Save Kauai brings together current information about Kauai and web-based tools that allow you to take action. If we want to affect the future of Kauai in a pono way we must organize and begin implementing solutions, not just fighting the problems.
Aloha 'Aina, Imua Kakou!
Posted on: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081118/NEWS01/811180360/1001
Settlement lets OHA access some Stryker training areas
Deal with Army aims to ensure protection of cultural resources
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Army have settled OHA's 2006 federal lawsuit claiming the Army failed to protect Native Hawaiian cultural resources when it brought the Stryker brigade to the state.
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OHA representatives, along with an archaeologist, will be able to survey certain Stryker training areas at Schofield Barracks, Kahuku and Pohakuloa as a result of the agreement, the state agency announced yesterday.
Through the surveys, OHA said it and Army representatives "aim to ensure the appropriate identification and treatment of cultural and historic resources located in Lihu'e, the traditional name for the Schofield Barracks region," as well as other parts of Hawai'i.
The settlement means the Army can put behind it another legal case involving the $1.5 billion Stryker brigade of 4,000 soldiers and about 328 of the armored eight-wheeled vehicles.
The unit is deployed to Iraq. The soldiers and vehicles are expected back in Hawai'i in February or March.
Review of Navy contract award sought Nov. 16, 2008 Portland Press Herald - Maine
"...Keenan said there is concern that the Navy's latest decision 'will create more layoffs and there is fear that cost, quality, craftsmanship...not taken into consideration when contracts are awarded. I, like the 3,000 other shipbuilders, just want peace of mind that it was a fair competition with bids reflecting what it truly costs to build and deliver the final product (Joint High Speed Vessel) to the Navy,' he wrote."
Shipyard Workers Demand Investigation Into Navy Contract Nov. 15, 2008 WMTW ABC TV - Bath, Maine
Published on Thursday, November 13, 2008 by The San Francisco Chronicle
Supreme Court On Sonar: Navy Trumps Whales
by Bob Egelko
WASHINGTON - Threats to national security are more important than possible harm to whales and dolphins, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in lightening restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in anti-submarine training off Southern California despite its potential effects on undersea creatures.
[A humpback whale breaches out the ocean not far from the Farallon Islands. The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary protects 948 square nautical miles off the California coast, just a few miles west of San Francisco. Threats to national security are more important than possible harm to whales and dolphins, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in lightening restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in anti-submarine training off Southern California despite its potential effects on undersea creatures. (SFC)]A humpback whale breaches out the ocean not far from the Farallon Islands. The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary protects 948 square nautical miles off the California coast, just a few miles west of San Francisco. Threats to national security are more important than possible harm to whales and dolphins, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in lightening restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in anti-submarine training off Southern California despite its potential effects on undersea creatures. (SFC)
Another letter about the Superferry
As 2009 approaches, the Hawaii Superferry is preparing to add a route to the Big Island.
I can almost hear some people muttering as they read this: “Oh, no. Not another letter about the Superferry. How many times do we have to listen to these rantings?”
According to educators, new concepts need to be heard at least seven times to even penetrate our consciousness, let alone understand the theory behind them.
This letter is for those who still don’t “get” why we are “protesting this new cheaper, alternative of travel.”
Let me say it in a word, “design.”
Not so much the design of the boat, as egregious as it is in terms of it’s “too fast to avoid whales and monk seals” speed, nor its two “slicing through the water and everything else in its way” hulls (compared to one, water deflecting hull on a cruiseship), nor the fuel consumption which far surpasses that of an airliner (and it’s not even bio-diesel) nor the size, which is roughly the same as a football field, and which even the manufacturer admitted was too large for an inter-island passenger conveyance.
I watched at the time the newcomer, Rahm Emanuel, as the NAFTA Czar push it through Congress. To me that said everything one needs to know, but the following from a retired British banker further validates it.
http://londonbanker.blogspot.com/2008/11/change-i-cant-quite-believe-in....
Friday, 7 November 2008
"Change I Can't Quite Believe In" by London Banker
"I wanted Obama to win. I really, really, really wanted Obama to win. McCain/Palin gave me nightmares. Just about the whole world held it’s collective breath willing Obama to win on Tuesday.
Obama’s election is powerful confirmation that America remains a land of opportunity, a democracy where power is allocated at the ballot box. It reassured the world that despite the lawlessness and arrogance of the past eight years, Americans are capable of enlightened, rational self-determination. It restores hope in much of the world that America can reorient itself toward tolerance and dialogue.
For all of that, I haven’t been happy since watching Obama’s acceptance speech live Wednesday morning on the BBC.
I have a bad feeling that America has just elected its Tony Blair. The package of Change the voters ordered isn’t what is being delivered to the White House.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/us/politics/25transition.html?_r=1&scp...
Building a White House Team Before the Election Is Decided
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By PETER BAKER and JACKIE CALMES
Published: October 24, 2008
WASHINGTON — With the economy in tatters at home and two wars still raging abroad, Senator Barack Obama’s team is preparing for a fast start, should he win the election, to what could be the most challenging and volatile transition between presidents in 75 years.
Mr. Obama’s advisers are sifting résumés, compiling policy options and discussing where to hold his first news conference as president-elect. Democrats say Mr. Obama hopes to name key members of his White House, economic and security teams soon after the election. His transition chief has even drafted a sample Inaugural Address.
Presidential nominees typically start preparing for transitions before the election, but Mr. Obama’s plans appear more extensive than in the past and more advanced than those of Senator John McCain, his Republican opponent. Mr. McCain has also assigned confidants to prepare for a transition but instructed them to limit their activities as he tries to rescue his foundering campaign, Republicans said.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881010035...
"U.S.-Taiwan arms deal upsets China" Oct 10, 2008
"TOKYO (AP) — China has cut some military exchanges following Washington's approval of a multibillion-dollar arms package for Taiwan, the commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific said yesterday.
Adm. Timothy Keating said China canceled or postponed several military-to-military exchanges following the Bush administration's approval of a $6.5 billion package of weapons for the island. They are intended to help the island defend itself should China ever make good on its vow to invade if Taiwan should formalize its de facto independence..."
Complete article on all of the items in the $6.5 billion package sold to Taiwan:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49302G20081004?feedType=...
"U.S. approves $6.5 billion in Taiwan arms sales"
By Andrea Shalal-Esa Oct 4, 2008
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday announced plans to sell around $6.5 billion in arms to Taiwan, including 30 Boeing Co Apache attack helicopters and 330 Patriot missiles, in a move that could anger China.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency told lawmakers that the sale -- which also includes 32 Harpoon submarine-launched missiles -- would support Taiwan's continuing efforts to modernize its military...
Supreme Court Shows Little Sympathy for Whales Beset by Sonar
Wednesday 08 October 2008
»
by: Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers
Orca whales swim near a whale-watching boat off British Columbia. The US Navy vessel USS Shoup sails in the background. (Photo: Kenneth Balcomb / Center for Whale Research)
Washington - Whales may simply have to pay the price as the Navy prepares for war, Supreme Court justices suggested Wednesday.
In a closely watched environmental case, justices Wednesday morning repeatedly sounded sympathetic to Pentagon officials who want to run large-scale Navy exercises off the Southern California coast. While the resulting underwater sonar storm disturbs marine mammals, it also helps prepare sailors for combat.
"I thought the whole point of the armed forces was to hurt the environment, " Associate Justice Stephen Breyer said, half-jokingly. "Of course they're going to do harm."
The Pentagon and environmentalists disagree over exactly how much mid-frequency active sonar injures marine mammals, and justices Wednesday couldn't resolve the conflict. An apparent majority of justices, though, did appear ready to defer to military expertise in matters of national security.
