I grew up regarding the New York Times as the “paper of record,” so it surprised me both as it slid into the sewer and as I discovered that, if it was covering a story I actually knew anything about, it was frequently, well, shall we say, “less than accurate.” The latest: a story by [...]

In Hilo, we are not camping (yet) but we have been holding sign wavings, rallies and other protests for well over 2 months now to raise awareness on a lot of issues. We have been meeting formally and holding General Assemblies for 7 weeks to pool our ideas and energies into direct actions. We are a small but determined and passionate bunch.

Huge earthquake in Japan…and tsunamis.

Observers would be justified in thinking that Hawaiians have already decided the issue. Eight years ago, before Lingle was elected to her first term, she promised to sign a civil unions bill. She hemmed and hawed until the very last minute with this legislation, however, and ultimately went back on that promise. Her comment that the bill constituted “same sex marriage with a different name” is pretty much the point. Polling has shown the public more comfortable with the phrase civil unions than marriage, which connotes certain traditional tropes about family.

Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s incumbent-retention program, has pinpointed the nine most vulnerable GOP House members up for re-election and wants supporters to focus only on them. All represent districts that carried President Obama in 2008. Here’s a look at the endangered nine.

Democratic moderate Congressional candidate Ed Case showed he couldn’t act against the interests of Hawaii Democrats. His positions against working families in Hawaii made him unelectable to his base, and Sen. Daniel Inouye made sure Case wouldn’t get away with it by withholding his support. The DCCC’s surrender of this special election turned out to be the best option for all involved.

Republican candidate Charles Djou won the HI-01 special election with 39.5% of the vote because two Democrats, Colleen Hanabusa with 30.8% and Ed Case with 27.6%, split the Democratic vote almost down the middle. This is a great example of how the design of our election laws can greatly affect our government; a poorly-designed electoral system like Hawaii’s can result in winners that don’t best represent the will of the electorate.

Last night’s loss to Republican Charles Djou breaks a long string of Democratic wins in special elections, and does flip a seat to the Republicans, at least temporarily. But Rep. Djou would basically have to switch parties in order to win in November.

A brief look at what’s happening in the news on the morning of May 13th, 2010.

The DCCC’s efforts to meddle in a race that Hanabusa was clearly winning is unique. Obama has historically taken a strong hand to urge challengers out of primary races against Democrats. He personally called Steve Israel and asked him not to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for the New York Senate seat, and also helped in the effort to “clear the field” for Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania when Joe Sestak was asked to drop his primary challenge. So it’s extremely odd that he’s not intervening in the Hanbusa-Case matter to urge Case out, especially since Case’s entry into a three way race certainly risks throwing the seat to the Republican.