Category Archives: News

News, Politics, Random

How to Contact Senators and Representatives to Express Your Views

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Have an opinion about Paulson’s proposed $700 billion bailout of failing banks, one that does not allow for any oversight of how the money will be spent?  Our Congresspeople are working on this issue and others and need your feedback in order to act in your interest.

Call or email your elected representatives and let them know how you want them to handle the issue.

The US House of Representatives makes it easy to write your rep with a website that helps you identify your Congressperson.

If you’ve never called your Congresspeople before, it’s easy. Dial the number and tell the person who answers your view on the issue.  He or she will relay the message.  You can tell them your name or choose to remain anonymous.

Why should taxpayers bailout greedy corporations?

For residents of Hawaii, here are our Congresspeople’s contact information:

Hawaii Senators

Daniel Inouye
Washington DC Office (202) 224-3934
Honolulu Office (808) 541-2542
Web contact form

Daniel Akaka
Washington DC Office (202) 224-6361
Honolulu Office (808) 522-8970
Web contact form

Hawaii Representatives

Mazie Hirono
Washington DC Office (202) 225-4906
Honolulu Office (808) 541-1986
Web contact form

Neil Abercrombie
Washington DC Office (202) 225-2726
Honolulu Office (808) 541-2570
Email Neil.Abercrombie@mail.house.gov

News, Politics

Biden Palin Comparison

Both presidential candidates announced their picks for Vice President this week. A closer look at the candidates for VP reveals stark differences worth paying attention to. Remember the veep is just one step away from the oval office. Here is how they compare in a nutshell.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate and a Democrat, has been a senator since 1972 (36 years) and was first elected at age 29, making him the youngest person ever elected to the senate. He is chairman of the senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. His list of credits, issues and accomplishments is so long it takes up an entire website. He is from Delaware and is married with three children.

Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate and a Republican, has been governor of Alaska for almost two years. Before that she served as mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside of Anchorage. She has no national or international political experience and obtained her first passport in 2007. Her bio takes up a single web page, including pictures of her hunting (nice rack) and fishing. She is from Alaska and is married with five children.

Culture, Family, News, Politics, Random

Barack Obama Acceptance Speech at the Democratic Convention

Wow! Saying that Barack Obama is the best orator of our generation does not do him in justice. He is a phenomenon that our country is better for having, regardless of the election outcome.

What I loved most about this speech is that he doesn’t promise to fix everything for us, but to help us believe that we can fix what’s wrong in our country for ourselves. I think that’s called democracy, and he is one politician that seems to really believe in it.

Barack Obama also achieved today what so many thought impossible in the US: a black man was nominated to be president. Even better that he accepted that nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream speech”.

It makes sense that a post-racial candidate like Barack would come from Hawaii, a unique place that prides itself on functional ethnic mixing and tolerance.  If all of this doesn’t give us healing and hope, I don’t know what will.

Shortly after his speech, a dear friend emailed me her reaction: “Cried so hard. I realize how thick my wall of cynicism is and how much I do want America to be a better country. Ah…hope can I really believe in it?”

Dear readers, that may be the question of our time.

I listened to all of Obama’s speech on NPR.  If you missed this speech that is history in the making, you can still hear on NPR in its entirety.