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Ke Ala a ka Jeep

Posted by Kihei de Silva on March 22, 2008 at 9:00am
Ke Ala a ka Jeepna Kīhei de Silva.We’ve known for some time that Mary Kawena Pukui and Eddie Kamae composed this mele in celebration of a visit they made to Kawena’s homeland in Ka‘ū, Hawai‘i. Eddie has explained as much -- and not much more -- for most of the thirty-five years that he has been singing this song. We’ve suspected, also for quite a while, that their composition has a much deeper meaning and purpose than its bouncy "Holoholo Ka‘a" persona would have us believe. Our own travels with Kupuna Elizabeth Kauahipaula and ‘Anakala Edward Ka‘anana have demonstrated time and again that our elders don’t look with favor on random excursions and gadabout behavior. Kupuna Kauahipaula’s admonition to our 9th Pacific Festival of Arts delegation at Noumea, "Mai hele wale i ‘ō i ‘ane‘i," still rings in our ears. Don’t just go here and there, all over the place, on a whim. Go with a purpose, or don’t go at all."Ke Ala a ka Jeep" may have sounded to us like a high-energy joy ride to the South Point boonies, but we thought it highly unlikely that Kawena Pukui’s visit and poetry were inspired by an "i ‘ō i ‘ane‘i" urge. So we turned to Kawena’s own scholarly writing in Native Planters, ‘Ōlelo No‘eau, Place Names, and Polynesian Family System for clues to the song’s deeper emotions and to the significance of its roll call of remote and mostly unknown places: Waikapuna, Pā‘ula, Puhi‘ula, Kaulana, Palahemo. We were staggered by what we found: each out-of-the-way site on the "trail of the Jeep" was once populated or frequented by Kawena’s people, each place had a family history, and many held specific memories of days spent with her maternal grandmother in the intense punahele [1] relationship that defined Kawena for the rest of her life.Eddie Kamae has kept his own story of the song pretty much to himself for over three decades. We know him well enough to guess that his reticence comes from respect for his teacher and her words, and from his hard-earned sense of "i ka wā kūpono" -- of everything in its proper time. Lucky for all of us, the proper time finally occurred last year with the publication of his biography Hawaiian Son, The Life and Music of Eddie Kamae. He tells the Jeep story there as an episode in the longer narrative of his journey to an older way of seeing and knowing. While he was getting his first look at Ka‘ū from the cab of their Jeep, he says he began to see the land "through Kawena’s eyes as a region layered with names and histories." With Kawena’s help, he began to appreciate "the living links" between kānaka and ‘āina. This wounded and inspired him; Hawai‘i "was his father’s island, and his grandfather’s, too, yet Eddie didn’t know it well at all, and now he wanted to know." [2]When coupled with Kawena’s scholarly writings about her homeland, Eddie’s four-page story of the Jeep ride serves to validate our initial interpretation of "Ke Ala a ka Jeep." It is, superficially, a "Tūtū’s gone four-wheeling" song, but it is, in truth, a song of deep knowledge and profound love for the land of Kawena’s childhood and for the people who once lived there. Eddie’s story, when coupled with Kawena’s scholarship, also provides us with three otherwise inaccessible perspectives. First, it gives us an insider’s look at how one of our last tradition-steeped kūpuna went about converting a specific experience into a mele aloha ‘āina. Second, it helps us to recognize the didactic qualities of her mele -- to see that "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" was composed, in part, to teach us Eddie Kamae’s lesson in seeing and connecting, Third, it allows us to understand that the mele’s joyful tone is grounded in hope: hope that younger eyes can still be opened and hope that important connections can still be restored.He Loa Ke Ala E Hele AiHawaiian Son tells us that Kawena broached the idea for the trip when they were at "Ho‘olaule‘a," the Hāna music festival of August 1970. Kawena was flying to Hawai‘i Island to meet with friends and maybe revisit some of the places of her childhood near Kalae, Ka‘ū. "When she suggested Eddie should come along, he jumped at the chance." [3] They met in Nā‘ālehu later that month: Kawena, Eleanor Williamson, Willie Meinecke, Asa Yamamoto, and Eddie and Myrna Kamae. And they set out in two Jeeps, a new one that Eddie had picked up at the Hilo airport and an old, beat-up model driven by Yamamoto, the ranch manager with the keys to all the gates along the way.From Nā‘ālehu they left the belt road and followed a rutted dirt track south across rugged country, sparsely settled, stopping every mile or so to pass through a cattle gate. Out that way you see no swaying palms, no turquoise pools beside the condo. "From the top of the hill down to the coast it’s a mean drop," Eddie remembers, "So I just took my time. It’s dry down there, lots of cactus. From time to time Asa...was pointing out waterholes and the different things they’re used for. One place we stopped, Kawena said, ‘Over there is another hole, with good water for drinking.’ And Asa, he looked at her amazed. She grew up out there, you see, maybe thirty-five years before Asa was born. ‘I been on this ranch all my life,’ he says, ‘first time I knew about that waterhole.’" [4]The opening lines of "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" recount the excitement that the trip must have stirred in 75-year-old Kawena. She was, after all, traveling by Jeep across paths that she had last frequented, on foot and mule-back, as a five-year-old in the company of her grandmother Nali‘ipo‘aimoku. [5]Inā ‘oe e kau ana i ke ka‘a JeepHe loa ke ala e hele ai, he kāhulihuliMa nā pi‘ina nā ihona piha pōhaku‘Alo ana i nā pānini me nā ‘ēkoa.Ho‘opū‘iwa i nā pīpī holo i kahi ‘ēIf you’re going by ka‘a Jeep, she says, it’ll be kāhulihuli -- topsy-turvy, rock and roll -- all the way. You’d best be prepared for the bumps, dips, and jolts, for the scrub-dodging and cattle-scattering of the long ride ahead. Her poetic description of the scene is consistent with Kamae’s prose account of the same rugged countryside. Pānini, ‘ēkoa, and pīpī are the main features of this leg of the visit; they move in and out the cactus and koa haole, and they startle the cattle into flight.Kawena’s tone here is clearly upbeat and humorous, but her use of kāhulihuli followed by the twice-repeated ‘ē of ‘ēkoa and hele i kahi ‘ē sends up the faintest whisper of change and displacement. Kāhulihuli means "unsteady, rickety, tossed about," but it also echoes kāhuli: "to change, alter, overthrow." ‘Ē, for its part, can mean "different, strange, peculiar, unusual, other." The fearless people of Ka‘ū, its koa, [6] have been supplanted by invasive, foreign koa, and the native population has given way to cattle brought here from kahi ‘ē (foreign lands) by po‘e ‘ē (foreign people). We detect traces then, of hidden layers of emotion and meaning. Under the obvious excitement of the Jeep ride to beloved places, we hear a subtle, almost inaudible sense of sorrow arising from the realization that these have become almost-lost places. And under that, we find a stubborn lesson in how to reconnect: if you want to go on this journey to knowledge, it won’t be easy; you’ll have to get past all the foreign stuff, all the ‘ē, before you reach the maoli.Waikapuna, Pā‘ula, Puhi‘ulaKawena’s roll call of place-names follows immediately after her opening description of the bumpy ride. Her transition is quick and her description -- in characteristic Hawaiian fashion -- is so minimal, so understated, that its significance flies unobserved over the heads of those who don’t know and don’t care to know:Pēlā mākou i hiki ai i kai o WaikapunaA mai laila a Pā‘ula me kona hiehie‘Ike aku i ke ana ‘o Puhi‘ula"That," she says, "is how we got to the shore of Waikapuna and from there to delightful Pā‘ula where we saw Puhi‘ula cave." One, two, three, pau. She gives us her childhood in three lines, but we can’t possibly know how to make sense of it without first gaining access to the history of these places.Fortunately, Kawena herself has left us the necessary information -- if, of course, we’re willing to travel the long, bumpy, ‘ē-infested road of research. We have learned from her collaborative work with E.S. Craighill Handy that Waikapuna was once "a flourishing fishing community" where Kawena’s grandmother Nali‘ipo‘aimoku lived until it was destroyed by the 1868 quake and tsunami. [7] We know from Kawena’s ‘Ōlelo No‘eau that Po‘ai moved to Hāniumalu, Nā‘ālehu after the cataclysm and that Po‘ai raised Kawena as her hānai child in this second home. [8] We know from Native Planters that Po‘ai and Kawena made regular trips to Waikapuna; they went there every summer to salt and dry the fish -- manini in particular -- that were caught great numbers along the shore. We know that the two camped there in an old three-sided rock shelter over which they laid poles and a tarp after first covering its pāhoehoe floor with ‘ilima branches and sleeping mats. [9] We know from Polynesian Family System that Po‘ai’s home site at Waikapuna was also visited and loved by Kawena’s mother Pa‘ahana who, upon the death of her first child Mary Binning, composed a lament that includes the lines: "Ku‘u kaikamahine i ka wela o Waikapuna / Aloha ia wahi a kāua i hele ai." [10] And we know that Waikapuna was a favorite haunt of Kua, their family’s guardian shark, and the birthplace of his grandson, the green shark Pakaiea. Pōhaku o Kua, the "great stone" on which the family left ‘awa and bananas for their ‘aumakua manō, rose out of the ocean at nearby Manaka‘a. [11]We also know from Kawena’s work with Dr. Handy that Pā‘ula is an area above the sea cliffs that lead from Waikapuna to Honu‘apo. We have learned, too, that this is where the famous cave and fresh water pool of Puhi‘ula is located. The cave was "formed where the seaward end of a large lava tube has fallen in. . . The arched ceiling is about 20 feet above the floor of the cave, and in a depression at the bottom is a sizeable pool of clear water that is only moderately brackish." Kawena and her grandmother lived at Puhi‘ula for ten days to two weeks at a time; they collected pa‘akai "from the drying sea water deposited in depressions in the rocks by the sea." An elder who lived there would bring fish that -- as at Waikapuna -- they salted, dried, and stored for later distribution to their ‘ohana in Nā‘ālehu. In the old days, Kawena explains, the people of Waikapuna and Pā‘ula were related to those of Nā‘ālehu "and exchanged sea foods for inland provender." [12] Her grandmother, in the waning days of the 19th century, was one of the last of her family to maintain this practice. Kawena, who was selected and trained by Po‘ai as the keeper of their family history, would never forget.Why Kawena would compress all of this history, all of these powerful memories, into the three-line, three-name list of "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" is a tough question for us broken-link Hawaiians to answer. The answer, we think, is in her old faith in the power of words. She must have felt that the three names -- Waikapuna, Pā‘ula, Puhi‘ula -- had more than enough power to evoke, in the correct ears, everything she felt and everything that needed to be conveyed. Eddie’s story of their stop at Waikapuna gives us an idea of the deep affection that Kawena held for what, to the ordinary eye, was a barren landscape. His story also gives a hint of what the right words, in the right mouth and context, can do:"They were near the coast, in a district called Waikapuna, when she ordered Eddie to stop. Pointing toward an open rise, Kawena said this had been the site of her [grandmother’s home]. She called it ʻPu‘u Makaniʻ which means ʻwindy hill.ʻ And that’s about all that remained, the steady wind off the ocean and the treeless slopes . . . On [this] spot . . . Kawena now offered a chant of greeting to voice her respect for this place and for the generations that had lived there. While the others listened, while their necks and arms prickled with ʻchickenskin,ʻ her voice cut through the wind around the former homestead, with the bright sea surging behind them, and in the far distance the long hump of Mauna Loa, the great shield cone that built this half of her island." [13]Ka Lae, Kaulana, PalahemoHawaiian Son tells us that after Kawena’s "salute to times gone by and to the lives lived at that place," they turned and climbed back up the slope to Nā‘ālehu town, followed the belt road to the South Point turnoff, and headed "all the way down to the final lookout, which Hawaiians call Ka Lae (The Point), the last edge of the broad descending plain . . . ." [14] "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" accomplishes the same journey in rapid-fire fashion, concentrating less on miles logged than on the sense of happiness and unity that took them down the cape to Kaulana Bay and then to the astonishing waters of Palahemo.Ho‘i hou aku i Nā‘ālehu me ka ka‘a JeepHau‘oli ka helena me nā makamakaAlu aku i Ka Lae a me KaulanaA ‘ike iā Palahemo wai kamaha‘oThe South Point road comes to an official end at the wind-swept cliffs on the southwest side of the promontory. No-longer-famous Kaulana [15] lies just to the east along an unimproved but still accessible branch of the main road. The land here slopes gently down to the sandy, usually sheltered bay whose name suggests its significance for both voyagers and fishermen of bygone days. [16] Today the main features of Kaulana are a cement boat ramp, snorkeling tourists, and the remains of a missile tracking station, [17] but Kawena’s work in Native Planters and Polynesian Family System gives us a better sense of the old connections that her Jeep ride must have stirred.Kawena tells us, in Native Planters, that Ka‘ū people buried their dead in the Pu‘uali‘i sand dunes between the point and bay, that a small fisherman’s shrine for Kua can be found nearby, and that a handful of Hawaiian fishermen and sweet potato farmers still lived here in her youth. [18] She shares with us, in Polynesian Family System, a name chant for her ancestor Kūpāke‘e, the beloved rebel-chief of Ka‘ū who avoided capture by Kamehameha at Kalae [19] and whose intense love for this seemingly desolate land is expressed in terms of the pride that comes from having been raised to find, collect, and cherish the water on its arid breast:‘A‘ole au i makemake iā Kona‘O Ka‘ū ko‘u‘O ka wai o Ka Lae e kahe ana i ka pō a aoI ke kapa, i ka ‘ūpī kekahi waiKūlia i lohe ai he ‘āina wai ‘oleI Mānā, i Unulau ka wai kaliI ka pona maka o ka i‘a ka wai aloha ēAloha i ka wai mālama a kāneI do not care for KonaFor Ka‘ū is mineThe moisture of Ka Lae is collected all night longIt is wrung from kapa and from spongesThis land is heard of as having no waterExcept for the water that is waited for at Mānā and UnulauBut no, our much-prized water is found in the eye-sockets of fishIn water prized and cared for by man [20]The still-famous pool of Palahemo can be found about a quarter mile inland of Kaulana Bay. Although its waters rise and fall with the tide, a layer of fresh water floats on its salt-water bed, thus providing a constant source of refreshment for "dwellers at Ka Lae and points northeast, and for fishermen who frequented these shores." [21] Kawena tells us, in Native Planters and Place Names, that the dual nature of the waterhole’s contents (salt and fresh water), its apparent connection to the ocean by underground tunnel, [22] its sometimes startling reddish tint (the result of seasonal increases in the pond’s ‘ōpae ‘ula population), its reputation for never running dry, [23] and the storied presence of a mo‘o guardian of the same name [24] contribute to the wondrous, kamaha‘o nature of Palahemo-wai-kamaha‘o. Ka‘ū people, she concludes, were fond of saying: "‘A‘ole ‘oe ‘ike iā Ka‘ū, ‘a‘ole i ‘ike iā Kawaiakapalahemo -- You haven't seen Ka‘ū until you've seen Kawaiakapalahemo." [25] These words make it easy for us to draw our own conclusion about her choice of Palahemo as the last stop in their tour of Kalae. As Eddie’s mentor, friend, and hostess, Kawena would not have overlooked the importance of taking him there. She would not have contravened the power or wisdom of those old words: No Palahemo, no Ka‘ū.Again, Hawaiian Son validates our thinking and anchors it in Eddie’s account of the actual trip. He tells us that Palahemo was, indeed, the goal of their trip down the cape and that Kawena actually gave voice to a longer version of the old proverb when they finally stood above the wondrous pool:"For Kawena, on this trip to the point, the most important stop was a famous waterhole called Palahemo, a deep rock pool fed by underground streams, a source of fresh water in terrain where no rivers flow and rainfall is sparse. The old waterhole is named in songs and chants and local sayings, one of which Kawena spoke aloud: ʻI ‘ike ‘oe iā Ka‘ū a puni, a ‘ike ‘ole ‘oe iā Palahemo, ‘a‘ole ‘oe i ‘ike iā Ka‘ū.ʻ . . . She let the words hang in the air as they took in the view, not only the look of the rocky pool but all that surrounds and contains it. To left and right, miles of black-edged shoreline angles off toward Kona, toward Puna, while behind you there is nothing but open ocean, from South Point to Tahiti, a thousand miles below the equator. In the history and mythology of Hawai‘i, this is the place of profound arrivals and departures . . . Whatever forces shaped this land had surely shaped Kawena and her ancestors for untold generations." [26]Wai‘ōhinu, Hā‘ao"Ke Ala a ka Jeep" ends at the house of a friend in the cool comfort of Wai‘ōhinu. It is here that Kawena expresses, in summary, her deep love for the "land of the Hā‘ao rain."A hiki mai i ka hale o ka makamakaLuana i ka la‘i ‘olu o Wai‘ōhinuHa‘ina ka puana me ke alohaNo ka ‘āina ka ua o Hā‘ao.The lush district of Wai‘ōhinu lies above Ka Lae between Kamā‘oa on the west and Nā‘ālehu on the east. It was described by Ellis in 1823 as "a most enchanting valley, clothed with verdure . . . and on both sides adorned with gardens and interspersed with cottages, even to the summits of the hills." [27] Kawena tells us in ‘Ōlelo No‘eau and Native Planters that she attended a one-room Catholic school here, [28] and that the verdure of Wai‘ōhinu had changed very little in the eighty years since Ellis had passed through: "Every Waiohinu family [still] had a garden of two or three acres up there above the town. Inside the cleared space grew taro; around the borders were planted banana and sugar cane and various flowers." [29] Members of Kawena’s family were among those who lived and farmed here; while on her 1935 visit with Dr. Handy, she stopped off at a Wai‘ōhinu food patch whose owner she and Handy were anxious to interview. That old man’s response to Kawena, once he established their ‘ohana relationship, sounds remarkably like an older expression of the place-linked sentiments of Kawena’s Jeep song:"We found him there, old, stooped, and leaning upon a heavy cane. He was like all old timers, friendly and kind and most willing to have us walk in and question him. . . After we were through questioning him he began questioning me as to my birthplace, my parents, etc. His interest grew when I told him that I was born in that very district, Ka-‘u. At the mention of my grandmother's name, he asked if she was the Nali‘ipo‘aimoku who lived at Waikapuna beach and when he was told that she was the same, he began immediately to wail aloud. He was her cousin. . . I wish there had been some way of recording that particular wail. Hills, beaches, legendary spots, rocks, ancient warriors, etc., all were mentioned in poetical terms." [30]Kawena and Handy also tell us that the multiple springs above Wai‘ōhinu known as the Pūnāwai o Hā‘ao were "perhaps the most distinctive and prized possession of Ka‘u." The five springs, the stream they create, and the Hā‘ao rain that follows their path, "are intimately associated with the sacred lore relating to the cultivation of taro," and they "seem to be an embodiment of Kane whose life-giving waters were referred to in chants as ‘Wai-ola-a-Kane.’" [31] Kawena’s own intimate relationship with the springs and rain of Hā‘ao is expressed in two of her treasured family chants. The first is a heahea, a song of welcome, by which a visiting relative is called into the home:He mai e ku‘u pua lehua o ka waoI pōhai ‘ia e nā manu o uka,Ku‘u lehua i mōhala i ka ua o Hā‘aoUa ao ka hale nei, ua hiki mai lā ‘oeYou are welcome, O lehua blossom of mine from the upland forestA blossom around which the birds gatherMy lehua that bloomed in the Hā‘ao rainLight comes to our house for you are here [32]The second of these mele is the already-cited lament composed by Kawena’s mother Pa‘ahana Kanaka‘ole Wiggin on the death of Miss Mary Binning, Pa‘ahana’s first-born daughter:Ku‘u kaikamahine i ka wai hu‘i o KapunaAloha ia wahi a kāua i hele aiKu‘u kaikamahine i ka ua o Hā‘aoAloha ia wahi a kāua i pili aiO my daughter at the cold spring of KapunaA beloved place to which we wentO my daughter in the rain that passes the hill of Hā‘aoA place we were fond of going together [33]We can be certain, then, that the Wai‘ōhinu-Hā‘ao conclusion of "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" is no accident. The two names are metaphors of the regeneration and continuity of family. Wai ‘ōhinu refers to the shiny surface of the flooded lo‘i kalo on Wai‘ōhinu’s terraced slopes, [34] and hā‘ao refers to the divisions of kānaka that follow, one after another, in the processions of its high chiefs. [35]Kawena embodied these metaphors. She was trained as punahele, as the "continuing spring or source" [36] of all that defined her family and held it together across the generations. In "Ke Ala a ka Jeep," she makes a remarkable gesture of inclusion. She invites us, almost as if we were displaced Ka‘ū Mākaha, to join her on a journey to our own people’s beloved waters of life. She leads us, verse by verse, from her grandmother’s pool at Puhi‘ula to the wondrous waters of Palahemo to the five springs and serial rains of Hā‘ao.There is memory in the first of these waters, knowledge in the second, and continuity in the third. Memory, knowledge, continuity: together they constitute Ka Wai Ola a Kāne. Kawena, in the role of teacher and family elder, suggests that these waters will define, bind, and sustain us as members of the Hawaiian family. The waters can be found, but only if we brave the trail and pay attention.There is much joy in Kawena’s last verse. It is the joy of reconnection: of Kawena taking her own rightful place in the march of Ka‘ū’s generations. But it also strikes us as the joy of a kumu who has taught well, who has shared her most important lesson with her most valued haumāna. It is, we think, the joy of accomplishment and hope.Hawaiian Son offers quiet confirmation of our reading of the song’s joyful conclusion. The trip left Kawena in high spirits over what she’d seen and shared. In the face of loss and change, ‘ēkoa and cattle, she was buoyed by faith that the rains of Hā‘ao would continue and that the continuity of generations did not have to be broken. Eddie must have shown her, in some tacit exchange of aloha between student and teacher, that the lesson of their journey could still be learned and that it could therefore be disseminated to the rest of us -- carefully -- in song. Their huaka‘i had not been a joy ride, but joy and hope were the result:Kawena was in a festive mood, glad she’d seen all the places they came to see. She wanted to mark the occasion by writing a song about the day and the trip. She and Eddie would write it together, she said. At Willie Meinecke’s house, in the town of Wai‘ōhinu, where they all relaxed and shared a meal, she began to make notes. "It was no problem for her," Eddie says now. "By that time she had written over a hundred and fifty songs . . . That afternoon she recorded her thoughts. Later on I composed a melody. When we were back in Honolulu, she and Myrna worked out the final version of the verses. Then Kawena fit the words to my melody, and that’s how we got ‘Ke Ala a ka Jeep.’" [37]Mana‘o Panina -- Closing ThoughtsEddie Kamae’s rendition of "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" is magical -- and has been for more than thirty years. We saw the old magic happen again, just a few months ago, at the Hawai‘i Theatre’s premier of his documentary Keepers of the Flame. Five notes into the song and all the audience members -- the suits and the t-shirts, the stodgy and the uninhibited, the namu haole and ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i alike -- were rockin’ with Kawena down that bumpy road.There is deception in Eddie’s incredibly catchy tune. His musical sleight of hand keeps our ears on the beat and our minds off the meaning. We get excited without quite knowing why, and we keep coming back for more. We don’t know if Kawena approved of Eddie’s magic. Our guess is yes. The kaona of her words is too special for easy access; if you want to know it, he loa ke ala e hele ai, a kāhulihuli. It’s a long, hard way, and the journey itself will change you. Eddie’s music honors that difficulty. It helps to keep the kaona where it should be, hidden away, but it also keeps us ever-entranced by the mystery that somehow fuels the song and powers it through the years.The Pukui-Kamae collaboration, we think, is a wonderful conspiracy. Eddie’s music has held us in thrall for more than half our lives. Kawena’s lesson is the wai kamaha‘o that lies beneath; the hidden source and sustenance of this enchantment. Why, then, would we want to analyze so much of her kaona here, in this account of our journey into the mele? The answer is this: we haven’t shared anything more than a road map. The map says:· look for the underlying order; what seems casual is not· words -- names, in particular -- have power; they hold volumes of meaning andsentiment; learn them or you’ll be lost· there is always a lesson; the lesson is always reconnection and continuity· the lesson will have no value if it isn’t earned.The last point is the whole point. A map is not a journey; a map is like seeing Ka‘ū without seeing Palahemo. Eddie makes the same point in his alternate explanation of the song’s title. It’s not just "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" -- the trail of the Jeep. It is "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" -- the awakening and renewal that comes from riding the Jeep. [38] If you want your eyes opened, you’ll have to get in and make the journey yourself. Happy trails.Ke Ala a ka JeepInā ‘oe e kau ana i ke ka‘a JeepHe loa ke ala e hele ai, he kāhulihuliMa nā pi‘ina nā ihona piha pōhaku‘Alo ana i nā pānini me nā ‘ēkoaHo‘opū‘iwa i nā pīpī a holo i kahi ‘ēPēlā mākou i hiki ai i kai o WaikapunaA mai laila a Pā‘ula me kona hiehie‘Ike aku i ke ana ‘o Puhi‘ulaHo‘i hou aku i Nā‘ālehu me ka ka‘a JeepHau‘oli ka helena me nā makamakaAlu aku i Kalae a me KaulanaA ‘ike iā Palahemo wai kamaha‘oA hiki mai i ka hale o ka makamakaLuana i ka la‘i ‘olu o Wai‘ōhinuHa‘ina ka puana me ke alohaNo ka ‘āina ka ua o Hā‘aoIf you’re getting in the JeepThe road we travel will be long, and you’ll be tossed aboutOn all the bumps and rocky dipsAnd by our dodging of cactus and koa haoleWe startled the cattle, and they ran awayThus did we reach the shore of WaikapunaAnd on from there to delightful Pā‘ulaWhere we saw Puhi‘ula caveThen we returned by Jeep to Nā‘ālehuIt’s such a joy to travel with friendsTogether we pushed on to Kalae and KaulanaAnd saw the wondrous water of PalahemoNow we’ve reached the home of a dear friendAnd relax in the cool serenity of Wai‘ōhinuThus ends our song, its message is given with loveIt honors the land of the Hā‘ao rain.-------------------------------------------------------------------------Discography:Sons of Hawai‘i, Eddie Kamae Presents The Sons Of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Sons HS 1001.Da Blahlas, Da Blahlas, Poki SP 9015.Mango, Romancin' The Islands, Kahanu KHR 1006.Brother Noland and Tony Conjugacion, Kū, Tiki Talk, 31167.MIghty J, Calling Out, Daddy Records DRCD-42180Notes:1. Although the word punahele today connotes a spoiled, favorite child, Kawena explains that it was once defined by great responsibility: "The punahele, as the ‘spring or source that continues,’ was destined to learn the family traditions, genealogy and general lore-of-living so he could in turn pass them on to future generations. He would hold in trust and strengthen the ‘sense of family’ that binds Hawaiian relatives so closely. As an adult he would be the senior member who would guide, counsel and make decisions that would affect family welfare. It was a responsible role. To prepare for it, the punahele memorized the family chants, listened to and absorbed the advice of elders, and spent most of his time in a sort of ‘apprentice for seniority’ training course." Pukui, Haertig, and Lee, Nānā i ke Kumu, 1:90.2. James Houston with Eddie Kamae, Hawaiian Son, 92-93.3. Ibid, 87.4. Ibid, 88.5. Because the Pukui family is sensitive to the orthography of its names, Nali‘ipo‘aimoku is marked throughout this work as it is given in Kawena’s ‘Ōlelo No‘eau -- without kahakō. The same holds true for the name Pukui itself -- as per Aunty Pat Namaka Baconʻs request, we give it neither kahakō nor ‘okina.6. Koa can mean "brave, bold, fearless, valiant." The word is well-suited to the ancient residents of Ka‘ū who called themselves "Ka‘ū Mākaha," (Fierce Ka‘ū) in reference to the uncompromising independence with which they conducted their lives and resisted outside influence. Polynesian Family System, 232.7. Handy, Handy, and Pukui, Native Planters in Old Hawaii, 598.8. Pukui, ‘Ōlelo No’eau, xi-xii. "This close association between grandmother and granddaughter embedded in Kawena a firm knowledge of Hawaiian language, customs, beliefs, religion, and family history."9. Native Planters, 598.10. "My daughter in the warm sun of Waikapuna / Beloved is that place where we used to go." From the mele "He kanikau, he aloha keia / Nou no e Miss Mary Binning," in Handy and Pukui, The Polynesian Family System in Ka‘ū, 155-156.11. Ibid, 509.12. Native Planters, 601-602.13. Hawaiian Son, 9014. Ibid.15. Kawena could not have overlooked the irony of this name. The most obvious meaning of kaulana is "famous," but Kaulana’s fame was long gone in 1970. Kaulana thus speaks to us of the double-vision with which kūpuna like Kawena were blessed and burdened: an eye for what was, and an eye for what is. Fame and obscurity all in one glance.16. Another meaning of kaulana is "canoe-landing." Pukui, Elbert, and Mo‘okini, Place Names of Hawai‘i, 93.17. John Clark, Beaches of the Big Island, 73.18. Native Planters, 572.19. Kamakau tells us that Kamehameha went to Kalae for two reasons: "e ‘eli iho i wai . . . a ‘o kekahi, ua hopohopo ‘o Kamehameha i kekahi ali‘i kama’āina o kipi auane‘i" -- to dig for water and because Kamehameha was worried that a certain Ka‘ū chief would rebel against him. "‘O Kūpāke‘e ka inoa o ke ali‘i pe‘e" " Kūpāke‘e was the name of this chief who therefore went into hiding. Ke Kumu Aupuni, 186. Kupake‘e’s name is given elsewhere as Kupakei / Kupake‘i.20. Polynesian Family System, 85.21. Native Planters, 574.22. Ibid, 572. Place Names, 17623. Native Planters, 574.24. Place Names, 176.25. Native Planters offers the most simple of several versions of the saying, the more complete form of which is given by Pukui in Place Names, 176: "I ‘ike ‘oe iā Ka‘ū a puni, a ‘ike ‘ole ‘oe iā Palahemo, ‘a‘ole ‘oe i ‘ike iā Ka‘ū. If you have seen all Ka‘ū but have not seen Palahemo, you haven't seen Ka‘ū." Pukui explains, in ‘Ōlelo No‘eau #1257, that the saying was originally applied to Ka‘ūloa and Wai‘ōhinu, guardian stones that "stood in a kukui grove on the upper side of the road between Nā‘ālehu and Wai‘ōhinu." When the stones "gradually sank until they vanished completely into the earth...Palahemo was substituted as the chief point of interest [in the saying]." Another of Kawena’s little jokes in "Ke Ala a ka Jeep" can be found in the appropriateness of the next and last stop in their tour: they go to Wai‘ōhinu to make sure, in a sense, that all the "ike ‘oe iā Ka‘ū" bases are covered.26. Hawaiian Son, 90-91.27. Cited in Native Planters, 584.28. ‘Ōlelo No‘eau, xii. Eleanor Williamson is actually the author of the biography that introduces Kawena’s book of proverbs, but we can be sure that Eleanor, Kawena’s friend and secretary of many years, was faithfully recording Kawena’s own words.29. Ibid, 585.30. Polynesian Family System, 104-105.31. Native Planters, 589-590.32. Polynesian Family System, 172.33. Ibid, 155-156. Kapuna is the name of one of the five Hā‘ao springs.34. Native Planters, 580. There are, of course, several other interpretations of the name.35. Dictionary, 45.36. Nānā i ke Kumu, 1:90.37. Hawaiian Son, 92.38. "The word ala means ‘road, path, or trail.’ But it can also mean ‘awaken,’ as well as ‘to renew, restore, revive.’ ’Ke Ala a ka Jeep’ can refer to the actual route they followed . . . [but] it can also refer to how this trip awakened something, perhaps revived them, helped them all to see anew. " Hawaiian Son, 92.
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911 WAS A “FALSE FLAG” OPERATION

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 22, 2008 at 8:36am
911 WAS A “FALSE FLAG” OPERATION!sheepshearedcopyaa9.jpg911replay3.jpgpres2.jpgamericatheblindbyfangedwu5.jpgl_9e33729f40575b08e60d2dff24161148.gif9/11 Coincidences (Part One)9/11 Coincidences (Part Two)9/11 Coincidences (Part Three)..HIS ‘WHOLYNESS’ RED-X ENUNCIATES: ....

911 WAS A “FALSE FLAG” OPERATION!

MNN.

Mar. 8, 2008.

After being kidnapped, suffering

unimaginable abuse in Guantanmo Bay, Egypt, Syria and in

torture chambers in Israel, his “Wholyness” the Red-X has

emerged from captivity without a bruise.

His captors

wanted him to reveal the secret of how Indigenous peoples

continue to resist the so-called “new world order” and the

“war on terror.

They could never penetrate his infinite

“Indigenality”.

He mounted the silver bird and returned to

his mountain cave where the sun never sleeps and the

stars always shine to contemplate the state of the world.

Once again his infinite “sageocity” illuminated the portals

of MNN.

His Eternal Magnificence, the Great Red-X, reminded us

that “As the keepers of the first light of the east”, the

Mohawks have the duty to protect Turtle Island.

Our iron

workers helped build the Twin Towers of the World Trade

Center.

We are compelled to seek the truth about the

demolition of the Twin Towers and Building #7 on

September 11, 2001.

This is what we know”.

The “Warriors of the 4th Dimension” were able to

deconstruct the circumstances around 911.

It was a

“false flag” operation designed by the international

banking cartel and its military and political affiliates to

perpetuate their “war that will never end in our lifetime”.

The “War Chief of the 4th Dimension” revealed to the

Great Red-X that, “Our Warrior Council omni witnessed

the corporate boardrooms and bedrooms of those who

control terrestrial affairs.

They invisibly viewed and

overheard the discussions on creating a one world

government based on fascism, martial law and

prostitution.

As David Rockefeller once said, “All we

need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept

the new world order.

” Could it be that the capture of Eliot

Spitzer in “fragrant delicto” marks the dawn of the new

world order? Also, Mayer Rothschild, private banker, said,

“Give me control of a nation’s money supply and I care not

who makes its laws”.

Their hurry to establish this diabolical system for the

“stranglification” of the masses reveals their irrational

fear of the return of the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Great Law.

It ordered Turtle Island before the great confusion caused

when some Europeans got lost and washed up on our

shores.

The return of the Kaianerehkowa will herald a

time of equality, where everyone has a voice, genuine

democracy and peace.

It will wipe out war, poverty and

tyranny.

True democratic principles such as the 2/3 vote,

women’s equality and people’s referenda will underlie

decision making.

This is causing the oligarchs to shake

in their Gucci boots and sweat blood into their Armani

arm pits.

The misleading motto spun by the oligarchs is “fighting

worldwide terrorism” which really means the unleashing

of all-out martial law on the “North American Union”.

Saber rattling against Iran suggests an invasion and a

dirty bomb could be unleashed to create a second “911”

in the U.S.

Six weeks before the Twin Towers came down, the omni

Warriors saw many people affiliated with the current U.S.

administration and Federal Reserve Bank discussing how

to benefit from what are called “put option stocks”.

This

is when Wall Street traders bet on whether a company will

prosper or fail within a six week period.

If it doesn’t fail,

Trader A pays Trader B the amount of the bet.

If it falls,

Trader B pays Trader A one hundred times the amount of

the bet.

As sensed by the Warriors, the traders bet “put option

stocks” on the following 38 companies:

1)Merrill Lynch; 2)AMR; 3)American Express; 4)American

International Group; 5)AFA SA; 6)Bank of America; 7)Bank

of New York; 8)Bank 1 Corp.

; 9)Bear Stearns; 10)Boeing;

11)Carnival; 12)Chubb; 13)Cigna; 14)Citigroup; 15)Can

Financial; 16)Continental Airlines; 17)l3 Communications

Holding; 18)Leahman Brothers Holdings; 19)Lockheed

Martin; 20)Lone Star Technologies; 21)LTV Corp.

; 22)Delta

Airlines; 23)General Motors; 24)Hercules; 25)Marsh &

McLennan Coso; 26)Metlife; 27)Morgan Stanley Dean Witter;

28)Northwest Airlines; 29)Progressivecorp; 30)Raytheon

Corp [makes drone missiles]; 31)Royal Caribbean Cruises;

32)Royal Sun Alliance; 33)Southwest Airlines; 34)United

Airlines; 35)U.S. Airways; 36)Vornado Realty Trust; 37)W.R.

Grace and Co.; and 38)X.L. Capital.

The traders who bet they would fall reaped huge windfalls

and the companies got insurance after 911.

The U.S.

Securities Exchange Commission had the control

list.

They refused to release it.

It was accidentally released

to the Canadian Security Exchange Commission shortly

after 911.

Ian Mulgrew, writer for the Vancouver Sun, put

the list in an article on February 23, 2002.

It was almost

immediately taken off the internet.

Fortunately, the Red-X telepathically stimulated the intuition

of earthly Warrior, Splitting-the-Sky.

He diligently hand wrote

the list from the internet and put it on his fridge right away.

Another article came into his realm.

Bill Bergman was working

for the Chicago “Federal Reserve” and was fired after

investigating the suspicious “put option stocks”.

Splitting-

the-Sky, being the brilliant researching Mohawk that he is,

thought, “Why was he fired for looking into these “prophets

of death” stocks?

He was driven to google “who owns the Federal Reserve?”

To his amazement, a list appeared that included two

prominent banker families, Lord Rothschild of the Bank

of England and David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan.

He saw that many of the 38 corporations that went down

were on the Federal Reserve list.

Trillions of dollars were

made at the expense of over 3000 lives lost in the Twin

Towers, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and people

killed in Iraq and Afganistan and still counting.

The Red-X mused, “What is the real story? 19 Saudis flying

planes into those buildings and diesel fuel melting the steel

just doesn’t cut it!”

The Towers were an asbestos bombshell.

Like many built

in the 1970s, they were constructed with vast quantities of

cancer causing asbestos.

Law suits were imminent.

Removing it would cost possibly as much as the value of

the buildings.

It would be cheaper to set demolition

explosives and blow the place apart, either accidentally or

as a terrorist act.

The insurance and put option stocks

could then be collected by the traders and the companies.

In January 2001 Larry Silverstein made a $2.

3 billion bid

for the World Trade Center.

On July 24 the New York

Port Authority accepted the offer.

Silverstein took out

an insurance policy that covered “terrorist attacks”!!

When the Towers came down, Silverstein was awarded

almost $5 billion from 9 different insurance companies,

with the help of Elliott Spitzer.

It was heard that vigilant

Larry also took out insurance on the Sears Building in

Chicago.

So Watch out!

StrataJet was in the Towers weeks before 911, which

could have been enough time to wire up the building.

Closing a number of the floors for weeks at a time was

called “upgrading”.

George Bush’s brother, Marvin,

headed StrataJet Security, held the two year security

contract on the Towers which conveniently ended on

September 11, 2001.

After that there was nothing to

secure.

The Warriors of the 4th Dimension decided to put the

spot light on the NYC rats.

The Mayor, Rudy Guiliani,

had a bunker on the 23rd floor of the World Trade

Center #7 Building.

Red-X was not surprised to learn

that this building went down with all kinds of CIA,

Department of Defense and SEC records of 30 to 40

money laundering cases.

The video, “Loose Change” claims remote controlled

cruise missiles were fired into those buildings just

before the nose of the planes hit the buildings.

This

caused people to look up into the sky while the real

destruction was being done at the bottom of the

building.

Left were pools of molten steel that

smoldered for months.

The warriors of the 4th dimension have been

wondering if it was possible that a hydrogen bomb

was used to destroy those buildings.

Witnesses

saw squibs of smoke projecting outwards from

each floor that was blown up.

Millions of degrees

of heat were generated that exploded upwards

which vaporized everything in its upward journey.

No bodies, no computers, no desks, no cement.

Everything was pulverized into a hot white fine

powder.

The War Council of the 4th Dimension heard how

easy it would be to set up explosives on every 4th

floor.

When detonated by thermite by remote

control, the steel would be severed into 34 ft. pieces.

This would make it easier to pick up and haul away.

Guiliani did not allow an independent investigation

of the area.

Apparently the metal was hauled to

China and Asia and melted down and made into war

ships.

The Mohawks can never rest until the full story is

told.

What do you think? There has to be a reason

why the Great Red-X was captured and tortured for

so long! Is it sheer malevolence or was there

something else to it?

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

Contact Splitting_the_Sky@yahoo. com

See the “Prophets of Death” by Tom Flocco;

Michael Rupert: “Crossing the Rubicon”; “

Who Owns the Federal Reserve?”; and

“Loose Change”; “End Game”; Zeitgiest”:

all on internet.

See Category: “ Red X “

New MNN Books Available Now!

The books below, email us:

Mohawk Warriors Three - The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega, 20/20
$20.

00 usd

The On-Going Confusion between The Great Law and The Handsome Lake Code
$20.

00 usd

The Agonizing Death of "Colonialism" and "Federal Indian Law" in Kaianere'ko:wa/Great Law Territory

$20.

00 usd

Who's Sorry Now? The good, the bad and the unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake

$20.

00 usd

Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy
Karoniaktajeh
$10 usd

Warriors Hand Book
Karoniaktajeh
$10 usd

Mail checks and money orders to...

MNN
P.O.

Box 991
Kahnawake, QC J0L 1B0

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Nia:wen,

Kahentinetha Horn

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Speaking & Contemporary Native Issues Workshops

Katenies

Katenies20@yahoo. com

Manager

Stay tuned!

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.. ..Afraid.jpgcrash_dees.jpg149846542O686211357a.jpgnwo.gif
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Fewer people live on Oahu? Really?

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 21, 2008 at 10:39pm
THEY NOT COUNTING THE MASS HOMELESS WHO NO LONGER CAN AFFORD TO RENT !!! THUS GET KICKED FROM PLACE TO PLACE WHILE TRY TO WORK SO THEY CAN STILL EAT !!!!Fewer people live on Oahu? Really?Star-Bulletin, March 21, 2008THE ISSUEHawaii's population growth appears to be slowing down, with Oahu's dropping for the first time in seven years.That fewer people lived on Oahu in 2007 than the year before probably wasn't evident to anyone stuck in traffic on the freeways or looking for housing, but the U.S. Census Bureau says there were.For the first time in seven years, the population of the City & County of Honolulu dropped, but because the decline totaled a mere 1,114, the decrease doesn't seem significant, not with 905,601 people still calling the island home.The counts were different on the other islands where human numbers have swelled since 2000:Kauai + 7.5 percentMaui + 10.7 percentHawaii + 16.4 percentThere are theories about the shift, but in truth, no one can say for sure why people jump islands, or move to the mainland. Experts suggest the decrease on Oahu has something to do with military deployments or that the census estimates are off.Though economic conditions didn't much change, retirees are known to leave Hawaii for states where the cost of living isn't as high and fixed incomes stretch further. Even so, many island-born people who spend career years on the continent frequently return.Space, a likelihood of cheaper housing and a more leisurely lifestyle have city dwellers opting for neighbor islands that also prove attractive to part-time residents and investors who can afford the resort-style homes and condos proliferating there.All in all, statewide population growth seems to be slowing. Nonetheless, with 1,283,388 of us inhabiting about 6,423 square miles of land, there's no shortage of company.
Mahalo:
Nini'ane
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New Research Reveals Widespread GMO Contamination and Threats

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 21, 2008 at 10:06pm
Hawaii Reports Widespread Contamination of Papaya Crop by GE VarietiesMONSANTO'S AND IT'S PAID HORES OF PAPAYA FARMERS, WERE AT THE HEARING AGAINST G.M.O. and PLACING A MORATORIUM OF TEN YEARS BAN ON G.M.O. TESTING ON KALOKeys.jpgPress Release: New Research Reveals Widespread GMO Contamination and Threatsto Local Agriculture From the World's First Commercially Planted GeneticallyEngineered TreeNews Release: Embargo 00:01 September 9 2004Contact: Melanie Bondera, Hawaii GEAN +1 808 640-1643 or Noli Hoye,GMO-Free Kauai +1 808 651-9603New Research Reveals Widespread GMO Contamination and Threats toLocal Agriculture From the World's First Commercially PlantedGenetically Engineered TreeOutraged Farmers, Consumers and Backyard Papaya Growers ReturnContaminated Papayas to the University of Hawaii in Crop DumpHilo, Hawaii -- Independent laboratory testing results released todayreveal widespread contamination from the world's first commerciallyplanted genetically engineered tree, the papaya, on Oahu, the BigIsland, and Kauai. Contamination was also found in the stock ofnon-genetically engineered seeds being sold commercially by theUniversity of Hawaii.Farmers, health professionals, concerned citizens, and University ofHawaii scientists joined GMO-Free Hawaii in announcing the shockingresults of their research at the University of Hawaii, which createdand released the GMO papaya. Dozens of outraged farmers, consumersand backyard growers brought their contaminated papayas back to theuniversity to underscore their demand that UH provide a plan forcleaning up papaya contamination. The campaign also called forliability protection for local growers and the prevention of GMOcontamination of other Hawaiian commodity crops.All samples were tested by Genetic ID, one of the world's leadingscientific laboratories for genetic contamination testing. Compositesamples from the Big Island and Oahu both revealed GMO contamination.Nearly 20,000 papaya seeds from across the Big Island, 80% of whichcame from organic farms and the rest from backyard gardens or wildtrees, showed a contamination level of 50%. Oahu's composite ofpapayas, primarily from organic farms, showed contamination of over5%, and trace levels of contamination were found on an organic farmon Kauai. One package of seed of the Solo Waimanalo papaya, anon-genetically engineered variety purchased directly from theUniversity of Hawaii, also tested positive for GMO contamination."It is an outrage that UH is selling contaminated papaya seeds toour local farmers and growers," said Toi Lahti, an organic farmer andpapaya grower from the Big Island. "Not only could organic farmerslose their certification by growing genetically engineered papayas,GMO papaya seeds are also patented by Monsanto among others. Thisopens farmers to lawsuits for growing GMOs without paying patent feesfirst, even if they planted them without their knowledge.""These tests indicate that UH's non-GMO seed stock is contaminated,and so there can be no doubt that the University must take immediateaction to protect farmers, con sumers and the environment," said MarkQuery of GMO-Free Hawaii. "Papaya contamination is a case study inthe threat that GMO contamination presents to local agriculture. Itis now obvious that coexistence of traditional and GMO crops isimpossible."Farmers raised concerns about the impact the contamination crisiscould have on export markets, particularly to countries like Japanthat have stringent regulations about importing geneticallyengineered crops. "The Big Island is home to most of the commercialGMO papaya fields in the state," said Melanie Bondera, a farmer fromKona and member of the Hawaii Genetic Engineering Action Network."The continued planting of GMO crops risk giving Hawaiian agriculturean undeservedly bad reputation in major export markets around theworld."Dr. Lorrin Pang, MD, MPH, a public health specialist, discussedpotential human health threats posed by the GMO papaya and other GMOfoods, inc luding increased antibiotic resistance and unexpectedallergenic reactions. "All of these concerns are troubling inthemselves, but they would be less worrisome if the GMO mutations didnot spread beyond our intentions. Today's report shows that theydo," Dr. Pang said. "If a health problem arises that is attributableto GMO foods, it will be impossible to recall such a live, dangerousmutation once it has been released into the environment."Dr. Hector Valenzuela, a scientist specializing in tropical cropsfrom UH Manoa's Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences,asserted that the University's focus on promoting genetic engineeringis steering Hawaiian agriculture in the wrong direction. "Instead ofsupporting untested technologies like genetic engineering, theUniversity of Hawaii should redirect their resources to focus onresearching and promoting workable, non-GMO solutions to localagricultural problems. Hawaii farmers need agricultural advancesthat can protect their farms and our state's agricultural economyover the long run."Bondera outlined the campaign being launched by GMO-Free Hawaii basedon these contamination results. "Despite the problems local growershave had with the GMO papaya, the University is now geneticallyengineering taro, pineapple, banana, sugarcane, and other commoditycrops," said Bondera. "The problems with GMO papaya contaminationshow us that there are too many unanswered questions aboutagricultural biotech to be releasing new experimental geneticallyengineered organisms into our environment. Hawaiian farmers want tosee an immediate moratorium on the release of other geneticallyengineered commodity crops, and a commitment from the University tofund research into local, sustainable agriculture."
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ALOHA MAI KAKOU! VISIT FREEHAWAII.INFO

Posted by Free Hawai`i on March 21, 2008 at 6:30pm
Free Hawai`i means returning the Hawaiian Islands back to an independent nation status, as it was before it was illegally overthrown by US marines and rich sugar barons in 1893.In 1993, President Clinton formally apologized for that act and publicly acknowledged the illegality of the overthrow.DID YOU KNOW -98% of all Hawaiians living at the time opposed the illegal overthrow!Today, less than 20% of all land in Hawai`i is in Hawaiian hands.Over 60% today is in non-Hawaiian hands!A few individuals, who are non-Hawaiian, lease an amount of land in Hawai`i that is greater than all land leased to all Native Hawaiians!Currently, only 72 landowners control 95% of all land in Hawai`i.Native Hawaiians make up the largest percentage of homeless in Hawai`i today.Native Hawaiians have the worst social, educational and economic indicators compared to any ethnic group in the US.Native Hawaiians currently have the worst health profile compared to any ethnic group in the US.Descendants of the Hawaiian Nation want their country and land back so they can grow their own foods, become healthy once again, and control their own destiny.Hawai`i Was A Free Nation - But Never Free For The Taking!
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SUPERFERRY NOT WELCOME ON KAUA`I - PERIOD!

Posted by Free Hawai`i on March 20, 2008 at 7:35pm

Kaua`i opponents will not be welcoming the Hawai`i Superferry any time soon.Yesterday about 150 people came to Kaua`i Community College for two public meetings held as part of the environmental impact study being done by contractor Belt Collins. Every speaker said the Superferry's ship, Alakai, should not return until the study is finished.And a vast number of speakers, both in the afternoon and evening sessions, said that no matter what Belt Collins issues as part of its report, the company and the state's credibility will always be questioned, and the ship will not be welcome."This is a sham," said Rich Hoeppner. "I guarantee you if the ferry comes to Kaua`i, that ferry will never get back to its dock at Nawiliwili."Hoeppner, part of the Thousand Friends of Kaua`i group that sued the Superferry and the state over the environmental study process, said that hundreds have told him they will swim out to block the ship's return, despite repeated threats from the U.S. Coast Guard and the state."That's not a threat," he said between the meetings. "That's a guarantee."
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Resisting the Empire

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 20, 2008 at 1:57pm
i222545919_54406_2.jpgA_getMAA3-1.jpgJoseph Gerson, Foreign Policy In Focus, March 20, 2008www. fpif. orgVictories are within sight for people in a growing number of nations where communities that host U.S. foreign military bases have long fought to get rid of them.Ecuador’s decision not to renew the U.S. lease for the forward operating base at Manta (see Yankees Head Home) is the culmination of just one of many long-term and recently initiated community-based and national struggles to remove these military installations that are often sources of crime and demeaning human rights violations. A growing alliance among anti-bases movements in countries around the world, including the United States, is preventing the creation of new foreign military bases, restricting the expansion of others, and in some cases may win the withdrawal of the military bases, installations and troops that are essential to U.S. wars of intervention and its preparations for first-strike nuclear attacks.The ChallengeOf course, there is still plenty of bad news. The Bush Administration is currently negotiating what is, in essence, a security treaty with the Maliki puppet government in Baghdad to secure one of the principle Bush-Cheney war aims: permanent military bases for tens of thousands of U.S. troops. The goal is to transform Iraq into an U.S. unsinkable aircraft carrier in the heart of the oil-rich Middle East. Unfortunately, the plan for Iraq is only one part of the vast and expanding U.S. infrastructure of nearly 1,000 military bases and installations strategically scattered around the world.Across Asia, in Japan, another Marine has raped an Okinawan school girl, traumatizing yet another life and temporarily shaking the foundations of the U.S.-Japan military alliance. Under the guise of a “Visiting Force Agreement,” U.S. troops have returned to the Philippines where they are deployed from “temporary” and unconstitutional military bases. In the Indian Ocean, Chagossian people were removed from Diego Garcia to make way for massive U.S. military bases; they have won all of their legal appeals but still can’t return home. In Central Europe, the Bush Administration is pressing deployment of first strike-related “missile defense” bases in the Czech Republic and Poland. Russia has countered by threatening to target the bases with nuclear weapons, and opposition to “missile defense.” In response to this renewed Cold War, opposition to “missile defense” weaponry is building in public squares and in parliaments throughout the region. And, as he recently traveled across Africa, President George W. Bush was met with near universal opposition to his plans for further military colonization of the continent in the form of moving the Pentagon’s Africa Command headquarters from Europe to the oil and resource-rich continent.The Bush Administration and Pentagon are “reconfiguring” the U.S. global network of more than 750 foreign military bases to impose what Vice President Dick Cheney termed in a New Yorker interview as “the arrangement for the 21st century.” This imperial “arrangement” is increasingly being met with opposition in “host” nations and the United States alike, and victories by allied movements are within reach.How We Got HereFor more than a century, the United States has been building an unrivaled global structure of nearly foreign fortresses. Located on every continent and at sea, these military bases and installations provide an infrastructure from which invasions and nuclear wars can be launched. They enforce an unjust and often violent status quo, influence the politics and diplomacy of “host” nations, secure privileged access to oil and other natural resources, encircle enemies, “show the flag,” and more recently have served as prisons operating outside the restrictions of U.S. and international law.These bases violate democratic values in other ways. When the United States was founded, the Declaration of Independence decried the “abuses and usurpations” caused by King George having “kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies.” Since then, “abuses and usurpations” inherent in the presence of foreign “Standing Armies” have become far more dangerous. Their demeaning and disruptive impacts include:* Undermining the sovereignty of “host” nations* Militarizing and colonizing the “host” nation’s culture* Assaulting democracy and human rights* Seizing people’s private property and damaging their homes* Violently abusing and dehumanizing women and girls* Causing life-endangering military accidents and crimes that are rarely punished* Terrorizing low-altitude training flights and night-landing exercises* Polluting with military toxicsSince the Cold War ended, U.S. presidents and the Pentagon have worked to “reconfigure” the architecture of this military infrastructure to address changing geopolitical realities, technological “advances,” and growing resistance to the presence of foreign bases. With agility, flexibility and speed being given priority in U.S. military operations, bases are being transformed into hubs, forward operating bases, and “lily pads” for invasions and foreign military interventions.The other axis of reconfiguration is geographic. As U.S. forces have been forced out of Saudi Arabia, and with U.S. geostrategic priorities turning away from Europe and toward China, Washington has concentrated its military build up elsewhere in the Persian Gulf nations, Asia and the Pacific.Tipping PointsIn a number of countries, the reconfiguration has not proceeded as smoothly as anticipated:IraqAs Major General Robert Pollman explained in 2004, “It ma[de] a lot of sense” to “swap” U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia for new ones in Iraq. U.S. command and air bases located near the holy cities of Mecca and Medina incensed many Muslims and were among Osama Bin Laden’s professed reasons for the 9-11 attacks. In the lead up to the 2003 invasion, many of the functions of these bases were moved to Qatar and Kuwait, and after the conquest, 110 bases were established across Iraq. To limit their political and military vulnerability, the Pentagon has been spending more than a $1 billion a year to consolidate them into 14 “enduring” and massive Air Force, Army and Marine bases in Baghdad and other strategic locations, In addition to helping secure U.S. control over Iraq, these bases contribute to encircling Iran, and they can be used for attacks across the Persian Gulf region and into oil-rich Central Asia.The Bush administration’s plans to saddle its successor with these bases and the continuing occupation by negotiating an agreement with the Maliki government hit unexpected road block. In addition to popular Iraqi opposition, U.S. peace movement organizations joined Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) to prevent the unconstitutional imposition of what is essentially a treaty. The Delahunt hearings about the proposed commitment to defend the Baghdad government from internal and external enemies, the bases which are permanent in all but name, and privileged access to investment opportunities (read oil) for U.S. corporations forced Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to rhetorically back away from the open-ended security commitment to Baghdad. But his promises that the bases are “not permanent” are less credible.Nothing is officially “permanent,” of course. Not even the bases in Japan and Korea, which have been there for more than six decades, and not the Great Wall of China, or the pyramids of Egypt, which are slowly decaying.With opposition to the treaty and the permanent military bases now a defining issue between Democrats and Republicans, the U.S. peace movement has an important opening to press its demands for the immediate and total withdrawal from Iraq.AFRICOMU.S. planners anticipate that by 2015 Africa will provide the U.S. with 25% of its imported oil. With Islamist political forces operating across northern Africa, the continent is also seen as an important front in the misconceived “war on terrorism.” So, to “promote peace and stability on the continent” the Bush Administration and the Pentagon want to augment the U.S. military presence in Africa, beginning with the transfer of the Africa Command, AFRICOM, from remote Germany to an accommodating African nation. As President Bush learned during his recent ill-fated African tour, the continent’s leaders are understandably reluctant to accept renewed military colonization. Ghana’s President John Kufuour put it bluntly when he met with Bush, saying, “You’re not going to build any bases in Ghana.”Africa is not free of bases. France and Britain still have bases scattered there. The U.S. has bases in Djibouti and Algeria, access agreements with Morocco and Egypt, and is in the process of creating a “family” of military bases in sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Sao Tome, Senegal and Uganda.) And, although Bush responded to African fears about AFRICOM’s possible relocation by saying that such rumors were “baloney” and “bull,” he also conceded that: “We haven’t made our minds up.”With a growing No AFRICOM movement in the United States that’s that is allied with anti-colonialist forces in Africa, this is one U.S. threat that can be contained.Diego GarciaIn the mid-1960s, in a quintessential act of European colonialism, all of Diego Garcia’s 2,000 inhabitants were forcefully removed from their homeland by British authorities to make way for massive U.S. air and naval bases. In an act of legal fiction, the island was separated from Mauritius on the eve of that island nation’s independence.Located in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia’s two-mile long runways have since been used to launch B-1 and B-52 attacks against Iraq and Afghanistan. Its stealth bomber hangars have recently been upgraded for possible strikes against Iran, and its submarine base is being refitted to serve Ohio-class submarines that can be used for both missile attacks and to secretly deploy Navy SEALS in Iran and other Persian Gulf nations.The Chagos people of Diego Garcia want to return home, ending their exile in Mauritius’ slums, where up to 90% are unemployed and live desperate lives. The base rests on colonial constructions. With the help of allies in London and around the world they attempted to return, but have been halted on the high seas. But their plight and struggle has wide and sympathetic media attention, especially as they have won one challenge after another in the British courts. The British House of Lords is to make a “final ruling,” but an end run in which Diego Garcia would be returned to Mauritius’ authority and the “rented” to Washington remains possible. Education about the plight and struggle of the people of Diego Garcia, beginning with the spring speaking tour of Chagos leader Olivier Bancoult, is the best way to prepare for the next round of this compelling struggle.OkinawaSince its 1945 bloody conquest in 1945, Okinawa has served as the principle bastion of U.S. military power in East Asia – even after its 1972 reversion to Japan. Sixty years after the end of World War II, nearly 45,000 U.S. troops, civilian staff, and their families are based on Air Force, Navy, Marine and Army bases that occupy 27% of the island prefecture. Okinawans have suffered nearly every imaginable military abuse: One quarter of its people were killed during the 1945 battle, many by Japanese soldiers. U.S. nuclear weapons have fallen off ships and into coastal fishing grounds. Shells and bullets from live fire exercises have slammed into people’s homes. Children, their grandmothers, base and service workers have suffered rapes that are too numerous to count. Land has been seized, and military accidents – including helicopters and their parts falling into students’ schools – are not uncommon.To pacify the nationwide outrage that followed the 1995 kidnapping and rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan school girl in 1995, Washington and Tokyo agreed to reduce, not remove, the size of the U.S. footprint on Okinawa. With the U.S.-Japan alliance hanging in the balance, the Status of Forces Agreement was revised to accord the Japanese courts greater authority over crimes by G.I.s, and a plan was developed to move half of the 16,000 Marines – the greatest source of G.I. crime – to Guam largely at Japan’s expense. Several bases were consolidated and Washington agreed to move the Futemna Air Base, in Ginowan’s city center, to a more remote part of the island. This leaves the massive Air Force, Naval and Marine bases still occupying a quarter of the prefecture.Inspired by respected elders, the people of Henoko, the coastal site to which Futnema’s functions were to be transferred, have put up a stiff resistance. To prevent the militarization of their community and the destruction of the reef on which the new air base is to be built, they have built alliances with peace activists and environmentalists around the world. Their focus has been to prevent destruction feeding grounds for dugongs (large, gentle sea mammals similar to manatees) that became the symbol of their movement. They have also conducted months-long sit-ins and taken their case to court. A California appeal court recently confirmed their environmental claims, and the relocation process stalled.Within weeks of this court victory, Marines raped a 14-year-old Okinawan school girl and a Filipina woman sparking renewed outrage across Okinawa and Japan. In the “Message from the Women of Okinawa” that followed, the U.S. military and the world were notified that the days when “so many rape victims…told no one and wept silently in their beds…are now over.” Their message is clear, “Go back to America. Now.”With Washington and Tokyo focused on “containing” China, it will be years before the last G.I. returns from Okinawa. In the meantime, we can provide critical support to women and men who are courageously and nonviolently campaigning to defend their lives, their families, their communities, and nature itself. The base at Henoko must not be built. The base in Futenma must be closed. It is past time to bring all the Marines home.GuamGuam is not home. Located in the South Pacific and conquered by the United States from Spain in 1898, it has long served as a U.S. stepping stone to Asia. Nominally it is not a U.S. colony, but an “unincorporated territory” with a nonvoting delegate in Congress. Throughout the Cold War, U.S. air and naval bases occupied the island’s best agricultural lands, water sources and fishing grounds. Now the abuses and usurpations are becoming much worse.Since the nonviolent 1995 Okinawan uprising, the Pentagon has been preparing for the day when it is finally forced to withdraw from Okinawa and Japan. Thus Guam is being transformed in to a military “hub.” Already large enough to accommodate B-52 and stealth bombers, Andersen Air Force Base is being expanded to serve as “the most significant U.S. Air Force base in the Pacific region for this century.” More submarines are being homeported in its harbor, and the Navy is considering homeporting an aircraft carrier strike force there is well. Then, there are those Marines from Okinawa. Understandably, Guam’s tiny Chamorro population feels besieged. In the traditions of U.S., Israeli and South African settler colonialism, it is “cowboys and Indians all over again.” We have a responsibility to prevent this cultural genocide.EuropeThe Cold War never really ended in Europe. An estimated 380 U.S. nuclear weapons are still based in seven European nations, and most of the 100,000 troops deployed across Western Europe remain there. But Pentagon campaigns to deploy misnamed “missile defenses” in the Czech Republic and Poland and to expand the Aviano Air Base in Italy are leading hundreds of thousands of Europeans into the streets.The missile defense system is ostensibly modest. A missile tracking radar is to be installed in the Czech Republic, and ten interceptor missiles are to be sited in Poland, reportedly to defend Europe from Iranian missiles that have not been deployed. In fact, this is the tip of the iceberg. Russia properly fears that, once deployed, the missile defense system will be greatly expanded with the goal of neutralizing Moscow’s missile forces, leaving Russia vulnerable to U.S. first strike attacks. In response, President Vladimir Putin has menacingly threatened to target nuclear weapons against the Czechs and Poles.Opinion polls indicate that most Czechs oppose the missile defense deployments and want to hold a referendum to block them. Many NATO leaders are angry that the U.S. circumvented the European Union’s decision-making process, and protests spearheaded by the U.S. Campaign for Peace and Democracy greeted Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek when he recently visited the United States. With many leading congressional Democrats also opposed to these dangerous deployments, missile defenses can be stopped.Finally, there is Italy where, unexpectedly, hundreds of thousands of citizens turned out to protest the expansion of the U.S. Air Base at Aviano (which also hosts U.S. nuclear weapons.) Dissent over the base expansion nearly toppled the Prodi government in 2007, and it will remain the focus of European and U.S. anti-bases campaigns.ResistanceIn response to popularly based movements to win the withdrawal of unwanted U.S. foreign military bases, an incipient U.S. anti-bases movement is emerging. It includes organizations as diverse as the American Friends Service Committee, and the Southwest Workers Union, the United for Peace and Justice coalition, and scholars who are moving from studying military bases to working for their withdrawal.Four increasingly integrated U.S. anti-bases networks have developed in recent years, spurred in part by the development of the global “No Military Bases Network” in World Social Forums and the global Network’s formal inauguration in Quito, Ecuador at a conference last year that brought together four hundred activists from forty nations. The U.S. networks are currently organizing April speaking tours featuring Olivier Bancoult from Diego Garcia, Terri Keko’olani from Hawaii, Jan Tamas and the Czech Republic, and Andreas Licata from Italy. And a national U.S. “No Foreign Military Bases” conference is in its early planning stages.Joseph Gerson, a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus (www. fpif. org), is director of programs of the American Friends Service Committee in New England. His books include The Sun Never Sets…Confronting the Network of U.S. Foreign Military Bases, (South End Press, 1991) and Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World (Pluto Press, 2007).
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RE: Princess Ka'iulani film outrages some Hawaiians

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 20, 2008 at 8:30am
RE: Princess Ka'iulani film outrages some Hawaiians"Barbarian Princess" the Continuation of Racism through JollyWood and the neverending Glory. " propaganda 101TV.jpgWhen you go back on your Word & Break Treaties in World Court, Imprison a Queen on Trumped up Charges,Auction the Palaces contents & Riches over a ten year span. and then to have the Gaul to Lable the "ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED and in SLAVED " as " BARBARIANS " and CONTINUE TO ILLEGALLY OCCUPY & FORCIBLE RULE, WITH A TRUMPED UP RACIST PUPPET GOVERNMENT, THAT CONTINUES TO PRACTICE ITS SICKENING RACIST GENOCIDAL COLONIAL PROGRAM ON OTHER NATIONS & COUNTRIES THROUGH OUT OUR WORLD ???MAKES YOU PROUD TO BE AMERICAN IN GOOD OLE USA , THE OTHER ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED ONCE GREAT NATION , "AMERIKA" !nwo.gifPrincess Ka'iulani film outrages some Hawaiianshttp://www. honoluluadvertiser. com/A movie about Princess Ka'iulani currently filming on O'ahu has angered a small group of Hawaiians who say filmmakers are distorting the story of a beloved ali'i.High on their list of complaints was the movie's proposed title — "Barbarian Princess" — which was changed last weekend in an effort to ease tensions. The $9 million film now is titled "The Last Princess."But Hawai'i entertainer Palani Vaughan, who has complained about the film's script since he read it in February, said he is not convinced that English director Marc Forby will accurately portray the life and times of Ka'iulani."A non-Hawaiian is trying to interpret in an un-Hawaiian way what he is supposing has happened," Vaughan said. "Forby is coming and coloring it in a way that he would like to see it."Vaughan has organized several Hawaiians who plan to voice their concerns tomorrow outside 'Iolani Palace, where the film will be shot next week. The group is also concerned that filming inside the palace could damage irreplaceable artifacts.Ka'iulani, who died at age 23, witnessed the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893 and tried to restore Hawaiian self-rule. The filmmakers say the movie about her short life "is a breathtaking romance about an unlikely heroine and her unwavering fight to defend the independence of her people."Former Hawai'i resident Q'orianka Kilcher was cast as Ka'iulani. Kilcher portrayed Pocahontas in the 2005 film "The New World."The film is being made by Matador Pictures and Island Film Group.Vaughan, who turned down the part of King Kalakaua, said filmmakers sprinkled the script with behavior unbefitting a princess and those around her, including one scene in which she tells the king she hates him and another in which her father, a non-Hawaiian, strikes her.Vaughan strongly objected to a lovemaking scene and was told it would be removed."I have no personal agenda," Vaughan said. "We just want this film to represent Hawaiian people both past and present in a true and accurate light. It is for the good of our people and the future."Hawaiian activist Henry Noa said he is worried about the interior of the palace."They will have all these people coming in and out of the palace that we revere," he said. "That is a part of who we are. It is the pride and care we are concerned about. If it is damaged, who will be held accountable for that?"Leilani Forby, an executive producer and the wife of the director, said everyone involved with the film has worked with cultural advisers, University of Hawai'i scholars and Hawaiian language experts for the past four years to foster accuracy."We have the utmost respect for Hawaiians," said Forby, who grew up in Kailua. "That is what is driving the story. We want the world to know what happened."But the movie is a drama, she said."This is not and never has been intended to be a documentary," Forby said. "I wouldn't say things have been twisted. We have had to take several historical events and compress time just to get the important events on film."Forby said the film does not contain a love scene or any sexual reference."There is a love interest and there are tender scenes of this love blooming, but this is not going to be an R-rated film," she said.Protecting the palace is a top priority, Forby said. Everyone involved will wear soft booties to preserve the floor varnish as well as gloves. Replica furniture is also being made for interior use."We are going to have an inside crew and an outside crew and never the twain shall meet," Forby said. "Once you are in, you are in and if you go out, you are out."The filmmakers have worked with palace caretakers to ensure that lighting does not overheat the interior and have hired an equipment manager from England who is familiar with filming inside national treasures, she said.Kippen de Alba Chu, executive director at the palace, said it would be protected. Palace staff will always be on hand to escort the film crew, inside and outside."They will not harm anything," he said. "We will make sure of that."Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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RE: Public Protests Navy EIS on Sonar Training Mahalo:Nini'ane Public Protests New Supplement to Navy EIS on Sonar Training Sasha J. Schorr, Maui Weekly, 20 March 2008 Protesters voiced disappro

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 19, 2008 at 7:31pm
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Public Protests New Supplement to Navy EIS on Sonar TrainingSasha J. Schorr, Maui Weekly, 20 March 2008Protesters voiced disapproval of U.S. Navy sonar training and its effects on marine mammals. “The U.S. Navy has conducted extensive analysis on whales and has found… factors which may result in whales harming themselves.”Although research has identified sonar as a contributing factor to whales beaching themselves, the U.S. Navy continues to impart the necessity of mid-frequency sonar testing in Hawai‘i’s waters in the event of a threat to security. As required by law, the U.S. Navy must inform the public of their actions and did so at a public hearing on Friday, March 14, on a supplement to a previous draft of a Hawai‘i Range Complex Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for proposed naval training in Hawai‘i.Tom Craven, an environmental protection specialist from the U.S. Army said three parts were added as a supplement to the original draft. In addition, he said modifications were made on the analytical methodology used to evaluate the effects of mid-frequency active sonar on marine mammals, changes were made to the amount and types of sonar allocated to each of the alternatives, and a new alternative for sonar testing was established.The original EIS was presented to the public on Aug. 27, 2007, at Baldwin High School where the public voiced its concern for the effects of sonar testing on marine mammals and the environment.Public discontent prompted Earthjustice, on behalf of Ocean Mammal Institute, Animal Welfare Institute, KAHEA, Center for Biological Diversity, and Surfrider Foundation’s Kaua‘i Chapter, to sue the U.S. Navy last May. In the case, Hawai‘i Federal District Judge David A. Ezra found that the Navy was violating federal laws including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA).Ezra said that the Navy is likely to cause harm if allowed to proceed without greater protections. He said the Navy’s harm threshold—173 decibels (dB)—contradicted the best available science.Ezra issued a preliminary injunction and concluded that the U.S. Navy may only carry out its undersea warfare exercises in Hawai‘i’s waters while adhering to additional mitigation measures to protect marine mammals.“The judge gave a balanced decision and was concerned about whales,” said Dr. Marsha Green, professor at Albright College and founder of International Ocean Noise Coalition. “It was a step in the right direction.”According to Navy Capt. Dean Leech from the Fleet Environmental Council, “The Navy is still in preliminary steps and hasn’t yet litigated the merits of the court case.”“The U.S. Navy has conducted extensive analysis on whales and has found that there is a confluence of contributing factors which may result in whales harming themselves through stranding themselves,” said Leech.With this research on the harmful effects that war training has on marine mammals, residents wonder why the U.S. Navy still continues to conduct sonar testing. “The Navy themselves acknowledge that sonar is identified as a contributing factor but is ignoring the problem,” said Barbara Kranichfeld from Ha‘iku.“If the Navy was truly doing all they could to protect the whales, they would not appeal the [court] decision,” said Cedar Poirier, who traveled from Newport, Rhode Island, to testify for the protection of whales.“Unfortunately, this February 2008 version of the draft EIS in the exhausting 116 pages is an inadequate analysis by the Navy, as was the prior 2005 draft,” testified Mike Moran, vice-president of Kihei Community Association. “The Navy insists on using selective science to form assumptions that neither do, nor apply in the real world marine environment, and chooses to ignore scientific evidences of injury and death to marine mammals, which occur in regions where active sonar use occurs. Further, the Navy refuses to make available after action reports to the public, thus hiding specifically where sonar use occurs.”While the public continues to protest war training, the U.S. Navy continues to carry out sonar testing exercises, with mitigation factors in Hawaiian waters.
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OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS NOT GIVING UP ON CEDED LANDS BILL

Posted by Free Hawai`i on March 19, 2008 at 7:00pm
Honolulu Advertiser - Wednesday, March 19, 2008Less than 24 hours after a stunning defeat for the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs before the Legislature, supporters of the proposed $200 million ceded lands settlement, including OHA officials themselves, held out hope that the agreement could be salvaged during the remaining month-and-a-half of the legislative session.Meanwhile, opponents of the proposal said yesterday that OHA officials need to spend more time talking to the agency's beneficiaries after the legislative session to get the agency's priorities right.After five hours of testimony, three major committees of the state Senate voted Monday night to shelve the plan, which would have had the state transfer three parcels valued at $187 million, $13 million in cash and at least $15 million annually, to OHA as its share of revenues derived from ceded lands.In exchange, OHA and other Hawaiians would no longer be able to make further claims to those revenues.Those opposed to House Bill 266 said Monday that the measure was giving up too much for too little and that it would have additional ramifications....But OHA Administrator Clyde Namu`o said agency officials want to talk to Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and House Speaker Calvin Say to see if there's still any chance of the settlement passing this session.Read The Entire Story Here
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OHA Trying to Revive Bill‏ !Ceded-land accord supporters may retry

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 19, 2008 at 6:00pm
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Less than 24 hours after a stunning defeat for the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs before the Legislature, supporters of the proposed $200 million ceded lands settlement, including OHA officials themselves, held out hope that the agreement could be salvaged during the remaining month-and-a-half of the legislative session.
Meanwhile, opponents of the proposal said yesterday that OHA officials need to spend more time talking to the agency's beneficiaries after the legislative session to get the agency's priorities right.
After five hours of testimony, three major committees of the state Senate voted Monday night to shelve the plan, which would have had the state transfer three parcels valued at $187 million, $13 million in cash and at least $15 million annually, to OHA as its share of revenues derived from ceded lands.
In exchange, OHA and other Hawaiians would no longer be able to make further claims to those revenues.
Those opposed to House Bill 266 said Monday that the measure was giving up too much for too little and that it would have additional ramifications.
Two of three committee chairmen, Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), and Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), said they wanted to OHA to go back to the drawing board after session.
But OHA Administrator Clyde Namu'o said agency officials want to talk to Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and House Speaker Calvin Say to see if there's still any chance of the settlement passing this session.
"When and if that is exhausted and there is no relief, the trustees will determine, based on counsel's recommendation, what the next course of action might be," Namu'o said. Asked if that might include a lawsuit, Namu'o replied: "Whether or not there is a cause of action that OHA might assert, that is what the attorneys need to determine and recommend accordingly."
He added: "Honestly, we would prefer not to go there. We really would prefer a legislative solution, and we don't think it's too late."
House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa), said House Democratic leaders have also not given up on an amended bill that they helped craft.
"There are 26 days left in the legislative session, that's a little less than half," Caldwell said. "Many things can happen." House leaders have yet to discuss whether to hold hearings on Senate Bill 2733, the Senate's version of the agreement which crossed over from that chamber earlier this month, he said.
Procedurally, the House could change the language of the Senate bill to reflect House Bill 266. If that happens, House and Senate members could try to hammer out an agreement in conference committee at the end of session. But that could only be done if the Senate leadership assigned conferees to discuss the matter, and it would not be required to do so.
Almost as stunning as the committees' abrupt decision Monday was the tone of the meeting. At a House hearing on the same bill also held in the Capitol auditorium on Feb. 23, hardly anyone spoke in opposition. Before the Senate on Monday, a majority of the speakers testified against it.
Kamaki Kanahele, chairman of the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homesteaders Assembly, said what drew scores of homesteaders to the hearing was OHA's refusal to acknowledge that they, as beneficiaries of the ceded lands, should have been consulted more thoroughly and early on.
"They refused to recognize us, associate with us, to work with us," Kanahele said.
Namu'o said that in response to a request from lawmakers, OHA is holding more than 50 meetings statewide to discuss the issue with beneficiaries and the public.
"I would say that anecdotally, many of the people who attended the meetings did not have any solutions to improve the legislation," Namu'o said.
Tamar deFries, vice president of the Merchant Street Hawaiian Civic Club who helped rally opponents by passing out copies of the bills in Native Hawaiian communities in recent weeks, said beneficiary consultation "involves a two-way flow of information and opinion exchange that can lead to several levels of participation, including the involvement of drafting policy and legislation."
That has not been done, deFries said.
The interim will allow stakeholders to "begin a process of truth that includes: a full and complete inventory of the ceded lands, an audit of all gross revenues generated by the ceded lands, and beneficiary consultation with stakeholders," she said.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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2008 Bill Murata Scholarship Applications Sought!

Posted by Keola Donaghy on March 18, 2008 at 9:57pm
The Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts Bill Murata Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to two individuals in the amount of $3000.00 each. Recipients must have exhibited a demonstrable interest and concentration in the area of Hawaiian music, the music of Hawai‘i, and/or Hawaiian poetry and adhere to the criteria specified within the application. Please visit HARA's scholarship page for more information and to download the application.
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Now Is The Time to Show Up: Save Haloa Hearing Wed. 9 am State Capitol Auditorium‏

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 18, 2008 at 7:13pm
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Aloha Pono!

[Ho'okupu: Kalo leaves used in an offering at a heiau on Oahu]

What an outpouring of support for Haloa we have experienced! This morning testimony from over 6,000 people was submitted to Hawaii's House of Representatives in support of protecting taro from genetic modification and patenting by research institutes and bio-tech firms. Testimony came from all across the islands: kupuna & keiki, farmers & scientists, cultural practitioners & environmentalists, non-profit organizations, local governments, poi-lovers ... everyone! Mahalo for your inspiring expressions of love for Hawaii's most sacred plant & ancestor, Haloa, the taro plant.

Thanks to YOUR powerful expressions of this support SB958 - calling for a 10 Year Moratorium on Genetic Modification of Taro - was finally granted this committee hearing. It is the final hearing this bill needs on its way to becoming a law. Thanks to your dedication, we now have a real chance to plant a permanent change. Now is our chance to express our support from protecting Hawaii's 'aina and ancestors. Now is our chance to look our legislators in the eye, to hold our politicians accountable for their decisions. Now is our chance to bear witness and ensure Haloa is protected. Now is our chance...

Attend the Final Public Hearing for SB958
10 Year Moratorium on Genetic Modification of Kalo/Taro
Tomorrow - Wednesday
9:00 am - State Capitol Auditorium
Blooming kalo in the lo'i
Join local farmers and communities who support sustaining and perpetuating proven traditional methods of taro farming and the restoration of native ecosystems. Come early to sign up to speak. We will be in the lobby of the basement at the State Capitol, pounding poi and enjoying time with friends, as we watch the testimony delivered to the Committee on Agriculture just inside the auditorium. In respect for those testifying, we will work to make sure the auditorium itself is quiet and calm.
Also join the festivities of Hawaiian Caucus Day at the State Capitol - where there will be important informational tables, entertainment, food, and more!

To learn more about SB 958, visit our website by clicking here.

If you are submitting late testimony, please bring 15 copies.

Be sure to sign up at the Registration Table to speak at the hearing.

Bring a sweater - the auditorium is cold.

Bring chairs to sit comfortably in the lobby.

Bring the kids so they can learn about this law-making process.

Need ideas for parking? Call us (toll-free) 1-888-528-6288.

The hearing will be broadcast live on Olelo cable channel 53!

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Ma hea ka waiwai??

Posted by Kini on March 18, 2008 at 2:11pm
Pehea lā ʻoukou, poʻe ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ē. Nē maopopo iā ʻoe i ka ʻōlelo makuahine o nēia paeʻāina, no ke aha e namu wale ʻia ana? ʻAʻohe waiwai o kou maopopo ʻana i ka ʻōlelo inā ʻaʻole ʻoe hoʻohana i nā lā a pau, i nā kānaka a pau i hiki. Mai hoʻopohō i ka leo mana a nā kūpuna, nē ola a ola, nē hoʻohana ʻole ʻia, ā make. Pēlā ka nohona o kākou. Ma hea kā ka waiwai! E OLA KA ʻŌLELO HAWAIʻI!
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English to Hawaiian translations

Posted by Kaapuikinaea on March 18, 2008 at 10:04am
I've always hated translation request from people. People wanting to turn an English phrase into Hawaiian. Keep in mind that when they ask for a translation, it's obvious that they don't speak the language. And so if they don't speak it, what good will it do if they have the translation?I've told people time and time again how you cannot always do translation so easily, especially literal translation. It's difficult between languages and even more if you have something like English, an Indo-European language going into Hawaiian, an Austronesian language.Today was a good example which I'll use from now on as an example. My friend showed me a forum knowing how I hate these translations. The request from English into Hawaiian was for "Reach/strive for the stars." I've never heard of "Strive for the Stars" before, but I told that girl that "reaching for the stars" doesn't exist, at least not in the way she intended, but we have something similar with the same meaning. KULIA I KA NUU!Someone replied with "Hele a hana no na hoku." In another forum for language learners I've stressed the importance of learning the culture when learning a language, especially like Hawaiian. People don't listen. So you get these ridiculous translations that really has no meaning in Hawaiian.
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"snakes" or "serpents"

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 18, 2008 at 2:21am
Mahalo:
Compañero PinkoFYI. The "snakes" or "serpents" that "St." Patrick chased out of Ireland were the pagans that refused to convert to Christianity and were thus slaughtered or exiled. He accomplished what other empires, IE the Romans could not. For the Irish to celebrate "St." Patrick's day is the equivalent of Indigenous, Native Americas to celebrate Columbus day.SAY NO TO G.M.O.

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Superferry Storm Carries On‏

Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 18, 2008 at 12:43am
Superferry Storm Carries On‏l_c823a1e973b575e07530c615d89d7274.jpgmammalz.jpg


Superferry Storm Carries On
Tuesday 3-18-08

Kauai’s Koohan Paik is writing a book about the Hawaii Superferry, hoping to expose what she calls a conspiracy between the government and the military. The young writer is following Superferry meetings across the state. She believes the ferry will end up being heavily utilized by the military

Department of Transit starts Environmental Impact Assessment.

By Léo Azambuja

The Superferry controversy has generated a lot of turmoil in Hawaii. After months sailing against a sea of legal and technical problems, the vessel remains dry-docked since Feb. 13, with plans to return to operations April 22.

The Alakai, which translates to potbellied or leader, depending on where the okina is placed, is a controversy in itself. After spending $40 million in harbor repairs and $180 million on loan guarantees to the Superferry, the State Government does not have much to show for it.

Adding to tax-payers’ losses, the Department of Transit (DOT) recently announced a new Harbors Modernization Plan. The DOT’s plan will cover six harbors statewide, will last six years, and is budgeted at $842 million, which will come from the Harbors Special Fund. Four of those harbors will go through special renovations to accommodate the Superferry.

A special Legislature session in late 2007 decided the State has to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which will add yet another $1 million in tax payers’ expenses.

Opponents of the Herculean twin-hulled ferry have organized several protests against the company, and have even put themselves on harm’s way, by blocking the boat from entering Nawiliwili Harbor on its second voyage to Kauai.

Superferry opponents on Maui and on Kauai fear that the boat’s operations will bring irreversible environmental damages and traffic chaos to their islands.

As much as environmental and social impacts lurk beneath the surface, such as humpback whale collisions, drug trafficking, invasive species propagation, and traffic jams, Oahu’s large population gives the Superferry a positive outcome in statewide surveys. Neighbor Islands’ surveys have yet to be conducted, but large groups of residents there have showed strong opposition to the Superferry.

Just about eight months ago, Governor Linda Lingle appointed Michael Formby as the DOT Deputy Director, overseeing the harbors’ division. Formby inherited probably the biggest controversy the DOT had to face in recent years.

Just days before the Superferry’s maiden voyage, the Hawaii Supreme Court halted the ferry’s operations by mandating an Environmental Assessment (EA) to be conducted.

The DOT hired Belt Collins Hawaii, Ltd. to prepare an EIS. Lesley Matsumoto, director of environmental consulting at Belt Collins, said the normal course of action would have required an EA before an EIS. But the DOT is now obliged to conduct an EIS because lawmakers decided it during the special Legislature session in late 2007.

Matsumoto explained an EA evaluates general impacts on the environment. If the government decides there are significant impacts, “then the next level is the EIS.”

Matsumoto said the Superferry will continue to operate while the EIS is being prepared. The after-the-fact EIS will evaluate the environmental consequences of the Superferry operations and its secondary impacts. She said the findings will not stop the ferry; instead, the EIS may include additional restrictions on the company’s operations.

When the Supreme Court decision temporarily halted the ferry’s operation last year, Senator Kalani English said he supported the decision. "The EIS was required under the law," he said. "It's been my position all along."

Formby does not agree. According to him, no law had been broken when former DOT Deputy Director Barry Fukunaga gave the Superferry an EA waiver.

“That’s the way business was done,” Formby said, explaining that the Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC) used to put certain items on a list of approved exemptions. The Superferry, an alternative inter-island transportation sought by the Cayetano and Lingle administrations, was on that list.

“If you put yourself in Barry Fukunaga’s place, the OEQC’s place, at the time they made those decisions, they’ll tell you they made the right decision,” Formby said.

However, times have changed. “Obviously the Supreme Court doesn’t think it was a good decision,” Formby said.

“Any time you get a landmark decision at the Supreme Court, it changes the way things are done,” Formby said. “The way we do things now is different than the way we did things before the Superferry.”

Even insisting Fukunaga’s actions were lawful, Formby agreed that the company should not have been exempted from an EA.

“For the community it’s for the better,” Formby said. “Now we’re looking at long term effects, secondary impacts.”

Formby wasn’t too sympathetic to Kauai’s Superferry opponents. In 2005, the company hosted informational meetings on Kauai. “Maybe 20 people showed up,” Formby said.

Formby, who says he has not seen any Kauai poll showing majority opposition to the ferry, called opponents a “vocal minority.” Despite saying they have good arguments, Formby believes the community has “to balance the pros and the cons.”

“If there was a terrorist incident at the Kauai Airport, people all of a sudden would fall in love with the Superferry,” Formby said. However, after Hurricane Iniki, in 1992, there was no Superferry, and the community did just fine.

Many places on Kauai lost access for days and electricity for weeks. The community helped out each other, and received overwhelming support from government agencies and the military.

Formby blamed Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) for overcrowding Kauai’s roads with as much as 400 rental cars every time it docked at Nawiliwili Harbor.

“I think for the people of Kauai it will be very interesting to see what happens now that NCL has pulled one vessel out and is pulling a second vessel out,” Formby said. The impact of 100-150 cars the Superferry will transport daily to Kauai is a “very small piece of the puzzle” if compared with the business formerly generated by NCL, Formby said.

If NCL decides to put back its ships on Hawaiian waters, it would have to re-flag the ships, re-fit them, and ask for Congress approval. The chances of it happening are slim, according to Formby.

The Superferry may not come to Molokai, but its impact here cannot be underestimated.

“It can potentially have impacts on the island and on the residents of the island because it’s transiting the coastal waters,” Formby said. If necessary, the boat can go through the Penguin Banks “if goes at the right speed, in the right time of the season.”

Despite rumors of a proposed dredging in the harbor at Kaunakakai Wharf, Formby assured that the DOT has no plans to do so.

“I’m not aware of any maintenance schedule for Kaunakakai, and we definitely don’t have any new dredging plans for Kaunakakai,” Formby said.

A dredging would only be approved after several environmental studies, a design phase, and finally a lengthy construction phase. “There are definitely no plans for larger vessels to come in,” he said. “If we started today, it would be about 15 years before we finished it, that’s how long it takes; it’s a very long process.”

EIS public meetings

The DOT initiated a series of statewide meetings to gather community input on the EIS currently being prepared by Belt Collins Hawaii Ltd. The island of Molokai was the DOT’s first stopover.

About 30 community members showed up last week Tuesday at Kaunakakai Elementary School to tell Matsumoto and the DOT staff some of the impacts the ferry may have on the Molokai.

Most testifiers were concerned about how the EIS would protect whales and seals from colliding with the vessel. Humpback whales and Hawaiian monk seals are protected by strict federal laws, and some residents do not believe the Superferry is able to avoid hitting them.

Resident Ruth Manu said Young Brothers, in order to accommodate the Superferry schedule in Kahului Harbor, Maui, has changed its scheduled trips to Molokai. The cargo shipper now comes to Molokai two days in a row every week, instead of spacing the trips. As a result, fresh produce availability on Molokai’s grocery store shelves has been compromised.

A series of posters showed potential impacts the Superferry may have in Hawaii. Resident Cheryl Richards wanted to know why the social-economics poster was empty. “If I’m paying the bill, I want to know why the money isn’t coming to our schools,” she said. “I’m paying the taxes and I want to know what the business plan is.”

Richards said she felt the EIS was a “cart-and-pony show.”

The meeting was organized solely to hear comments from the community. DOT officials and Belt Collins associates were not allowed to answer community concerns, which frustrated many testifiers.

“Next time you come, you give us our answers, that’s pono, that’s Hawaiian style,” Manu said.

A recorder kept track of community input, which will be included in the preparation of the EIS.

On March 14 the DOT held two meetings at Farrington High School, on Oahu, drawing only 12 people.

On March 17 the DOT carried two meetings on Maui, and on March 19 it carried two meetings on Kauai. At the time of press, there was no information on those meetings
on behalf of Kyle Kajihiro (keboi@aol.com)Sent: Tue 3/18/08 6:53 AMReply-to: DMZ-Hawaii@yahoogroups.comTo: dmz-hawaii@yahoogroups

http://savekauai.org/

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