Inter-island Travel Prices Increase Again

Citing the increasing cost of fuel, Hawaiian Airlines raised the price to fly inter-island yesterday. The lowest Hawaiian Airlines ticket price for a one-way inter-island trip is now $64. That is $6 higher than Mesa/Go!'s latest advertised low fare of $59. The public will be lucky to get even these high low prices because most seats will be selling for a lot more.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES: Lowest ticket price for inter-island travel is $64. Most seats are going for $74, $84 and $94. Travelling from Honolulu to the Big Island? Add another $5 to each ticket.

People flying on Hawaiian to the mainland will have to pay a $100 fuel surcharge penalty on top of their ticket. Ouch!

MESA / GO!: The cheapest ticket available on "Hawaii's Low Fare Airline" Go! is $59. There are hardly any flights available for that price on the one-time price champion. Now you have to pay mostly $94 to fly in-between islands on this "discount" carrier. I guess the Go! board has finally come to their senses (after driving Aloha Airlines out of business) and realized that the red ink on their operation had to be stopped at the expense of the flying public. The Go! website no longer touts their "low" fare as prominently as it used to. Their print ad from yesterday (below) was still trumpeting the $59 fare which is up from $54 a week ago.



ISLAND AIR: Ticket prices to fly inter-island on this airline range from $63 to $73 on the low end to $93 for an "unrestricted" ticket.... whatever that is. Remember Island Air operate smaller Dash 8 propeller airplanes. Passengers may also have to stop once or twice on other islands if they are flying to either Maui or the Big Island from Honolulu. The main reason to use Island Air is to go from Honolulu to Molokai or Lanai, or from the Big Island to Maui. They have more flights from these points than Hawaiian or Go.

HAWAII SUPERFERRY: As mentioned in the previous posting on this topic, Superferry trips between Honolulu and Kahului will cost $49 per person and $65 per standard vehicle starting in June.

WHAT WILL THE PUBLIC DO? Adjust of course and fly less. It is a given. Prices go up, people travel less. The airlines will probably have to adjust again, and increase their fares or eventually cut back on schedules, aircraft, routes and/or personnel. We're back to 2004 and possibly worst.

Hawaii GOP Convention Tightly Scripted

This media release from Eric Ryan came in today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HONOLULU, Hawaii ― May 18, 2008 ― Hundreds of well-meaning Hawaii Republicans from all counties statewide traveled at their own expense to Waikiki and participated in our 2008 State Republican convention. During that time, many duly elected party delegates witnessed a carefully scripted event.

The attached internal document was provided by an undisclosed party official. This document carefully outlines the exact verbiage and that was followed. This included the adoption of rules, motions, and other matters that are considered highly debatable. Rulings provided by the chair were also pre-scripted and pre-determined, indicating a biased position on the part of the party leadership who should have remained unbiased during the proceedings. Delegates and alternates weren’t even allowed to discuss their own party’s platform, though hours were supposedly allotted for such discussion.

The General Session proceedings were conducted in an atmosphere of malfeasance. Please pay particular attention to General Session [beginning on page 7 of the attached document]. All outcomes were predetermined and every delegate’s and alternate’s time was completely wasted.

QUOTES FROM RYAN

“The need to change our party leadership has never been clearer. We’ve been railroaded by insiders for too long who only care about protecting their power base and preventing the discussion of our platform and principles.”

“We’ve strayed a great distance from our party’s beliefs and we don’t even bother to tell voters what we in. If party leaders spent as much time implementing a winning strategy as they do circling the wagons to prevent reform, Hawaii would be a different and better place today.”

“Adding insult to injury, when asked about releasing the actual vote tallies, Willes Lee said it’s nobody’s business. Considering this in light of party leader’s unwillingness to promote our party and our solutions and our candidates, no wonder we keep losing at the ballot box.”

IMPORTANT LINKS

• Aiona sets sights on 2010 campaign at convention
  
• Hawaii Republican Party Rejects Ad Campaign Donated by Party Supporters
• Convention Script (800+K PDF)
  

Photo caption: Platform chair Darwin Ching checks his script.

GOP Convention Weekend

Contentious is a word that I would use to describe most of the business sessions of the GOP Hawaii Convention sessions held on Saturday May 17. Members were divided among those wanting to return the party to a traditional and conservative base while others want to continue with the moderate and "Democrat light" ideology pursued by the Lingle administration and her many supporters. A division among supporters for Senator John McCain and Congressman Ron Paul for President of the United States was also apparent, but not a concern to me.



The Platform remains a major issue for many in the party. Not only did the party end all discussion and proposals for the platform in April, they did the same thing at the full session of the convention. Members were forced to approve the 2006 platform as the 2008 platform through a series of motions that cut off all possibility to amend or even discuss the document. Clearly supporters of this action outnumbered the many who wanted to open the process to discussion at least. No way. The vote was taken and the 2006 platform ended up being rubber stamped into place as the official one for 2008.

As mentioned in this blog and elsewhere, the point of contention against adopting a new, conservative platform is the Akaka Bill. The Democrat crafted bill is designed to allow Hawaiians to be recognized by the federal government as a tribe and allow them to create their own government within the framework of the one we have now. The Hawaiian plank of the proposed platform would have not allowed for the support of the Akaka Bill and instead would grant Hawaiians and everyone else the opportunity to take charge of their own lives without relying on government handouts and more programs.

In the end, pro-Akaka Bill advocates such as Attorney Bruss Keppler (shown below, left) got their way in squashing a better platform. Mr. Keppler was seated in the delegate area while continuing to support Democrats through financial contributions in the thousands of dollars.



The air of contention also hung over the selection of delegates to the National Convention in Minnesota. The process of conducting the vote was flawed. Blank write-in ballots were issued by the party for members to write-in the names of those people running for delegate and alternates. The problem? The list of names that were handed out on paper to delegates was incomplete. A new list of both delegates and alternates were to be posted on the giant TV screen. Nearly a half hour of the meeting was wasted on getting the names.

To make matters worst, it was ruled that anyone could submit any type of ballot on paper to the counters, as long as they did not surpass the 3 congressional district and 11 at large district vote count for both delegates and alternates. The McCain campaign distributed a printed ballot with their delegate list on it for submission.

After the votes were counted, it was indicated that 60% of the delegates had turned in the handwritten ballot and not the pre-printed McCain ones. Delegates from the Ron Paul campaign later protested the validity of the McCain printed ballots, to no avail.

A clear slate of McCain pledged delegates and alternates were elected.



Anything bright happened at the convention? Certainly. Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona made his 2010 campaign speech for the State's top seat. He spoke about lower taxes, better education, getting tough on crime and support for the Constitutional Convention. Governor Linda Lingle praised her Lt. Governor, her cabinet staff and neighbor island liaisons. Candidates running for office were able to introduce themselves and meet people. Lunches and dinners were served to those who sprung extra money to attend them. The "Obsession" movie on radical Islam was shown. A good time was had by some.

Perhaps by a slim chance, what was done at the convention this weekend will turn into election gold in November. Don't hold your breath.

Photo captions:

1. The face of anger from conservative delegate on the shutdown of platform discussion.
2. GOP leaders confer before platform meeting of convention. They wanted to shut down platform discussion very quickly and did through a series of staged motions.
   
3. Bruss Keppler, GOP delegate who has given thousands of dollars to Democrats.
4. Stop Rail Now people were there to get more signatures for ballot amendment.
   

Links

• Aiona Sets Sights on 2010 Campaign
• State Republican Party Sets Platform, Repels Insurgents
  

www.flickr.com

GOP Convention Day 1

The first day of the Hawaii State Republican Convention was an all day affair held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort in Waikiki that featured a number of speeches, candidate workshops, a luncheon and presentations. The convention gives Hawaii Republican party members an opportunity to meet the candidates, their leadership and get ready for both the National Convention and elections to be held later this year.

PLATFORM & RESOLUTIONS

The party's platform has been a point of contention during the drafting process between party members who want a return to more traditional and conservative values, vs. the current leadership who advocate a moderate to liberal platform. Work on crafting a new platform was stopped in April and the 2006 platform was adopted as the 2008 version.

A very brief session conducted by Platform Committee Chair Darwin Ching (photo above) was held to entertain proposals for commemorative resolutions only. Ching stated that any substantive resolutions and possible amendments to the 2006/2008 platform will be on the agenda sometime today. Should this happen, today's session may prove to be interesting.

FILM ON ISLAMIC TERRORISM

Perhaps the highlight of yesterday's proceedings was the showing of a documentary film titled "Obsession: Radical Islamic Terrorism." The film is a riveting, eye opening piece that outlines radical Islamic teachings and goals through the use of footage obtained from various Arab TV networks. It features snippets of people from both the Islamic world and the West talking about the worldwide threat from radical Islamic organizations. Images of recent terrorist acts, bombings and large groups of extremists chanting "Death to Israel," "Death to Britain," and "Death to America" are chilling and unforgettable. A major portion of the film compared the threat of radical Islam to that of Nazi Germany during World War II.

The bottom line: Radical Islam's goals are to wipe out Israel, the United States of America, Britain and all of Western society. These people are indoctrinated from a very early age to hate all that we hold dear . They want to conquer the world and convert it to its radical view and religion at the expense of everything else. The war on terrorism will be with us for a very long time and in order for America and the rest of the world to survive, we must continue to fight and never let down our guard.

Additional Links

• Some Republicans Expect Infighting at Convention
• Hawaii Republican Party Rejects Free Ad Campaign
• Hawaii GOP Delegates Should Take a Principled Position
• GOP Hawaii Website
• It's All About the Akaka Bill

Will the Haze Clear Up?

VOG THIS WEEK

Honolulu and the rest of the State of Hawaii have been plagued with a thick layer of volcanic vog again as the tradewinds subsided and the gray haze drifted over all of the islands. As most people know, vog is created by the debris kicked into the sky by the ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Normally the vog travels in a southerly direction, away from most of the state. However, when the winds change all of the stuff drifts over the state and becomes a hazy mess. Forecasts call for the vog to lift by Sunday or Monday.

HAZY REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

The Hawaii Republican Convention starts today at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort in Waikiki. There may be some heated debate, if allowed, on the recently aborted platform issue in which GOP members loyal to the Lingle status-quo shut down in late April.

The event will probably end up being a lackluster convention where the most accomplished will be to vote for delegates to the upcoming National Convention on the mainland late this summer. About the only possible excitement in this will be a proabable strong surge among supporters of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who is still a candidate in the race despite Senator John McCain's immense lead in the delegate count.

Personally I am officially undecided on the McCain vs. Paul issue as the candidates I previous supported have fallen by the wayside a long time ago. It is more than likely that I will end up voting for the Republican presidential candidate in November over Barrack Obama, who seems to be the close choice for the Democrats.

Meanwhile the goal among the conservative leaning Republicans is to build the party and return it back to those core values that make being a Republican, Republican.

COUNCIL NOT HAZY ON STEEL RAIL

The Honolulu City Council's transportation committee chair killed a bill that would have put non-steel wheel alternatives back into consideration for discussion. Councilmember Nestor Garcia, chair of the committee, deferred the alternative technology bill yesterday in committee.

It looks like the steel wheel on steel rail favored by the majority of the Council and Mayor Mufi Hannemann will continue to be the only option left for consideration. The mayor is already plowing ahead with this thing.

Meanwhile the StopRailNow organization continues with its petition drive to get the rail question onto the November ballot. There is no volcanic haze in front of my eyes about my opposition to rail and the nasty tax increase perpetuated by Democrats and our Republican Governor on the Mufi train proposal. Time to stop the train is now!

Where are the Cheap Seats?

The cost of inter-island travel has definitely gone up. The days of the fare war between Mesa Airlines' Go! and the other inter-island carriers is over. Fuel costs are up, Aloha Airlines is out of the passenger business and Mesa settled their $90 million lawsuit with Hawaiian Airlines out of court for $52.5 million.

Here is the latest breakdown of fares for a typical inter-island trip between Honolulu and Hilo for May 30 to June 11.

MESA AIRLINES' GO

Mesa advertises a low Go! airlines fare of $54 one-way (photo above). Reality check? I went to their website, and fares for my travel window were stated at $59, $69, $74, $89 or $94 depending on day and time of travel. Where's that $54 seat?

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

Hawaiian Airlines remains the inter-island airline leader despite higher prices. They added more flight capacity and carried more passengers since Aloha Airlines called it a day on March 31. Hawaiian's fares for my travel window range from $59 on the low end to $109 on the high end. This is for coach seating, depending again on the day and time of travel. Note that some of Hawaiian Airlines' flights to Hilo stop at Maui before continuing. And they cost $84 for more time in the plane.

ALOHA AIRLINES

Totally out of the passenger business, Aloha Airlines continues to operate their freight service with hopes that they will be bought by another firm real soon. The airline closed their cargo operations for a few days and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which was a smart move on their part. This allowed them to continue the selling negotiatons without having to deal much with their unions as the airline was technically liquidated upon Chapter 7 filing.

ISLAND AIR

Flying to Hilo on Island Air? First you have to love prop planes to undertake this trip. Second you have to plan for at least 3 hours of travel time between Honolulu and Hilo. All of Island Air's flights to Hilo and back involve at least 1 stop on Maui. Two of their 3 Hilo flights also stop on Molokai. Price for these long flights? $73 or $83. Island Air is an airline to use if you are going to rural airports on the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai. The are not a very good choice for going to Hilo from Honolulu.

HAWAII SUPERFERRY

They're not an airline. They are a ship. They don't go to Hilo but are planning on Big Island service starting next year to Kawaihae. Currently they sail at least once a day to and from Honolulu to Kahului. Hawaii Superferry's current fare is $39 per person each way. $55 each way for your standard sized vehicle. The prices go up to $49 per person and $65 per vehicle starting in June.

Yes, the heyday of cheap inter-island travel is over. Our travel choices are less. Bottom line is that if anyone wants to go anywhere, some serious financial bullets are going to have to be bitten. And of course people will adjust and probably travel less.

Hawaii ConCon Website Launched

There was a press conference on Friday (May 9) at the State Capitol to formally announce the citizen driven website HawaiiConCon.org. Speaking at the press conference were a cross section of legislators, computer "geeks" and participating citizens. HawaiiConCon.org is a free website where Hawaii residents can go to get information and discuss the merits of whether or not a Constitutional Convention should be approved by the voters in the upcoming eleciton. The site also serves as a forum to discuss other issues impacting Hawaii.

As for a constitutional convention itself, I support the vote to hold one. There are some serious changes that need to be made to our state constitution and a convention will be a good vehicle to do it. Vote "yes" on this ballot question.

Additional Links

• HawaiiConCon.org

Photo: Taken at launch press conference at State Capitol on May 9.

Honolulu Arbitron Radio Ratings

The latest Arbitron ratings for the Winter period is reported in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. There are no suprises as the morning show team of Michael W. Perry & Larry Price on Clear Channel's KSSK FM & AM lead the pack of prime-time morning shows.

Overall the top 5 radio stations in the Honolulu market are:

1. KSSK 92.3 FM


2. KINE 105.1 FM


3. KRTR 96.3 FM


4. KCCN 100.3 FM


5. KPHW 104.3 FM

Ever wondered who the bottom dwellers are overall? You can see them at the Radio & Records Website. The 3 Honolulu Radio stations at the bottom of the Arbitron pile are:

• 3. KKNE 940 AM


• 2. KLHT 1040 AM


• 1. KGU 760 AM

Traditional radio listening is on the decline. How many of you regularly listen to the radio all of the time or at least some of the time?

Note: I also operate the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide website which I have redone as a blog. I will be cross posting some of the articles from that site back to this one.

Takeover at Iolani Palace

"Hawaiian Kingdom Government," one of several sovereignty organizations in the State of Hawaii, took over Iolani Palace for nearly 8 hours today. Members of the "kingdom" blocked public access to the historic palace and adjacent buildings by locking all of the gates and placing guards at each entrance. Several state workers were either locked in the fenced complex or shut out of work for the day. The Iolani Palace grounds, managed by the State Dept. of Land & Natural Resources is home for the Friends of Iolani Palace, the non-profit organization that operates the palace as a historic museum, and the Hawaii State Archives.

For the most part the takeover of the palace was a quiet if not boring event, until the gates were re-opened by the protesters shortly after 2 pm. Media, state and county officials and the public waited for most of the day for something to happen.

Critics have wondered why harsher and swifter action was not taken by officials. Potential charges of trespassing and kidnapping could be levied by officials against Hawaiian Kingdom Government.

Additional Links:

• Still a Stand-off?
• Activists Barricade Iolani Palace
• Iolani Palace Statement
• Protesters Take Over Iolani Palace
• Native Hawaiians Occupy Palace Grounds
• Group Occupies Hawaii Palace
• Did Angry Divorcee Lead Iolani Palace Takeover?

"No Trespassing" sign at the main entry to Iolani Palace.


Hawaiian Kingdom Government protester watches at King & Richard Street entry.


State Sheriffs near the backyard mall entry next to the State Capitol.

More photos at this link.

Another Costly Recycling Mandate

I hate environmentalists. They cost consumers more money every time lawmakers fall under their spell and concoct bills to "save the environment".

Think the dreadful beverage container tax. Every time consumers buy something in a beverage container, 6 cents is slapped onto the cost of the each container as an additional tax. Consumers who want to get the recycling tax back have to wash and collect the bottles and return them to a redemption center. Problem is consumers only get 5 cents back per bottle. The State of Hawaii pockets a penny on every beverage container purchase. This tax is slapped on top of the 4.72% General Excise Tax consumers pay for the product.

It has been reported that the bottle tax has allowed the state to land a multi-million windfall. It is nothing but a money grab, not an environmental law.

Now comes the new "Electronic Devices Recycling Program" in the form of SB 2843. This new bill will create a new mandate that "requires manufacturers of electronic devices to collect and recycle electronic devices. Establishes the electronic device recycling fund. Establishes a working group that includes TV manufacturers to develop a plan to recycle TVs."

This legislation will place many burdens on electronics manufacturers and retailers, both in and out of Hawaii.

The bill also establishes a new special fund to administer "all fees, payments, and penalties...." The state will collect an annual $5000 registration fee from device manufacturers.

The costs associated with this recycling mandate is certainly to be passed on to consumers. And that is very bad when Hawaii already has the rotten reputation of being one of the highest cost of living and taxed states in the union. The madness of more government mandated cost increases has to stop!

Hawaii consumers have long had opportunities to recycle their old electronic devices through several community based, volunteer recycling campaigns. Like the bottle bill, the public certainly does not need another forced mandate on recycling.

The Hawaii Electronic Devices Recycling Program is just another money grab, just like the Beverage Container Tax.

Photo: Voluntary computer recycling day.