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Events

Th, April 15, 2010, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Rally against Higher Taxes, Hawaii State Capitol, 415 S. Beretania St., Honolulu 96813, Tax Day Tea Party, OverTaxedHawaii.com

Quotables

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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He who fears criticism is hopeless. Only those who do things are criticized. To hesitate for fear of criticism is cowardly. If our cause is right be not afraid of criticism, advocate it, expound it, and, if need be, fight for it. Critics always have been and always will be, but to the strong minded they are a help rather than a hindrance. Take your part in life’s stage and play your part to the end.

Thomas Jefferson

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I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through Generaal [sic] Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger [All three are retired from government service, but are Council on Foreign Relations members]

James L. Jones, U.S. National Security Advisor, Feb 18, 2009

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. . . it’s good to have an [new] outpost of the Council [on Foreign Relations] right here down the street from the State Department. We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean I won’t have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Foreign Policy Address at the Council on Foreign Relations, July 15, 2009

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Thomas Jefferson

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The right wing goes on endlessly about Social Security and Medicare as if they were welfare giveaways to shiftless people who refuse to look after themselves, whereas in actual fact citizens are vastly overcharged for the meager benefits with a 15 percent tax on their wages and salaries.

Paul Craig Roberts, Asst. Treasury Secretary under Reagan Creators.com December 1, 2009

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Agricultural biotechnology will find a supporter occupying the White House next year, regardless of which candidate wins the election in November.

Monsanto Inhouse Newsletter, October 6, 2000 The Future of Food

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Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food, our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.

Phil Angell, Director of Corporate Communication-Monsanto. New York Times, October 25, 1998

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More quotables

Informing Hawaii's voters

Gay Activist Allegedly Punched State Senator at Rally

Submitted by Pat Beekman on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 00:01

Senator Mike Gabbard

An 80-year-old gay rights activist allegedly punched Senator Mike Gabbard, 62, in the chest during the pro-traditional-marriage rally on January 17. Senator Gabbard is one of the minority of Hawaii state legislators who has consistently voted against same-sex civil unions and marriage in Hawaii.

Gabbard said the activist, Ward Stewart, punched him without saying a word. He also tried to jam a protest sign in Gabbard’s face, whereupon he was restrained by bystanders.

Stewart avers that he merely poked Gabbard in the chest and as an 80-year-old man, one hardly needs bystanders to restrain him.

However, a court has issued a temporary restraining order against Stewart, ordering him to stay away from Gabbard. The senator is considering pressing criminal charges.

Ward Stewart at January 17 rally/Click photo for enlargement

Senator Gabbard said he recognized Stewart instantly when he looked under his straw hat at the rally. Eighteen years before, Stewart and other LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) supporters picketed Gabbard’s restaurant for what Stewart says were Gabbard’s anti-gay views. Both men agree that the picketing caused the restaurant, in the Moiliili Down to Earth, to close. Gabbard says that at the time, he employed a gay man who was an excellent employee. Stewart states unequivocally that Gabbard refused to employ homosexuals.

Stewart says the fact that he and his partner, George Vye, have been together for 54 years, combined with his mere presence at the rally, got Gabbard’s “dander up no end, I’m pleased to say.” He continued that Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, who was at the rally, “wants to convert this into a Christian state.” Mayor Mufi Hannemann, said Ward, went to Harvard and “learned how to be a homophobe.”

Returning to the subject of Gabbard, Stewart said, “He’s very cuckoo, and he’s very ugly, and very destructive.”

Stewart and this writer are on the same email list for the Oahu Macintosh users group. Macintosh, Mac for short, is the brand name of Apple computers. The e-list is a way for Mac owners to keep in touch on related events and topics, with the idea of gaining more expertise on our computers. A large part of this includes asking fellow e-list members if they know the solution to a problem that one is unable to solve on one’s own.

Back in September when I ran into a website problem, I wrote to the list members:

“Does anyone know why the top line of the table in the following article is lighter than the others? I need to correct it if I can find the solution.

“http://hawaiipoliticalinfo.org/?q=node/1874”

Stewart dashed off a message to me and everyone else on the e-list:

“Such egregiously political junk seems to me to have little place on the HMAUS board. What next from the wing-nuts -- birth conspiracies, commie plots and muslims in the white house -- divisive, dim-witted and irrelevant.”

The above are our respective complete messages. We were not acquainted with each other at the time. No further explanation on what Stewart found so offensive was given.

Link:

Gabbard gets court order against activist [The Honolulu Advertiser]

Former Congressman Eric Massa on the Glenn Beck Program

Submitted by Kawika Young on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 15:46

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), who just stepped down as a congressman yesterday amidst charges of sexual harassment of a male staffer and countercharges of government corruption (prominently naming Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff), is interviewed by a skeptical Glenn Beck today for the full hour.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Part 1 of 4

Part 2 of 4

Part 3 of 4

Part 4 of 4

Links:

'Rahm Emanuel Is Son of the Devil's Spawn' [HPI]

Massa investigated for allegedly groping staffers [The Washington Post]

Larry King Interviews Eric Massa Mar 9, 2010 (6-minute video clip)

In Europe, 'It's One Minute to 12'

Submitted by HPI on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 15:14

Geert Wilders, who is a serious contender for the position of Holland's next prime minister, is interviewed by Glenn Beck on how Europe is about to be changed irretrievably by the Muslim religion, and, he says, most definitely not for the good.

According to comments on the YouTube Webpage of this video, Glenn today called him a "right-wing fascist." In this interview Glenn gives no hint of hostility.

Links:

Dutch Politician Charged with Hate Speech against Muslims [HPI]

Fitna Geert's documentary [YouTube video]

Videos featuring Geert Wilders [YouTube]

Is This Recovery for Real?

Submitted by Jason Ogawa on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 05:04

Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Treasury Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, says that this recovery won’t last.

Why not?

“As I have emphasized for years, an economy that moves its high productivity, high value-added jobs offshore is going nowhere but down.”

Moreover, he says the government's likely target for more money is a levy on all private pension funds and the gutting of Social Security and Medicare. Why not? People generally don’t know or try to find out what’s happening to their private pension money, Social Security and Medicare. These have been successfully raided before without much of a consequence to the people responsible.

What’s the reason for the raid this time?

“The reason is that the dollar’s role as reserve currency is at stake. If the Federal Reserve has to monetize the federal deficit, the world will turn its back on a rapidly depreciating dollar. The minute the dollar loses the reserve currency role, the U.S. can no longer pay its bills in its own currency, and its days as a superpower come to a sudden end”

Senator Bunning's Explanation

Submitted by HPI on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 21:57

Senator Bunning (R-KY) explains why he was the lone holdout on the unemployment jobs package. His explanation gives some good insights into what goes on in the Senate, including a double-cross from the Democrats.

U.S. Supreme Court Considers Church's Freedom to Protest

Submitted by HPI on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 20:31

According to Fox News, a group calling itself a church is creating havoc at military funerals across the country. The "church" takes exception to the U.S. military's policy of "don't ask, don't tell," feeling that that is much too tolerant of homosexuals.

The dead soldiers themselves are not gay, but their families' times of grief are being disrupted and marred by protesters holding such signs as, "Thank God for IEDs."

The case is now before the Supreme Court.

The First Amendment in it entirety reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Links:

Supreme Court to rule on anti-gay protests at military funerals [The Washington Post]

Westboro Baptist Church

Karl Rove: 'I Don't Know if My Father Was Gay'

Submitted by HPI on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 19:39

Karl Rove, former Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush, has a Svengali reputation. He is interviewed on this morning's Today Show (NBC) about his personal life.

'Did Bush & Cheney Want Bin Laden To Escape?' Jesse Ventura

Submitted by HPI on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 19:32

Updated 10:00 p.m., Monday, March 8, 2010 (Part 2 video added)

Jesse Ventura, former Navy SEAL, professional wrestler, small-town mayor, Minnesota governor and present author and host of TruTV's Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, talks to Larry King about conspiracies and "lies, lies and more dirty lies that the government tells us."

Part 1

Part 2

Dutch Politician Charged with Hate Speech against Muslims

Submitted by HPI on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 18:42

Geert Wilders is running for prime minister of the Netherlands, but his criticism of the Muslim religion has put him afoul of Dutch law, which has weak free speech rights. If convicted, he could face up to 16 months in prison.

There are 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands.

Polls put Geert's party ahead in the national elections, so when the trial resumes in June, the court may find itself facing its new prime minister.