That Hawaii’s governor Linda Lingle (R) should so curiously veto HR444, and rest the decision of Civil Unions on the people in a referendum seems an obvious attempt at building a Republican base. It is absurd that civil rights should ever be put through a referendum– rights are to protect minorities, referendums are to give voice [...]

Having just compiled an original study breaking down a precinct-by-precinct analysis of Hawaii’s statehood plebiscite, it is important that we come to understand the process through which the state continues to assert that 94.6% of Hawaii’s population voted for statehood in 1959. This posting follows an earlier series of posting critical of the plebiscite. While [...]

Please take a moment to sign a petition opposing HR2499, the Statehood for Puerto Rico Bill.  It looks like it’s going to be heard in the House in a couple of weeks and  it is certainly worth adding our names to the petition to keep in solidarity with the PR independence groups. In addition, you [...]

Assigning credit where credit is due, I am obliged to give Mr. Conklin his due for the development of a story based on correspondences between the U.N., the Department of State and the U.S. Congress that I’ve been discussing regarding Hawaii’s plebiscite and its controversial removal from the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. In [...]

The story by which Hawaii became a state in 1959 usually mythologizes a heroic effort by the Statehood Commission and the lobbying efforts of Territorial representative John Burns, and highlights the hurdles that Congress confronted before eventually voting for Hawaii’s statehood. These hurdles mainly involve racist bigotry and communist allegations along with various facets of [...]