One of the biggest, yet one of the less controversial questions of Hawaii politics this year.

The tag: "Relating to the Board of Education." A very unappealing line, concealing an amendment that would, in a nutshell, change the BOE from being elected to being appointed by the Governor, whoever said Governor may be.

*COUGHDUKEAIONACOUGH*

This amendment will be on the November 2nd ballot, among the infamous elections.

My view? At first, I was leaning towards the status quo. After all, the people need a voice in electing our education representatives, right?

However, here's the problem: the people do not and have not used their voice in the slightest. Out of the already-lower-than-%50 of Hawaii's population actually voting, less than %50 of THAT actually voted for BOE members. That's less than (less than, less than, less than) %25 of Hawaii's population using their voice in the Board of Education Elections.

Out of the 6 finalists for the Board of Education from the Primary Election, 3 will emerge victorious.

Assuming that the votes are distributed across all 6 candidates, EVEN LESS than the %25 who vote for the BOE will choose the reps for the next few years. That's democracy for ya.

Really, what type of accountability does the BOE have now? A few people coming to their meetings and ranting on issues like furloughs and air conditioning?

Now, on to an APPOINTED school board. Now, I'm leaning towards this, simply because of the ensured competency of the representatives, and the direct accountability of the board to the Governor.

Ideally, the Statewide Board of Education should just be completely abolished and replaced by specialized local-level boards.

Only the Worldview Academy Southern California 2010 attendees would understand that title. And boy, is it a LEGIT inside joke.

Anyways, I had an absolute BLAST at Worldview Academy this year. Because I attended the Seattle WVA last year, I had an inkling of what to expect this year. However, because all of my buddies from Washington stayed in Washington, I didn't think that I would know too much people. That was really my only negative thought prior to camp.

Boy, was that thought erased quickly.

After I checked-in at camp, my first actions was to check the names of the male attendees, posted on the front door of our dorm building. There, I saw the name "TJ Metcalf," one of my good friends from Hawaii.

*Insert cheering and whooping here*

Not to say that I was bored of Ricky and Lucas, (Both Hawaii buds) the latter of whom I had traveled to the LAX with, and the former of whom we stayed with for a couple of hours after getting off the plane.

Far from it; I was just wondering if there was anyone else that I knew. I did NOT expect TJ to be there, so it was an extremely pleasant surprise.

Halley and Christa, two friends who lived in Hawaii, attended as well. They, however, don't count. They're girls. I won't see them 3/4ths of the camp. No sexism intended.

Ummm......

*Run away and hide until the "hell-hath-no-fury" passes.*

So, after checking out our dorm and unpacking, I socialized, (hard to believe, I know.) said "hi" to Luke, a staffer I knew from the previous year, (he was a student with me at Seattle that year... dude's a genius.) and chilled until the staffers called all the students together.

Thus began the BEST week of my life. (A very bold claim, I know. But... yeah. I am obligated as a student of WVA to say that.)

Now, covering every single event, as I did with the food camp, will turn into an incredibly lengthy and bore-some paper. Thus, I shall only review the noticeable parts of camp.

First and foremost, my small group. Man, I made an incredible group of friends this year. Led by Nathan Moller, (I THINK I got his last name right....) we totally ROCKED Point Loma Nazarene University with our epicness. Treeman, Coolman, Bigot, Decreed, Tim and Timmy, Brian, Lucas, and Benny.... I'll never forget those guys. (You remember that inside joke in the title? Message me on facebook or something, and I'll tell you what it is, now. It has everything to do with these guys.)

Second, the lectures. Ah! Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!! They were SO AWESOME!!!!! We had Jeff Baldwin, Jay Winslow, and Brandon Booth address us as our main speakers, and MAN were they excellent!!! We covered a variety of topics, ranging from postmodernism, to deception, to the Christian character. They were all extensively long, but I believe that it was absolutely worth it. I just wish those rows had more leg room. >.<

Third, FREE TIME!!!!!!!! You gotta love those times when you can just kick back, chill, and do whatever you want to do. During the free times they gave us during the mid-day, I played some Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, Mafia..... hoo-wee, after about 4 hours of lectures, I needed that down-time.

Interestingly enough, Point Loma University overlooked a beautiful beach. Unfortunately, it was off-campus, which means..... *Dun dun dun* we couldn't go to that sandy paradise.

*Insert moaning and groaning here*

Fourth, the special WVA events. These ranged from team competition, to a staff vs. students game of ultimate frisbee, to the infamous evangelism practicum.

During camp, the student body was divided into 4 color teams: Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Each competed for the ultimate trophy, to be given to one team at the end of camp: The SPAMLEY CUP!!!!!

(Pay no attention to that terrible pun behind the curtain.)

To win that famed possession, the teams competed in team color trivia, a cheering contest, and a relay. Man, was that intense. I was quite surprised at the end results, though. Throughout the week, my team, the green team, placed consistently in 4th place. This was probably due to our team's lack of trivia hardiness. However, through an astounding turn of events, (Or perhaps our winning the cheering contest and losing the relay) we ended up in 2nd place, with Yellow trumping us. (Hey, coming from far behind to destroy two of the favored teams is pretty good, in my eyes.)

Then there was the staff vs. students frisbee game. 11-3..... yeah. That was painful. Nuff' said.

And finally, the evangelism practicum. Latin for "Real Evangelism," the students received a pamphlet, and were sent out onto the streets with one purpose in mind: to implant one question into passerby's head. That question is: "What happens when you die?"

Reflecting last year's results, my partners and I were either waved off after a short conversation, or by an immediate "no thanks," or "not interested." every time we tried to approach someone. Disturbingly, one of these quick rejections was by a self-professing Christian couple.

Needless to say, we were quite disappointed by our lack of substantiative conversations with others. However, one thing was engrained into our minds: Obedience is Success. In other words, just by obeying God's command to preach the gospel, we already succeeded.

Besides, those guys aren't going to be rid of a haunting question like "What happens when you die?" anytime soon.

All in all, it was a GREAT experience. I'm already missing my excellent buddies from WVA, but hey, there's always Heaven.

I would definitely recommend Worldview Academy to any teenager. If you are interested in going, later on this month, I can get you a $100 dollar discount from tuition if you are a first time student.

I'm planning on going to Seattle again next year, to revisit me old chaps. Care to join me? :-D

First of all, here is the youtube video that basically started the whole "Congressman Etheridge Assault" fiasco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v60oNUoHBYM

Now, I think that it's pretty clear that Etheridge assaulted the student. I mean, grabbing a student's arm and the back of his neck, while asking a question that clearly violated personal information, claiming that he "had a right," (Even though they were, as the student said, on a public walkway) is pretty much physical assault.

I didn't see any real, substantiative reason to assault the student. It was merely a question that requested his viewpoint, although a lot more broad than most questions of that form. Maybe the presentation was a bit more blunt than I would like. I will give the good congressman that. BUT, did that give him justification to grab his arm and neck?

Ummmm..... common sense would dictate a resounding "NO."

Of course, you will always have people defending a failing position, such as these people here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bOEL8Hbh8Q (MSNBC)
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/16/1503378/sorry-congressman-an-apology-just.html (Mark Washburne)

Perhaps it was a set-up by the Republicans. Okay.... no. If the GOP had actually set up a trap for Etheridge, how did the Republicans know that Etheridge would act that way, in that manner? And even more ridiculous, some are saying that the GOP struck a deal with Etheridge!!!! (Need I explain the logic behind that?)

Now, as Washburne asserts, some view the student's interview as "menacing." Menacing!!!! It may have been blunt, but watch the first video again, and tell me honestly that you think the students were "menacing." Did they reveal any knives or guns? No. Did they threaten the congressman? No. Did they verbally abuse the congressman? No. So, how can you call the interview menacing?

Now, the students blurred out their faces. Granted. Now, WHY did they do it?

One of two possible reasons: First, they wanted to hide their identity to go along with the huge conspiracy planned by the GOP to bring down one minor member of congress. Second, they hid their identity TO PROTECT THEIR PRIVACY.

Common sense would dictate the second option. I mean, wouldn't it make sense to conceal who you are so the national media doesn't start banging at your door while you're taking a shower? Seriously.

Anyone know what Occam's Razor is? Anyone? Good.

Occam's Razor is basically a logic deduction tool, which states that if you are presented with two scenarios to try and explain a situation, more often than not, the simpler one is the real explanation.

So, what are the two situations?

First, Etheridge isn't to blame, because the two students assaulted him to play along with a massive conspiracy by the GOP.

Second, two students needed to do a political science report project, and they happened to see Congressman Etheridge. They asked a blunt question, and he lost his temper?

Which one is more likely?

You decide.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/17/giuliani_if_this_was_bush_he_would_have_been_impeached_by_now.html


I simply don't understand why the liberals in the administration are so dead-set against repealing the Jones Act in order to call in foreign help to fix this BP mess!!!


"I wanna know who these people are. I wanna know who these experts are."

Girl. DOES IT MATTER????? 

BP has a very vested interest in fudging the facts; they want to keep what little reputation they have above the water. With that kind of mentality, there is almost no way that they can do everything to fix it without putting themselves at blame. And if they have truly been doing all they can, then it is, quite frankly, not good enough. CALL THE EXPERTS!!!! We have tons of people overseas who can run things over here a lot better than BP can!!!!! Call them!!!! Repeal the Jones Act!!!! All that stinkin' piece of legislation is doing is stopping us from getting expert help to help expedite the process of cleaning up this oil!!!!

You know, I have nothing against sushi conveyers, or restaurants that use them. Quite often, the ones that use a form of conveyers have the best sushi.

However, I have noticed two things wrong with sushi conveyer belts, reinforced by my dinner tonight at Kuru-kuru sushi.

First, they put an essential element of the meal, the Wasabi, on the belt. This may not sound bad at first, but when people start taking the Wasabi off, keeping it, and leaving a space open on the belt for the chef to fill with another sushi plate, you leave spice freaks like me waiting 10 minutes for a container of Wasabi.

Also, who knows how long that Sushi plate has been on that thing? Ever try warm seaweed salad sushi? >.<

Quite frankly, I have had enough of people saying "The war is unnecessary," "The war is too expensive," or "The war is unfair," and using those assertions as justification to ignore the soldier's sacrifice.

I understand the arguments that they pose, and the reasons why the war was unnecessary. However, we are far too deep in it now. Our main enemy, the Taliban, (Which is radical Islam, whether my Muslim friends like it or not) have been angered far too greatly. They live by a war-like code, (argue that, when the Qu'ran itself states "strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them") and will stop at nothing to regain what is theirs, and to take revenge on those who wronged them. If we simply withdraw, what is to stop them from calling us cowards, or even worse, being consistent with the Qu'ran and following us to attack us on our homelands?

Perhaps the war was unjustified. Perhaps it is way too expensive. However, pulling out may prove even more expensive than we know, if the Tali follow their holy book. That is why, since we have started, we have to finish it.

You cannot say that soldiers are not heroes. Serving in the military is the hardest job in America right now, going to a foreign country, where there is a sniper around every corner that wants every intruder dead. The soldier doesn't even know if he will see his family again. They made the ultimate sacrifice, their very lives, in order to preserve your rights to talk trash about them freely. They endure hardship, suffering, and misery so you can experience peace, joy, and contentment.

Even if you disagree with the war's enactment, take this day at least to remember those who have fallen, for our independence in the past, and for our freedom in the future.

So, as you might have heard, Ed Case has officially dropped out from the congressional race in November. KHON2 is running a poll, asking viewers whether or not Case's withdrawal will help Democrats win back the 1st Congressional Seat. You can access the poll here: http://www.khon2.com/default.aspx

These are my thoughts. First, we have to take into account campaign funds. As we have seen, the Case v. Hanabusa race for the special election did nothing but bring shame to democrats. Both candidates drained funds from Democratic special interests, unions, fundraisers, the DNC, and to what end? Charles Djou won the 1st Congressional Special Election, the first Republican to win the seat in 20 years.

With the bitter primary between former Congressman Abercrombie and Mayor Hannemann to be had, even more money will be drained from Democratic funds. That, coupled with another Case v. Hanabusa, would have drowned the Democratic savings account.

Second, we have to look at voters. The way I see it, there are primarily three types of voters: the loyalists, the diehards, and the party-crossers. The loyalists are those who will vote for the better candidate in their specific party, and will always vote for their party. These normally come in the form of individual voters. Now that Case has dropped out, these types of voters, who primarily supported Case, will shift to Hanabusa. The diehards are the ones loyal to one candidate, and that candidate only. These usually come in the form of close relatives, friends, and special interests. They will only support one candidate, and will not take any compromises. Case's diehards, in this election, will probably not vote out of faithfulness. The party-crossers are the most interesting. They are usually individual voters, who either have very moderate viewpoints, or borderline despise a candidate. These former Case supporters, out of hatred for Hanabusa,  will cross party lines to vote for Djou, in order to keep Hanabusa out of the nation's capitol.

Only the loyalists will vote for Hanabusa as a compromise to Case; the other two groups will not. If the ratio of loyalists to party-crossers is significant either way, it could give a boost to either Djou or Hanabusa.

So, will Case's drop-out help Democrats take back the 1st Congressional? Personally, I think that in terms of fiscal situations and voter ratio, it will help Democrats.

Will it nab them the win? I don't think so. I believe that the incumbent, Djou, has enough support to pull off another win.

It is quite amazing how fast you can blow $50 at the carnival.

I went to the 50th State Fair today, with a couple of my friends. Myself and two others arrived at 4:00 to get wristbands, which allowed us to take unlimited rides until 6:00. Then, we ate dinner ($8 Garlic Shrimp and Pasta Plate.... O.o) and waited for my other friends, one of whom was working at a booth at the fair. (French Fries FTW!!!!!!)

Unfortunately, there were no other wristbands eligible for the 6:00-closing hours, so we had to buy tickets to ride the attractions. And man, those things were EXPENSIVE. Holy cow, $1 per ticket, or $10.00 for 12. And each ride cost 3 tickets, minimum.

However, it was quite worth it, methinks. The climax of the experience was when I headed to the game section, (no arcades, unfortunately) and played this one throw-the-ball game. They set up foam "shelves" about 25 feet in front of you, and set up beer bottles in those shelves. You paid $2, got 2 balls, and you had to destroy, literally destroy, 2 bottles.

Long story short, that game was easy. Next thing I knew, people around me were staring in amazement as I walked off with a newly won life-sized teddy bear for my sister. Man, that felt good. XD

Dude. Not that I'm impatient or anything, but... it took the Mayor long enough.

I mean, seriously. I understand the ideology behind "holding your cards until the last second," but.... what was the point? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I highly doubt that Hannemann would have just said "Nah, I've decided against running for the gubernatorial seat."

From my viewpoint, it seems as though the mayor used his unofficial electorate status as an excuse to hide his stance on some issues, such as when he refused to divulge his opinion on civil unions, stating something like "I am not an official candidate yet." Don't quote me on that-I can't remember his exact wording.

I wouldn't be surprised if he says something like "The reason why I delayed my candidacy announcement was to contemplate all of my options, going into this race," this afternoon at his official announcement.

Good luck, Mr. Abercrombie. Your opponent is going be as official as he can be this afternoon.

Those two are in for a heck of a race.

Now, that went better than expected.

Earlier this afternoon, I was blessed enough to be able to take part in a roundtable discussion with Governor Linda Lingle, discussing (what else?) House Bill 444, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 1, or the infamous Civil Unions Bill. In attendance were organizations such as the Hawaii Family Forum, the Hawaii Christian Coalition, the Pastor's Roundtable, (I think it was called that? idk, I can't remember. XD) and Generation Joshua. Originally, the meeting was set for 2:00-3:00 pm; I thought that GenJ and the HCC were going to be the only organizations there. Apparently, I was dead wrong.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be an extremely pleasant surprise. Although the Hawaii Family Forum took the whole hour to make their presentation, the Governor was benevolent enough to tell us that if she had any conflicting events on her schedule for the day, she would waive them off. Good thing, too, because the entire meeting took twice as much time as we had initially thought.

The Generation Joshua members who spoke worked in seamless tandem; Ryan started off, describing the manipulation of the democratic system, Halley spoke next, covering the freedom of speech, I went after her, defining civil rights and giving a few examples of court cases dealing with civil rights, and Drake spoke last, naming some helpful statistics. Over the course of the meeting, some other members like Gage, Ricky, Lucas and Mya dropped some useful tidbits of wisdom. It's too bad some of the other members, like Kira, Gracie, Chelsea, and Joshua didn't get to speak....

She was extremely open to the youth's words, and very supportive. In my opinion, I think she listened more to what the youth had to say, than the adults. I don't know. That's just my opinion. XD

Anyway, the meeting was very civil, very pleasant, and extremely productive. I believe that we communicated our viewpoint very efficiently, and very thoroughly. We even got to pray over the Governor after the meeting, led by Kahu Kurt Kekuna.

Now, if only the meeting didn't conflict with the ESA elections..... oh, well. It is what it is.

Oh, and I got to sit right next to the LG, (Or should I say, the future Governor....) and two seats away from the Governor herself!!!! CHEE-HEE!!!!!!

The. Most. Annoying. Facebook. Posts. Ever.

Well, maybe not EVER. But, I think they comes pretty close. In my own closed, unedumacated little mind, I thought that Facebook imposed limits on the character count of groups.

Well, a new craze has hit Facebook. Now, there are groups that say "I'm awesome" about a thousand times, or groups that count to 20,000, hitting every single number along the way in order. At first, I thought that there would be a punch-line in the middle of the group name, something like "1,59... never mind, I'm bored."

However, I have to endure scrolling down the painfully long list of pointless numbers or phrases that no one really cares about anyway, to see if there's something on the bottom of the page that might be remotely more interesting than that group.

Help me not to join one of those things just to annoy someone, Lord.

Sorry, I just had to.

But, GO DJOU!!!!!!!!

The way I see it, he has good momentum for his regular congressional run in November. I just fear for the votes, because the democrats will be forced to unite behind one candidate in the general. The vote won't be split so much.

I will say it for you. I am a noob. K? K.

Now, Kamehameha means: Turtle Destruction Wave.

Kame=Turtle
Hame=Destruction
Ha=Wave

Thus the name. Credits to Taylor York for the research.

Hey ya'll,

(Yes, I did use ya'll....*Faint*)

When you guys have time, which I am assuming that you do, since you have the time to read this, then I suggest that you check out this website that my friend made. (This is a watered-down version of commanding you to read the website. Just to filter out any confusion in the ranks.) It's outlining Parental Rights in Hawaii, something that I, personally, am very passionate about. Thanks!!!
http://web.me.com/themission.com/Parental_Rights4Hawaii/ParentalRights4Hawaii.html

Seriously. Go to Google, (ADD Moment: You can actually play Pac-Man on there right now, in honor of Pac-Man's 30th birthday. Super Smash Bros. is better, but...) and type in "Kamehameha." After one school website, and 2 wikipedia articles on the school and the Kings, you see Youtube entries outlining "real Kamehameha," and "Kamehameha After Effect Tutorial," and the Dragon Ball Z Wiki.

It got me to thinking. How did a Japanese guy get the name "Kamehameha" for a signature attack for his main anime character, that would be screamed by hyperactive little kids for decades to come? I mean, did he take a trip to Hawaii and see the name and say to himself "Ah, Ka-me-ha-me-ha... Sugoiiiii....."

Or was it a by-product of random syllables put together? Or maybe a "weird names" google search? I may never know..... O.o

So, I got up at 5:00 today sign-wave for Charles Djou. In the rain. That was fun.

But man, Councilman Djou has so much energy. He's with his campaign team, doing his sign-waving, door-to-door, phone banking, et cetera, all while maintaining his activities as the sole republican on the Honolulu City Council. And he's doing it all with his trademark smile on his face. I envy him.

I haven't smiled that long, stood that long, or wished it was over already that long, since Boy Choir. This year's gonna be painful....

Epic bias alert. Feel free to comment; just remember that I am the site master. Mwa ha ha.

Separation of Church and State is a myth regarding the constitution that was drafted in 1787, ratified in 1789, and amended by the bill of rights in 1791.

This myth states that the first amendment to the constitution states that the State and Government should be kept separate and distance themselves from the church, because its exact wording is: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...".

The people supporting this idea state that because of this wording, an impenatratable "Wall" has been built between the church and government, so no religion can be even mentioned in schools, government offices, or state-owned buildings without punishment.

The problems with this theory are numerous, but to keep this article short, I will name a few of the most significant arguments against the separation:

#1. America was founded on the principles that we are able to express our beliefs, speech and expression without punishment. The separation of church and state violates these principles, saying that religious people cannot express their beliefs in state property. Why not? You're corroding our freedom of speech.

#2. The founding fathers put this particular sentence in because Pierre L'Enfant, the original builder of what was going to be the overall plan for the future seats in Americas government, expressed an idea to build a national church. The very phrase used was that the church would be "intended for national purposes, such as public prayer, thanksgiving, funeral orations, etc., and assigned to the special use of no particular Sect of denomination, but equally open to all." The founding fathers wanted to avoid something like this, not make government and the church two absolute separate ideas!

#3. The founding fathers were either Christian or deist, as well as the rest of America. There were no Athiests, Muslims, Mormons, or any extremists back then requiring such a separation. So why would they add that if it was not needed?

By far, it has to be the audition music. It has to be. Often, it's so massively difficult that it gives you a false awareness; often, the music is never nearly as hard as the actual performance pieces in orchestra.
This is only for the violas and cellos, it seems. (Thanks, Melody.)
Poor weedle violins.

So, for my birthday dinner, I went to Tadashi. It's a sizable restaurant near Pearl Ridge, by Kuru-Kuru Sushi. And we went there for..... sushi. (Kuru-Kuru was PACKED.) And, I have some critiques.

Tadashi is a fairly large restaurant, one of the bigger ones on the small chain of shops that it's located in. The atmosphere is similar to a traditional Japanese Restaurant, in that the sushi is prepared in the open, there is a sit-down counter, and Japanese art plasters the walls all around. Even the windowsills sport Buddhas and Lucky Bamboo.

However, the furniture could use some improvement. The tables were WAY too small for my legs; I couldn't stretch them out without hitting my Mom's legs on the other side. It was quite annoying, to say the least.

When the food came, the waiter was very nice. She went through her normal routine, using terminology such as "Here you are," "Do you require anything else?" and "Enjoy your meal!!!" However, it was with a sort of monotonish tone of voice, and when my Mom asked her a question about one of the employees, her responses switched from "Yes," "No," and "I do not recall" to "Yeah," "Nah," and "I don't remember." It seems that being taken out of her scripted waitress lines caught her by surprise and left her fumbling over her tongue.

The food was good, but not exceptional. As my sister stated, "I can't tell the difference between the two. (Kuru-kuru and Tadashi.)"

When my sister ordered another Tekamaki because she was still hungry from the person who filled our waters, (The portion of her udon was terrible) we waited for about 10 minutes, to find that they had not received the order. The excuse was "Oh, you must have told the new guy."

The HUGE, blaring thing, though, was the cost. Sure, the food is supposedly high-quality, but $20 for a chirashi bowl? $15 for Tekamaki??? $17 for Udon??? That food must have some pretty darn good nutritional value for THOSE prices.

Overall, I would not recommend this restaurant for first choice, but maybe a second or third resort. 

Wow. So, I went to my friend's house, in order to help them prepare for their move in a couple of weeks. Little did I know that everyone was conspiring behind my back. When I entered the house, I shook hands with Ryan, my friend who's moving, and suddenly I heard a "SURPRISE!!!!!!"
I looked up, and a bunch of my buddies had popped out from behind walls that had hidden them before. It was then that I noticed a huge poster with big, bold letters reading "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARSON!!!!!" (Slight imperfection. Oh, well.)
So, that's what a surprise party feels like. It feels good. Wow.

However, I still had to help clean up. XD

Quite frankly, I'm not sure what all the hub-bub is about regarding sweet sixteen. My Dad's going to make me do schoolwork anyway, I have to do SAT testing, and I don't feel any different. Just my domestically trained life as normal, I think. Oh, well. I'll see how it goes.