Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

I hung on to this bill just in case it might be useful one day, at least for anyone here or elsewhere contemplating introducing state legislation leading to a single payer healthcare system.

Times are different now. In 2007 we had a different healthcare environment. Still, the language may be useful to others, and I’m reluctant to just throw this in the trash.

So if you might need it, download this and tuck it away somewhere on your hard drive.

Download HB1598 Single Payer Universal Healthcare System from Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

It may be true: voters have notoriously short memories. But not all of us.

A recent Star-Advertiser story put Hawaii Congressional District 1 candidate Ed Case in the lead with 36% of likely voters expected to choose him if the election were to be held today. But do those expected voters remember how Case performed when he served in Congress years ago?

Below is a video that could help refresh voter memories, and perhaps inspire a review of the fiscally-conservative Democrat’s ability to represent voters in the district.

Case is the only candidate in this race that has a Congressional voting record. But he entered the race late—pulling papers just a day before the filing deadline. The primary is August 11, with mail-in voting taking place earlier. His late entry gives voters only a short time to review his record.

Case said his years on Capitol Hill give him the advantage.

"I think voters remember my record, mostly they remember it favorably and I think they know what my leadership has been in Congress and in the state for many years,” Case said.

[Hawaii News Now, Ed Case joins crowded race for Congress, but some see him as a front-runner, 6/5/2018]

How many voters will actually do the research? Very few. It will be up to reporters to dig if they wish and remind us (hint).

“Case Amendment” leads to nationwide protests

One specific action that put Case in the national spotlight was his introduction of the so-called "Case Amendment" to the re-authorization bill for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The amendment threatened the education of students across the country and led to widespread protests.

It was Hawaii's school superintendent Pat Hamamoto who suggested that Case put in his amendment. It was simple and nefarious in its potential to effectively deprive special education students of the services they require to benefit from public education. Hawaii was still in the throes of its then decade-long Felix Consent Decree which was costing its Department of Education dearly as it struggled to conform to court orders requiring the state to follow state and federal laws protecting special-education students.

The amendment was fiendishly clever. If it had become part of the re-authorization of the IDEA, it would have neutered not only the Felix Consent Decree and given the finger to Judge David Ezra, but would have stripped families nationwide of their ability to protect students’ rights.

The amendment provided that attorneys’ fees for successful litigants in special-ed cases be awarded not by courts as in every other civil case, but by the usual defendant, the state governor.

Special ed cases are often very complex and require attorneys with special knowledge and the willingness to take on well-financed opposing counsel. Had the Case Amendment become law it would have discouraged attorneys from taking special education cases. Parents of special ed students who do not have attorneys seldom prevail in court or at due process hearings. Regardless of the law, parents would be unable to enforce violations.

Schools, school districts and state governments saw a way to evade the costs of providing for the needs of these children and supported the amendment with their full economic force. Parents protested at the grassroots level.

It took a long time before the amendment ultimately failed.

As far as I know, this video is the only record of a protest held in Honolulu. It took place on April 23, 2003.

“President Cleveland further concluded that a "substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair" and called for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy.”

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by Larry Geller


Cannon on the steps of the occupied Iolani Palace


On July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawaii was declared, with Sanford B. Dole as president. The illegal overthrow of the independent nation of Hawaii was complete.
Yes, although your daily paper may want you to forget this, it is history that should not be ignored. There’s even a federal law confirming the truth of the history they refuse to print.
From the Apology Resolution, United States Public Law 103-150:

Whereas, in a message to Congress on December 18, 1893, President Grover Cleveland reported fully and accurately on the illegal acts of the conspirators, described such acts as an "act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress", and acknowledged that by such acts the government of a peaceful and friendly people was overthrown... President Cleveland further concluded that a "substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair" and called for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Whereas, the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people or over their national lands to the United States, either through their monarchy or through a plebiscite or referendum.

A treaty of annexation was never passed by Congress, and President Grover Cleveland withdrew the treaty. Then on this day in history…

On July 4, 1894, the archipelago's new leaders responded to this rebuff by proclaiming a Republic of Hawaii, with Sanford Dole as president. Under its constitution, most legislators would be appointed rather than elected, and only men with savings and property would be eligible for public office. This all but excluded native Hawaiians from the government of their land… [From Overthrow, a book by Stephen Kinzer]

What was the motivation? Need you ask? Why is the US in Iraq?From the Washington Post review of Overthrow:

As Stephen Kinzer tells the story in Overthrow, America's century of regime changing began not in Iraq but Hawaii. Hawaii? Indeed. Kinzer explains that Hawaii's white haole minority -- in cahoots with the U.S. Navy, the White House and Washington's local representative -- conspired to remove Queen Liliuokalani from her throne in 1893 as a step toward annexing the islands. The haole plantation owners believed that by removing the queen (who planned to expand the rights of Hawaii's native majority) and making Hawaii part of the United States, they could get in on a lucrative but protected mainland sugar market. Ever wonder why free trade has such a bad name?

The road leading up to the declaration of the Republic of Hawaii was rocky, and can’t be summed up in a short blog article. Did you know, for example, that a US Senate investigation revealed that a bribe had been offered to Queen Liliuokalani to turn against her people and support the Republic? This snip is from a New York Times article on the Senate investigation, dated 1/29/1894:

The declaration of the Republic was not a single, static event. There was considerable debate in Congress on resolutions condemning the overthrow and proposed annexation. For example, this snip from the 1/25/1894 New York Times will give you an idea of the complexity that we lose in simplifying Hawaii’s history:

Each article is much longer than the snips above. It would be worthwhile to skim the New York Times for a complete account of the Congressional debate. No doubt this has already been done. If not, the articles are available on-line for the harvesting..
If you’re not familiar with Hawaiian history, beware of websites that work hard to re-write it. The true picture of the overthrow is not pretty, nor can the acts of the US government be justified or whitewashed. Google cautiously.
Let your children know that there is more to July 4 than barbeques and fireworks. It is a holiday that tears people apart here in Hawaii. See how you can work this history into your celebrations and festivities, so that it will never disappear.