PDHblog
This is a place for members of Progressive Democrats of Hawai‘i to express their thoughts
and exasperations about political happenings. The opinions and views are not necessarily
those of PDH's steering committee or membership as a whole.

March 30, 2010

Local Agriculture

Filed under: General, SHIPS platform, Sustainable Environment — rachel @ 3:46 pm

In our sub-group at the LG speed dating event on Saturday, one of the topics we asked most candidates about was supporting quality agriculture land. In that group, the focus was largely about the Ho‘opili development that may displace an existing farm if allowed to go forward. The concept of “food sustainability” has come up in conversations a lot lately. It seems to be on off-shoot of the standard “sustainability” buzz word that many people profess to support, yet few seem to take many tangible steps to make it a way of life.

Along those lines, for many months (years?) I have been thinking about signing up for one of those weekly vegetable boxes that some local farms offer. It is an idea that I have always liked, but never got around to implementing in my own life. Until now. A friend of mine recently used his status post on facebook to comment about his CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) vegie box that he just got from MA‘O organic farms. Since I had been thinking about it already, that prompted to me to look into it once again. This time I followed through and purchased a subscription, so will now be receiving weekly boxes of fresh produce. :D

According to CSAfarming.com, “At its heart Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects local farmers with local consumers.  These consumers help cover the farmer’s operating expenses in exchange for shares of produce grown or raised.  Shares are usually purchased via varying types of memberships or subscriptions.” I chose to go with MA‘O, partly because of the facebook-friend connection, but also because I know about their work in the community and have always admired what they do. There are other local farms that have this type of set up as well. Some are listed at this link, http://csafarming.com/hawaii-csa

If each of us does our part to support local agriculture, perhaps food sustainability can become more than just a concept in Hawai‘i. We need to push our elected officials to support saving quality agriculture land, but we also need to support those farmers ourselves as directly as possible.

January 3, 2010

Progressives Come Out Asking Obama To Do Better

Filed under: Barack Obama, Economics, General, Healthcare, National Politics — frosty @ 4:15 pm

This past Saturday, a number of progressive activists, including a number of PDHers come out to Kailua to urge President Obama to do more, to do better.

A number of us have been disappointed by his position on a number of issues, including the health care reform bill that could be much, much better, and has provisions that don’t solve the problem, but rather serve as a boondoggle for private insurance companies. While many of us strongly support a Single-Payer system of health insurance, given the political realities we’re today faced with, we were happy to settle with a ’strong’ public option, which is in danger of being excluded from the final language.

We’re also unhappy about Obama’s decision to send more troops into Afghanistan, escalating a war that’s been waging for the better part of a decade, with no end in sight.

We also haven’t seen the financial reform he promised during the campaign. Instead, its been more of the same complicit favoritism toward the same financial firms and banks who’s irresponsible practices caused the worldwide financial meltdown and current economic crisis.

Obama can and must do better.

Here’s some pictures from the morning.

June 23, 2009

a perfect PDH

Filed under: General — frosty @ 10:43 pm

its been suggested that we use this blog as a forum for brainstorming the future of progressive democrats of hawaii. seeing as i seem to have an abundance of free time during the evenings these days, i thought i’d start.

first let me tell you about my history with and dedication to PDH.

i happened to come along just as the organization was getting started and it seemed like a great opportunity for me to get involved. i jumped in with both feet, helped draft the organization’s by-laws and ran for the steering committee as soon as i had the chance. i didn’t get elected the first time around, but continued to work. (more…)

February 8, 2009

super-awesome member pledge

Filed under: General, Going Forward, HI Politics — frosty @ 6:03 pm

admittedly, the name might need work, but i think the intent is clear.

ok, so maybe not, but let me explain. joe o’brien, a PDH member and frequenter of our monthly meetings made a pledge at our last meeting that didn’t garner much discussion. that pledge was to give $20 per month for dues instead of just $20 a year. he said he’d be willing to do this if others joined him.

well, there weren’t any takers at the meeting, but i’d like to take this opportunity to thank joe for his pledge to become a super-awesome member (that’s what i’m calling it until someone comes up with something better). and to ensure that joe isn’t out on that limb all by himself, i will also pledge to pay $20 per month, as apposed to what i’ve been paying: $0…. (more…)

February 6, 2009

civil unions may be coming to hawaii…. soon

Filed under: General, HI Politics — frosty @ 12:14 pm

yesterday was a good day.  i left work early and made my way to the capitol to take part in and be witness to the house judiciary committee’s hearing on civil unions, hb444.

since the end of 2007, i’ve been working with the Family Equality Coalition. the FEC is the brainchild of a number of activists who were disappointed and disillusioned after the 2007 hearing on civil unions. the FEC, while now part of a broader coalition that includes some unions faith groups, college and community organization, was instrumental in the early stages of this process.

in december PDH officially became a member organization of the FEC…. (more…)

January 19, 2009

Silencing Dr. King

Filed under: Barack Obama, Economics, General, HI Politics, Stop War — Bart @ 11:15 am

Today, as we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, it is a proper time to reflect upon the meaning of the man’s life work and message–the challenge he made to each of us to rise to our responsibilities, get out of our comfort zone and work to stop injustice.

Dr. Martin Luther King: Struggling Not to Lose Him

Dr. King was murdered in April 1968 in an attempt to silence his voice. We cannot erase that crime and the burden it has placed upon the movement for justice. But we can resist the many “little murders” which are committed every year around his birthday as the political and economic elite, dare I say, “the ruling class,” works to silence or muffle his message. (more…)

November 20, 2008

Should Kucinich succeed Waxman on Oversight Committee?

Filed under: Dennis Kucinich, General, National Politics — Tags: , , — BobSchacht @ 2:02 pm

The Blogger known as “EmptyWheel,” who wrote the book on Scooter Libby and live-blogged his trial more effectively than anyone else, has made an interesting proposal, now that Henry Waxman seems headed over to chair the Commerce committee in place of Dingell. That is, she is proposing Kucinich to head the U.S. House Oversight  committee.  Kucinich would certainly be interesting as chair, although, as EW writes in her blog, he’d have to learn how to manage Rep. Issa as Republican Minority leader, which can be a major challenge in itself.

As an alternative to Kucinich, she is proposing Rep. Elijah Cummings. Going by seniority alone, the senior member on Oversight, after Waxman, is Edolphous Towns.  Um, yes, I don’t know anything about him either,  and neither does EW.

Wouldn’t it be fun to see Dennis with a gavel? Kucinich has a strong following here in the Isles, so perhaps some messages to Abercrombie and/or Hirono might help.

Bob

December 10, 2007

Why vote in the primaries?

Filed under: 08 Presidential Hopefuls, General, HI Politics, National Politics — BobSchacht @ 8:49 pm

We usually don’t copy whole messages for our blog here, but I want to make an exception for the following essay by David Swanson. I don’t agree with him on every single point– For example, his 7th paragraph. I believe swing voters DO exist. For example, they’re the ones who voted for George Bush in 2004 and now wish they hadn’t. But in about two months, we’re going to have our own Primary, right here in Hawaii, so let’s think a bit about why we should bother to vote, eh? Here we go: (more…)

June 15, 2007

the mythical conservative america

Filed under: General, National Politics — frosty @ 10:23 am

i imagine most of you are aware of the media matters for america organizational website, but if you’re not you should check it out because they do a good job shining the spotlight on major new media when they aren’t walking the straight and narrow, so to speak.

with all the sites i try to visit everyday, i admit i don’t go to this site very often, but i was browsing yesterday and came across a report that was put together by media matters regarding the progressive majority and the myth that america is by and large a conservative nation.

personally, i’ve felt this way for a while, though clearly didn’t have this kind of data to back up my ‘hunch’. a similar (maybe in a more playful way) approach to this subject is taken up by Thomas Frank in his book What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. of course, it’s a great book that i recommend (if you ask nicely, i may let you borrow mine).

anyway, the report, titled The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative American Is a Myth, is quite insightful (or at least i think so) and is full of statistics gathered over years by nonpartisan sources. while i’ve still got a bit to get through, i thought i’d share.

while, as they say, the devil is in the details, and while this report doesn’t (at least not yet) go into details regarding issues, the numbers don’t lie.  the majority of the people in this country are at least progressive leaning, even if they wouldn’t use the term ‘progressive.’  i think this report is just what progressive need to direct the conversation away from the conservative talking heads and even mainstream news media.  i think this is a report everyone should read, especially those who don’t already call themselves progressives (i call myself a liberal, but mostly to annoy people).

how can we begin framing the national debate in terms of what this report presents?  i’ve already started thinking about….

October 16, 2006

all shook up

Filed under: General — rachel @ 11:17 am

what a crazy, interesting day it was yesterday!

i was woken by the shaking and rattling, but didn’t bother to go outside. we managed to go online and see the first estimates of location and strength before the power went off. our cat was super freaked out. i talked to my dad on the big island and found out that they had it WAY worse than we did. all the glass in their house was broken, piano walked into the middle of the room, crack in the driveway, roads closed. as we drove to waikiki to attend a memorial service for our paddling coach who died during the molokai crossing 1-yr ago, we noticed a lot of people outside talking to each other and looking dazed. we paddled out to the ocean and spread flowers, then spent much of the day eating and drinking with paddling friends. drove through waikiki and saw all the lines at the abc stores… then went to the little market on mccully and algaroba to buy beer with no line. stopped at a friend’s house for a bbq, then the lights came back on right after dark. all in all, it was a pretty nice day. having no power seemed to force people to go outside and interact with each other. a friend commented that it would be nice to have days without power on a more regular basis!

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The opinions and views are not necessarily those of PDH's steering committee or membership as a whole.
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