Events

Th, Jun 30, 2011, 9:30 a.m. - Land Use Commission hearing for approval of Ho'opili residential project, permanently destroying prime agricultural land. At State Office Building on Beretania St., across from St. Andrew's Cathedral.

Sa, Jul 23, 2011, 11 a.m.-12 noon - Waialua Public Library, 67-068 Kealohanui St., Waialua (Oahu north shore). Lorrin Pang, M.D., on risks of our mono crop diets & present agricultural methods in Hawaii. More info.

Quotes

If our economy of freedom fails to distribute wealth as ably as it has created it, the road to dictatorship will be open to any man who can persuasively promise security to all; and a martial government, under whatever charming phrases, will engulf the democratic world.

Will & Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, pp. 79-80.

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A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.

Will Durant, historian, on why Rome fell

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I know you won’t believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others

Socrates, who was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock by an Athenian court

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I am the governor. I'm not your pal.

Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie, in a soundbite that has reverberated around the state.

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Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

Ronald Reagan Click for audio

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In a war, while one side may ultimately be able to claim victory, both sides lose.

Anonymous

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We are not going to war over a bunch of dead [American] sailors.

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, ordering Admiral Lawrence Geis to recall Sixth Fleet aircraft that were on their way to drive off Israeli military forces who were attempting to murder the entire crew of the minimally armed surveillance ship USS Liberty in the Mediterranean Sea during the 1967 Six-Day War.

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America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.

John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848), 6th President of the United States

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A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

George Bernard Shaw

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Send an email, make a call, write a letter. We [Hawaii state legislators] need to know what you think and the system works much better if you are involved.

Hawaii state representative Karl Rhoads, District 28 (Palama, Downtown, Chinatown, Sheridan)

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I'd rather be in jail in America than free anywhere else.

Former communist & Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver shortly after he voluntarily returned to the U.S. as a prisoner from seven years as a free man, but an exile, abroad

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Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. . . . They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

Thomas Jefferson

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Quotables archive

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Vote NO on the Honolulu Amendment for Transit Authority

Submitted by Guest on Thu, 10/21/2010 - 17:45

Panos Prevedouros

by Panos Prevedouros

Please vote NO on the City Charter Amendment for Transit Authority.

Here's why:
PURPOSE OF AUTHORITY
To manage a complex multi-city or multi-county transit system with multiple bus systems and rail lines.

IS IT GOOD FOR OAHU?
We are one city and county. We have TheBus and one possible rail line. We have a very simple structure for our transit. The proposed Transit Authority is totally NOT needed...

... Unless you want the following "advantages":

PURPOSE OF AUTHORITY -- To circumvent procurement process including independent bond floats. IS IT GOOD FOR OAHU? -- NO

PURPOSE OF AUTHORITY -- To protect politicians from the failures and costs of rail.
IS IT GOOD FOR OAHU? -- NO

PURPOSE OF AUTHORITY -- To divert taxpayer money from TheBus and TheHandivan to TheRail, IS IT GOOD FOR OAHU? -- NO

PURPOSE OF AUTHORITY -- To protect politicians from cuts to TheBus and TheHandivan. IS IT GOOD FOR OAHU? -- NO

PURPOSE OF AUTHORITY -- To provide senior City bureaucrats with higher salary positions. IS IT GOOD FOR OAHU? -- NO

If you have a minute, here is a brief blog post that explains how rotten the process is and why I am in politics. PORK OVER PURPOSE

HOW MUCH extra tax did the H-1, H-2 and H-3 freeways cost Oahu taxpayers? Zero. They used 80% to 90% federal funds and our local gas tax.

HOW MUCH of the local gas tax went to build the entire H-3 Freeway? About 500 million in today's money.

HOW MUCH of local taxes will go to pay for rail? $3 million, or SIX TIMES more than we paid locally for the H-3 Freeway.

HOW MUCH will rail cost if you believe the City's numbers? $5.4 million.

HOW MUCH will rail cost if the cost overruns of Puerto Rico's rail happen to Honolulu? $9,700 million or about FOUR H-3 Freeways. Remember Puerto Rico is the only island that built a heavy rail like ours. They too had FTA oversight and Parsons Brinkerhoff as the lead planner and engineer. So our conditions are perfect for a 100% cost overrun like San Juan, Puerto Rico.

HOW MUCH of a mistake did they make for ridership? In San Juan (which is about two million people) they forecasted 80,000 daily rides for the opening year but actual was under 25,000. For Honolulu (which is 900,000 people) they forecast 97,000 rides in the opening year :)

HOW MUCH surplus money does Honolulu have available to pay for the rail? Honolulu today is in budget deficit (it balanced past budget shortfalls by borrowing money) and faces huge liabilities with sewer and road repairs, secondary sewage treatment and the employee retirement fund. It is estimated that property taxes will need to go up 40% to finish building the rail, with no cost overruns.

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Vote NO on the Honolulu Amendment for Transit Authority

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