Free Republic

When we pledge allegiance to the flag, we also pledge allegiance to the Republic for which it stands — “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The modern American left has put each of these qualities up for grabs. For example, implementing “social justice” would make it logically impossible to provide justice for all of us as individuals. The left is also unfavorably disposed to the idea of one indivisible nation. The Akaka Bill was a good example. As Gail Heriot and Peter Kirsanow explained, this legislation, which the House passed in 2010, would have enabled...

* Democrat Daniel Akaka, 86, is retiring from Senate * Lingle is heavily favored to win Republican primary * Republican has set up her own cable TV station HONOLULU, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Voters in Hawaii went to the polls on Saturday in a primary expected to set up Republicans for their first real chance at a U.S. Senate seat in the heavily Democratic state since 1970. A victory by former governor Linda Lingle, who has an early edge in fundraising, in President Barack Obama's home state could also help Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate as they battle...

Senate Democrats are charging taxpayers for a trip to Hawaii, The Daily Caller has learned. The entire press staff of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is in Maui, even though a field hearing there won’t happen until next Wednesday. The committee’s oversight field hearing, scheduled for August 17 at 9:00 a.m. at the Maui Beach Hotel, will focus on “Strengthening Self-Sufficiency: Overcoming Barriers to Economic Development in Native Communities.” Rick Manning from Americans for Limited Government, which first discovered the hearing, told TheDC it’s unbelievable that Hill staffers talking about fiscal responsibility would waste money on a trip to Maui....

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka will not seek re-election in 2012, the fifth Democratic or Democratic aligned incumbent to bow out already this election cycle. "After months of thinking about my political future, I am announcing today that I have decided not to run for re-election in 2012," Akaka said in a statement. "As many of you can imagine, it was a very difficult decision for me. However, I feel that the end of this Congress is the right time for me to step aside." Akaka, who is 86 years old, had been regarded by both parties as a potential...

AP story, link only.

A racial spoils precedent that could lead to new 'tribal' demands across the U.S. Last week, the House of Representatives, in a largely party-line vote, passed the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Popularly known as "the Akaka bill," this piece of legislation might turn out to be this Congress's single most calamitous decision. The bill creates a complex federal framework under which most of the nation's approximately 400,000 ethnic Hawaiians can organize themselves into one vast Indian tribe. It endows the tribe with the "inherent powers and privileges of self-government," including the privilege of sovereign immunity from lawsuit. It also...

...SIC to receive $400 million in federal funds taken from the “Universal Service Fund” (USF) tax on consumers’ phone bills.... In the US about 33% of households have high speed internet connections. If DHHL leaseholders have the same level of interest in high speed internet connections, SIC would serve about 1800 lots at an average cost to the taxpayers of about $278,000 per lot. Currently SIC is reported to serve about 1300 customers....

Akaka Bill may have a shot at law Isle lawmakers want piece of Internet sales Mufi demands Legislature legalize Honolulu's illegal sewage Socialist Delays defeat Kalapana volcano victims Communist ILWU icon recalled for her passion SB: Mail-in election might stir isle voters from their apathy

Eat your heart out Jack Abramoff. President Obama looks forward to a guaranteed supply of Democrat campaign money which will make the imprisoned Republican fundraiser look like the small time operator he was. And better yet, Obama's multi-billion dollar nationwide scheme to circumvent campaign spending laws comes neatly disguised as a Hawaii-only deal for "reconciliation" and "justice". "Campaign finance" isn't even in the bill's description. It is called the Akaka Bill. Reintroduced February 4 for the 2009 Congressional session as S381 and HR862, the Akaka Bill creates a process to establish a Native Hawaiian Tribal Government. If it reaches his...

In his memoir, "Livin' the Blues" (p320), Davis describes Booker T Washington touring Hawai`i plantations at the turn of the 20th century and concluding that the conditions were even worse than those in the South. A shipload of black laborers left after one year of labor in Hawai`i to return to the South. The politically correct "Ethnic Studies" version of history is based on the claim that "America was founded on slavery." But somehow the American abolition of indentured servitude in Hawai`i gets swept under the rug in OHA's rush for land and power.

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...

The racist "Akaka Bill," which is certain to resurface in the 111th Congress that convened today, would inflict serious harm on the economy of Hawaii if enacted, according to a new report from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and the Beacon Hill Institute. The measure would grant special race-based privileges to "Native Hawaiians" (who have only one drop of Hawaiian blood flowing in their veins) by exempting members of that group from paying state income and excise taxes. It would also create a new "tribal" government in the state that could help lay the groundwork for Hawaii's secession from the...

OHA advances plan for Hawaiian self-rule by Nancy Cook LauerStephens Media Groupnclauer@stephensmedia.comFriday, June 23, 2006 9:08 AM HSTHONOLULU -- Just two weeks after the U.S. Senate refused to consider self-rule for Native Hawaiians, the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on Thursday unanimously advanced a plan to create a new Hawaiian government by the end of 2007. Most of the details of the ambitious plan were discussed during a closed-door session with OHA attorneys. The trustees then opened the meeting for a formal vote. But a draft copy of "Hooulu Lahui Aloha, to Raise a Beloved...

Price of Apology: Clinton, Obama, and the Hawaiian Quid Pro Quo The bill to create a Hawaiian Indian reservation is a financial boondoggle. But state bigwigs hope contributions will persuade Obama or Clinton to sign it if elected. March 22, 2008 - by Andrew Walden Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers With Tony Rezko on trial, the national media is beginning to skim the surface of the dirty deals paving the rapid ascent of Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama. But Chicago, Syria, and Iraq are not the only places to look. There is also a $9-billion story in Hawaii...

Congress: Nearly five decades after statehood, the U.S. House passes a bill classifying American citizens by race and establishing apartheid in Hawaii. Is the U.S. about to have its own separatist movement? We have observed that if there was ever a place that came close to Martin Luther King's dream of people being judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, it is Hawaii. "One of the greatest examples of a multiethnic society living in relative peace" is how the state's longtime U.S. senator, Democrat Daniel Inouye, once described it. Last Wednesday, the House...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Native Hawaiians should regain some of the self-governance powers lost when the islands' queen was overthrown more than a century ago, the House decided Wednesday. The White House threatened a veto, saying the legislation that passed by a 261-153 vote would divide Americans "along suspect lines of race and ethnicity." The bill would give the 400,000 people nationwide of Native Hawaiian ancestry the right to form a governing entity that could negotiate with the state and federal governments over such issues as control of natural resources, lands and assets. The interior secretary would have to approve that...

The House of Representatives is poised to pass the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act (known in the Senate as the “Akaka Bill”), the apogee of an aggressive multiculturalism that has manifested itself in local, state, and federal legislation in the last two decades. The bill faces a certain White House veto, but it’s unclear whether there are enough votes in the Senate to sustain it. If the Senate overrides the veto, it will speed the country’s embrace of a form of post-nationalism (already held by many elites) — a confederation of various races, ethnicities and interest groups competing for special...

VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 09-13-2007 #3UPDATE: SEN. AKAKA EXPLAINS (SORT OF) SUBMITTING ANTI-VETERAN LEGISLATION -- Akaka offers grade-school civics lesson as excuse for submitting President's bill that would prevent "Blue Water Navy" VA claims. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Senate Vets' Chair On September 6, 2007, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, submitted "by request" legislation that would prevent "Blue Water Navy" veterans from receiving benefits for Agent Orange exposure.  This is an attempt to overturn the Haas decision.  The bill, S.2026, would also overturn the Nehmer decision.  (see...

Akaka (D) Leads Primary Challenger Case 47% to 45%

Hawaii Senate: September's Primary Shaping Up to be a Showdown Akaka (D) Leads Primary Challenger Case 47% to 45% August 11, 2006 Senator Daniel Akaka Hawaii’s Senate seat will be decided on September 23—Primary Day—rather than November 8. That’s when Democrats Daniel Akaka, the incumbent senator seeking his fourth full term, and U.S. Rep. Ed Case will square off for their party’s nomination in November. And with a little more than a month to go in the primary battle, the contest is either candidate’s to win. According to the most recent Rasmussen Reports election poll, Sen. Akaka leads Case 47%...