Congressional Hypocrisy
This week the U.S. Congress moved one step closer to expanding Hate Crimes Legislation to include protections against crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation. There is no doubt that this is a huge step forward in the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation. What’s more,  President Obama again pledged to today to end the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in the military. This pledge, unfortunately comes without any speci

The Race for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional
In the spirit of full-disclosure, I should say right up front  that I do not and will not support Ed Case in his bid for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional seat in 2010. I didn’t support him when he ran against Senator Akaka in 2006 and I in fact worked on Akaka’s campaign. I feel I should say, however, that politically, he’s not totally bad. As a self-proclaimed progressive, I will say that he’s generally good on social justice issues, such as same-sex marriage, as well as on environmental issues. Seeing as he’s started campaigning so early and seeing as how I’ve already received a flier from his campaign in my mailbox, I thought I’d start

Strong, Well-Crafted Words from Bill Maher
I came across an article today that one which I feel the need to comment. Bill Maher, talk show host and progressive guest blogger on HuffingtonPost.com, put to words much better than I could, the things I’ve been thinking and feeling at least since the health care debate started heating up this summer, if not since Obama took office. Its also been my major complaint with the Democratic Party since they took back control of the U.S. House in 2006; right off the bat, House leadership proclaimed impeachment was ‘

Prejudice in Paradise?
An article came to my attention yesterday on which I would like to comment. In this year’s fall issue of the Intelligence Report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) there is an article titled ‘Prejudice in Paradise,’  which discusses racism against whites by Native Hawaiians. It refers to and discusses racial slurs, like ‘haole,’ both verbal and physical harassment, and the State’s response, or lack thereof. As is suggested in comments on the story at both

Development and Local Awareness
I’ve always been impressed with the quality of events Kanu Hawaii puts on to help the community and raise awareness about important issues. The Eat Local Challenge is no exception. In fact, it strikes at the heart of possibly one of the most immediate and important questions for our islands. Eating local is beneficial on both an economic and environmental level. And the light the Challenge shines on food channels couldn’t have come at a more crucial time. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin featured on Wednesday, August 12, an article discus