Category Archives: Politics

Politics

How Hawaii Compares to Other States

In this election season, the media is buzzing with political stories from around the country. But how does Hawaii really stack up against the Mainland? Here are some illuminating facts about Hawaii, compared to other states:

RANK AMONG STATES (#1-ranked state first)

Median Household Income

#1 Maryland $68,080

#5 Hawaii $63,746

#51 Mississippi $36,338

State Unemployment

#1 Rhode Island 8.8%

#40 Hawaii 4.5% (tied w/ 1 other)

#51 South Dakota 3.2%

Uninsured Population

#1 Texas 24.4%

#50 Hawaii 8.3% (tied w/ 1 other)

Gas Price

#1 Alaska $3.622

#2 Hawaii $3.518

#51 Oklahoma $2.197

Unauthorized Migrants

#1 California 7.8%

#28 Hawaii 1.9% (tied w/ 2 others)

#51 West Virginia 0.0%

Poverty Rate

#1 Mississippi 18.0%

#49 Hawaii 5.5%

#51 New Hampshire 3.9%

U.S. Troop Deaths in War in Iraq (Total)

#1 California 448 troops killed

#43 Hawaii 21 troops killed (tied w/ 1 other)

#51 District of Columbia 5 troops killed

U.S. Troop Deaths in War in Iraq (per Capita)

#1 Vermont 33.7 troops killed per million residents

#19 Hawaii 16.3 troops killed per million residents

#51 Connecticut 8.0 troops killed per million residents

Schools Achieving No Child Left Behind Standards

#1 Wisconsin 98%

#51 Hawaii 34%

Per-student Education Expenditure

#1 New Jersey $13,468

#20 Hawaii $8,523

#51 Utah $5,059

Population

#1 California 36,553,215

#42 Hawaii 1,283,388

#51 Wyoming 522,830

Presidential Approval Rating

#1 Idaho, Utah 57%

#21 Hawaii 40% (tied w/ 3 others)

#51 Rhode Island 23%

Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Total)

#1 Texas 688 million tons

#44 Hawaii 22 million tons

#51 District of Columbia 4 million tons

Carbon Dioxide Emissions (per Capita)

#1 Wyoming 125.7 tons per person

#34 Hawaii 17.7 tons per person

#51 District of Columbia 6.9 tons per person

Hispanic Population

#1 New Mexico 44.4%

#19 Hawaii 8.2% (tied w/ 1 other)

#51 West Virginia 1.1%

Black Population

#1 District of Columbia 54.7%

#41 Hawaii 2.2%

White Population

#1 Vermont 96.1%

#51 Hawaii 26.6%

Non-Hispanic White Population

#1 Vermont 95.2%

#51 Hawaii 24.6%

Senior Population

#1 Florida 17.0%

#6 Hawaii 14.4% (tied w/ 1 other)

#51 Alaska 6.9%

State Gross Domestic Product (Total)

#1 California $1,727 billion

#40 Hawaii $58 billion

#51 Vermont $24 billion

State Gross Domestic Product (per Capita)

#1 District of Columbia $150,700 per person

#17 Hawaii $45,400 per person

#51 Mississippi $28,900 per person

College-educated Population

#1 District of Columbia 47.5%

#16 Hawaii 29.2%

#51 West Virginia 17.3%

Married Couple Population

#1 Utah 62.3%

#13 Hawaii 51.7% (tied w/ 3 others)

#51 District of Columbia 22.2%

Sources: Median Household Income (One-year estimates, in 2007 inflation-adjusted dollars): U.S. Census Bureau, State Unemployment (Seasonally adjusted, September 2008): The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Uninsured Population (2005-2007, three-year average): U.S. Census Bureau, Gas Price (Regular, as of Oct. 29, 2008): Oil Price Information Service, Unauthorized Migrants (As percentage of state population; approximated from 2005 data): Pew Hispanic Center, Poverty Rate (Percentage of families below the poverty threshold, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Troop Deaths in War in Iraq (Total) (As of Oct. 16, 2008): Department of Defense, U.S. Troop Deaths in War in Iraq (per Capita) (As of Oct. 16, 2008): Department of Defense, Schools Achieving No Child Left Behind Standards (Percentage of schools achieving ‘Adequate Yearly Progress’, 2004-2005 school year): Department of Education, Per-student Education Expenditure (2003-2004 school year): Department of Education, Population (2007 estimate): U.S. Census Bureau, Presidential Approval Rating (As of Oct. 2006): SurveyUSA, Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Total) (Emissions from fossil fuel combustion, metric units, 2004): Department of Energy, Carbon Dioxide Emissions (per Capita) (Emissions from fossil fuel combustion, metric units, 2004): Department of Energy, Hispanic Population (As percentage of state population, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, Black Population (Single-race, as percentage of state population, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, White Population (Single-race, as percentage of state population, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, Non-Hispanic White Population (As percentage of state population, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, Senior Population (People 65 years of age or older, as percentage of state population, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, State Gross Domestic Product (Total) (2006): The Bureau of Economic Analysis, State Gross Domestic Product (per Capita) (2006): The Bureau of Economic Analysis, College-educated Population (Percentage of people 25 years of age or older who have completed a bachelor’s degree, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau, Married Couple Population (Percentage of households that are married-couple families, 2007): U.S. Census Bureau

 

Family, Politics

Obama Loses Last of Relatives that Raised Him

Madelyn Dunham died of cancer Sunday evening November, 2, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was the grandmother of Barack Obama and made famous by her role in his life as his white grandmother from Kansas.

She was the last surviving member of his family that was involved with raising him. Her husband, Stanley Dunham, died in 1992. Their daughter, Ann Dunham, who was Obama’s mother, died of ovarian cancer in 1995. Obama’s father, Barrack Hussein Obama Sr, came from Kenya and died in car accident in 1982.

Obama’s surviving family members include his half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng (they have the same mother) of Honolulu and his step-relatives through his father in Kenya . He also has two daughters, Sasha and Malia, with his wife Michelle.

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Politics

Early Walk-in Voting vs Absentee Voting

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Which is better, early walk-in voting or voting by absentee ballot? In the past, I’ve always voted absentee, but I this year I was curious about walk-in voting, which started in Hawaii on October 21st. With so much on the line in this election, I was also nervous about my absentee ballot getting lost in the mail (okay, maybe slightly neurotic of me, but still, it does happen). So I took my absentee ballot to the County Clerk’s office and traded it in for a walk-in ballot.

The scene at the Clerk’s office was unexpected. I went on Tuesday afternoon, around 2 PM. I figured any lunch break rush would be over. I was wrong! There was a crowd out the door of people thinking the same. I waited about 30 minutes in a line that snaked past the row of plastic chairs with shiny metal legs, past the table with blue forms piled neatly into black trays, around the water cooler twice, finally spilling out into the slightly green-tinged hallway.

Maybe it was because each person’s personal space was encroached upon. Or maybe it was because of that buzz in the air coming from a mass of citizens eager to do their civic duty. We were total strangers chatting like old friends, carefully talking around any sensitive specifics about the communal task at hand that might get you expelled from the voting conga line.

When it was my turn at the front of line the clerk with dark hair and round glasses, a woman in her early 50’s who’s worked in that office since she started working and will retire from her civil service at the end of this new president’s second term in office, asked if I wanted to vote by paper or electronic ballot. This is the first year that Hawaii offers the choice. In the past, it’s always been paper. I asked for the one that offers a receipt for my vote. She handed me the paper ballot.

I held the ballot encased in its blue secrecy folder close to my chest, like a wedding bouqet, and reverently walked down the aisle to meet my date in our quatra-yearly rendez-vous. I entered the booth and pulled closed the striped red, white and blue curtain. What happened next was very personal, too personal to reveal here. Afterall, I don’t vote and tell.

When I emerged from the embrace of the voting booth, I fed my ballot into the scanner, watched my choices register on the screen and heard the paper drop into its belly with a slight thunk. Another friendly clerk, this one slightly younger with long black hair, escorted me to the door. As she was closing it behind me, I stopped and asked her is had been this busy all day. She replied, “It’s been non-stop since we opened this morning.” It was the first day of walk-in voting afterall. But I just had to know if it had ever been that busy for walk-in voting in previous elections. She answered firmly, “Since I’ve worked here, never.”