Aloha Politics

Biennial of Hawai’i Artists X at The Contemporary Museum (Spalding House)

hnlnow.com – See the latest work from Mary Babcock (O’ahu), Solomon Enos (O’ahu), Jianjie Ji (O’ahu), Jaisy Hanlon (Maui), Sally Lundburg (Hawai’i), and Bruna Stude (Kaua’i). The Biennial of Hawai’i Artists aim…

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Hawaii News Now

Police Search for Suspect of Murder Attempt – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

hawaiinewsnow.com – Honolulu (HawaiiNewsNow) – The shooting happened around 5:30 Saturday morning at a parking lot off of Kalauokalani way and Kapiolani Boulevard. Police tell us that two people were having an argumen…

Hawaii News Now

Hawaii News Nowom :: Hawaii

Hawaii Business BOSS Survey – June 2012 – Hawaii Business – June 2012 – Hawaii

hawaiibusiness.com – The Optimism Index is a valuable leading economic indicator. If business leaders are optimistic about the future, they are more likely to expand their businesses, add inventory, hire more employees…

Hawaii Business

Hawaii Business

Grand opening of Manoa Public Library brings out children and th – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

hawaiinewsnow.com – MANOA (HawaiiNewsNow) – After nearly three years, a new chapter started at a Manoa hangout.  Governor Neil Abercrombie joined community members for the grand opening of the new Manoa Public Library…

Hawaii News Now

Hawaii Red Cross offers free swimming lessons – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

hawaiinewsnow.com – HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hundreds of keiki hit the water Saturday at Magic Island.  That’s where the American Red Cross held its annual free summer swim program.  According to the Red Cross, in H…

Hawaii News Now

McDonald’s of Hawaii partners with U.S. Army – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

hawaiinewsnow.com – HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Veterans now have a new tool to help them find work once they’re out of the military.  A new agreement between McDonald’s of Hawaii and the Army’s Partnership for Youth S…

Hawaii News Now

96th Annual King Kamehameha Floral Parade draws thousands of spe – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

hawaiinewsnow.com – HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The sunny weather Saturday was a welcome sight for thousands who lined the streets of Honolulu to take part in a colorful tradition.  The 96th Annual King Kamehameha Flor…

Hawaii News Now

Hawaii News Now

Hello, everybody.

In the State of the Union, I laid out three areas we need to focus on if we’re going to build an economy that lasts: new American manufacturing, new skills and education for American workers, and new sources of American-made energy.

These days, we’re getting another painful reminder why developing new energy is so important to our future. Just like they did last year, gas prices are starting to climb. Only this time, it’s happening earlier. And that hurts everyone – everyone who owns a car; everyone who owns a business. It means you have to stretch your paycheck even further. Some folks have no choice but to drive a long way to work, and high gas prices are like a tax straight out of their paychecks.

Now, some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. And since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas. I’ll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill, and step three is keep drilling. We hear the same thing every year.

Well the American people aren’t stupid. You know that’s not a plan – especially since we’re already drilling. It’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. It’s a strategy to get politicians through an election.

You know there are no quick fixes to this problem, and you know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we’re going to take control of our energy future and avoid these gas price spikes down the line, then we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and more. We need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use less oil in our cars and trucks; in our buildings and plants. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge.

Now, we absolutely need safe, responsible oil production here in America. That’s why under my Administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. In 2010, our dependence on foreign oil was under 50% for the first time in more than a decade. And while there are no short-term silver bullets when it comes to gas prices, I’ve directed my administration to look for every single area where we can make an impact and help consumers in the months ahead, from permitting to delivery bottlenecks to what’s going on in the oil markets.

But over the long term, an all-of-the-above energy strategy means we have to do more. It means we have to make some choices.

Here’s one example. Right now, four billion of your tax dollars subsidize the oil industry every year. Four billion dollars.

Imagine that. Maybe some of you are listening to this in your car right now, pulling into a gas station to fill up. As you watch those numbers rise, know that oil company profits have never been higher. Yet somehow, Congress is still giving those same companies another four billion dollars of your money. That’s outrageous. It’s inexcusable. And it has to stop.

A century of subsidies to the oil companies is long enough. It’s time to end taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable, and use that money to reduce our deficit and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Because of the investments we’ve already made, the use of wind and solar energy in this country has nearly doubled – and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it. And because we put in place the toughest fuel economy standards in history, our cars will average nearly 55 miles per gallon by the middle of the next decade – something that, over time, will save the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump. Now Congress needs to keep that momentum going by renewing the clean energy tax credits that will lead to more jobs and less dependence on foreign oil.

Look, we know there’s no silver bullet that will bring down gas prices or reduce our dependence on foreign oil overnight. But what we can do is get our priorities straight, and make a sustained, serious effort to tackle this problem. That’s the commitment we need right now. And with your help, it’s a commitment we can make. Thank you.

Hello, everybody.

I’m speaking to you this week from the Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington. Boeing has been in this community for half a century. But it’s what they’re doing here today that has folks really excited; because at this plant they’re building the plane of the future – the Dreamliner. It’s an impressive sight. And, to be honest, part of why I came was to see it up close. But I also came because this is a great example of how we can bring jobs and manufacturing back to America.

You see, the last few decades haven’t been easy for manufacturing in this country. New technology has made businesses more efficient and productive – and that’s good – but it’s also made a lot of jobs obsolete. The result has been painful for a lot of families and communities. Factories where people thought they’d retire have left town. Jobs that provided a decent living have been shipped overseas. And the hard truth is that a lot of those jobs aren’t coming back.

But that doesn’t mean we have to settle for a lesser future. I don’t accept that idea. In America, there’s always something we can do to create new jobs and new manufacturing and new security for the middle-class. In America, we don’t give up, we get up.

Right now, that’s exactly what we’re doing. Over the past 23 months, businesses have created 3.7 million new jobs. And manufacturers are hiring for the first time since the 1990s. It’s now getting more expensive to do business in places like China. Meanwhile, America is more productive than ever. And companies like Boeing are realizing that even when we can’t make things cheaper than China, we can make things better. That’s how we’re going to compete globally.

For Boeing, business right now is booming. Last year, orders for commercial aircraft rose by more than 50 percent. To meet that rising demand, they’ve put thousands of folks to work all over the country. We want to see more of this. We need to make it as easy as we can for our companies to create more jobs in America, not overseas. And that starts with our tax code.

No company should get a tax break for outsourcing jobs. Instead, tax breaks should go to manufacturers who set up shop here at home. Bigger tax breaks should go to high-tech manufacturers who create the jobs of the future. And if you relocate your company to a struggling community, you should get help financing that new plant, that new equipment, or training for new workers. It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding businesses that create jobs here in America. And Congress should send me that kind of tax reform right away.

Another thing we’re doing is to make it easier for companies like Boeing to sell their products all over the world, because more exports mean more jobs. Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years. And we’re on track to meet that goal – ahead of schedule.

We have a big opportunity right now to build not only an economy that will help us succeed today, but an economy that will help our kids and their kids succeed tomorrow. We know what we need to do. We need to strengthen American manufacturing. We need to invest in American-made energy and new skills for American workers. And above all, we need to renew the values that have always made this country great: Hard work. Fair play. Shared responsibility.

We can do this. Ask the folks in Everett. Right here, a few years ago, the first Dreamliner took off on its maiden trip. Thousands of employees came to watch. One was an executive office administrator named Sharon O’Hara. As Sharon saw that first plane take flight – a result of so much hard work – she got goose bumps. In her words, she said, “We said we would do it and we did.” That’s the story of America. We said we would do it, and we did. That’s the can-do spirit that makes us who we are. We’ve seen challenging times before. But we always emerge from them stronger. And that’s what we’re going to do again today. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Public officials in B.C. are very upset about the lack of input and consultation with the National Energy Board in its decision that will allow increased tanker traffic and allow Kinder Morgan to make long term contracts that will lead to increased tanker traffic through Burrard Inlet which includes Vancouver’s harbor. These long term contracts will also make the financing doubling the capacity of the Trans mountain Pipeline to move more oil from the Canadian Tar Sands to ports on the Pacific.

Go here for the full story: Trans mountain Tar Sands Pipeline project gets infrastructure, more tankers, long term contracts

Tar Sands Action

Corruption scandal escalating at the Clinton State Department

Emails uncovered by Friends of the Earth reveal State Department employees in a cozy relationship with Paul Elliot, a leader on Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign turned head lobbyist for Keystone XL – offering personal favors, praise, advice, and generally cheerleading the project while it was under review. Some of the messages are just damning. Here are some quotes:“It’s precisely because you have connections that you’re sought after and hired,” offered as praise for Elliot’s work

This is showing like a brewing scandal that could harm the Obama team. The president needs to reject the pipeline to show that their approval was not ‘bought’

The emails released today are a smoking gun that show how oil industry lobbying money has corrupted the State Department’s review of Keystone XL. They come out just after it was revealed that the State Department relied on a major TransCanada contractor to conduct its environmental review and public hearings on Keystone XL, and Wikileaks cables showed that other officials at the department gave the company tips on how to get the pipeline approved.

Go here for the full story: Corruption scandal brewing at Clinton State Dept. over Tar Sands Review

Maddow then noted an interesting fact: that some of the richest people in America were worth more than the GDP of many, many of the nations who have gathered at the UN this week. She centered on the Koch brothers, the Tea Party backers whose name has become a curse word in some circles. Together, the brothers are worth $50 billion — enough, Maddow noted, to purchase the island of Samoa 88 times, or to buy a very long list of other countries.

However, while the Kochs have only gotten richer, they have simultaneously laid off 13,000 workers in the last four years.

“I thought rich people were the job creators,” Maddow mused. “And yet the more money they seem to make, the fewer people they seem to employ.”

Go here for the whole story and a video. Rachel Maddow Loves Walkouts, Does Not Love Koch Brothers (VIDEO)