Akaka Bill rewrite: Tribal jurisdiction for Hawaii?

Hawai`i Free Press ^ | january 16, 2009 | Andrew Walden

[AndrewWalden]

The Akaka Bill, authorizing creation of a Hawaiian tribal entity, is being rewritten prior to submission to a vote in the House and Senate. The rewrite has not been in the news, but a January 16, 2009 Advertiser editorial warns the Akaka tribe against overconfidence. Three key sentences in the editorial make it possible for a highly informed reader to understand what Senator Dan Akaka’s (D-HI) staffers are changing:

"Because of previous opposition from the Bush administration and Capitol Hill Republicans, the bill had been constrained. For example, Native Hawaiians were to be treated the same under criminal and taxation laws as anyone else. And land claims by Native Hawaiians were to be confined to the negotiations between the state and Native Hawaiian representatives."

Barack Obama’s repeated pledge to sign the Akaka Bill was the key condition of Hawaii Democrats’ early-money support for his Presidential campaign. The House has easily passed the Akaka Bill twice with little debate. But if the language imposed by the Bush Justice Department in 2005 is written out of what will become the 2009 version of the Akaka Bill, the changes could impact the dynamics of Senate debate.

Quoting from the 2005 DoJ document, the four key changes were:

[AndrewWalden]

Just as Bill Clinton 'rewarded' Hawaii Democrats' early money support of his longshot Presidential campaign by passing the 1993 "Apology Resolution", Obama is poised to 'reward' Hawaii Democrats' early-money support....

RELATED: Akaka Bill Reading List ... http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/316/Akaka-Bill-Reading-List.aspx

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I knew with Obama in the whitehouse, Akaka was going to push for this grifter moneygrab once again.
All so they can build “tribal” style casinos on the Hawaiian Islands with lots of kick backs to all the service unions that would be involved with them and all the dem politicians who would receive their financial cut in the way of campaign contributions from all these organizations as well.
And so anyone with some traceable blood back to the Hawaiians will expect cradle to the grave welfare.
I’ve seen many of these tribal rallys on Oahu. Most of them are not even Hawaiians, but african and dark skinned grifters with no Hawaiian blood who claim they are Hawaiians because they give themselves a Hawaiian middle name looking for a payday.
Its a total joke.

[kaehurowing]

This is the legal precedent for the breakup of the United States. If “Native Hawaiians” (the large majority of whom only have a small portion of “native” blood) are now considered fictitious “Indians” because of the supposed “illegal overthrow” of the Hawaiian Kingdom and entitled to their own “nation,” it will be next be Mexican-Americans and Mexico claiming that they are entitled to the same treatment. The Hawaiian experience and the Mexican experience are indistinguishable legally. If you allow one non-Indian group to be called “Indians,” that opens the door for every Mexican-American group to make the same argument that they are indigenous to California and the Southwest.

[Dapper 26]

Passage of the Akaka Bill would turn Hawaii from the melting pot of races to the boiling pot.