tears..."A Time for Confronting" - article
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:06:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: patricia blair <cris6369@yahoo.com>
----- Original Message -----
To read posted discussion/comments, click on the article link at
Common Dreams:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/12/4502/
American Tears by Naomi Wolf
Published on Friday, October 12, 2007 by The Huffington Post
I wish people would stop breaking into tears when they talk to me these
days.
I am traveling across the country--at the moment Colorado to
California--speaking to groups of Americans from all walks of life about
the assault on liberty and the 10 steps now underway in America to a
violently closed society.
The good news is that Americans are already awake: I thought there would
be resistance to or disbelief at this message of gathering darkness, but I
am finding crowds of people who dont need me to tell them to worry; they
are already scared, already alert to the danger and entirely prepared to
hear what the big picture might look like. To my great relief, Americans
are smart and brave, and they are unflinching in their readiness to hear
the worst and take action. And they love their country.
But I can't stand the stories I am hearing. I can't stand to open my email
these days. And wherever I go, it seems, at least once a day, someone very
strong starts to cry while they are speaking.
In Boulder, two days ago, a rosy-cheeked thirtysomething mother of two
small children, in soft yoga velours, started to tear up when she said to
me: I want to take action but I am so scared. I look at my kids and I am
scared. How do you deal with fear? Is it safer for them if I act or stay
quiet? I don't want to get on a list. In D.C., before that, a beefy,
handsome civil servant, a government department head, probably a
Republican, confides in a lowered voice that he is scared to sign the new
ID requirement for all government employees, which exposes all his most
personal information to the State, but he is scared not to sign it: If I
don't, I lose my job, my house. It's like the German National ID card, he
said quietly. This morning in Denver I talked for almost an hour to a
brave, much-decorated high-level military man who is not only on the watch
list for his criticism of the administration; his family is now on the
list. His elderly mother is on the list. His teenage son is on the list.
He has flown many dangerous combat missions over the course of his
military career, but his voice cracks when he talks about the possibility
that he is exposing his children to harassment.
Jim Spencer, a former columnist for the Denver Post who has been critical
of the Bush administration, told me today that I could use his name: he is
on the watch list. An attorney contacts me to say that she told her
colleagues at the Justice Department not to torture a detainee; she says
she then faced a criminal investigation, a professional referral, saw her
emails deleted and now she is on the watch list. I was told last night
that a leader of Code Pink, the anti-war women's action group, was refused
entry to Canada. I hear from a tech guy who works for the airlines again,
probably a Republican, that once you are on the list you never get off.
Someone else says that his friend opened his luggage to find a letter from
the TSA saying that they did not appreciate his reading material. Before I
go into the security lines, I find myself editing my possessions. In New
Yorks LaGuardia, I reluctantly found myself putting a hardcover copy of
Tara McKelvey's excellent 'Monstering', an expose of CIA interrogation
practices, in a garbage can before I got in the security line; it is based
on classified information. This morning at my hotel, before going to the
airport, I threw away a very nice black T-shirt that said We Will Not be
Silenced with an Arabic translation that someone had given me, along with
a copy of poems written by detainees at Guantanamo.
In my America we are not scared to get in line at the airport. In my
America, we will not be silenced.
More times than I can count, courageous and confident men who are telling
me about speaking up, but who are risking what they see as the possible
loss of job, home or the ability to pay for grown kids schooling, start to
choke up. Yesterday a woman in one gathering started to cry simply while
talking about the degradation of her beloved country.
And always the question: what do we do?
It is clear from this inundation of personal stories of abuse and
retribution against ordinary Americans that a network of criminal behavior
and intention is catching up more and more mainstream citizens in its
grasp. It is clear that this is not democracy as usual or even the
corruption of democracy as usual. It is clear that we will need more
drastic action than emails to Congress.
The people I am hearing from are conservatives and independents as well as
progressives. The cardinal rule of a closing or closed society is that
your alignment with the regime offers no protection; in a true police
state no one is safe.
I read the news in a state of something like walking shock: seven soldiers
wrote op-eds critical of the war in The New York Times; three are dead,
one shot in the head. A female soldier who was about to become a
whistleblower, possibly about abuses involving taxpayers' money: shot in
the head. Pat Tillman, who was contemplating coming forward in a critique
of the war: shot in the head. Donald Vance, a contractor himself, who blew
the whistle on irregularities involving arms sales in Iraq taken hostage
FROM the U.S. Embassy BY U.S. soldiers and kept without recourse to a
lawyer in a U.S. held-prison, abused and terrified for weeks and scared to
talk once he got home. Another whistleblower in Iraq, as reported in
Vanity Fair: held in a trailer all night by armed contractors before being
ejected from the country.
Last week contractors, immune from the rule of law, butchered 17 Iraqi
civilians in cold blood. Congress mildly objected and contractors today
butcher two more innocent civilian Iraqi ladies in cold blood.
It is clear yet that violent retribution, torture or maybe worse, seems to
go right up this chain of command? Is it clear yet that these people are
capable of anything? Is it obvious yet that criminals are at the helm of
the nation and need to be not only ousted but held accountable for their
crimes?
Is it treason yet?
This is an open invitation to honorable patriots on the Right and in the
center to join this movement to restore the rule of law and confront this
horror: this is not conservatism, it is a series of crimes against the
nation and against the very essence of America. Join us, we need you.
This movement must transcend partisan lines. The power of individual
conscience is profound when people start to wake up.
Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey said 'No': he told colleagues
that they would be ashamed when the world learned about the
Administration's warrantless wiretapping. Comey said No: history will look
at this torture and disgrace the torturers. A judge today ruled that the
U.S. can't just ship prisoners out of Guantanamo to be tortured at will
she said 'No'. The Center for Constitutional Rights is about to file a
civil lawsuit against Blackwater: they are saying 'No'.
In Germany, according to historian Richard Evans, in 1931-1932, if enough
Germans of conscience had begun to say No, history would have had an
entirely different outcome.
If we go any further down this road, the tears will be those of
conservatives as well as progressives. They will be American tears.
The time for weeping has to stop; the time for confronting must begin.
Naomi Wolf's books include The Beauty Myth and Fire With Fire: The New
Female Power and How It Will Change The 21st Century.
"A Time for Confronting" - article
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Sarvodaya event on Nov 6 at EWC
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:05:44 -1000
From: "Elman-Singh, Floren" <ElmanF@EastWestCenter.org>
I was informed that Milun is co-sponsoring this upcoming EWC event with us
featuring a presentation by Dr. Ariyaratne on his work with the Sarvodaya
Movement in Sri Lanka. I've attached the flyer for distribution and the
text is included below for emailing to Milun members and others
interested. I think this event would appeal to Belnet and Round Table
members as well. Please assist us in getting the word out. Bahut
Shukriya!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need additional
information. I look forward to seeing you again soon!
With warm greetings,
Floren
Floren Elman-Singh
Public Information Specialist
Office of External Affairs
East-West Center
1601 East-West Road
Honolulu, HI 96848-1601
Phone: (808) 944-7193
Fax: (808) 944-7376
Community Empowerment and Peacebuilding at the Grassroots in Sri Lanka
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Open to the public. Free admission.
East-West Center
Hawai'i Imin International Conference Center - Jefferson Hall
Garden Level (1777 East-West Road)
RSVP by Monday, Nov. 5-- Space is limited. Please reserve a seat by
calling 944-7111 or Email: ewcinfo@eastwestcenter.org
Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, Founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri
Lanka, is a global leader and a scholar, dedicated to the non-violent
transformation of societies. He will speak about his work in community
development and empowerment at the grassroots level.
Sarvodaya, a community-based movement inspired by Gandhian philosophy and
Sri Lankan Buddhist traditions, was founded in 1958. Sarvodaya
Shramadana, which means "sharing of labor, thought and resources for the
awakening of all," has become Sri Lanka's largest organization, active in
15,000 villages.
Sarvodaya's work ranges from early childhood development, education, and
economic development to sustainable peace building. Currently, Sarvodaya
initiatives include over 7,000 pre-schools, more than 12 orphanages, over
4,500 independent Sarvodaya Shramadana Societies, 103,000 young peace
brigade members working in conflict resolution and emergency relief, and
micro-finance services serving about a million Sri Lankan people.
Sarvodaya activities are based on the principles of love and compassion,
and the empowerment of people at the grassroots level to solve their
challenges collectively. Sarvodaya has received international recognition
from the United Nations for its tsunami relief work.
Co-sponsors: East-West Center, Friends of the East-West Center, Pacific
and Asian Affairs Council, University of Hawai`i at Manoa - Dept. of
Philosophy, and Milun (Association for the promotion of South Asian
culture).
Parking: $3.00 -- Parking is available on the UH Manoa Campus. Please pay
at guard kiosk along East-West Rd. or Maile Way. After 4 p.m. vehicles may
park in any zone of the UH Manoa upper campus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Makahiki: The Return of LONO!... Air Dates
From: "Sparky Rodrigues" <srodrigues@olelo.org>
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 9:56 PM
Aloha, These are the air dates for this 2 hour program. You can also view
at the same time and date anywhere in the world on the web. go to
www.olelo.org olelonet to view.
Panel:
Umi Kai
Richard Paglinawan
Shad Kane
William Aila
Makanani Attwood
Kaio Camvel
PLease share the air dates and times. Mahalo, Sparky
Makahiki: The Return of LONO!
All on Channel 53
11/22/07 Thu 1:30 pm
11/24/07 Sat 8:00 am
11/29/07 Thu 4:30 pm
12/1/07 Sat 8:00 am
MORE INFO:
Scott Kikiloi <kikiloi@hawaii.edu>
Aloha everyone,
Mahalo for a successful event last night. The panelists did a great job
and I think the audience learned a lot about the cultural practices going
on in our moku on O'ahu. Just to let you guys know Lisa finished her
short article that will appear in Ka Wai Ola a OHA. I believe she'll be
putting up the Makahiki schedule as well. You can read the article posted
on their site and you can go to this link:
http://www.oha.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=472&Itemid=225
Mahalo again,
Kekuewa
------
Wed, October 3, 2007 10:16 am
From: Kekuewa Kikiloi
MAKAHIKI PANEL DISCUSSION
The Return of Lono: The revitalization of Makahiki and Mo'o Lono practices
on O'ahu
Tuesday October 9th 7:00PM -8:30PM
At Kamakaküokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies Hälau o Haumea
Featuring: Umi Kai, Kaio Camvel, William Aila/Eric Enos, Shad Kane, and
Kapono Souza.
Moderator: Kekuewa Kikiloi
Summary: Soon the Pleiades will rise and reach it zenith culmination point
in our heavens, marking the season and time of Makahiki in our islands.
Makahiki s a time of peace, prosperity, first harvests that dedicated to
the god Lono (or Lono-i-ka-makahiki, Lono-of-the-year-[of-first-harvests])
and his cyclical return to our home in his many manifestations that make
up the winter rainy season. This panel discussion will focus on the
revival of traditional cultural practices concerning Makahiki on O'ahu
Island and the revival of mo'o Lono practices. Makahiki will be discussed
in the context of spiritual health and well-being as well as from
political contexts concerning land occupation and militarization of our
islands. A schedule of the Makahiki events happening this season
throughout the different districts on O'ahu will also be handed out at the
event.
This event is open to the public.
Please come to support O'ahu community efforts in perpetuating Makahiki.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Online Petition: Support the Maori!
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 21:24:27 +1300
From: karaka <tepaatu@gmail.com>
------ Forwarded Message
From: Kiritapu Allan <kiritapuallan@hotmail.com>
An online petition from our friends in the South East Asia, Baguio City,
Phillipines
Dear all,
I want to draw your attention to this important petition that
I recently
signed:
"Respect Indigenous Peoples' Rights! Free the Arrested
Maoris!"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Free-the-Maoris?e
<http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Free-the-Maoris?e>
Thanks!
Jennifer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Maori resistance not terrorism - Moana Jackson
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:13:21 +1300
From: karaka <tepaatu@gmail.com>
------ Forwarded Message
Maori must not buy into the police tactic of branding their people as
terrorists, lawyer Moana Jackson told the Maori Party's annual meeting at
a Hastings marae today.
He said the "so-called" terrorism allegations which sparked police raids
in the Bay of Plenty and other areas in the past two weeks should be
looked at through the lens of Maori resistance.
"Every act of resistance by Maori since 1840 has been met with opposition.
Colonising powers don't take challenge to their authority lightly. Those
who take power unjustly defend it with injustice," he told the meeting at
the Omahu Marae.
"We must not define our people as terrorists. We might not agree with
their methods but there's no place for words like rebel, heathen or
savage.
"We can make an act of resistance by not buying into the language they
want us to use. Let's not name each other with the names they give us."
Mr Jackson criticised the use of the term terrorism when search warrants
and arrests were done under the Summary Offences Act.
Nearly all charges were laid under the Firearms Act yet in their first
press conference after the initial raids, police began using the term
terrorism.
People had been arrested under Firearms Act and held in custody while
police tried to accumulate evidence to justify charges under the Terrorism
Suppression Act, which requires approval from the Attorney General.
"To talk about terrorism and not use the Terrorism Suppression Act is at
best disingenuous and at worse, dishonest," Mr Jackson said.
Police also claimed the raids were not racist because pakeha and people of
other ethnic groups had been raided. All but one pakeha arrested had been
released on bail yet with three times as many Maori arrested, all but two
were still in custody.
He questioned why in Ruatoki, a whole community had been blockaded and
locked down, yet the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn was not locked-down
when a house was searched there.
"I do not buy that this was a racially-neutral act."
Mr Jackson told the party to recommit to the spirit of resistance and to
write letters to the Human Rights Commission, calling for an investigation
into the raids.
He said the Maori Party had been formed as an act of resistance to the
prevailing political system and making a stand, whether successful or not,
was a legacy its members would leave to their mokopuna.
"Acts of resistance in the past were steps on a journey. That journey is
not easy but when our tipuna decided to sail across the greatest ocean in
the world to get here, that journey was not easy.
"Constitutional resistance is a journey towards hope."
Earlier in the day, Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell told the gathering that
a Maori women's refuge in Taupo had been searched in a police drugs raid.
He had met people whose partners had been locked up for nearly two weeks
and who were devastated by the impact on their families.
Defending the bus driver whose claim a busload of youngsters had been
searched by armed police had since been rejected by police, Mr Flavell
said the driver had not been "fudging the numbers". He had been expressing
his pain at having to go through the search exercise.
"From now on, Tuhoe feel they will always be called the terrorist nation."
If police do not produce clear evidence of terrorism, the four Maori MPs
will be "on their case", he said.
- NZPA 27 October 2007
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4252804a10.html
Kia ora to everyone who protested today!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Police Terror Boss Has Activist Harassment History
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:36:11 +1300
From: karaka <tepaatu@gmail.com>
------ Forwarded Message
Friday, 26 October 2007, 4:42 pm Article: Joseph Barratt Police "Terror"
Boss Has History Of Activist Harassment - Nicky Hager
By Joseph Barratt
Assistant Police Commissioner Jon White who commanded last week's
so-called "terror raids" around the country arresting 17 political
activists has a history of harassing and imprisoning protestors engaged in
legitimate political protest according to noted author and investigator
Nicky Hager.
Hager is author of the acclaimed "Hollow Men" and of a series of
investigations on the US, UK, Australian, Canadian and NZ intelligence
services' "Echelon" global surveillance programme. Last night he addressed
a talk hosted by Auckland University Law School and NZ Council for Civil
Liberties on the subject of New Zealand's security laws.
According to Hager the New Zealand police has - since 9/11- increasingly
targeted activists for special attention. In the process the police was
eroding New Zealander's freedoms of speech and political action
During his talk Hager unveiled research looking at increasing police
powers and attempts at restricting people's freedoms over the past six
years.
In doing so he noted that Assistant Deputy Police Commissioner Jon White
seems to be involved in many of the police actions against activists over
the period.
It was also under White's supervision that last week's controversial
"anti-terror" raids around the country were conducted.
Nicky Hager told the meeting that since the September 11 attacks it has
become "open season" on civil liberties in New Zealand . Any new ideas or
suggestions from our allies on how to better participate in the "war on
terror" are very quickly introduced, he said.
"[Since 9/11] The SIS budget rose enormously and they received large
numbers of new staff and new equipment."
The SIS (Security Intelligence Service) and New Zealand's other
lesser-known intelligence service the GCSB (Government Communications
Security Bureau) have since stated in their annual reports that their main
activity is "fighting terrorism".
At the same time the police established for the first time a dedicated
anti-terrorism capability.
Nicky Hager said it was at this time that Jon White was made Assistant
Commissioner of Anti-Terrorism and "institutionalised terrorism into the
New Zealand Police Force".
Hager says the police have had an intelligence unit which looks at
terrorism since 2002.
They also receive funding for a full time special tactics group that is
effectively a police commando force tasked to respond to terrorist
activities.
However, said Hager, "there is a golden rule with [security] capabilities,
when you have a build up of security capabilities and security forces they
tend to find terrorists."
This works, "the same as a build up of military equipment increases the
likely-hood of armed conflict."
Police security capabilities were built up in 2002 and by the end of the
year they began to find threats.
Hager listed the jailing and accusing of Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui as
the Police's first "terrorist" action. This took five years and millions
of dollars of resources expended before they finally backed down and
decided to let him go.
Hager says it was in 2003 that police began to "beef up" the idea of
terrorist threats to the New Zealand public.
Normal police procedure is not to publicise or make a big deal out of bomb
threats so as not to give satisfaction to the person making threats.
However, in 2003 police publicised the fact the American Embassy had
received a threatening letter with a satchel of cyanide inside.
The police set up a 0800THREAT phone line and declared that 28th of March
as the date they were expecting a "demonstration of capabilities," says
Hager. The Iraq war began on March 20th.
Hager said that when there are threat letters like this, the police have a
duty to investigate, but in this case the response was dramatised when
considering how many threat letters in New Zealand actually lead to
anything, he says.
Jon White ran the O800 THREAT operation which coincided with protests
outside the American Embassy in the lead up to the Iraq war.
A briefing on the protests sent to the Police Minister at the time was
obtained under the Official Information Act.
Hager said this report was signed by the Assistant Commissioner of
Anti-Terrorism Jon White, a person you would not expect to be monitoring
peaceful protest activities.
"It was the same staff working on terrorism stuff and normal peace
protests," Hager said.
Hager then said, that from 2003 onwards, anyone involved in protests found
the police much heavier to deal with.
This is despite the fact that, "in the police manual it emphasises
protecting demonstrators freedom of speech and the right for peaceful
protest."
Soon the police began to routinely arrest activists in protests around the
country for minor offences such as burning flags or writing with chalk on
the ground.
While usually charges were not laid against the hundreds arrested, Hager
said, "what started was a cycle of acceleration of distrust and
confrontation between police and protest groups."
In one case some animal rights activists staged a peaceful protest outside
Tegel's offices. They scattered hay out the front of the shop to represent
the chickens tiny cages, and then went inside to deliver a letter.
Police, including several detectives involved in the Zaoui case, did
extensive interviews in the area and lined up people as potential
witnesses in court.
They confiscated the car of the person that delivered the letter and
raided his house. During the raid they took everything that was vaguely
related to his protests, including phones, computers, books etc.
They even took his posters off his wall and a t-shirt that said "GE- You
are what you eat." They took all this and then kept it 6 months, said
Hager.
The police arrested him and charged him under a recent bill that was
introduced to prevent home invasions. This carried a maximum sentence of
10 years prison, they also charged him with intent to damage, with a
potential 7 years in prison, and unlawfully entering a building an offence
with a maximum prison sentence of 3 months.
Police refused bail and when he was finally released he was constrained in
what he could do by strict bail conditions.
Hundreds of police hours were spent on this case to arrest a person who
had been protesting peacefully.
According to the police report the total cost of cleaning up the hay
outside the Tegel building came to around $111, says Hager.
In the end the arrested animal rights activists received no conviction,
but he had no computer or phone for months and was unable to protest for
that time.
It was examples like this that showed how the police was threatening to
people's civil liberties. And, says Hager, something needs to be done to
prevent the police from having the ability to arrest peaceful activists
and then confiscate their personal computers and phones.
Nicky Hager's talk was organised by the Auckland Council For Civil
Liberties, the University Of Auckland Faculty Of Law and the International
Law Association (New Zealand Branch).
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00402.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Disappeared News - 6 new articles
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 04:20:13 -0400
From: FeedBlitz <feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com>
"DISAPPEARED NEWS" - 6 NEW ARTICLES - www.disappearednews.com
1. Failure to communicate at UH could mean disaster next time
2.Who voted for or against the House Superferry bill
3.What will happen to the Superferry bills as the special session
progresses
4.Blow off steam at Superferry's expense
5.Who voted for or against the Senate Superferry bill
6.Oahu Senate hearing - some government testimony
7.More Recent Articles
8.Search Disappeared News
Failure to communicate at UH could mean disaster next time
by Larry Geller Doug Carlson over at CHORE (Citizens Helping Officials
Respond to Emergencies)Â follows Hawaii's disaster communications
challenges and has been a strong and consistent voice for improvement
and for an open planning process. He's now pursuing the University of
Hawaii on its failed reaction to yesterday's potential shooter incident.
It seems UH relied on email to get the warning....
Who voted for or against the House Superferry bill
by Larry Geller Following the form of the previous post, here's the tally
from the Capitol website. I hope I haven't gotten anyone in the wrong
columnâ^À^Ôif so, someone please let me know. I indicated those who voted
"Yes With Reservations" by WR, even if they voted "Yes" later on the
House floor. I've also awarded a couple of extra Harpooned Whales: Reps.
Calvin Say, Joseph Souki, Cynthia Thielen,.....
What will happen to the Superferry bills as the special session
progresses
Reproducing another email from Henry Curtis, with permission. In this
message, Henry explains what lies ahead at the Legislature with regard
to the two Superferry bills now working their way through their
respective houses. Henry also explains the Yes With Reservations (WR)
vote. As a result of this and other comments I've received, IÂ updated my
earlier post to break out the WR votes from the Yes.....
Blow off steam at Superferry's expense
by Larry Geller David Shapiro has started a contest over on his
Advertiser blog, Volcanic Ash. Hawaii Superferry CEO John Garibaldi says
his company has learned many lessons in the six years it has tried to get
its interisland service going. If that isn't a setup for another
punchline-writing contest, I don't know what is. Let's do a list of the
Top Ten lessons the Superferry has learned about......
Who voted for or against the Senate Superferry bill
by Larry Geller Here's an article on the Senate committee votes today on
the Superferry bill in the Advertiser, Superferry bill passes key Senate
vote. The vote is recorded here. I made a convenient summary for
you, putting all the "yes" votes together. "Yes with reservations" is a
crock in my view in this situation. Update: I've received emails (and
please see the first comment on this post).....
Oahu Senate hearing - some government testimony
Henry Curtis circulated this message to his email list. It is reproduced
here for your browsing pleasure, with his permission. I watched some of
Ted Liu (DBEDT)'s testimony. The senators asked him some tough questions,
and he didn't survive them. For example, he claimed (as you will read
below) that the ferry is useful to farmers, but the senators confronted
him by pointing out that farmers who....
More Recent Articles
* Where's Senate President Hanabusa?
* Garibaldi trying to squeak out of military uses of the Superferry
* Hawaii puts its lawmakers under the microscope
* Testimony time for Oahu folks
* Beautiful photo gallery of Kauai hearings
________________________________________________________________________________
9. Two Kauai ferry protesters charged
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 02:23:18 -1000
From: Scott Crawford <scott@aloha.net>
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Oct/27/ln/hawaii710270340.html/?print=on
The Honolulu Advertiser
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Two Kauai ferry protesters charged
Advertiser Staff
LIHU'E, Kaua'i - Two members of a Kaua'i-based Hawaiian sovereignty group
were arrested this week on charges related to Hawaii Superferry protests
at Nawiliwili Harbor.
Dayne Gonsalves, 43, of Kekaha, and Robert Pa of Hanalei, allegedly were
involved in using their cars to block a ferry exit and padlocking a gate
to prevent ferry passengers and their vehicles from leaving the harbor
when the 350-foot high-speed catamaran made its inaugural voyage to Kaua'i
on Aug. 26, according to Assistant Chief Roy Asher of the Kaua'i Police
Department.
Gonsalves claims to be ali'i nui of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi and Pa
a marshal in the organization.
The two were arrested Tuesday and charged with simple trespassing,
disorderly conduct and obstructing government operations, Asher said.
During their arrests, Pa and Gonsalves reportedly showed badges claiming
to be "Hawaii federal marshals," Asher said. As a result, they were
additionally charged with impersonating a police officer. The pair was
released Tuesday after bail was posted.
Asher said the badges resemble those carried by local police officers.
"It's dangerous because it puts all law enforcement at jeopardy. Some day
someone might not take a real law enforcement person seriously," he said.
Gonsalves told The Garden Isle newspaper Thursday that his arrest was
illegal.
"We're not imitating. We're a separate entity as the kingdom's marshals.
They have no jurisdiction over us," he said.
As a condition of bail, Gonsalves is prohibited from being at Nawiliwili
Harbor while the Hawaii Superferry is present.
About a dozen other protesters were arrested during protests Aug. 26 and
27.
© COPYRIGHT 2007 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. sidewalk (anti-war) blog news for the week
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:55:40 -1000
From: Susan Webster Schultz <schultz@HAWAII.RR.COM>
well into the third album of photos--click to enlarge and read the
stories.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15490&l=e0c18&id=654553661
If you snag a photo, please credit it to the sidewalk blogger, not to me.
aloha, Susan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. No War, No Wiretaps, No Torture
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:07:03 -0400
From: Democrats.com <activist@democrats.com>
No War: 10/27 National Mobilization to End the War in Iraq
On Saturday, we'll be marching across the country to end the disastrous
War in Iraq and prevent an even more disastrous one in Iran.
Why march over Iraq? Because over 3800 U.S. soldiers and over 1 million
Iraqis have been killed. Because over 4 million Iraqis - 1 out of 6 - are
refugees. Because four years of occupation have broken our military, made
America less secure, and strengthened Al Qaeda. Because contractors like
Blackwater are committing war crimes with impunity. Because the killings
decrease after occupying troops leave. And because we can't afford to
occupy Iraq for another 10 years at a cost of $2.4 TRILLION.
Why march over Iran? Because George Bush is talking about World War 3, and
he's insane enough to start it. Because the IAEA says Iran is not building
nuclear weapons, and the CIA says it would take at least 5 years even if
they started now. Because the people who want war with Iran are the same
bloodthirsty neocons who got us into Iraq. Because any strike against
Iran, no matter how precise, would be met with counterattacks on U.S.
troops in Iraq, on the people of Israel, and on oil shipments that would
double the price of oil. And because Iran has not threatened to attack the
U.S. in any way.
Tell your Representatives to join the 90 Members who will only provide
funds for Iraq to bring our troops safely home:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/115
Tell your Representatives: Don't Attack Iran
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/91
March in the streets: http://www.oct27.org
_____________________
No Wiretaps
Democrats.com has led the fight against Bush's warrantless wiretapping
since it was exposed by the New York Times in December 2005. We believe it
must end immediately, we believe Cheney and Bush should be impeached for
it, and we believe everyone involved should be punished through
prosecution and lawsuits.
Senators Jay Rockefeller and Harry Reid do not agree with us. They are
working overtime on a bill to expand Bush's wiretap power and give full
immunity for all past crimes. But Senator Chris Dodd is outraged and
promises to filibuster the Rockefeller bill. Dodd gave a tremendous speech
on Friday and spoke for all of us.
Dodd needs 40 Senators to support his filibuster, so please write your
Senators: http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/114
_____________________
No Torture
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales played a key role in transforming
our government from a champion of human rights to a champion of torture,
but Gonzales was never held accountable for his crimes.
Now Bush wants to replace him with Judge Michael Mukasey, who shockingly
refused to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee whether waterboarding was
torture.
Judiciary Committee chair Pat Leahy and Majority Whip Dick Durbin will
oppose Mukasey unless he clearly states waterboarding is torture. The
eight other Democrats must join them - Joe Biden, Ben Cardin, Dianne
Feinstein, Russ Feingold, Ted Kennedy, Herb Kohl, Chuck Schumer, and
Sheldon Whitehouse. And for once in his shameful life, Senator Arlen
Specter needs to act on his "principles," not surrender to the fascists in
his party.
_____________________
11/9 Warmup for 12/7 National Caucus
When it comes to choosing our Presidential candidates, why does Iowa take
priority over the rest of the country?
The National Presidential Caucus was created to give citizens across the
country - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents - a chance to gather in
small groups (up to 50 people) to discuss the candidates and vote.
Of course this vote is informal and will not choose any delegates for the
convention. But it will get a lot of media coverage and will be a lot more
meaningful than the polls - particularly for longer-shot candidates whose
lower poll rankings reflects the Corporate Media's bias against them.
The full Caucus will be held on Friday December 7, using Meetup-style
tools to help citizens connect. There will also be a Preliminary Straw
Poll & Caucus Warmup on Friday, November 9, 2007
Democrats.com is a co-sponsor of the National Presidential Caucus. For
more details: http://www.nationalcaucus.com
#####
Forward this message to everyone you know!
To subscribe, create a free Democrats.com account here:
http://www.democrats.com/user/register
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. [Cathy Garger] Open Letter to US Army Regarding Decision to Destroy
Hawaii
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 10:51:49 -1000
From: viviane lerner <vivlerner@gmail.com>
http://www.opednews.com/articles/
opedne_cathy_ga_071027_open_letter_to_us_ar.htm
October 27, 2007
Open Letter to US Army Regarding Decision to Destroy Hawaii
By Cathy Garger
Public Affairs Office
US Army Environmental Command
Building E4460
5179 Hoadley Road
Attention: IMAE-PA
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5401
PublicComments@aec.apgea.army.mil
To the person in charge of making the decision where to place the 2/25th
Stryker Brigade Combat Team,
I would very much enjoy speaking to you from the heart^Å but I know that
would be a total waste of my time - and yours. We all know that the US
military does not base any of its decisions on affairs of the heart, mind,
nor conscience either, for that matter.
I could go on and on about why you should not place the Stryker Brigade in
Hawaii. It is the very last place in the world where it should be
stationed^Å and I could name all of the reasons you already know quite
well. We could, if you were actually made of flesh, blood and tears, talk
about the excessive noise and how this noise will impact the children who
live near the construction projects and will hear the live-fire training.
I used to visit my parents when they lived near a military training range.
Let me tell you that when you are on your back porch trying to enjoy a
glass of iced tea and relaxing conversation? The resounding BOOMS of
military live fire can be most disquieting to grown adults. Can you only
imagine the unsettling impact live-fire training noise might have upon
small children and the beasts that live within earshot of your firing
ranges? But then again, I^Òm sure these trivial matters ^Ö such as being
able to live a good, decent, and peaceful existence ^Ö is of neither
concern nor significance to you.
We could, if you honestly cared, mull over in our minds the actual impact
of adding 4,000 extra military soldiers, and even greater numbers of
family members who will accompany them^Å and explore what it might mean to
add nearly 10,000 more people to these affected bases. We could then
ponder together extra societal infrastructures needed for this population
onslaught, such as new libraries and schools. We could also enjoy a long
and serious discourse about the loss of rich Hawaiian culture - and their
precious spiritual and ancestral heritage.
If you would consider your actions with some amount of sensitivity we
could discuss the unfathomable harm caused by wildfires due to ^Ólive fire
training,^Ô and the destruction of tens of thousands of acres of still
yet- to-be-spoiled ^Ö and often sacred - land.
If you were to actually listen with a caring heart, we could go over the
reasons for not stationing the 2/25th in Hawaii. Together we could review
the increased pollution to air, water, and soil, the fact that you will
render airborne chemically toxic and radioactive Uranium in the soils at
Pohakuloa Training Area and Schofield Barracks - and probably at Makua
Military Reservation, too.
I could then write to you to beg you to consider the impact of your
decision upon umpteen various rare, endangered, and threatened plant and
animal species, and the fact that you are helping to sicken the fish, the
wildlife, and the vegetation that the indigenous people depend on in order
to survive.
I would say these things if I thought you would only listen and care ^Ö
even just a little bit. But why bother?
If you made your decision based on what is right for the Hawaiian people?
Then you never, ever would have gone ahead with the current devastating
military occupation of Hawaii. If you gave even one whit about what is
best for humans and living things on the Hawaiian Isles? Then you never
would have completed some of your Stryker- related construction projects
and done work on others to the tune of over $700 million-plus in eventual
construction-related expenses.
If you were concerned even just a tiny bit about the residents of Hawaii,
you never would have gone to tremendous time, trouble and expense to train
the soldiers, bring the equipment there, and start all the preparations
you could^Å that is, of course, if you gave even one dang about the good
indigenous people who call Hawaii home.
You are not taught to feel, as you are an integral part of the bloody,
gory orchestration of US war-making everlasting. All you know about is how
to make war and how to prepare young people to make war with you. The
extent of your education and your decision-making prowess involves only
how to train young people to go about killing other humans who have done
nothing whatsoever to harm any of you.
If you had a heart and a conscience this would trouble you greatly. But
you do not, so we must find another way to somehow make you think about
this.
Your employer has chosen you purposely, put you in your current career
position to ensure you could make decisions based on winning wars (and
thus creating casualties, whether American or enemy or both). Without even
knowing who you are (and I am quite aware that the public affairs officer
reading this and tallying objections for the public record is not the
decision maker), undoubtedly, you have been entrusted to make this
decision and, again, whoever you are - you are quite good at what you do.
You make decisions based on where to best train your soldiers. Where you
are doing the training is only important with regard to how it will impact
the troops^Ò training. The needs of the people and other forms of life
that surround your military sites, however, are neither relevant nor
seriously considered in the scheme of your goals. So the entire
Environmental Impact Statement is merely just a formality, a farce, a
total waste of time and taxpayer money.
Oh how I implore and actually dare you to prove me wrong here! Show me
you will do the right thing by Hawaii and get the Military the blazes out
of all the Hawaii training sites.
You make decisions based not on sustaining life and keeping all living
things healthy, but rather, on how to best train soldiers to become
effective killers in their various brigades, light and not-so- light,
using tanks, Strykers, humvees or whatever is needed to get the job done.
You must smile when you consider how you make the bellicose, imperialist
invaders in the five-sided building quite proud of your decisions.
Getting troops to work in Hawaii is an easy sell. Of course this is common
sense, but someone in the military has also confirmed this. Again, you
know all this. Hawaii is a slam-dunk in your book. Or, so you may think^Å
The decision was made before the 2004 EIS ever came out to bring the
Strykers to Hawaii and keep them stationed there permanently. This new
Draft EIS is merely a formality because the US Federal Court of Appeals
said you had to at least consider other alternatives. So you did what was
required by law, but you went ahead with as many other projects as you
could in the meanwhile. I am sure that this delay must have put a serious
crimp in your plans!
I won^Òt bore you with tragically sad tales about countless indigent,
sickly islanders who live near your bases on both Hawaii and Oahu and are
quite ill - dead and dying - from your various poisons. I know you don^Òt
care. No doubt you consider all the people you sicken and kill with your
military toxics around your military bases to be merely unfortunate
casualties of war who happen to live at the wrong place at the right time.
I won^Òt bore you with stories about the desecration of culture,
spirituality, Hawaiians^Ò deep and sacred love of the land, nor the
decimation of the sensitive and fragile unique Hawaiian Island ecosystems.
You know all about these factors already. They apparently mean nothing to
you.
You are not, after all, in the position of having to make a decision about
how to preserve life^Å You are tasked with merely the decision about how
to go about destroying it.
Why am I writing if I believe you will not do the right thing by the
beautiful people, environment, and all living creatures within the
formerly unspoiled Paradise of the Pacific? Why am I spending my time
penning this letter in order to remind you what you already know - that
the US Military does not care about preserving life, liberty, nor the
pursuit of happiness for Hawaiian citizens, the wildlife, and the
environment you have permanently and irrevocably radioactively
contaminated?
Why do I believe for a moment that you have a shred of respect or
reverence for people or for any living things for that matter, since the
military first took over Hawaii as its personal playground and
conveniently-placed war-dispatch location in the Pacific way, way back in
the 19th century?
I am writing to tell you that if you make the decision to station the
2/25th SBCT inside Hawaii, life will become a nightmare for the Military
public affairs people and legal departments. You will be faced with
lawsuits the likes of which you have not yet seen.
Please know that the people of Hawaii are angry. They are fed up. They
are no longer hospitable to the armed invaders and occupiers who took over
their pristine sovereign lands beginning back in the 1890s.
We, the United States, did wrong by taking over Hawaii in the first place.
Uncle Sam, the gig is up. Get out of Hawaii now! You have done the
unthinkable and if you^Òre not ashamed, then the rest of us are ashamed
enough for you, too!
Our own government has raped, plundered, and irreparably ruined paradise
and now you want to wreck it some more! I would ask if you have no shame
but all of us in the know already received our answer long ago. All we
have to do is look at the extensive history of Hawaii on the EPA Superfund
list to know all we need to know about how a military can wreck what was
formerly nothing less than heaven on earth.
If you station the Strykers in Hawaii you will be faced with more of a
public relations nightmare than you probably even realize. I have done the
research and gotten a good ^Ópulse^Ô on the spirit of the Hawaiian
Islanders. All thinking, feeling people inside Hawaii who know what is
going on are more than outraged. On top of that, some of them have a good
deal of money to put up quite a decent ruckus. We are not talking about
outraged people living in grass shacks who have no resources to put up a
good fight. The well-heeled professionals of Hawaii are fed up, too.
You have violated Hawaiian^Òs gorgeous, precious land, their health, their
natural resources, and the very environment upon which they depend on to
make their living and feed their babies. You have poisoned and polluted
their air, their water, and their lands - and they know it! Hawaiians may
be gracious ^Ö but only up to a point. That point is now past. Do not for
a moment mistake these once- welcoming, gracious and kind-hearted people
for fools.
What is any different now? Well, eventually the US mainland discovered
what was happening in the Aloha state and it did not, as they say, ^Ósit
well^Ô with many throughout the US as well as many who do not even live in
the US. The Hawaiian people are American citizens and the US military has
taken a toxic and radioactive DUMP all over that beautiful state!
So the decision, of course, is all yours. Continue to keep the 2/25th SBCT
inside Hawaii and I can assure you that not only Hawaiians ^Ö but people
from throughout the US and internationally, too, will help fund lawsuits
the likes of which the US Military has not ever seen - yet.
Sir, you can take that to the bank. Hawaii is a US state ^Ö the Hawaiian
people are our people, too. America is not going to turn its back on
Hawaii any longer and allow you to bully over the Hawaiians^Ò gracious
nature as you continually work to destroy paradise and the health and
well-being of all who live there.
Choose the Hawaii alternative and be prepared for a battle that will be
waged in federal court and with horribly bad press in the news. If you
thought that the Superferry has created a media ruckus? Just wait and see
what happens if you do not decide to remove your combat brigades out of
Hawaii and clean up the military bases ^Ö and that includes not just
Hawai^ÒI and O^Òahu, but also the other places you^Òve wrecked with your
toxic and radioactive contaminants, the islands of Moloka^ÒI, Maui,
Kaho^Òolawe, Ka^Òula, and Kaua^Òi, too.
The US law is on the side of basic human rights ^Ö and according to
humanitarian law, the US federal government can not simply continue to
take destructive actions that put the health and well-being of the local
citizens at serious risk. The US military is destroying not just property
^Ö but all forms of life on the Hawaiian Islands.
Uncle Sam, know that your future decision ^Ö should you choose the Hawaii
Alternative for the 2/25th Stryker Brigade Combat Team - will be not be
forgiven nor forgotten. And definitely, it will not be ignored. You can,
in all certainty, count on that.
Sincerely,
Cathy Garger
Friend of Hawaii in Maryland
RESOURCES:
Write your own public comment by October 30 and send to:
PublicComments@aec.apgea.army.mil
Army's Plan to wreck Hawaii:
Protect Hawaii: http://www.protecthawaii.ws/resources
Demilitarize Hawaii: http://www.dmzhawaii.org/
=====--------------------------------------------------------------------
13. An Hawaiian contribution to the Superferry debate
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:19:29 -1000
From: viviane lerner <vivlerner@gmail.com>
A must-See that I'm told was created locally.
Viviane
===========
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/ponosize/Military/Lingle666.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/ponosize/Military/Sewer.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/ponosize/FUNNY/Money2.jpg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. AFSC fund for low-income & immigrant victims of San Diego fires
From: Shan Cretin <SCretin@afsc.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:59:30 AM
I am writing to you in your roles as AFSC Liaisons, asking you to share
with your meetings and churches this information about the impact of the
San Diego Fires on the immigrant community with whom we have worked for 30
years.I am very grateful to AFSC for helping us quickly get San Diego
Fires Relief added to the AFSC Home Page as a Crisis Fund need.
While driving into work this morning I heard a representative of Catholic
Charities in Los Angeles discussing how, despite the amazing scope of this
disaster, donations have NOT been pouring in. Why would they, when the
media is focusing on the plight of neighborhoods with multi-million dollar
homes and reporting that the Federal government will now support home
owners who are under-insured to rebuild? How many people of color have
you seen interviewed? No one would guess that San Diego is only 52% Anglo
and close to one-third Latino, that 22% of households are
Spanish-speaking, that 11% are below the poverty line.
The truth is that poor and immigrant communities are being hard hit and
our disaster relief programs and policies often make their lives worse,
not better. FEMA officials yesterday spoke about not needing trailers for
homeowners who are displaced because they can be housed in apartments.
True--AND this is likely to drive up rents in San Diego, a community that
already has some of the highest rents in the country.
Please take a look at the link describing the situation our San Diego
staff is facing in the farmworker and immigrant community in San Diego.
Please help us get this message out.
http://www.afsc.org/give/sandiegofire.htm
In peace,
Shan
---
Shan Cretin
Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region
American Friends Service Committee
634 S. Spring St., Third Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Tel: (213) 489-1900 x110
Fax: (213) 489-1910
Cell: (310) 892-7660
Text from AFSC Web Site:
Help the Forgotten Victims of the San Diego Fires
Immigrant communities are severerly affected
Our hearts go out to the hundreds of thousands fleeing the devastating
fires in San Diego County. Although media coverage has been extensive,
what you have not seen in mainstream media is the impact of the fires on
poor, immigrant, and undocumented communities. You haven't seen the
farmworkers who continued working in the fields, even though the area had
been designated an evacuation zone. You haven't seen immigrants, fearful
of going to the officially designated evacuation centers, seeking cover
along the treacherous and potentially deadly walls of a brush-covered
canyon.
AFSC's San Diego office has been a witness for human rights along the US
Mexico Border for 30 years. When the first alarms were raised, our staff
and volunteers went to north San Diego county to assess the needs of
farmworkers in the path of the fires and provide support.
Working with Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales and other
partners, we helped to set up a safe evacuation center for those without
papers. We are reaching out to farmworkers still in the canyons, providing
water, goggles, eye drops, flashlights, and other supplies.
As soon as this fire is contained, as winter nights return, these
forgotten communities will need blankets and warm clothing, along with
medical, housing and other services not yet identified. In the months
ahead, as part of our ongoing work in San Diego County, we will work with
this community to ensure that their voices are heard so that the next time
there is a disaster, their safety and security will be also assured.
Donate by clicking below:
https://secure2.convio.net/afsc/site/Donation2?idb=1200251163&df_id=1040&1040.do
nation=form1
________________________________________________________________________________
15. Superferry bill passes in House
From: "Maui Tomorrow" <aina@maui-tomorrow.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 12:22 PM
http://www.mauinews.com/news/2007/10/27/03sup1027.html
The Maui News
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Superferry bill passes in House
By MARK NIESSE, The Associated Press
HONOLULU - At this rate, the Hawaii Superferry will be plying island
waters again in no time.
The state House of Representatives approved a bill Friday that allows the
ferry to resume trips from Oahu to Maui and Kauai without having to first
complete a study on its potential to harm whales, to spread invasive
species or to lead to further urbanization of the islands.
The House bill passed with only nine "no'' votes out of the 51-member
body.
Leaders in the House said they're willing to consider incorporating into
their bill operating conditions suggested by the Senate.
The House bill leaves environmental enforcement up to Gov. Linda Lingle,
while the Senate proposal set a few requirements for the ferry and
included a provision protecting taxpayers from lawsuits.
"We have to concede a little, they have to concede a little,'' said House
Speaker Calvin Say, D-St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise.
Superferry officials have said the high-speed, 350-foot catamaran could be
voyaging between the islands again in two weeks if the bill passes.
Both the House and Senate measures fall short of environmentalists'
requests for speed limits on the ferry to avoid whale strikes and
mandatory vehicle cleanings to remove invasive species. An amendment
submitted by Rep. Hermina Morita, D-Hanalei-Kapaa, including those
proposals was turned away in a House vote.
Superferry officials have said either of those conditions would have
killed their business plan and forced them to leave Hawaii.
Morita compared the "arrogance and speed'' of the Legislature's action to
the Titanic.
"We are heading toward . . . a metaphoric iceberg,'' she said. "We are
finding a way to circumvent the law.''
Lawmakers are trying to pass a bill allowing the Superferry to sail so
they can override court rulings that said the boat service couldn't
operate until the state completes an environmental study.
The House and Senate are not far apart.
Proposals in both chambers call for the governor to create and enforce
environmental rules for the Superferry, provide oversight of the
governor's actions, prohibit the company from suing the state and open an
investigation into why the Superferry was granted an exception to Hawaii's
environmental laws.
But the Senate version has additional provisions forcing the Superferry to
apply for a government permit that could set operating conditions while
giving some liability protection for whale strikes, to request an observer
to assist in avoiding endangered humpback whales, to notify passengers of
bans on food and soil transportation, and to inspect vehicles before
boarding.
"What the Senate did was consider the testimony and come up with a good
compromise,'' said Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-Nanakuli-Makua.
"Everyone seems to be OK with the bill. No one will ever be perfectly
happy.''
The Senate version also specifies that the lawsuit protection for the
state only applies to past actions and leaves the Superferry free to take
future legal recourse.
Superferry officials insisted on this point, and House leadership has
agreed to incorporate it into the final bill, which must be finished by
the end of the emergency session Wednesday.
The $300 million Hawaii Superferry project was to start service with a
four-story catamaran built to carry up to 866 passengers and 282 vehicles
on two daily round trips.
A second ferry is being built in Mobile, Ala. It is intended to serve the
Big Island in 2009.
On the Net: Hawaii Legislature: http://capitol.hawaii.gov/
Copyright © 2007 The Maui News.
____________________________________________________________________________
Gabrielle Welford, Ph.D.
freelance writer, editor, teacher
welford@hawaii.edu
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