As another year has gone by where many have reflected upon the benefits and disadvantages of Hawai‘i statehood, many have continued advocating for sovereignty and independence.  What that means for the citizens: both Kanaka Maoli and residents; both Kingdom-era subjects who supported the monarchy and those who supported the Republic; for those whose families settled [...]

The following is from Dr. Keanu Sai’s website HawaiianKingdom.org.  I met with Keanu a couple weeks ago, shortly after the Olelo taping that is posted below. Often, when I meet with him, I have this unsettled feeling of falling into a rabbit hole, as if I had descended into Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass [...]

Every now and again I come across a story that begs to be blogged and may have little or nothing to do with Hawai’i Statehood history.  This may be one of them, simply because it is such a beautiful construction and it flies in the face of the Christian Fundamentalism and Capitalism construct so rife [...]

Craig Howe’s introduction of “The Value of Hawai’i” describes how he and Jon Osorio, the co-editors, came up with the idea of this book on one of their regular morning jogs as a means to help frame the upcoming debates in Hawaii’s upcoming 2010 elections. The content and themes of this compendium of Hawai’i issues [...]

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 [...]

Although I never had the opportunity to meet Chief Justice William Richardson, he was one of the first people to have made the interview list for the film “State of Aloha.” As a background figure to Hawaii’s larger than life Governor John Burns, Bill Richardson played a supporting role in the early years of statehood [...]

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 [...]

Are the U.S./S.Korea fabricating a story about North Korea attacking the Cheonan? On March 26, 2010, forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in an explosion that sank the Cheonan, a South Korean Pohang-class corvette of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). The ship’s primary mission was coastal patrol, with an emphasis on anti-submarine operations. An international [...]

Tonight is the premiere of State of Aloha at the Los Angeles Asian/Pacific Film Festival… This is the film that my wife, Ruth Chon edited, and I was the lead historical researcher on.  Connie Florez, one of the producers is in town, as is Anne the Director.  It should make for an interesting evening of [...]

Following are three responses Charles Ebinger posted to my questions during a Brookings Institute webchat on climate change, held on April 28th, 2010. Charles Ebinger specializes in international and domestic energy markets (oil, gas, coal and nuclear), the geopolitics of energy with a particular focus on the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Ebinger has [...]

On April 3rd, Catherine Bauknight, the director of Hawaii: A Voice For Sovereignty, put together a presentation around her film which included Geri Kuhia, Victor Gordo, Vice Mayor of Pasadena, Hula Halua Na Hua ‘O Maile, Kiowa Gordon, Leon Siu, Addie Rolnick, Christen Marquez, ‘Ehu Kekahu Cardwell, and myself. This video features highlights of that [...]

This is my response to Kuhio Vogeler’s recent posting “Two Questions that Lead to Action,” in which he lays out a frame into which we can begin to build a strategy to end occupation in Hawaii. Although there are conflicting viewpoints as to which strategy may be more effective, we seem to be at a [...]