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Small Business Hawaii | Volume 24 Number 7 | July 1999
Sam Slom is also a State Senator from the 8th District (Waialae Iki to Hawaii Kai)
and has a website at this URL: http://hotspotshawaii.com/sam/slom.html
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Small Business Hawaii | Volume 24 Number 7 | July 1999
Sam Slom is also a State Senator from the 8th District (Waialae Iki to Hawaii Kai)
and has a website at this URL: http://hotspotshawaii.com/sam/slom.html
Union domo and unelected 26th State Senator, Gary Rodrigues, threatened to shut down the state with strikes unless retroactive raises were paid by the state and counties. He got his (your) money. Rodrigues has bigger problems and despite denials, expect federal indictments for misuse of union dues. If you think voter fraud and conspiracy during the '98 Hawaii elections was resolved by the carefully orchestrated machine recount whitewash by Dwayne Yoshina and associates, think again; stay tuned for developments. Congressman Neil Abercrombie, radical of the 60s, anti-war/pro Hanoi protester, ardent supporter of unions and opponent of business, has come full circle (as politicians sometimes selectively do) and was last month's recipient of the National Restaurant Association's 1999 "Year of the Restaurant Award," for "his support of tourism and its impact on restaurant community, state economy." Neil, who trimmed his long hair after his campaign with Orson Swindle 3 years ago, sits quietly waiting, to fill either Dan Akaka or Dan Inouye's Senate shoes. Swindle, now a Federal Trade Commissioner in Washington, D.C., was in Honolulu for the June Rick Hamada/Bernadette Barracquio wedding and will speak at the 24th SBH Annual Business Conference in January. Computer guru and local boy made REALLY good, Guy Kawasaki, keynotes at Leeward Community College's "Doing Business Beyond 2000" conference July 6-8. Kawasaki, CEO of garage.com in Silicon Valley, speaks on "Rules for Revolutionaries." LCC celebrates its 30th anniversary. For info call 455-0344. The Governor's slick new mag , Imi Loa (see Rep. Barbara Marumoto's commentary) is financed in part by "sponsors." Publications here are having a hard time getting advertising in our economy but that's no problem for Imi Loa. If you do business with the state, are a recipient of a non-bid contract, or special legislation, I bet you would love to be a sponsor. Hawaii is proud of 14-year old Matthew Jachowski of Kalama Intermediate School on Maui, our spelling bee champion, who made it to the 5th round of the nationals (1 of 48 of the original 249 contestants). He stumbled on, "Tammanyism," referring to the Democrat Tammany Hall political machine that ran New York . Wonder what the Hawaii equivalent is? Saw the latest "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace." The real villains are members of the intergalactic Senate noted for perfidy, broken promises and treason. Fiction, right? UH scientists used jellyfish DNA to produce green, glowing, mice; maybe they can use DNA of an organism with backbone and spine to give to local politicians‹and half the voters. Gift idea: new GTE Hawaiian Telephone card with Mayor Jeremy Harris' voice‹probably explaining when he advocates raising your real property taxes paid for declining values it is NOT a tax increase, just "revenue neutral." Hawaii is one of 5 new "high intensity drug trafficking areas" says federal drug enforcement authorities. Not to worry; some local pols are happy because we'll get $700,000 more in "federal" money to combat drugs. A giant step against crime: the renewed effort in carding young viewers and "protecting" them from violent movies? Those 17 and under will be barred from R-flicks. The rating system of course is bizarre; some "R" movies have no violence at all‹bad language or partial nudity perhaps. Then there are video games, lyrics on some rap, hip-hop CDs, etc. Signature Theatres said they may card anyone who looks younger than 25. We attack symptoms rather than causes of crime. Otherwise, it would require individual responsibility for one's actions. It doesn't take a village to do that. The Governor finally got to China‹he's racking up frequent flyer miles in his lame duck years‹after his first trip (May 20) was postponed because of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. His recent trip to Japan was noteworthy; he was in the men's room when introduced to speak. I've been criticized for lack of gratitude (and non-support of using taxpayers money) for the TV series "Baywatch" as well as not crediting the Governor's role in bringing it to Hawaii (it was really April and Al Macini who got it here). I received PR of "Baywatch Fun Facts" which include the following: the series airs in 140 countries and 32 languages; it is known by other names in other countries, such as, "Los Vigilantes de la Playa" (Sand Vigilantes) in Spain; each year the stars consume, "306 pounds of body makeup; 50 gallons of sunscreen; 1,500 cases of bottled water; 900 sets of ear and nose plugs; 575 swimsuits; 230 cases of protein bars; 39 goggles and 129 surfboards." O.K. I'm throwing in my Speedo; who can say Baywatch won't help the economy? Now, about Joseph Tavares, Jr. a Hawaii Teamster recently convicted of arson fires in 1991 (also extortion and robbery, but not threats of sending a director back to the Mainland "in pieces" ) destroyed trucks and movie equipment from those not utilizing his "services." Hope no one burns the Baywatch body makeup or sunscreen. Forget the Y2K bug; a rare cave bug (amphipod) in a lava tube has halted construction of the $4 million Kauai Koloa Bypass Road. Don't forget why we celebrate the 4th of July, or the sacrifices of those who have guaranteed our freedom and independence to make the right choices and changes in Hawaii Nei. The price of freedom is still eternal vigilance.
 Small Business News comments can be addressed to:
Small Business Hawaii SBH also accepts articles relating to small business issues about its members and Hawaii. Submit your articles to SBH by the 10th of the month for publication into the next month's issue.
E-Mail:smallbusinesshawaii@yahoo.com Be sure to include the letters SBH in the subject header of any email sent to Small Business Hawaii. This requirement is due to the growing number of unsolicitated commercial email spam that the webmaster does not like.
Editor: Sam Slom
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