America’s Hidden Duopoly

Check out this interesting podcast from Freakonomics on “America’s Hidden Duopoly.”

We all know our political system is “broken” — but what if that’s not true? Some say the Republicans and Democrats constitute a wildly successful industry that has colluded to kill off competition, stifle reform, and drive the country apart. So what are you going to do about it?

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/politics-industry/

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Speech in NYC in 1962

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech in New York City to “commemorate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was recently discovered . In a measured but passionate tone, Dr. King reviewed the history of human rights in America, noting that the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation had fallen far short of achieving equality for all of its citizens.” 

Civil Rights Discussion – January 19th

MAUI PEACE ACTION free public program: 

MPA co-hosts the ACLU of Hawai‘i for a civil rights discussion Thursday, January 19, 2017, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., UH Maui College, Ka Lama 103.

Topics to be discussed are: Safeguarding Civil Rights in a Trump Administration, Community Control of Police Surveillance, and Ending Mass Incarceration in Hawaii.  Coming to Maui to speak on these issues are ACLU-HI’s Legal Director Mateo Caballero;  Legislative Coordinator Mandy Finlay, and Deputy Director Kit Grant.

The program is free to the public and is sponsored by the ACLU of Hawai‘i, the UHMC Human Services Department, and Maui Peace Action. Light refreshments, ADA-accessible. Walk-ins welcome. RSVPs help us plan: [email protected],

The American Occupation of Hawai’i: Genocide through Denationalization with Dr. Keanu Sai

The following event will be taking place this Thursday, Nov. 3rd at 6:30 pm in Kalama #103.  I encourage all of you to attend this event.  Extra credit points will be given to those students that choose to write a one-page paper highlighting the main points of the talk and connecting it to a topic we have covered in class.

keanu-sai

Darkness Over Hawai’i: The Annexation Myth Is the Greatest Obstacle to Progress

The following is an article written by Williamson Chang, Professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. I have included the Abstract here to give you a background of the article. Click on the link at the bottom of the page to read the entire article.

To: Delegates to the Hawaiian Convention to Establish a Governing Entity 

Before moving ahead, Native Hawaiians must study and learn about the various forms of government throughout the world. Others around us know little about our real history.  We, too, may not know our full history. We must gather more knowledge before making the momentous decisions which are ostensible objectives of this convention. Justice Scalia, an extremely educated and esteemed constitutional scholar is an example of how little the world knows about the history of Hawai’i.

Recent remarks by Justice Scalia reveal the extent and consequences of the campaign of deception asserting that Hawai’i was acquired by a joint resolution. This claim is not only false. It is impossible. The inability of the Joint Resolution to acquire the territory of the sovereign nation of Hawai’i was emphatically pointed out during the Senate debate on the Joint Resolution in the summer of 1898.

Justice Scalia is not the only one deceived. The Hawai’i Supreme Court, in a 2013 ruling on the effects of annexation, blithely ignored the most basic of all state laws–those describing the boundaries of Hawai’i. Truth-telling through re-education of Native Hawaiians–and the rest of the world–is just the beginning. One must not underestimate the tremendous need for knowledge that must precede such an enormous task as nation-building.

Whether one supports restoration of the Kingdom or Tribal recognition, what Hawaiians need now is more scholarship about the world–particularly as to the world of newly emerging sovereign states and the history of decolonization. We should not let the current United States administration in Washington push us into tribal status. The path we take must be fully informed. Native Hawaiians must fully comprehend all the advantages and disadvantages of Federal Recognition as a Tribe.

Darkness Over Hawaii: The Annexation Myth Is the Greatest Obstacle to Progress

Dakota Access Blackout Continues on ABC, NBC News

This article from Fair.org is a good example of the media bias in the United States. This is an important story that connects to Hawai’i with the announcement by the Department of the Interior “final rule” that “aims to re-establish a government-to-government relationship with ‘the Native Hawaiian community’.”  Read this story in Civil Beat if you would like to learn more.  

I found this paragraph on the Dakota Access Pipeline “Quick Facts About Dakota Access Pipeline” and thought it was interesting considering the approach they have taken.

“Protecting landowner interests and the local environment is a top priority of the Dakota Access Pipeline project. As an operating principle, Dakota Access Pipeline is committed to working with individual landowners to make accommodations, minimize disruptions, and achieve full restoration of impacted land. We will listen to and address questions from the community, landowners and other interested stakeholders about the project, proposed routes, landowner communications and more. It is our intent to live up to our promises of openness, honesty and responsiveness before, during and after construction and throughout operations.”