On Monday, March 29, I – along with over a hundred children, teens, and adults – was disappointed by the actions of State Senator J. Kalani English. English, Chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs, discouraged a score of individuals (mostly minors) from presenting oral testimony in support of Senate Concurrent Resolution Number 74 and Senate Resolution 30, citing “a lack of time.”
SCR 74 and SR 30 are identical measures that would support the right of parents to rear their children. I – and many of my friends – arrived at the Capitol early for the 1:20 PM hearing, dressed in suits and ties, prepared to testify on an issue that is extremely important to us. We waited our turn in a packed room, only to be told to stand on our written testimony. Had we wanted to stand on our written testimony, we would not have taken time out of our busy schedules to show up.
The irony of it all was that while there was “not enough time” for teens to make their voices heard – some of whom were participating at their legislature for the first time – Senator English capped off the hearing by telling us, “I hope this has been a good civics lesson for everyone.” Indeed, a lesson that teaches us: Our voices are not welcomed by some lawmakers.

One of the major avenues that will lead to economic recovery is job creation. Any measure that will discourage employers from hiring or worse, produce layoffs, is bad policy. An article in The Honolulu Advertiser had this to say about a particularly hostile, entrepreneurial environment, “…Unemployment insurance taxes paid by Hawai'i businesses remain the highest in the nation, costing the average business about $630 a year per employee… The tax will rocket up to $1,500 per average worker in two years.” It is clear that the unemployment insurance tax is harming economic growth. Say a small business employs ten people. This tax would cost that business $6,300 per year. Absent legislative action, that same business will be paying $15,000 annually in two years.
During a time when government should strive to create incentives to grow businesses, this tax hike will extremely retard economic recovery. If the Legislature is indeed trying to help the state get out of recession, allowing the unemployment insurance tax to soar is not the right direction to head. Instead, cutting this tax would be a good place to start.

During the past few days, Councilman Rod Tam has been in some hot water for allegedly using city resources for non-city purposes. An article addressing this issue in the Honolulu Advertiser said “The [City Ethics] commission issued an advisory opinion Wednesday stating Tam violated the city's standard of conduct by overcharging for some meals while conducting city business, falsified justifications for some meals, and got reimbursed for meals with personal business associates or family members.”
In his defense, Tam told the commission’s staff that he is fond of conducting business over a meal because “having a meal will calm a stressful situation” and that it is Chinese culture to converse over a meal opposed to in an office. The Councilman also referred to the lack of parking space at city hall and “allergens in the building that cause him sinus problems.” Come on Councilman Tam, who is really going to buy this? To top it off, Tam insists he did not rip off taxpayers, but said that he will concede to paying $13,700 in reimbursements and fines.
Councilman, truth needs no justification, so if you are indeed being honest there is no reason for you to make excuses or pay $13,700 if you have done nothing wrong.

Human trafficking is an abominable crime that is predominant in South East Asia. This vile business is the sale or enslavement of human beings for labor, pornography, and prostitution.  According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), human trafficking involves 4 to 27 million people across the globe and is more profitable than illegal drugs, the underground arms trade, and black-market knock-offs, earning $32 billion a year for traffickers.  Many of the victims of this heinous crime are minors in the child sex slavery industry.
In 2006 my family went on a mission trip to Thailand where we worked with the Zoe International children’s home (www.gozoe.org). Thailand is a haven for human trafficking because laws banning this crime are weakly enforced. The Zoe missionaries look for abandoned or orphaned youth who are targeted by traffickers and then try to rescue the children before they are taken. Zoe provides a home, education, and food for the kids but most of all love and compassion. Although they are by no means rich, the children never ceased to have a smile on their faces. Our trip to Thailand was truly a humbling experience: we saw the poorest of the poor and how they were filled with joy and content with the little that they had.

http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/materials/Human-Trafficking-Statistics.pdf

In America many state governments are required to balance their budgets. This means budget deficits will be restored either by raising taxes, cutting services, or a mix of the two.
On February 21 an article from the Associated Press said “There seemed to be unanimous agreement [at the annual National Governors Association meeting] that job creation is the key to recovery in states. ‘Our folks want to get back to work,’ said Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J. Added Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md.: ‘It's the only way that we're going to get out of this recession.’”
With national unemployment at 9.7% in January, the logical questions become: Who creates employment? and How do they do it? The answer to the first question is: the upper class; the answer to the second question is: by investing extra money that they (the upper class) have into the economy.
Since it’s not a hamburger flipping teenager working at McDonald’s creating jobs, but rather the wealthy, raising taxes on the rich is not the solution to filling the budget gap in the State of Hawaii. The more money the government takes out of the upper class’ pockets, the less money they will have to invest into our economy.