Appeal to Protect Waimanalo

From: Ryan Kalama
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 11:15 PM
Subject: Waimanalo needs your Kokua

Aloha Kakou;

“WE THE KAILUA HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUB, HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUB OF WAIMANALO AND THE COMMUNITY NEEDS EVERYONE’S HELP TO SAVE WAIMANALO AND TO GET BACK THEIR LAND”

Waimanalo and Kailua have been having our hands full dealing with Bellows Air Force Base forcing the Community to except their proposals for the following issues (Even though their lease is up in 2027):

1. Kadena Air Force Base, in Okinawa, is now the Command Base over Bellows Air Force Base out in Waimanalo 96795 and Hickam Air Force Base will be turned over to Pearl Harbor Naval Command.

2. Senator Inouye had the House of Congress and the House of Senate approve a huge budget to build un-necessary housings, buildings, water parks, golf courses, shopping mall, and huge mega resort.

3. Building 48 2 story condominiums at the edge of Bellows Air Force Base runway, right next to the Commanders House and Chief Cabins which are located on the shore line, located NE of Bellows AFB.

4. The sewage will be pumped back down into the sand; in which there is sewage already spreading, all over Lani kai Beach, Waimanalo Bay, all the way down to Makapu’u, attracting large feasting sharks.

5. Where there is Billeting there is people. When there is more people there is more traffic. Waimanalo already has a major problem, with only one two way street, which is already a large conjested traffic.

6. Kadena Air Force Base had brought in their own scientist, biologist, archealogist, geologist, environmentalists, and public relations to manipulate the Waimanalo Community that the environment is safe.

7. Apparently this has been an ongoing under cover project since 2007 and we have protested every time they build something. Each time they promised to give us land for our Community and Homestead.

AFTER THE CONFRONTATION, THE MESSENGER STATED; THAT THE 2007 PLAN WAS NOT TRUE, HE GUARANTEED NO MEGA RESORT, AND THAT THIS PLAN WAS ONLY JUST A RUMOR.

They have mentioned, that they would turn the Bellows Air Force Base over back to the Waimanalo Community; but we were responsible for all the nuclear chemical dump sites and destruction they caused.

We have had only two encounters, since Monday April 20th, 2009, the first encounter was at the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, letting us know, that the Community response only had about 14 days left.

The Air Force had publicized their plan on how they were going to expand their cabins, how it was a low empact on the environment, & Recreation for our soldiers, on May 3, 2009, Star Bulletin newspaper.

Which has stired a contreversial situation with in the Waimanalo Community. The second encounter was May 13th, 2009, and they gave us a tour out at the site, where they plan to build their condominiums.

We weren’t able to record or film the second encounter; but we had over 30 people attended the meeting. A tour was provided, and posters were displayed; which were not well received by the Community.

Some have spoken up, some were emotional, and some professionally expressed all their concerns. The main problem is that they never notified us of their plans until recently on Monday April 20th, 2009.

We the Civic Clubs and Community members have obtained several documents that all of you can find on your computer, print them out for your own record, and bring them to the next meeting here it is:

1. GSA Release FY 2006 Federal Real Property Report, http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?noc=T&content.type=GSA_BASIC&contentid=23325

2. Executive Order 13287 PRESERVE AMERICA, http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?P=PLAE&contentID=16910&contentTy

3. NEPA’s Forty Most Asked Questions, http://www.ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/40/40p3.htm

4. CEQ 40 FAQS Answers to 1-10, http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/40/1-10.HTM#1

5. President Ronald Reagan, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=42208

6. Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorials Friday, June 21, 1996 “Military is serious about keeping Bellows” http://archives.starbulletin.com/1996/06/21/editorial/editorials.htm

Everyone need to research on your computer certain reports that can be retrieved and reviewed before you attend the next meeting; so once again here is the reports you can pull from your internet search:

a. United States Environmental Protection Agency Region IX, Addressed to Mr. Ron Lanier about Bellows AFS. Subject: Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), Housing Privatization Phase II, Hickam AFB and Bellows AFS, Oahu Hawaii (CEQ#20060146)

b. Federal Real Property Council, Guidance for Improved Asset Management

c. Federal Real Property Council Fiscal Year 2005, An Overview of the U.S. Federal Government’s Real Property Report Guide

d. Federal Real Property Council Inventory, Guidance June 30, 2006

e. Federal Real Property Council Fiscal Year 2007, Guidance May 24, 2007

f. Federal Real Property Council Fiscal Year 2008, Guidance June 23, 2008

g. Code of Federal Regulations 32 CFR Ch. VII (7-1-01 Edition)

h. Hawaii Costal Zone Management Progam Document 2 Inventory of the Federally Controlled Land in Hawaii. August, 1975, prepared for the “State of Hawaii Department of Planning and Economic Development”

WE ALL NEED TO DO OUR RESEARCH OF ALL THE SITES AND REPORTS; IN WHICH IT HAS BEEN SENT TO YOU. BE PREPARED BY THE NEXT MEETING; SO WE COULD STOP THESE

Our next encounter ship is Monday May 18th, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. some of the people have hope and some have assumed that Kadena and Bellows Air Force Base already made up their minds to go ahead.

Waimanalo has a chance to restore their Ahapuaa, build a Youth Center, create a Culture Center, Local Business, and a Village Community; which most of it will be built on parts of Bellows Air Force Base.

WE WOULD APPRECIATE EVERYONE’S PARTICIPATION TO COME FORTH TO OUR WAIMANALO NEIGHBORHOOD BOARD MEETING ON MAY, 2009 AT 6:00 P.M. HELD AT BELLOWS AFB.

Mahalo;
Kahu Ryan Alena Kaimana Kuhio Kalama
President of the Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club

ASIAN SETTLER COLONIALISM FORUM

ASIAN SETTLER COLONIALISM FORUM

Guest speakers Haunani-Kay Trask, Momiala Kamahele, Healani Sonoda, Eiko Kosasa, Ida Yoshinaga, Kyle Kajihiro, Candace Fujikane and Jonathan Y. Okamura

Saturday, May 23, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i

Come and join us for a public forum on a groundbreaking and controversial book that examines the impact that Japanese and other Asian communities in Hawai‘i have on Hawaiians struggling for self-determination. Released by the University of Hawai‘i Press last fall, Asian Settler Colonialism: From Local Governance to the Habits of Everyday Life in Hawai‘i (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008) examines issues ranging from Japanese, Korean, and Filipino settlement of Hawai‘i to accounts of Asian settler practices in the legislature, the prison industrial complex, and the U.S. military to critiques of Asian settlers’ claims to Hawai‘i in literature and the visual arts.

The Japanese in Hawai‘i have fought long and hard for civil rights, but at this time, we need to rethink who we are and where we are going. Hawaiians have a unique political status as the indigenous peoples of Hawai‘i, and at this critical moment in history, they are fighting for their lands and nation. As settlers, Japanese and other Asian communities need to discuss what our responsibilities to Hawaiians are. The speakers will open up the discussion by addressing the past and present roles of Japanese and other Asian peoples in Hawai‘i as settlers who have both obstructed justice and spoken out for justice. In what ways have Asian settler political administrators engaged in colonial practices that seek to take Hawaiians’ indigenous rights from them? How do our everyday habits maintain the U.S. occupation of Hawai‘i? What can we do as Asian settlers to support Hawaiians in their struggle for justice? Please join us for a thought-provoking and transformative discussion of these issues.

Free admission.

This event is sponsored by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. Supported in part by a generous grant from the Hawai‘i People’s Fund and the generosity of the Japanese American Citizen’s League and the American Friends Service Committee.

For more information, please call the Japanese Cultural Center at (808) 945-7633, ext. 32.

Army drops 3 charges against Lt. Watada

HonoluluAdvertiser.com

May 7, 2009

Army drops 3 charges against Iraq war objector Watada

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The Army yesterday said it has given up efforts to retry 1st Lt. Ehren Watada on three charges for refusing to deploy to Iraq in 2006, but has not made up its mind about two other court-martial charges or the possibility of administrative punishment.

More than a year and a half after he would have left the Army – had he deployed as ordered – the 1996 Kalani High School graduate still reports to a desk job at Fort Lewis in Washington state.

Watada is likely to continue to have to do so as the Army weighs its next move.

The Honolulu man, the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, said the war was illegal and unjust, and that participating in it would make him a party to war crimes.

Watada, who said he would have deployed to Afghanistan, also accused the Bush administration of deception in starting the Iraq war.

Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek yesterday said the Army was informed late last week that the U.S. Justice Department – which represents the Army in the case – had decided against continuing with an appeal of an October 2008 federal court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle of Tacoma ruled at that time that the Army could not retry Watada on a charge of missing his Stryker brigade unit’s movement to Iraq, and two specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer for taking part in a press conference and participating in a Veterans for Peace convention.

Watada raised double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same crime, after a military judge declared a mistrial at Watada’s first court-martial in February 2007.

Two other charges of conduct unbecoming an officer were withdrawn, but not dismissed, as a result of Watada’s court-martial, officials said.

The Army appealed Settle’s October ruling, but the Justice Department under the Obama administration has now dropped that appeal.

Asked why the appeal was dropped, Piek said, “That would be a question you would have to ask (the Justice Department). I don’t know.

“Right now, the other two specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer are still relevant in the case.”

He said the leadership at Fort Lewis “is considering a full range of judicial and administrative options that are available, and those range from court-martial on those two remaining specifications, to nonjudicial punishment, to administrative separation from the Army.”

‘Significant victory’

At one time, Watada faced up to six years in prison for refusing to board a plane for Mosul, Iraq. Jim Lobsenz, an attorney for Watada, in October said his client at most faced one to two years on the remaining two charges. But the attorney said he was confident the remaining two charges, if pursued, would be thrown out as well.

Ken Kagan, another attorney representing Watada, yesterday said the Army conceivably could have drawn out its appeal on the three charges against Watada into late 2010 or early 2011.

“So having this one cleared away and no longer an issue is a significant victory in the sense that now we can focus on really getting this thing resolved,” Kagan said.

Kagan said the Justice Department’s solicitor general “sought to take that leadership position” in dropping the Army appeal.

“It’s obviously a bold decision to depart from past policies, so we’re very pleased they saw fit to do that,” he said.

Kagan said discussions continue with the Army “to see if we can find some common ground” on the remaining issues.

global spotlight

Watada gained international attention as an Iraq war objector, and he served as a rallying point for the antiwar effort.

But he also was reviled by many in the military who said he violated his oath as an officer, and that he had no right to decide whether the Iraq war was just or unjust.

Piek, the Fort Lewis spokesman, said Watada’s service in the Army was scheduled to end in December 2006, but the soldier was subject to “stop loss” – the ability to keep troops in for deployment – and was subject to his unit’s deployment to Iraq.

His brigade returned from Iraq in September 2007 after 15 months, and Watada would have been eligible then to leave the Army.

Piek said Watada now is part of the rear detachment headquarters for I Corps.

“He’s still coming in doing PT (physical therapy) and then works from 9 to 5 and occasionally I see him here at the gym,” Piek said.

Piek added that “what is most disturbing for us, is that this case really needed to be heard by a jury and to be decided by a jury, and it’s very unfortunate that more than two years ago the first court-martial ended in a mistrial on a technicality.”

Lt. Col. John Head, the military judge, made the decision to call off the court-martial in its third day as Watada was ready to take the stand in his own defense.

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090507/NEWS08/905070367

Air Force expanding recreational cabins in Waimanalo?

May 3, 2009

Air Force plan to add rec cabins at Hawaii beach stirs concern

Some residents against 48 new military structures, say ceded land is involved

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Writer

A plan to build 48 new vacation cabins at Bellows Air Force Station has stunned many Waimanalo residents who oppose the project and have called for the return of military property that is no longer used for defense purposes.

The community learned of the project at an April 13 Waimanalo Neighborhood Board meeting. Board members said they do not want any expansion of the base’s recreational programs.

“What they’re trying to do is turn it into a vacation resort for the military,” said Wilson Ho, chairman of the neighborhood board. “We don’t want any more building.”

With the dwindling use of the base’s 1,483 acres for military purpose, Ho said it’s time to give the land back to the public.

Both the Air Force and the Marines use the base. The Marines train there and Air Force operations are primarily recreational, including about four dozen duplex cabins and numerous camp sites. Some of the base is open for public camping on weekends.

“If they had it for training, if they had it for real military use, fine,” Ho said. “They said they use it for training but the training these days are not amphibious. It’s not rushing the land. It’s a whole different technology. So we just wanted to make sure the land wasn’t built up for fun for the military.”

In the past, the Marines have used Bellows for amphibious landings.

Philip Breeze, Air Force spokesman, said the Air Force is not turning the area into a resort and plans to locate the new cabins on developed land next to existing cabins.

“While we are certainly sensitive to people’s desire regarding the land, we also have an obligation to provide recreation opportunities for our war fighters when they return from defending the nation,” he said.

Air Force funding

The Air Force has funding for 16 cabins and hopes to eventually build 48. The cabins will be 600 square feet to 750 square feet and paid for through money earned from the various activities on the base, Breeze said.

The Air Force will be respectful of any remains or artifacts that may be uncovered during construction, he said.

At the April 13 meeting, the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board was told the cabin project passed an environmental assessment and public comments were due April 30. The lack of advance warning left the board little time to respond, Ho said. The Air Force has since extended the comment period to May 30.

“The reason why we don’t want (the new construction) is because it’s on ceded land,” Ho said.

Ceded land is the roughly 1.2 million acres of Hawai’i property that once belonged to Hawaiian royalty and now is in dispute. The land was taken by the United States after Hawai’i was annexed and ceded back to Hawai’i during statehood for public benefits, including the betterment of Native Hawaiians. The land is now being used for various activities including for schools, businesses and airports.

A 1996 Record of Decision called for the return of 170 acres of Bellows’ land along its southern boundary. That never happened and residents fear that if the military keeps expanding its recreational facility, the community will never get that land back, said Andrew Jamila Jr., who serves on the Restoration Advisory Board for Bellows.

“We’re passionately opposing (the cabins) because as you know, Bellows was at the center of ceded land that was promised back to us,” Jamila said.

In the early 2000s, the state was negotiating with the military for the return of the property. But few people were privy to the process and the neighborhood board never learned why the land was not returned, he said.

With this recent announcement of the $5 million project, the board is once again asking what happened.

“We told them in the past, we don’t want you guys to be building nothing more,” Jamila said. “Bellows Beach doesn’t belong to the Air Force or the Marines is what we feel. It belongs to the Native Hawaiian.”

Breeze said he understands the Native Hawaiians’ concern with the land but the cabins are not near the 170-acre parcel that had been considered for return to public use.

“I don’t know that that issue comes into play with this particular situation,” he said.

property refused

Hawaiian Home Lands apparently turned down the property during the previous administration, said Lloyd Yonenaka, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands spokesman.

Yonenaka said it appears that some of the easements that were on the land in the late 1990s would have restricted its use and there were concerns about contamination.

However, Micah Kane, DHHL director, has said he would be interested in discussing the issue with the federal government again, according to Yonenaka.

“If the feds were willing to open it up again, he would be willing to discuss, negotiate the transfer,” Yonenaka said.

The U.S. General Services Administration did negotiate with the state for the property but the encumbrances required by the Marines made it unattractive to the state, said Gene Gibson, GSA spokeswoman.

“It primarily prevented whoever took the land from building any structures or doing anything that would get in the way of the Marines using the property for amphibious training and air drops,” Gibson said, adding that without the ability to develop the land the state dropped out of the negotiations.

The land remains with the Air Force and the Marines are using it for training, she said.

Sen. Clayton Hee, who has called for the return of unused military land before, said the military should return excess land including golf courses that could be leased back to the military for its use.

“If, as anticipated, the Akaka bill becomes law, the bill will mandate reconciliation. … It just makes sense that surplus military lands would be at the top of the list because then nobody else gets hurt to the extent that you’re taking away private property,” said Hee, D-23rd (Kane’ohe, Kahuku).

A draft environmental assessment and a draft Finding of No Significant Impact have been filed on the project. Copies of the drafts are available at the Waimanalo and Kailua libraries, the Hawai’i State Library and Hickam AFB Library.

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090503/NEWS08/905030378

Sex assault in military up 8 percent

April 12, 2009

Most Hawaii Army sex assaults go unreported, but military better in raising awareness of problem

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

A female sailor reported being raped aboard the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser USS Port Royal while it was docked in the United Arab Emirates. A male enlisted sailor accused of the crime was found not guilty at a court-martial.

An Air Force lieutenant colonel was accused of making wrongful sexual contact with a male staff sergeant in Afghanistan. The officer received punishment of forfeiture of $3,704 pay a month for two months, and a reprimand.

A female enlisted Marine said she was fondled by a male service member while sleeping on the floor at another Marine’s house. Civilian authorities declined to prosecute, and the accused was acquitted at court-martial.

Those are just three of the 2,923 reports of sexual assault involving U.S. service members received by the Pentagon during fiscal 2008, which ended last September.

Required by Congress, the recently released annual statistics on sexual assault in the military showed an 8 percent increase in reports over the year before – a rise officials say reflects an increase in awareness and reporting of such crimes, but not necessarily a jump in assaults themselves.

Over a five-year period, the Army has seen a general increase in the numbers of confirmed sexual assaults involving Schofield Barracks soldiers, with six in fiscal 2004, seven in 2005, 26 in 2006, nine in 2007 and 10 in 2008, according to the post.

The year 2006 was an anomaly because a change in reporting procedures and laws resulted in a much higher number, officials said.

“We believe the increased number in reporting (across the Defense Department) means service members feel more comfortable reporting the crime and are getting the care they need,” said Gail McGinn, the Pentagon’s deputy undersecretary of defense for plans.

There were 165 sexual assault reports in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama declared April as Sexual Assault Awareness month.

Pete Geren, the secretary of the Army, expressed regret over the 4 percent increase in reported Army sexual assault cases in 2008 – for a total of 1,584 – saying the trend indicates “the Army still has much work to do to succeed in creating a climate where soldiers treat each other with dignity and respect.”

most unreported

Treatment professionals say the military is doing a much better job of acknowledging, responding to and trying to prevent sex assaults within its ranks, but there is little debate that such crimes are still highly unreported.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office last August found that the Defense Department still faced some challenges in implementing sexual assault prevention and response programs, for reasons that included a failure of a minority of commanders to support the programs.

Additionally, the GAO reported that at the 14 installations where it did its survey, 103 service members said they had been sexually assaulted in the preceding 12 months, but only 51 had reported it.

The government agency found that factors that discouraged service members from reporting a sexual assault included the belief that nothing would be done, fear of ostracism, harassment or ridicule, and concern that peers would gossip.

The Army in Hawai’i acknowledged that “as it stands now, most of these crimes go unreported.” The service said that as the Army’s campaign to reduce sex assault gains more momentum, it expects that increasing reports of sexual assault will continue.

In abstracts of the reported sexual assaults across the military, alcohol use often is an accompanying factor. Military officials say an attacker often is an acquaintance.

“We look for that rapist as being the guy or gal in a black mask with a knife hiding around the corner, when in fact, for the most part, it’s somebody you know,” said Col. Dean Wolford, the 15th Airlift Wing vice commander at Hickam Air Force Base.

Wolford said the issue of sexual assault “is not centered solely on the Air Force or Army, Navy or Marines. It’s in our society in general and that’s something that we as a society need to combat.

“It’s that attitude of date rape being date-light rape. A rape is a rape. An assault is an assault, and our society has to have a better awareness of that.”

The Navy said it recorded 418 sex assault cases service-wide in fiscal 2007, and 489 in 2008.

In the majority of 188 Navy investigations completed in 2008, the suspected attackers were mostly male active-duty members under age 35, according to reports.

“A significant number” could not be prosecuted because of issues, including the attacker not being known, the victim recanting, or a victim asking that charges not be brought.

Of 42 allegations of rape or aggravated sexual assault, nine resulted in court-martial charges, nine went through non-judicial punishment, and no action was taken in 24 cases due to lack of evidence, the Navy said.

Hickam’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office said it handled 14 sexual assault cases in fiscal 2007, nine cases in 2008, and seven cases so far this fiscal year, which began in October.

Some victims may have gone to security forces or the Office of Special Investigation and are not reflected in the totals.

There are about 7,200 airmen assigned to Hickam, officials said.

Hickam cases

Both the Navy and Marines would not provide Hawai’i data for sexual assault trends, with the Marines saying the information had to be obtained through a federal Freedom of Information Act request.

Wolford, the vice wing commander, said the Hickam numbers “are very concerning. One sexual assault is concerning – much less seven (so far this fiscal year).”

But he also said he thinks the Air Force, in general, is doing a very good job in making strides to combat sexual assault crime.

“We want to make sure we don’t lose sight of this from a leadership perspective, so this is what we consider a commander’s program,” he said.

In November, Wolford attended an Air Force sexual assault prevention response summit in Washington, D.C.

Victim advocates, who can be a civilian, officer or enlisted airman, are in place at Hickam as a source of support for sex abuse victims, Wolford said.

Newly arriving airmen – and their families – receive sex assault prevention briefings.

Author and filmmaker Angela Shelton – who was herself sexually abused – appeared on base last year. Wolford said the base is bringing in “Voices of Men,” a multimedia play that deals with sexual assault and consent.

The Army said it has increased staffing in Hawai’i, with additional victim advocacy/sexual assault prevention specialists to provide training and counseling.

The Army also said its “Sex Signals” tour will be in Hawai’i from June 8 to 11, with 12 performances using improvisation, humor and audience participation to discuss dating stereotypes, consent and sexual assault.

Confidential option

In 2005, in an effort to encourage sex assault victims to come forward, the Pentagon instituted “restricted reporting,” which allows a victim to confidentially receive help without the initiation of a criminal investigation.

Adriana Ramelli, executive director of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center in Honolulu, said the stress of combat deployments can play into domestic violence and sex assault, but she, too, said it is difficult to identify the main reason for the increasing reports in the military.

“In the civilian sector as well, sometimes the numbers go up, and we don’t have any idea why,” she said. “We hope we have created a safer environment for victims to come forward.”

Ramelli said the military has done a “very good job” of enhancing its sexual assault prevention and response in the past five years.

“I still think there is still a serious problem,” she said, “but I do think that the military is taking a serious look at what is going on and is trying to implement programs that are to the benefit of victims and families.”

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090412/NEWS08/904120375/1001/LOCALNEWSFRONT

Joan Conrow on torture and military propaganda in our schools

http://kauaieclectic.blogspot.com/2009/03/musings-ugly-side.html

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Musings: The Ugly Side

Well, it’s been six years since the U.S. began its “shock and awe” campaign to destroy Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein on those bogus “weapons of mass destruction” claims.

My how time flies – except for those guys and gals who keep having their tours of duty extended, and the Iraqis still living under the American occupation.

For the American public, it’s apparently turned into one big yawn:

“This is already one of the longest wars in American history. There’s nothing new in Iraq,” said Steven Roberts, a professor of media studies at the George Washington University. “We’ve read the stories of instability in the government a hundred times. Every single possible story has been told, and so there is enormous fatigue about Iraq.”

Yes, let’s skip all that and get into the really interesting stuff, like the latest celebrity to enter rehab and Michelle Obama’s penchant for sleeveless dresses.
.
Never mind those tedious details, like the $800 billion price tag and the 4,261 Americans killed in the war – a figure that I’m not sure includes the alarming suicide rate among ground troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Oh yeah, and then there’s the Iraqi casualty count, which CNN says is “harder to ascertain because of the lack of formal record-keeping.” But it’s “reached at least 128,000,” by CNN’s tally.

And let’s just totally gloss over the torture thing.

Democracy Now! had an interview yesterday with author, journalist and professor Mark Danner, who this past weekend broke the story that two years ago the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a secret report that the Bush administration’s treatment of prisoners “constituted torture” in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

In hearing the account of what happened to Abu Zubaydah, including beatings, cold temperatures, sleep deprivation, being kept in coffin-like boxes and waterboarding administered over the course of many weeks, I couldn’t help but think about what happened not only to the prisoner, but to the men who were doing the torturing.

I mean, what kind of mind set do you have to be in to systematically mistreat someone in such horrendous ways? How do you gear yourself up to go to work when that’s your job? And how do you ever go on to live a normal life?

Yeah, all of the above is the ugliness of war, the downside that most Americans don’t see and think about – and don’t want to see and think about.

Perhaps if they did they’d find it just a little bit inappropriate to have the crew of a target boat visiting Kalahelo elementary school as part of a “career development program.”

A photograph of a kindergartener being shown a piece of military equipment accompanies the story, in which Principal Erik Burkman chirps:

“It’s all about showing the students what kinds of opportunities are available to them once they leave school.”

OK, that’s fine, but while you’re also showing kids the war mongers dressed in their “smart black headwear, khaki-colored shirt and smartly pressed black slacks with black socks and black shoes,” how about showing them some of the amputees, or the guys who will never leave the VA hospital because of head injuries or the homeless vets living in the street or the ones whose lives are forever screwed up because they’ve got PTSD?

How about showing them photos of the kids just like them who are blown up and maimed and orphaned by American soldiers, sailors, Marines and suicide bombers fighting the occupation of their nation? How about showing them what happens to real people when the joy stick they’re operating isn’t controlling a video game, but a Predator drone?

But that kind of education might distress and depress the poor keiki, and perhaps even require parental permission. Far better to fill their heads with propaganda and nonsense to prime them at an early age to fight the next imperialistic war.

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www.kauaiworld.com
Thursday, March 19, 2009

Navy visit to Kalaheo School offers students another career choice

By Dennis Fujimoto – The Garden Island
KALAHEO – The new look of the United States Navy arrived with the crew of a target boat Wednesday morning on the Kalaheo School campus.

Lt. Michael Prince, whom many of the school students knew as “Coach Mike,” brought along a crew from the Navy’s Seaborne Target Division that operates out of the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Mana. That division is more commonly known as SEPTAR with its larger boats moored at the Port Allen harbor.

“This was a special visit,” said Erik Burkman, Kalaheo School’s principal. “It comes on the heels of our career development program that was changed from previous years.”

Burkman said instead of having community professionals visit the school, the classes instead visited places where people worked.

“It’s all about showing the students what kinds of opportunities are available to them once they leave school,” Burkman said.

The Navy’s target crew – Francisco Herndon, Alfonso Gomez and Randy Belknap – operate under Prince and were dressed in the Navy’s new uniform of a smart black headwear, khaki-colored shirt and smartly pressed black slacks with black socks and black shoes.

“I’m in white because people associate white with the Navy, but the new uniforms are a lot more ‘user-friendly,'” Prince said. “They’re smart looking and make the people look good.”

Along with the new uniforms, the crew hauled in one of the latest classes of target boats, the OA class, for the students to see.

“This is to show the students just one more opportunity they have available to them, but also how the remote system on one of these target boats work,” Prince said. “We’ve been to other schools for Career Development, but this is the first time we are visiting Kalaheo School.”

Herndon took the reins and welcomed the students, showing them how the target boat is operated using a laptop computer and a joystick resembling those found in gaming systems on home computers.

“The boat is remotely operated when it pulls a target,” Prince said. “In actuality, all the boats are targets. Eventually, they’ll be expended.”

Prince said the new boats are different from the older models in its keel where the newer boats use a four-foot cut with the result being the newer boats being able to negotiate swells better, comparing the target boats against the United States Coast Guard’s rigid-hull craft.

Students reveled in the ability to move the boat’s steering system using the joystick control, doing radio checks with Gomez answering on their inquiries and even getting a close up look at some of the gear used by the Navy personnel.

“Normally, we operate out of PMRF and launch out of the Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor,” Prince said. “But recently, the harbor has been undergoing a facelift so we sometimes launch out of Port Allen.

For the crew, it was a nice change of pace, especially for Belknap who recently moved here from Oklahoma.

But for the students, the most thrilling part was being able to sound the boat’s horn using the special tab located atop the joystick.

Support the Military Environmental Responsibility Act

This appeal came from Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger, a member of the Military Toxics Project. A similar bill was initially introduced 10 years ago, but the hostile climate during the Bush Administration made prospects for its passage dim.   It attempts to hold the military accountable to the same environmental laws everyone else must abide by.

===

Dear colleagues and friends,

I’m writing to let you know that Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA) has again introduced the Military Environmental Responsibility Act which will require
DOD and DOE to comply with federal and state laws intended to protect human
health and the environment.

We are circulating the following letter of support for co-signature and hope that your organization will be able to sign-on.

Please reply soon because the deadline is March 20.

Also, the bill needs co-sponsors so please contact your Congressperson and ask them to be a co-sponsor to H.R. 672.

Thank you!

Laura

March 20, 2009 (deadline)

Organizational Sign-on Letter to Support the Military Environmental Responsibility Act

For generations, unregulated military projects have placed countless communities, workers, soldiers, and families at increased risk for cancer and other deadly disease from exposure to military toxins – the hidden casualties here at home. Even as we write this letter, contamination caused by munitions production, testing, and disposal is poisoning our drinking water wells, contaminating the air we breathe, destroying our lakes, rivers,and fisheries, and polluting our soils and farmlands.

We are united in seeking to protect those most vulnerable from these harmful exposures especially the unborn, babies, youth, elders, disenfranchised communities of race, Indigenous Tribal Nations and peoples, economically disadvantaged communities, military personnel, civilian workers, military garment workers, and families living in the vicinity of military operations and installations throughout the nation.

In seeking to right these Injustices, we are joining together to support the Military Environmental Responsibility Act, H.R. 672, which will assure that the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and defense-related agencies are subject to all federal and state laws which are established to protect human health, the environment, cultural resources, workers, and public safety and will remove military exemptions from the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered
Species Act, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, CERCLA, the Oil Pollution Act, and many other important laws designed to protect human health and the environment.

TO ADD YOUR ORGANIZATION TO THIS LETTER, CONTACT:

Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
E12629 Weigand’s Bay South
Merrimac, WI 53561
(608) 643-3124
Email: info@cswab.org

DEADLINE FOR CO-SIGNATURE: Friday, March 20, 2009

ORGANIZATIONAL CO-SIGNATORS SO FAR:

Laura Olah, Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

Mable Mallard, Philadelphia Right To Know Committee

J. Gilbert Sanchez, Tribal Environmental Watch Alliance

Doris Bradshaw, Defense Depot Memphis Tennessee Concerned Citizens Committee

Sparky Rodrigues, Malama Makua

Evelyn Yates, Pine Bluff for Safe Disposal

Robert Alvarado, SWU-Committee for Environmental Justice Action

Wilbur Slockish, Columbia River Education and Economic Development

Jerry Viste, Door County Environmental Council

Craig Williams, Chemical Weapons Working Group

Judy Miner, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice

Al Gedicks, Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

Tim Lopez, Voluntary Cleanup Advisory Board

Elizabeth Crowe, Kentucky Environmental Foundation

Dvija Michael Bertish, Rosemere Neighborhood Association

Stephen M. Brittle, Don’t Waste Arizona

Jeff Ruch, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

Marcia Halligan, Kickapoo Peace Circle

Don Timmerman and Roberta Thurstin Timmerman, Christian Mission of Park
Falls WI

Pamela K. Miller and Vi Waghiyi, Alaska Community Action on Toxics

Wanda Hudak, Western Broome Environmental Stakeholders Coalition

Alan Muller, Green Delaware

Kathy Wan Povi Sanchez, Tewa Women United

Ben Manski, Liberty Tree

Joseph A.Gardella, Jr., Ph.D., Lake Ontario Ordnance Works Restoration
Advisory Board Steering Committee

Joseph A.Gardella, Jr., Ph.D., Buffalo Environmental Management Commission

Jill Johnston, Southwest Workers Union

Greg Wingard, Waste Action Project

Terri Swearingen, Tri-State Environmental Council

Sheri Kotowski, Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group

Jeanne Green, Code Pink Taos

Jane Harris, Oregon Center for Environmental Health

Janet Greenwald, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping

Barb Miller, Silver Valley Community Resource Center

Jan Conley, Lake Superior Greens

Marylia Kelley,Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
(Tri-Valley CAREs)

Joan Brown, Partnership for Earth Spirituality

Debra Hall, Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water

LeVonne Stone, Fort Ord Environmental Justice Network

Amanda Evans, Victims of TCE Exposure

David B. McCoy, Citizen Action New Mexico

Kent Slowinski. Environmental Health Group (former member, Spring Valley
Restoration Advisory Board)

Monica Wilson, GAIA: Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives/ Global
Anti-Incinerator Alliance

James Little, Western Broome Environmental Stakeholder Coalition

Margaret Griffith, Treys House San Antonio

Nadina Riggsbee, Drowning Prevention Foundation

Susan Gordon, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Betty Mekdeci, Birth Defect Research for Children

Stacey Fritz, No Nukes North

Judith Mohling, Colorado Coalition for Prevention of Nuclear War

Jim West, Citizens Research and Environmental Watch

Leeona Klippstein, Spirit of the Sage Council

Jesse N. Marquez, Coalition For A Safe Environment

Gwen Marshall, Protect Biodiversity in Public Forests

Judith Mohling, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center

Tyson Miller, Green Press Initiative

Teresa Mills. Buckeye Environmental Network

James Travers, Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena Against Pollution (SCRAP)

Julia “Judy” Bonds, Coal River Mountain Watch

Steven B. Pollack, Blue Eco Legal Council

John Blair, Valley Watch, Inc.

Carol Dwyer, Grassroots Actions for Peace, Concord MA

Connie Hanson, Christians Caring for Creation

Aileen Suzara and Lizelle Festejo, Filipino/American Coalition for
Environmental Solidarity (FACES)

INDIVIDUAL CO-SIGNATORS:

Brainard Bivens, Arkansas

Carol Dwyer, Massachusetts

Bob Kinsey, Colorado

David Dow, Massachusetts

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

CALL your U.S. Congressperson and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 672, the
Military Environmental Responsibility Act.

TO READ H.R. 672, GO TO: <http://thomas.loc.gov/> http://thomas.loc.gov/

-END-

Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
E12629 Weigand’s Bay South
Merrimac, WI 53561
(608)643-3124
Email: info@cswab.org
Website: www.cswab.org

UH makes moves to seize control of Mauna Kea

The University of Hawai’i (UH) is responsible for the illegal, haphazard and destructive overdevelopment of Mauna Kea, one of the most sacred sites for Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians).  But UH has always been the tenant of the mountain, which gave some degree of independent oversight by a separate state agency.  Kanaka Maoli have successfully fought off the massive expansion of Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea (which violated the management plan).  But UH now wants to build the largest telescope in the world – the Thirty Meter Telescope – on Mauna Kea and the Air Force wants to build the PanSTARRS telescope there.   So UH is pushing for legislation and approval of a management plan that turns the authority for Mauna Kea over to UH itself – the  proverbial fox guarding the hen house.  Time to stop the desecration! See the following article from the Hawai’i Independent about the current state of the struggle over Mauna Kea.

King of the mountain?

Posted March 18th, 2009 in Hawaii Island by Alan McNarie

It’s become a familiar pattern in recent years: a developer gets the go-ahead for a project from various state and/or county agencies. Then the developer and the government agencies get sued by citizens’ groups for not following the state’s own laws. The courts side with the activists. Then, instead of complying with the court ruling, the developer asks the state Legislature to change the law it broke.

It happened with Hokulia. It happened with the Hawaii Superferry. And now, according to some environmentalists and native Hawaiians, it’s happening again-only this time, the developer is the University of Hawaii, and the property in question is the top of Mauna Kea.

For decades, the university has been paying the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources a dollar a year for the mountaintop, then subleasing sites there to various institutions that erect huge telescopes. The telescope consortiums pay the university a dollar plus telescope viewing time for UH Institute for Astronomy’s professors and students. For decades, activists have been complaining that the university has been damaging the mountain’s environment. They complained that the university’s own development plan had called for no more than 13 scopes on the mountain-yet that number had already been exceeded and the university was still considering applications for even more and bigger facilities. Native Hawaiians argued that the big scopes were desecrating their sacred mountain, damaging ancient cultural sites and interfering with their religious and cultural practices. Environmentalists noted that telescope construction had destroyed much of the native habitat for the wekiu bug, an endangered insect that lives only in the cindery upper regions of Mauna Kea.

The activists point to a federal environmental impact statement that found “cumulative and significant adverse impacts generated by the astronomical activities on the summit,” in violation of the state’s mandates for management of a conservation district. They note that the dollar-a-year leases violated Hawai`i Revised Statutes 171-18, which requires the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to collect “fair market value” rents from lessees of state lands.

The campaigners won a significant victory in August of 2002, when Circut Court Judge Glenn Hara ruled that the university and the BLNR could not approve any new telescope development until the BLNR had developed a truly comprehensive land-management plan for the Mauna Kea summit area. The BLNR recently dropped its appeal of that case, but the activists’ motion for court costs is still under consideration. Meanwhile, in response to that case, a draft Comprehensive Management Plan came out last month-but it was written under the aegis of the university’s Office of Mauna Kea Management (OMKM), not the BLNR. The draft plan is currently available for review online at www.maunakeacmp.org. According to OMKM Director Stephanie Nagata, the BLNR may vote on the plan in April.

Even before the plan is approved, the university is pushing bills in the Legislature to give the OMKM the power to enforce the plan’s provisions. House Bill 1174 and Senate Bill 502 would grant agents of the university’s Mauna Kea Management Board and OMKM the right to make and enforce regulations governing visitors to the mountain, to restrict visitor access to daylight hours, to charge fees and levy fines on those visitors, and to keep the proceeds from those fees and fines in a special fund for managing the lands on the mountain top.

OMKM and its supporters claim that the bills and the management plan are simply giving the activists and the public what they’ve been asking for: better protection for Mauna Kea and its resources. But the bills’ opponents see it as a power grab by the university.

“The university and its attorney, Lisa Munger [also attorney for the Hawaii Superferry Inc.], recognize that they are unlikely to prevail on an appeal of the current laws protecting Mauna Kea. Thus, they are seeking to drastically change those laws to better favor their interests,” read a joint letter of testimony signed by plaintiffs in the court case.

“The Board of Land and Natural Resources and their staff should by law be writing that management plan-not the Board of Regents and not [UH-Hilo Chancellor] Rose Tseng,” believes Nelson Ho, who signed the letter for the Sierra Club. Ho says that if the bills pass as written, the groups will be back in court to challenge them.

“I do know that the Sierra Club has this position that the DLNR is abrogating their responsibility,” responds OMKM’s Nagata. But she maintains, “They’re not, for the very reason that they’re doing their own independent review and they’re approving the plan.”

Dodging Issues

Ho claims that the draft plan is “seriously flawed.”

“It repeats several lies again and again, in the hope that the Legislature and the BLNR see that as the truth,” he maintains. One of those “lies,” he says, is “that the industrial activities of international astronomy are not the problem on Mauna Kea. The problem is unrestricted access of people who bring up their plate lunches and leave their hamburger wrappers as debris.”
Nagata, not surprisingly, disagrees.

“I think he’s quite misguided in his interpretation of the management plan,” she says. “The major focus of the plan is a recognition particularly of the cultural significance, as well as the environmental significance of the mountain, and the plan is to provide us with guidelines for how to protect the cultural and natural resources from all kinds of uses and activities, including construction….”

The truth lies somewhere between their viewpoints. The plan does, in fact, address impacts from both observatory construction and from visitors. It requires an environmental monitor and an archeologist to be present at any future construction, for instance, with the power to halt construction if they see the need. It recommends that all visitors, telescope personnel and construction workers undergo an orientation session so that they will be more culturally and environmentally aware. It suggests a wash station to remove foreign seeds and insects from vehicles traveling up the mountain.

But the plan also deliberately avoids many of the issues that are among the sorest points for the community. Among the issues that it claims are “beyond the scope of this CMP”:
• Termination of the state lease between the university and the BLNR
• Use of ceded lands for $1 a year or nominal consideration
• Subleases between the university and the observatories
• Extension of the state lease beyond 2033
• Decommissioning [of obsolete telescopes]
• Proposed new development on Mauna Kea, including the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and Pan Starrs
• Community benefit package with increased educational benefits
• Guaranteed employment opportunities for native Hawaiians and the people on the Island of Hawai‘i”

While the plan lists guidelines and recommendations for future construction, it leaves the question of whether more telescopes should be built to the university’s Board of Regents, with the guidance of a “2000 Master Plan” that was never approved by the BLNR.

Native Hawaiian Concerns

Among the thorniest issues on the mountain is the relationship between the university and native Hawaiians. The CMP devotes pages to the essential role that Mauna Kea plays in native Hawaiian beliefs and practices, and claims to model its recommendations on those beliefs and to consult native families with ties to the mountain. But the plan and the Legislative bills also call for university agents to have the power to regulate Hawaiian activities on Mauna Kea.

It became clear that the community had a number of issues and concerns related to past and future activities on Mauna Kea and specifically within the UH Management Areas that were beyond the scope of this CMP. These issues and concerns are cited below and policy makers are urged to consider them in their broader decision making related to Mauna Kea.

The plan calls for free access for native Hawaiian cultural uses, “except where safety, resource management, cultural appropriateness, and legal compliance considerations may require reasonable restrictions.” But it also calls for several restrictions on those practices. Hawaiians couldn’t be on the mountaintop after dark, for instance, without a special permit; they could only scatter the ashes of their dead with a special use permit. The MKMB and its Hawaiian advisory groups would have the authority to dismantle any ahu (stone cairns) or altars that it deems culturally inappropriate.

That last provision may strike an especially raw nerve with Kealoha Pisciotta, a native Hawaiian practitioner and former telescope technician who has become one of the university’s most adamant critics. Pisciotta once constructed an ahu on the mountain that contained a family pohaku (sacred stone). It was dismantled and the pohaku was hauled to the Hilo landfill.
Pisciotta see a multitude of problems with the university’s appointed officials defining and controlling Hawaiian practices.

“Now the university is determining not only when and how the ceremonies can be conducted, but who can be there…,” she notes. “I can get a permit to practice, but I can’t bring my mom or my sister or anybody else.”

Pisciotta says over a thousand opponents of the university’s plan have already sent their testimony to the legislature.

The authors of the CMP are very aware that the university has a public relations problem. The document begins by acknowledging that the “lack of cultural sensitivity engendered anger, hurt, and distrust towards the University of Hawai‘i for not being a good steward of Mauna Kea.” But the basic message seems to be, “We get it now.” The university is casting itself, through the CMP and the OMKM, as the solution.

“My interpretation of their [CMP opponents’] actions is that they prefer not to have the resources protected,” Nagata told the Independent.

But opponents obviously see it differently. For them, the bottom line is that the university continues to get free viewing time, the telescope consortiums continue to pay their one dollar rents, and if the mountain is going to be protected, all the other users will need to pay for it through fees and fines that the university gets to impose and spend. They see a “comprehensive management plan” that sidesteps some of the basic issues of planning, such as determining how many telescopes the mountain can support.

And no matter how good the plan is, many of its opponents just don’t trust the university, with its long record of ignoring its own recommendations, to police itself, much less the mountain’s other users.

“The CMP is not comprehensive. Even if it were a plan…the problem here is that they’re going to set a negative precedent with this bill by privatizing public land, putting it into the exclusive control of the developers,” believes Pisciotta.

Ho admits that if a body like OMKM were under the DLNR, it might meet some of his objections, at least “hypothetically.”

“But I would want to see the specific charges of that body, because, in fact the Board of Land and Natural Resources is that body, and they should be overseeing the writing of that plan,” he adds.
There is much in the CMP for its opponents to like. It does establish some guidelines for better supervision of telescope construction. It does endorse Hawaiian values in managing the mountain, and gives some Hawaiians a say in its management-if only Hawaiians appointed by the university. It does set up a framework for protecting Hawaiian cultural sites and the island’s wild denizens. But all of that may come to naught, because the plan doesn’t seriously address perhaps the biggest question of all: Should the University be king of the mountain?

Alan McNarie is a Hawai‘i-based journalist.

Source: http://www.thehawaiiindependent.com/hawaii/hawaii-island/2009/03/18/king-of-the-mountain/

Statement by National Campaign for Eradication of Crime by U.S.Troops in Korea on Osan Stabbing

Statement 11 March 2009

The US soldier in Korea suspected for attempted murder must be in custody by Korean Police in Pyeongtaek

At dawn on Friday, 6th of March 2009, a US soldier in Korea stabbed a Filipino woman 18 times almost causing her to death.

According to the press, the US soldier from Camp Humphrey, Pyeontaek attacked the woman with a knife at the club street near Osan air base, who was on her way home. He also caused damages to two Korean men who rushed to her aid after hearing her screams. The Korean police arrested the U.S soldier at the scene but after checking his identification they handed him over to the U.S military police.

On Thursday, 12th of March 2009 after 6 days of the incident the Pyeongtaek Police will investigate the U.S soldier answer the summons. This is the first investigation of the incident. On the day of the attack the U.S soldier also hurt his finger through scuffle with the men who were trying to stop him. Hence, the explanation for late investigation was because the U.S soldier had to go under treatment. However setting up the investigation 6 days later is over the boundaries of humanitarian concern. Generally Korean polices investigate in 48 hours when they arrest the criminal in the very act. The reason why initial investigation must be done in 48 hours after arresting the suspect is to prevent destruction of evidence and fabricating testimony. 6 days have passed since the incident meaning that the Korean police have opened possibilities of damaging the evidence and fabricating statement.

Humanitarian concern is only applied to the U.S soldier.

The initial investigation was delayed to give treatment to the U.S soldier. The authority of U.S. forces in Pyeongtaek paid for his treatment fee which was around 1,900,000 won and checked him out of the hospital. Then what kind of humanitarian concern is given to the woman? The woman was repeatedly stabbed and had serious internal wounds. She was in critical condition and luckily after the surgery she has been stabilized. However, now she is faced with medical bills amounting to 5,000,000won and more for her further treatment.

The commander of Army’s 2nd Infantry Division where the U.S soldier belongs issued a news release saying “We regret this incident took place and our sympathies are with the victims involved.” “We will work closely with the Korean authorities to investigate this matter and bring the perpetrator to justice.” However there was no apology to the woman and any mentioning of taking care of the victims treatment.

Pyeongtaek Police must request arrest warrant for the U.S Soldier.

If this kind of incident happened between Koreans or any other foreigners living in Korea they would be properly arrested without question. Korea has jurisdiction over this case so following right procedures the U.S soldier must be arrested and sentenced in the Korean court. The U.S must comply with Korean authorities and hand over the U.S soldier. They should also pay the entire cost for the woman’s treatment.

Recently, the Korean police and prosecutor’s office have been stressing for stricter laws to be applied to illegality and violence. We will be watching closely to see if these tough measures are applied to this case involving a U.S soldier.

– National Campaign for Eradication of Crime by U.S.Troops in Korea –

Thousands march to protest U.S. Occupation of Hawai’i and the Sale of Stolen Land

On the 116th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, thousands of Kanaka Maoli and allies marched through Waikiki and held a rally to protest the continuing U.S. occupation and to resist the state’s attempts to sell the stolen Crown and Government lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom.  From From Top to Bottom: Top: Hawaiian independence was an overriding demand.  Second: Blowing the pu to begin the march. Third:  Many threw their rubber slippers at the giant puppet of Gov. Lingle in homage to the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Fourth and fifth: The DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina delegation. Photos by Kehau Watson.

There were also protests in Hilo and Kaua’i. 

Here’s an article from the Honolulu Star Bulletin about the march in Waikiki:

www.starbulletin.com

Thousands march through Waikiki over ceded lands dispute

Organizers estimated the crowd at 10,000 people

By Gene Park

POSTED: 03:09 p.m. HST, Jan 17, 2009

Thousands of native Hawaiians and residents marched through Waikiki today against the state government’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a ruling that bars the sale or transfer of ceded lands.

The march coincided with the Jan. 17, 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and ceremonies marking the anniversary.

Police closed down Kalakaua Ave. for the protest march.

The state Supreme Court last January ruled last January that the state may not sell or exchange ceded lands until outstandng Hawaiian claims are addressed. Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is due to hear the arguments Feb. 25.

Earlier this week, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs proposed land swaps to settle a dispute over income from former Hawaiian kingdom lands. But the proposed land swap will not address future claims.

OHA and state lawmakers are also working on legislation to block the state from selling or exchanging ceded lands until the native Hawaiian claims are resolved.

Thousands of native Hawaiians and residents marched through Waikiki today against the state government’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a ruling that bars the sale or transfer of ceded lands.

The march coincided with the Jan. 17, 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and ceremonies marking the anniversary.

Police closed down Kalakaua Ave. for the protest march.

The state Supreme Court last January ruled last January that the state may not sell or exchange ceded lands until outstandng Hawaiian claims are addressed. Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is due to hear the arguments Feb. 25.

Earlier this week, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs proposed land swaps to settle a dispute over income from former Hawaiian kingdom lands. But the proposed land swap will not address future claims.

OHA and state lawmakers are also working on legislation to block the state from selling or exchanging ceded lands until the native Hawaiian claims are resolved.