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www.honoluluadvertiser.com

February 4, 2010

Hale'iwa harbor parking lot being closed to homeless

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

In an effort to regain parking for boaters at Hale'iwa's harbor, state officials willbegin closing the parking lot at night, which will affect the dozens ofhomeless people who live there.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources installed signs at the harbor yesterday spelling out the parking rules that will be enforced.

The parking lot will be closed at night to all but permitted users, boat-slip renters and boaters with trailers.

"This is not a homeless issue, although those people are going to be affectedand they will have to vacate the harbor,"said Ed Underwood,administrator for the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.

Underwood said about 50 vehicles are taking up spaces that are meant for boaters.

People are living out of their cars and setting up permanent structures under nearby trees.

Harbormaster Paul Sensano estimated that 60 to 75 people are living in the parking lot.

"We're hoping to get this plan in effect by next weekend," Underwood said.

The sign installation caused concern among homeless people there andprompted area resident Judy Riggs to make phone calls to the area'slegislator and to news media.

Riggs, a retired educator who said she has lived in Hale'iwa for a year, saidshe walks past the small-boat harbor every day and is on friendly termswith one of the homeless women, who Riggs said is upset about having tomove out.

A meeting was to take place yesterday afternoon to address the issue, and Riggssaid she would go to see what more she could do to help.

"I believe if enough people that have power could come together withcompassion, we can be very creative in helping these people out," Riggssaid.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElgoUqMZ35g&feature=PlayList&p=476A4391CC604129&index=0&playnext=1

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http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1081

Reprinted from "Intelligence Report" of Southern Poverty Law Center. This article (1) mistakenly equates sovereignty action with "racism" against whites and (2) does not understand the history of U.S. occupation in Hawai'i.

You'll probably feel angry when you read this. It mentions Ken Conklin in a positive light and slams Haunani-Kay Trask.

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Prejudice in Paradise
Hawaii Has a Racism Problem
By Larry Keller
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Roots of Resentment Go Way Back
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Celia Padron went on a Hawaiian vacation last year, lured by the prospect of beautiful beaches and friendly people. She, her husband and two teenage daughters enjoyed the black sand beach at Makena State Park on Maui. But a Hawaiian girl accosted her two teenage daughters, saying, "Go back to the mainland" and "Take your white ass off our beaches," says Padron, a pediatric gastroenterologist in New Jersey.

When her husband, 68 at the time, stepped between the girls, three young Hawaiian men slammed him against a vehicle, cutting his ear, and choked and punched him, Padron says. Police officers persuaded the Padrons not to press charges, saying it would be expensive for them to return for court appearances and a Hawaiian judge would side with the Hawaiian assailants, the doctor contends.

Trask
Professor Haunani-Kay Trask believes Native Hawaiians have every right to feel hostile toward whites.

"There is no doubt in my mind [the attack] was racially motivated," she adds.

With no known hate groups and a much-trumpeted spirit of aloha or tolerance, few people outside Hawaii realize the state has a racism issue. One reason: The tourism-dependent state barely acknowledges hate crimes. That makes it hard to know how often racial violence is directed at Caucasians, who comprise about 25% of the ethnically diverse state's 1.3 million residents. Those who identify themselves as Native Hawaiian — most residents are of mixed race — account for nearly 20%.

Hawaii has collected hate crimes data since 2002 (most states began doing so a decade earlier). In the first six years, the state reported only 12 hate crimes, and half of those were in 2006. (All other things being equal, the state would be expected to have more than 800 such crimes annually, given the size of its population, according to a federal government study of hate crimes.) There was anti-white bias in eight of those incidents. But that doesn't begin to reflect the extent of racial rancor directed at non-Native Hawaiians in the Aloha State, especially in schools. For example:

  • The last day of school has long been unofficially designated "Beat Haole Day," with white students singled out for harassment and violence. (Haole — pronounced how-lee — is slang for a foreigner, usually white, and sometimes is used as a racial slur.)
  • A non-Native Hawaiian student who challenged the Hawaiian-preference admission policy at a wealthy private school received a $7 million settlement this year.
  • A 12-year-old white girl new to Hawaii from New York City needed 10 surgical staples to close a gash in her head incurred when she was beaten in 2007 by a Native Hawaiian girl who called her a "fucking haole."
  • A vocal segment of Native Hawaiians is pushing for independence to end the "prolonged occupation" by the United States and governance by natives.
  • Demonstrators shouting racial epithets at whites disrupted a statehood celebration in 2006.

Anti-white sentiments such as these have been more than 200 years in the making. The pivotal event occurred when American and European businessmen, backed by U.S. military forces, overthrew Hawaii's monarch in 1893 and placed her under house arrest two years later. The United States annexed the islands as a territory in 1898, and they became a state in 1959.

Little wonder then that as Hawaii prepares to observe the 50th anniversary of becoming the 50th state on Aug. 21, it will a muted celebration, devoid of parades or fireworks.

Classroom Warfare
Tina Mohr has lived in Hawaii for 25 years. She has Native Hawaiian friends. But in the 2003-04 school year, her twin blond-haired daughters, aged 11 at the time, began getting harassed by Native Hawaiian kids at their school on the Big Island. "Our daughters would come home with bruises and cuts," she tells the Intelligence Report.

One of her girls was assaulted twice in the same day. In one scuffle, she had her head slammed into a wall, and her attacker continued to threaten her. Her daughter suffered a dislocated jaw and had headaches for five weeks, Mohr says.

The torment continued in the summer between 5th and 6th grades. Native Hawaiian girls stalked and threatened her daughters and yelled "fucking haole" at them. Midway through the 6th grade, Mohr began to home-school her daughters.

She filed a complaint with the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Education in 2004. It was only recently, on Dec. 31, 2008, that the division finally released its report. The report concluded there was "substantial evidence that students experienced racially and sexually derogatory name-calling on nearly a daily basis on school buses, at school bus stops, in school hallways and other areas of the school" that Mohr's children attended.

The epithets included names such as "f*****g haole," "haole c**t" and "haole whore," according to the report. Students were told "go home" and "you don't belong here." Most of the slurs were directed by "local" or non-white students at Caucasians, especially those who were younger, smaller, light-skinned and blond.

The report also concluded that school officials responded inadequately or not at all when students complained of racial harassment. Students who did complain were retaliated against by their antagonists. "They learned not to report this stuff," Mohr says of her own daughters.

The Hawaii Department of Education settled Mohr's complaint with a lengthy agreement in which educators promised to take various steps to improve the reporting, investigating and eliminating of student harassment in the future. Today, Mohr's daughters are again attending the school where they used to have trouble. They haven't been assaulted, but one was threatened on a school bus earlier this year.

Racial Legacies
The resentment some Native Hawaiians feels toward whites today can be chalked up in part to "ancestral memory," says Jon Matsuoka, dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Hawaii. "That trauma is qualitatively different than other ethnic groups in America. It's more akin to American Indians" because Hawaiians had their homeland invaded, were exposed to diseases for which they had no immunity, and had an alien culture forced upon them, he says. Stories about the theft of their lands and culture have been passed down from one generation to the next, Matsuoka adds. (One difference now, of course, is that Native Hawaiians in Hawaii are far more numerous than American Indians are in their own ancestral regions, where the Indians remain politically weak and largely marginalized by the far larger white population.)

Racial violence directed at whites in Hawaii, while deplorable, is minor compared to the larger issues underlying it, Matsuoka says. The Hawaiian spirit of aloha "is pervasive, but you have to earn aloha. You don't necessarily trust outsiders, because outsiders [historically] come and have taken what you have. It's an incredibly giving and warm and generous place, but you have to earn it," he says.

Further fueling the resentment that some Native Hawaiians feel for outsiders are attempts by the latter to usurp entitlement programs given the former to redress previous wrongs. In recent years, non-native residents have used the courts to try and rescind these entitlements on grounds that they are racially discriminatory and violate the U.S. Constitution.

conklin
Kenneth Conklin

Retired professor and "anti-sovereign" white activist Kenneth Conklin and others prevailed in a lawsuit in 2000 that challenged a requirement that trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs — OHA — be of Native Hawaiian descent. OHA oversees huge tracts of lands that the United States took from Hawaii when it annexed the islands as a territory, and collects revenues from them for programs that benefit Native Hawaiians.

The state government was going to sell 1.2 million acres of these lands to developers for two state-sponsored affordable housing projects when OHA and four Native Hawaiian plaintiffs sued to stop the deal. A state court sided with the government, but the Hawaii Supreme Court reversed in favor of the plaintiffs. This March 31, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Hawaii high court erred and sent the case back for further action.

There also was an unsuccessful legal challenge to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, passed by Congress in 1921. The act allows a Hawaiian agency to make 99-year leases at $1 per year to Native Hawaiians (but not other residents) for authorized uses on lands ceded to the United States when it annexed Hawaii. More than 200,000 acres of land were designated for uses such as homes and ranches.

One of the more protracted legal battles involved a lawsuit filed in 2003 by a non-Native Hawaiian student against the hugely wealthy and influential private Kamehameha Schools. Kamehameha operates three campuses for the benefit of children of Hawaiian ancestry. The student's attorneys contended that violates civil rights laws. As the U.S. Supreme Court was about to announce last year whether it would hear the case, Kamehameha paid $7 million to settle it out of court.

'A Hateful Place'
A violent incident with racial overtones in 2007 near Pearl Harbor prompted a good deal of soul searching about race in Hawaii. A Native Hawaiian man and his teenage son brutally pummeled and kicked a Caucasian soldier and his wife near Pearl Harbor after the soldier's SUV struck the other man's parked car. The son shouted "fucking haole" while attacking the soldier. The husband and wife suffered broken noses, facial fractures and concussions. A prosecutor said the assault was a road-rage incident, not a hate crime. But it generated much debate on newspaper websites and blogs about the use of the word haole and whether whites are the targets of racism in Hawaii.

"It is a hateful place to live if you are white," wrote a woman on one Hawaii website's comments section. A Hawaii native who is white wrote, "Racism exists in Hawaii. My whole life I've never really felt welcome here." A sailor stationed at Pearl Harbor added that "this island is the most racist place I have ever been in my life."

Other white residents, however, wrote that they had had no such experiences. And many people maintained that arrogant mainlanders are the most likely to incur natives' wrath. It's their "cultural inability to be humble [that] is a huge contributing factor in a lot of violence against them," one person wrote. "There is a high degree of arrogance and lack of respect that mainlanders exhibit," added another.

A Hawaiian Studies professor at the University of Hawaii, Haunani-Kay Trask, is one of the most caustic critics of whites in the islands. In her 1999 book, From A Native Daughter, Trask wrote: "Just as … all exploited peoples are justified in feeling hostile and resentful toward those who exploit them, so we Hawaiians are justified in such feelings toward the haole. This is the legacy of racism, of colonialism."

In a poem titled, "Racist White Woman," Trask wrote: "I could kick/Your face, puncture/Both eyes./You deserve this kind/Of violence./No more vicious/Tongues, obscene/Lies./Just a knife/Slitting your tight/Little heart."

Trask's opposite number is Conklin, the "anti-sovereignty" white activist who has lived on Oahu for 17 years and says he loves Hawaii's culture, spirituality and history, but is labeled a racist by some of his detractors. He wrote a book entitled Hawaiian Apartheid: Racial Separatism and Ethnic Nationalism in the Aloha State.

"Here in Hawaii, there is no compulsion to speak out on racist attacks. There are all these hate crimes and violent things happening to white people and you don't hear sovereignty activists speaking out against it," says Conklin, who manages a massive website on Hawaiian issues. "The violence has been going on for years and it's always been hush-hush."

State and Race
It's against this backdrop that Hawaii approaches its 50th anniversary of statehood. The non-celebration will consist largely of educational events at various venues. Iolani Palace won't be one of them. Once home to Hawaii's monarchy and where the last monarch was imprisoned after her government was overthrown, the palace is a potent symbol of anti-statehood — and anti-white — sentiment.

Republican state Sen. Sam Slom learned that the hard way. Although Statehood Day is a holiday in Hawaii, there were no celebrations for about 10 years, until he organized one in 2006 at the palace. He and others were confronted by demonstrators shouting racial epithets. Slom, who is Caucasian and has lived in Hawaii since 1960, said the 30 to 40 "hard-core" protesters intimidated a high school band, which left early, as well as some spectators.

The 50-year anniversary events figure to be "soft celebrations" aimed at defusing sovereignty passions, Slom says. "It is a divisive wedge that some people have exploited," he says. "There are people who have made it a racial thing. [But] the vast, overwhelming majority are proud to be United States citizens."

Still, a statehood commission planning commemorative events opted not to re-enact the phone call to the Territorial House of Representatives meeting at Iolani Palace in 1959 informing representatives that Congress had voted in favor of Hawaiian statehood. Commission member Donald Cataluna strongly opposed a reenactment, according to the Honolulu Advertiser, saying he "didn't want any blood to spill."

That won't completely mollify sovereignty activists, Slom predicts. "There will be protests, there's no question about it."

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DOES AMERICA HAVE A MONOPOLY ON LOVE OF COUNTRY?

In 1993, the U.S. admitted in US Public Law 103-150 that it violated its own Constitution, its treaties, international law by perpetrating an outrageous armed theft of the Kingdom of Hawai`i and the forced American citizenship of Hawaiian national citizens.America recognized in 1894, and again in 1993, that the Kingdom of Hawai`i has a right to exist.The Hawaiian Nation has a right and obligation to enact and dictate land laws which prevent the selling of its lands to foreign speculators at prices which deny native nationals from living on their own home islands at an affordable price.The Hawaiian nation has a right and obligation to protect and defend the quality of life, land, water, ocean and air. The Hawaiian nation has a right and obligation to its citizens to provide the best in education, health care and housing.We Love Our Nation As Much As You Love Yours.How Would You Like It If Your Land Was Stolen?
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E kala mai for posting a screen cap of his apology but he apologized and I think it's important:

Of course some people are insulting Kaina but I disagree with that because I no blame people for BELIEVING and/or in trying fo do the right thing. I also do not believe in making innocent people pay for what the FEW pilau have done. If I did that then I would say that ALL oiwi men are pilau because it was BECAUSE of AN oiwi male that I was run over AND because ANOTHER oiwi man RAN ME OVER and I was ONLY six years old. Hello LOL No. I think we all deserve second chances and hope that some people get off their high horse saying "I told you so" and accept Kaina's apology. E kala mai for posting this picture of Richard Figueroa wearing a Kau Inoa tshirt. I have to post it here for all to see but I told my family and friends that I had it but some people come to me with some things that I wish they would NOT tell me LOL I know too much about some people I swear. I NO LIKE KNOW hello LOL Anyway I no tink they believed me. Sorry for posting it here but I HAVE to post it here so that people can put a name to the face of an Umiamaka, the Deceiver:

You no moa honor and/or integrity with Hawaiians --- then YOU are PAU! Some people mistakenly think that they can play with dat and "test" Hawaiians but it raises an important question: Didn't Figueroa know that Hawaiians TALK and TALK and TALK? Stupid!!! And E KALA MAI but the CHOSEN ONES who are leaders who help to LEAD the people are NOT stupid people. Neither is Ke Akua. That is partly why we are STILL here being thorns to some people's side LOL



BTW many Hawaiians are not American so this does not apply to some people... but anything is possible. Republicans SWEPT Virginia, New Jersey, AND Massachusetts despite Democrats being in control of the White House, Senate, AND House so it CAN be done and HAS been done to bring the house DOWN.

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." --- Abraham Lincoln.


Yes I quote Americans because I like to use some of their OWN words against them. Duh!

E malama pono.

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Yes I wrote that

Yes I wrote that in response to someone (another Republican) askingQuestion: Facebook Pop Quiz: If you had a time machine and could go anytime, anywhere you wanted, what would you do?Person #1 (who is a former campaign manager who used to represent Waikiki-Kapahulu): Either I'd go back to when Queen Liliuokalani was selling opium to her impoverished and landless subjects so I could tell modern day folks that life wasn't so fabulous back then, OR I'd go back to when Kamehameha I was killing tens of thousands of fellow Hawaiians on various regions on various islands in order to forcibly "unite" them under his ... See Morerule so I could give modern folks a first hand account of the barbaric carnage. Of course, OHA would make sure that I was not allowed to discuss these subjects until after the Akaka Bill was passed. After that, it would probably be illegal under tribal law to discuss such matters. So maybe I'd just go back to high school too! :-)Me (also a Republican but a Republican from the GOOD seed:) If I could I would go back to ali'i days when those who speak ill of ali'i would be killed. I would like to be the person to put some of those people to death.

He has not responded to me. Too shocked to respond I SUPPOSE. Some people who do not matter to me don't like me. Boohoohooo.It helps to know that Florida is a CLOSED primary state while Hawai'i is not a state and has an open primary. In Florida we MUST declare our party before voting in a primary so I had to choose the lesser of 14 evils. Hawai'i is odd though. Approximately 23% of the voters are Republican while about 54% are Democrats yet Lingle won which means that some people SAY they are Democrat but they voted Republican ;) There is a social stigma of being Republican so I can understand why they voted Republican but some people in Hawai'i... dey no make sense and they friggen LIE. How do they think Lingle got in office. Some Democrats voted for her. That's how. Saying one thing and doing another but I go by what people DO... not by what they SAY.I chose the Republican party and am a registered Republican but I am from the GOOD seed. I am also very sardonic and sarcastic. Sometimes shockingly blunt too. I know that some people dunno if I am serious or not.
BTW here is Obama's budget versus Bush's last one.Obama compared to Bush:Obama-budget-graphic-001.jpgI don't mind the education increase of 78% but quantity does not necessarily correlate with QUALITY.I'm not okay with some of these exhorbitant INCREASESAgriculture +27.4%.Veterans Affairs +30.1%Energy +87.4%Congress +18.7%State Department +34.2%Transportation +18.7%Justice +15.4%International Assistance +64.5%EPA +34.5%Congress +18.7%It's ALL in the numbers."Change we can believe in."The HUD and SBA amounts are VERY troubling. HUD for homes DOWN 13%. SBA for SMALL businesses DOWN 38.2%!!!!!These two areas are integral and affects PEOPLE on a daily basis.Of course some people focus ONLY on defense. Defense rose 13.0% while other departments rose 30% to 87% HELLO.Get real.



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FREE HAWAI`I TVTHE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK"IT'S ASTOUNDING THERE'S NO ACCOUNTING"When An Office Of Hawaiian Affairs Audit Was Released, Peoples Anger Was Unleashed.It Revealed Financial Mismanagement OHA Had Concealed.But Now There's A Bill That Needs Your Support So OHA's Incompetence We Can Thwart.Want To Learn How To Use Your Clout? Watch & Find Out. Then Send This Video To One Other Person Today.
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Two daughters with cancer: Is the U.S. to blame?

By Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein, CNN Special Investigations Unit
February 2, 2010 12:28 p.m. EST
Doctors discovered a tumor in Inna Rosa's mouth when she was 7. She was diagnosed with bone cancer.
Doctors discovered a tumor in Inna Rosa's mouth when she was 7. She was diagnosed with bone cancer.
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Vieques resident Nanette Rosa's two teenage daughters both suffer from cancer
A lawsuit blames fallout from U.S. weapons tests on the island for the high rate of illness
U.S. government says there's no proof that Navy activity caused widespread illness
Watch the full investigation tonight on "Campbell Brown" at 8 ET

Meet a mother from Vieques and her two daughters who both suffer from cancer on tonight's Campbell Brown, 8 ET

Vieques, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- Each day after work, Nanette Rosa takes her two daughters to feed their horses. It's their favorite part of the day -- a time they don'tthink about pain.
"It's really difficult for my mom to have two daughters with cancer," said 16-year-old Coral, the older daughter. "Because sometimes she's got two of us in the hospital at the sametime, and we both get sick at the same time. And sometimes she doesn'thave anyone to help her, and it really affects her."
The Rosas live on Vieques, an American island off Puerto Rico. For nearly 60 years, the U.S. military used much of the island as a bombing range, dropping vast quantities of live bombs and missiles in weapons tests. Now, about three-quarters ofthe island's residents -- including Coral and her 14-year-old sisterInna -- are part of a lawsuit that claims the bombing range made themsick.
"There's a lot of people here dying of cancer," Coral said. "I have my little cousin dying of cancer. I have my sister that has cancer. My boyfriend's mom died of cancer. His dad has cancer ofthe skin. A lot of people are suffering here of cancer, 'cause whatthey did here in Vieques."
As a toddler, Coral was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer that afflicts younger children. Her mother says much of Coral's stomach and intestines had to be replaced as aresult of the cancer.
"Almost everything is plastic," Nanette Rosa said. "So when she eats certain foods, it produces diarrhea, which has caused dehydration. She gets sick a lot, and certain foods shecannot eat like regular people."
The operations have left Coral with a six-inch gash across her stomach, along with emotional scars.
"Sometimes I feel sad, 'cause everybody calls me 'plastic intestines,' " she said. "They say, 'Oh, you have a plastic belly.' And I tell them, 'You knowwhat? If you were in this condition, how would you feel?' "
And doctors found a large tumor in Inna's mouth when she was 7.
"It was very swollen, and it looked like there was a big ball of gum in my mouth or a big lollipop," she said. "I started having pain, and theonly thing that would come out was blood."
Inna was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a bone cancer. John Eaves Jr., who represents Coral, Inna and other islanders in the lawsuit against the federalgovernment, told CNN, "There is suffering throughout this island."
"You cannot walk down the street on this island without counting every house and knowing two or three people on the street that have cancer, or havehad cancer, or have died from cancer," Eaves said. "But for me, themost disturbing thing is the number of children on this island thathave terminal cancer."
Eaves, of Mississippi, has taken more than 1,300 hair samples from Vieques residents and had them tested for heavy metals. About 80 percent of the hair samples tested positive for heavy metals. Many of the results showlevels of toxic elements in people that are literally off the charts --the lines representing substances like lead, mercury, arsenic, aluminumand cadmium extend beyond the "dangerous" area and out of the gridentirely.
"These hair samples, I believe, are the strongest proof that the contaminants -- the things that were in the bombs, like the lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum -- are now in thepeople," Eaves said.
Behind one of those charts is 7-year-old Taishmalee Ramos-Cruz, whose hair was tested when she was 2. Taishmalee's parents say she had been very sick, and they fear she mayget sick again."
cb.poison.soldiers.cnn.640x360.jpgVideo: Did Navy poison Americans?
There is suffering throughout this island.
--John Eaves Jr
RELATED TOPICS
"She looked like she had chemotherapy. She lost all her hair, and she had these spots on her legs," her father told CNN. "She also had bad trouble using her fingers properly for along time."
Eaves said he was not surprised to learn of the problems Taishmalee has experienced.
"Unfortunately, we have seen many children on Vieques with similar problems," he said. "And she may still get sick again. We don't know if she will get cancer later."
Dr. Carmen Ortiz Roque, a Harvard-trained epidemiologist, has studied the Vieques population for years. She and other scientists have beendeposed in the lawsuit.
"The human population of Vieques is by far the sickest human population that I've ever worked with," said Ortiz, who practices in San Juan. "These people are very sick veryearly, and dying earlier. So something is happening there."
Ortiz has compiled statistics for the Vieques population that she and other scientists find alarming.
"It's astonishing," she said. "They die 30 percent higher of cancer, 45 percent higher of diabetes, 95 percent higher of liver disease, and 381 percent higher of hypertension than the rest of Puerto Ricans."
Ortiz' findings are supported by and are now used by the Puerto Rico Department of Health as an indicator of health problems for the people of Vieques. She also found disturbing statistics on mercury levels in the Vieques population-- levels that are much higher than the rest of Puerto Rico.
"Twenty-seven percent of the women in Vieques have enough mercury to damage their baby's brain. That is very significant." she said. "This is veryserious, given that mercury causes permanent damage and mentalretardation in children and that the hair samples are a standard way ofmeasuring this exposure in women in the reproductive age."
She said her sampling of children 5 and under in Vieques had "at least six times higher levels of mercury exposure than children sampled in theUnited States."
Dr. John Wargo, a Yale University expert on the effects of toxic exposure on human health, said he believes contamination from the bombing range has caused illnessesamong Vieques residents.
"The chemicals released on the island have the capacity to induce cancer, to damage the nervous system, to cause reproductive damage, mutations, genetic damage, and also to harmthe immune system," said Wargo, who is slated to testify as an expertwitness in the islanders' lawsuit.
In 2003, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded there was no link between the U.S. military activity on Vieques and the health problems suffered by the island's population. The scientists were from the CDC's Agency for ToxicSubstances Disease Registry (ATSDR) division, which studies thenation's toxic superfund sites.
Numerous scientists and federal lawmakers have since publicly criticized the 2003 report on Vieques.
Howard Frumkin, director of the ATSDR, was grilled at a House science and technology subcommittee hearing last year over the effectiveness of the agency and its handling of the Vieques and other questionable sites. In a reportreleased just two days before the March 12 hearing, the subcommitteefound that "time and time again ATSDR appears to avoid clearly anddirectly confronting the most obvious toxic culprits that harm thehealth of local communities throughout the nation.
"Instead, they deny, delay, minimize, trivialize or ignore legitimate concerns and health considerations of local communities and well-respectedscientists and medical professionals."
And in November, a group of at least seven scientists, including Ortiz and Wargo, called on ATSDR to conduct more research on the Vieques. ATSDR later that monthannounced it would take a "fresh look" at Vieques and conduct newstudies to determine whether the Navy's contamination at Vieques made people sick.
In January, ATSDR's Frumkin was reassigned.
In response to the islander's lawsuit, the U.S. government is invoking sovereign immunity, claiming the islanders do not have the right to sue the government and that there's no proof that the Navy's activities caused the widespreadillnesses.
For the sick residents of Vieques there is no time to lose.

"What I want is people to get medicine and help here," said Inna. "I know how people are suffering in this island. I see people in the streets andpoor people living like wild things. And there's kids dying on thestreet. It's not good."

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nwoTools.jpgDecades later, U.S. military pollution in Philippines linked to deaths

Decades later, U.S. military pollution in Philippines linked to deaths

By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, February 2, 2010
CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines - The U. S. military is long gone from bases in the Philippines, but its legacy remains buried here.
Toxic waste was spilled on the ground, pumped into waterways and buried in landfills for decades at two sprawling Cold War-era bases.
Today, ice cream shops, Western-style horse ranches, hotels and public parks have sprung up on land once used by the Air Force and the Navy — a benign facade built on land the Philippine government said is still polluted withasbestos, heavy metals and fuel.
Records of about 500 families who sought refuge on the deserted bases after a 1991 volcanic eruption indicate 76 people died and 68 others were sickened by pollutants on the bases. A study in 2000 for the Philippine Senate also linkedthe toxins to "unusually high occurrence of skin disease, miscarriages,still births, birth defects, cancers, heart ailments and leukemia."
The 1991 base closing agreement gave the Philippines billions of dollars in military infrastructure and real estate at the bases and in return cleared the United States of any responsibility for the pollution. The Department ofDefense told Stars and Stripes it has no authority to undertake or pay forenvironmental cleanup at the closed bases.
Philippine government efforts never gained traction. Philippine President Joseph Estrada formed a task force in 2000 to take on the issue, but it fell dormant and unfunded after he left office a year later. Efforts by privategroups and environmentalists to force a cleanup have largely fizzled.
After two decades, the base closing agreement has run up a troubling environmental record. Filipinos claim exposure to U.S. pollutants has brought suffering and death.
As the U.S. military works to become greener in the 21st century, the Philippines stand as a dark reminder of how environmental responsibilities can go astray overseas.
Both the Air Force and the Navy polluted haphazardly in the Philippines.
The Navy pumped 3.75 million gallons of untreated sewage each day into local fishing and swimming waters at Subic Bay, according to a 1992 report by what was then known as the General Accounting Office.
The bases poured fuel and chemicals from firefighting exercises directly into the water table and used underground storage tanks without leak detection equipment, the agency found.
At least three sites at the Subic Bay Navy base — two landfills and an ordnance disposal area — are dangerously polluted with materials such as asbestos, metals and fuels, the Philippines government found after anenvironmental survey there.
Clark Air Base was a staging area during the Vietnam War. Its aviation and vehicle operations contaminated eight sites with oil, petroleum lubricants, pesticides, PCB and lead, according to a 1997 environmental survey by thePhilippine government.
Before the U.S. closed the bases, it drew up a rough bill for cleaning the hazardous pollution.
Though they never tested the water or soil, the Air Force and the Navy estimated cleanup at each could cost up to $25 million — the average cost of handling the most polluted sites back in the United States, according to theGAO.
Rose Ann Calma is believed to be one of the warning signs of pollution at Clark Air Base.
Now 13 years old, she weighs just 32 pounds and must wear diapers. Cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation have stolen her ability to speak or walk.
Her mother and about 500 other families who were displaced by a volcanic eruption in 1991 moved onto the base and set up a tent village.
They drilled shallow wells on a former motor pool site and drank the untreated water — despite an oily sheen — until they were moved off the land in the late 1990s.
Records of the families, published by the Philippines Senate, said 144 people were sickened at the camp, 76 of whom died.
It said at least 19 children were born with disabilities, diseases and deformities between 1996 and 1999.
Tests in 1995 by the Philippine Department of Health confirmed wells on Clark were contaminated with oil and grease, a byproduct of decades of military use.
"If it is God’s will, then I accept it," Rose Ann’s mother, Susan Calma, said recently.
In a village near Subic Bay, Norma Abraham, 58, holds an X-ray showing the lung disease that killed her husband, Guillermo.
Her husband worked through the 1980s and early 1990s sorting the Navy waste that went into local landfills, which are the most polluted sites at Subic Bay.
Many aborigines like Abraham, who are among the poorest in a poor country, were paid about 30 cents per day to hand-sort recyclable metals from Navy waste that included asbestos, paint and batteries, villagers told Stars and Stripes.
No protective equipment other than gloves was ever used, and asbestos dust was often thick in the air, the villagers said. Sometimes, when a truck dumped new waste for sorting, they said the workers would faint from the toxic fumes.
Guillermo Abraham began to cough, feel tightness in his lungs and have trouble breathing while working there, his wife said.
The lung ailment plagued him through his life and after an X-ray in January showed he was terminally ill with lung disease, he died on May 29, Norma Abraham said.
His disease, which mirrors asbestosis, is the most common ailment and killer among the 70 or so families who worked with the Navy’s waste, according to the villagers.
The aborigines rarely get quality medical treatment and do not keep birth or death records. But they compiled a list for Stars and Stripes of 41 people who they believe died over the years from toxic exposure.
Any real chance for an environmental cleanup was scuttled by the two governments in the agreement that gave the Philippines billions of dollars in base infrastructure and real estate in return for absolving the United Statesof any responsibility for the pollution.
As a result, the United States has no legal responsibility or authority to conduct a cleanup, and an influential Philippines politician said that government has little interest in the problem.
"It is not one of its priorities," said Philippine Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., a former majority leader and Senate president. "If it was, it would have been done a long time ago."
Dolly Yanan keeps the records and photos of the gray-faced, emaciated and disabled children believed to have been poisoned by U.S. military pollution in the Subic Bay area.
The records count 38 deaths from disease between 2000 and 2003.
But the record-keeping has begun to lapse in recent years as hope for a cleanup and enthusiasm for the cause recedes.
"For the past four or five years, we cannot track the leukemia," said Yanan, who runs a community center in Olongapo City.
A coalition of citizens known as the People’s Task Force for Bases Cleanup has fought for U.S. accountability for two decades and met with a string of disappointments.
The Philippine Senate inquiry and task force in 2000 led to no action, and a lawsuit designed to force a U.S.-led environmental assessment survey, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, was thrown outin 2003.
"If only our government was strong enough, I think there would have been a cleanup or at least an initial assessment," Yanan said. "First, it should be our government who should have a strong will and callfor a cleanup."
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In Loving Memory Elizabeth Hubbel Haiola

Please show ur condolensces to aunty Elizabeth Hubbel Haiola who passed away yesterday in Laie

Elizabeth Pilioahunui Haiola, 72, of Laie, died Feb. 1, 2010. Born in Hakipuu, Hawaii. Secretary for the U.S. Navy. Survived by sons, Victor III, Kevin, Kimo and Reese; daughters, Lorrieann, and Charol Notoa; 23 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren. Visitation 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Laie First Ward; service 11 a.m.; burial 1 p.m. at Laie Cemetery. Arrangements by Borthwick Mortuary.

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gmo-1.gifPAUL HEPPERLY TALKS SCHEDULE AND BIOTopic: Path to Planetary Abundance; the 3 E’s, Energy, Economics & Environment: What We Eat & How We Produce it.Aloha, this is Clare Apana.Last year, I asked my friend, Dr. Paul Hepperly, if he could help us in Hawaii. He helped Ghana and Uruguay regenerate their soils, San Francisco start a citywide food-scraps-to-compost program, and has researched biological solutions for greenhouse gas pollution. So why not our precious aina? Read about some of the ways he has been working to save our environment and food in the attachments I included.He did it. He created a plan for regenerating lands like the pineapple and sugar cane fields into lands that will produce fuel, food, soil amendments and best of all, make money that stays in Hawaii, while creating jobs that can last past the next shopping center, hotel, condo or railroad. He is making his expertise in organic farming available to Hawaii farmers and has already spoken on Maui and Big Island pro bono.He is doing these talks to educate and inspire us, but also to find a way to change the way we think about doing agriculture in Hawaii. If you can make it to any of the lectures or radio shows, come to support Dr. Hepperly. He is offering Hawaii a solution that brings us good things all the way around--healthier food, products that can increase our local economy, and honoring and improving our beloved 'aina.I will be there so come and meet him and ask him some hard questions--he is a wealth of information and solutions.If you can forward this to friends you feel would like to hear a real dollars-and-sense kind of solution for Hawaii, please help me spread the word. We need a lot more of these kinds of solutions.Malama pono,Clare Apana221-0508Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3pm-5pmBilger Hall Auditorium UH Manoa Campus, by donationMap and Visitor Parking: HYPERLINK "http://www.hawaii.edu/parking/maps_assets/newvisitorparking.pdf" http://www.hawaii.edu/parking/maps_assets/newvisitorparking.pdf Topic: Path to Planetary Abundance; the 3 E’s, Energy, Economics & Environment: What We Eat & How We Produce it
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Hawai'i TV Update

Flew back in from Kaui late last night. Can't wait to put up what we got on film in Kaui, at the "U.S. Navy Barking Sands" location. It's a "MUST SEE!!!" I can tell you one thing, the security and the military was absolutely "FEARFUL," and "PANICKED" about us coming there and filming there to expose to humanity what "Barking Sands" is and why it was built, in the first place. I can tell you all one thing, we never "Panicked" and we never "Left" when security made several attempts to "scare us" and even "threaten" to say that we can't leave. We even have them on film chasing us in there car. Stay tuned everyone. What we captured in Kaui, is a Winner!!!
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NOHO HEWA WINS INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARD

Hawaiian filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly’s newly released documentary Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai`i was awarded a special jury prize at this week’s Festival International Du Film Documentaire Oceanien (FIFO) in Tahiti.......Jurors were moved by its raw and passionate portrayal of the struggles of today’s native Hawaiians.......For many Tahitian and other visiting Pacific island viewers, Kelly’s film enabled them to understand, for the first time, the realities faced by the Hawaiian people in their own homeland, and the Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) resistance to the desecration and obliteration of their culture by the US military, real estate development, and tourism pressures.......The film makes a case that through the force of US laws, economy, militarism, and real estate speculation, the Hawaiian people are facing systematic, intentional obliteration.The film features interviews with Hawaiian activists and academics, whose comments serve to further clarify the significance and direness of the ongoing erosion of Hawaiian culture.......Noho Hewa was more than six years in production, and in 2008 won the Hawai`i International Film Festival’s Award For Best Documentary.
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Join me as we will be starting a brand new series entitled: "Learning How To Navigate Within The "FAKE STATE" Archives. In this upcoming series we will be discussing and also showing you step by step how to retrieve ancient and ancestral birth certificates, probates, death certificates, land commission awards, maps dating back from the kingdom of hawai'i, marriage certificates, pictures, newspaper clippings, and much, much more.I encourage you to check out Hawai'i TV everyday at www.hawaiitvblog.com. Until the next "video blog," a hui ho. Mahalo nui to you all...
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Consanguinity

I thumbed through some of the old laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom last night, stumbled the law of marriage where it states:In order to validate the marriage contract, it shall be necessary that the respective parties be not to each other within the fourth degree of consanguinity.Just so happened the past few weeks I was reading about things like that, double cousins, double 1st cousins, etc. But I still don't know what this 4th degree is and even asked my friend but he asked me what did that mean.I'm guessing since I read about 1st cousins sharing 12.5% of the same genes or consanguinity or whatever, that make the 25% (which would be siblings) is what they mean by 4th degree?I read on wiki (actually wapedia) that, to no surprise:In the Roman Catholic Church, unwittingly marrying a closely-consanguineous blood relative is grounds for an annulment, but dispensations were granted, actually almost routinely (the Catholic Church's ban on marriage within the fourth degree of relationship (first cousins) lasted from 1550 to 1917; before that, the prohibition applied to marriages within the seventh degree of kinship).Obviously a missionary influence. But here's a thought. Although Kanaka Oiwi were few in numbers, our ancestors have been intermarrying with all kinds of outsiders for over a century now. But what about these MISSIONARY families who continually mix among each other's families? *shakes head*
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I am very persistent so I am reposting this. When I had practically NOTHING and I had NOWHERE else to go... some people were kind to me so I pay/play it forward in *some* way.I like seeing and hearing other Hawaiians because when they are visible... so are OUR kupuna. With modern technology it is easier now more than ever. Pono Kealoha, Kaleo Farias, Foster Ampong, and Ehu Cardwell (just to name a few) epitomize the power of the Internet. Others can use these tools too.The ones that I use are FREE except a digital video camera. You can find a reasonably priced one at about $99 plus tax. It's not too expensive. Some are built in to one's laptop. All you need is a digital video camera, FREE video editing software, and Youtube which is FREE.Youtube is great too because the tags. I like it when people put "Hawaiian" or "Hawai'i" in their tags. So does Google.No mattah what some pilau people say... the Internet levels the playing field and is AN equalizer especially when it comes to the bullsh*t that some people say about Hawaiians and/or try to do to Hawaiians. The Internet is VERY VERY powerful. More powerful than the local television and more powerful than the local B.S. media. So bust out your camera. The DNLR may be trying to intimidate and harass Hawaiians... but public opinion is much STRONGER and more powerful.Try look at how Republicans swept New Jersey, Massachusetts, AND Virginia lately. ANYTHING is possible.I hope that some good-seed Hawaiians will USE this. I do it for my work because I am working on one of my life goals. However unless they are Hawaiian too... I do NOT share this with others in my profession AT ALL because it is a shark tank and VERY competitive. In fact some people want to scratch my eyes out LOL Ironically it is only so easy.I will share this with good-seed Hawaiians (only) for FREE because I like to pay/play it forward to some GOOD-SEED Hawaiians:A few hints from my trials and my MANY errors:1. If can... try use one tripod. I put my tripod on a table because I videotape myself. Also... speak while looking right at your camera. It took me about four videos to get used to looking at the camera as though I am talking to my husband.2. If you screw up the words you can always edit it with the free version of Videopad Video Editor which I do because I no speak right all the time.3. Be yourself.4. What video camera should you use? Content is queen so it doesn't matter what video camera you use. Most digital cameras these days have a video option. I use my Casio Exilim EX-Z80 even though I could use my Canon GL-1. Keep it simple. No need be fancy! Just make sure there is adequate lighting. For me that is challenging because I film myself in one of my offices so the lighting isn't great but it will do.5. For other analytical people like me... no analyze too much because it leads to Analysis Paralysis where you going end up doing nothin!6. No be shame! A writer named Elbert Hubbard states it well: "To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." If you Hawaiian you going be criticized no mattah what! So you may as well videotape yourself sharing your mana'o because you going be criticized ANYWAY LOL That is the way that I see it when I videotape myself for my work. So what if some people call me a White Washed Hawaiian LOL DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE? LOL Seriously. What matters is what my kupuna think of me. For example after he found out that we flew home to be in the parade for the queen and for the Hawaiian Kingdom on August 21, 2009, Uncle Patrick Kawaiola'a aka "Fat Pat" of Keaukaha called my twin sister and I "mahoe" because we are twins and because we are Hapa Hawaiian and side with our Hawaiian side. THOSE opinions matter to me and coming from Uncle Pat is a very high compliment to me *LOL*To edit your videos then upload to Youtube:Use Videopad Video Editor's free edition to edit your videos then upload to Windows Movie Maker then transfer your videos to Youtube for free. I state this because through many trials and MANY errors Windows Movie Maker can have glitches, missing some codecs files, etc. so won't "save" files. It helps uploading an edited video from Videopad Video Editor INTO Windows Movie Maker. That is THE key to using Windows Movie Maker for the captions, titles, credits, etc.Or just use Videopad Video Editor. This is if you do not want the fancier titles and/or video transitions that Windows Movie Maker offers.Or another option if you have a Mac is the IMovie which is already built into your Mac: http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/They are either free or already built into:Videopad Video Editor free version is on the bottom hyperlink:http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.htmlTo download this software: I had to download it to my laptop in addition to my desktops in order to check it and it worked for my laptop too.The link on the bottom works as well as the first red button.They both take you to: http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/vpsetup.exeAn executable file will pop up. (If you worry about executable files scan it with your software to see if it has a virus. I use Firefox as my web browser so it scans it for me when I download any .exe file.)When time to install it though... a window will pop up asking if you want to add other parts to it. Do *NOT* click onto the extras like the sound editor etc. I forgot exactly what they asked if I wanted to install such and such... I think the first option had a square box then "WavePad Sound Editor."Do NOT select those extras AT ALL. Leave those small squares UNCHECKED. Just click "Next" or something like that and it will work fine.To use this software it is VERY simple and EASY: 1. "Add media" You can add pictures/images. You can add your video(s.) You can add more than one video. For example you can use a video of you talking and one of footage of surfing. 2. Wait for it to upload to Videopad. 3. Use the left screen to edit using the little red flag to start where you want it to start and the little blue flag to end where you want it to end. For each clip you click onto the green arrow to put it in the finished product. 4. Repeat this for other areas of your initial video til you have what you want. 5. Click on "Create Movie." 6. Then save it.From here if you want to edit it and add title and credit pages and/or transitions by using Windows Movie Maker or you can just use it and upload it to your FREE Youtube account.Windows Movie Maker: Already built in WindowsYoutube: FREE at www.Youtube.comCombatting the B.S. and KEEPING IT REAL = Priceless

P.S. I am working on a video tutorial of this and yes I am persistent LOL

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Ancestry.com

Been seeing that commercial advertised a lot lately. This site may be beneficial for many White Americans, but not the case for us Hawaiians.The way that Ancestry.com basically works, aside from housing various documents that people can use, they also rely on people's submission of their own family tree.This reminds me of how some people here (I won't mention any names since they have minions lurking about on MW) in the past have claimed, if not actually brag of their extensive genealogical research, and even ridiculed other people's research and have gone as far as being disrespectful to some of our ali'i and their legacy. The accusation that we should actually go to the archives ourselves rather than do research via the internet, kinda akin to using ancestry.com.The fact that they have made claims that because they spend oodles of hours at the archives as justification why their work is valid versus anyone else is misleading. The main reason, comprehension of reading documents, something they have a problem with, aside from not being able to read the Hawaiian language as evident in a particular accustation of the Princes Ruth Keelikolani.On top of that, after begging for citing of recrods, that person showed actual links of documents they scanned (?) or obtained as proof of a few of their information as far as dates are concerned.What it was, is nothing more than index cards of aliis' names and dates when they born, died and parents' names. But this too is nothing but the same thing this person accused others of doing. Just because the index cards came from the archives doesn't make it any better than say someone actually pulling up on the internet actual references taken from old Hawaiian newspapers, which is where whoever typed up these old index cards got teh same information from. In fact, on those index cards, it states exactly where that information came from.Just goes to show you that, unless you really understand where you are getting the information from, don't be too quick to pass judgment on others' research.Now if only these people could follow either 1) western style of genealogy or 2) Hawaiian style of genealogy. Because reading what they write, something they've proliferated over the internet in error doesn't do them justice.
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The Office Of Hawaiian Affair’s financial mismanagement is in the news once again, and you have the power to do something about it.Because of the scathing OHA investment portfolio audit results released last fall, there’s now a bill afoot in the Hawai`i legislature to do a complete top to bottom audit of OHA.Everyone, including OHA itself, knows such an inspection would reveal even more widespread malfeasance and corruption.Want to know how you can support the call for a complete audit of OHA? Watch Free Hawai`i TV this coming Wednesday for answers.Michelle Kapana-Baird’s an expert at getting kids begging to do something they otherwise hate doing – pulling weeds. It’s where she gets them to do it that’s amazing. Curious? Find out this week on Hawai`i’s award winning Voices Of Truth – One-On-One With Hawai`i’s Future.MONDAY, February 1st At 6:30 PM Maui – Akaku, Channel 53MONDAY, February 1st At 7:00 PM & FRIDAY, February 5th At 5:30 PM Hawai`i Island – Na Leo, Channel 53THURSDAY, February 4th At 8:30 PM & FRIDAY, February 5th At 8:30 AM - Kaua`i – Ho`ike, Channel 52SATURDAY, February 6th At 8:00 PM O`ahu, `Olelo, Channel 53“Weeding The Ocean – A Visit With Michelle Kapana-Baird”If you ever hated pulling weeds as a kid, it’s too bad you never met Michelle Kapana-Baird. She’s combined something kids hate with something they love with amazing results - invasive algae being removed from Manual Bay with students asking to help. Michelle explains how she does it and what’s at stake for the bay, and us, if they fail - Watch It HereWatch Voices Of Truth in Salem, Massachusetts - Channel 3 - MONDAY, February 1st At 10:00 PM TUESDAY, February 2nd At 10:30 AM Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same. If you support our issues on the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network, please email this to a friend to help us continue. A donation today helps further our work. Every single penny counts. Donating is easy on our Voices Of Truth website via PayPal where you can watch Voices Of Truth anytime. For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV, a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network. Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.
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