The incumbent democratic senator from Hawaii, Akaka, looks like he is very close to losing his seat in the primaries. Why?


DEM: Akaka(i)-47%, Case-45%

There are two major issues in the islands.

One, jobs and the perception that the good work goes to the Haole!
Two, and more important, is the rising strength of the push for Hawaiian autonomy.
The simple fact is the US Stole the Islands from the Hawaiians, and they did so literally days before the Brits could steal them for them selves.

The History of Hawaii is a very strong condemnation of American imperialism!

HI. is asking for autonomy from who? The U.S.? Hey maybe we can get Alaska to pull out, oh wait, then they wouldnt get billions of dollars in porkbarrel funding from Uncle Sugar.

Hawaiians were never asked if they wanted to join the US.
In fact, when the question came to a vote, Island natives were prohibited from voting!

All of what Sky says is true, and Akaka often takes a conservative side:

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_cat...ry=Conservative

This was interesting...Do Hawaiian Dems see Akaka as being a bit like Joe Lieberman?

Catherine

There is a reasonable possibility that Hawaiian natives could file suit and claim autonomy from the US.
For the most part though, the courts have chosen to back the imperialism and not the native Hawaiians.
But that could always change someday.
The US response to the indignant Natives, has been to close and turn over military bases to them.

For a complete description of the Hawaiian imperialist experience along with those of Cuba, Iran, The Philipeans, etc, I would suggest reading Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer.

Not an advertisement. This is an outstanding survey of American Imperialistic tendencies. Highly recommended reading.

While it pretty much covers the same info as in "Overthrow", here it is in video fomat:

Hawaii's Last Queen

On January 16, 1893, four boatloads of United States Marines armed with Gatling guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition came ashore in Honolulu, capital of the independent Kingdom of Hawaii. As the Royal Hawaiian band played a concert at the Hawaiian Hotel, 162 troops marched through the streets of Honolulu, heading for the palace. The Queen of Hawaii, Lili'uokalani, looked down from her balcony as the troops took up their positions.

The following day, she surrendered at gunpoint, yielding her throne to the government of the United States.

Produced and released in 1997 by The American Experience documentary series broadcast on TV by PBS, 53 mins.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13786.htm

Defending Hawaii part 1

Defending Hawaii part 2

GEn. Eric Shineski, who is a native Hawaiian, was a critic of this deadly ineffectual policy of Rumsfeld's and Wolfowitz's that a lightweight force could storm Iraq and then control Iraq.

It was enough to storm it and if Shineski had of been listened to and 300,000 to 400,000 troops were in place then perhaps the country would not be a cauldron of violence today.

Sorry to go OT.