Small: “Equity,” “green energy,” produce bad results

“Equity,” “green energy,” produce bad results

By Jonathan Small

Public policy advanced primarily to gain social-media applause rather than improve people’s lives can have disastrous consequences, as seen recently in Hawaii.

In Hawaii, concerns about “equity” combined with promotion of “green” energy to create conditions where a wildfire could harm thousands and (apparently) kill hundreds. There were numerous steps along the way that could have prevented this tragedy. But policymakers never took those steps because of misplaced focus.

The wildfire is believed to have been caused by power lines that sparked a blaze in tall grass. The reason those conditions existed is due, in part, to politicians’ desire to campaign as opponents of hypothetical “climate change.”

Hawaii Senate passes bill to force pro-life centers to refer for abortion

Some disturbing news from Hawaii on abortion:

Hawaii's Push for Pro-Lifers' Abortion Advertisement Passes Senate Vote

Sailing through the Democrat-controlled senate on a 22-3 tally, a Hawaiian bill that would force the state’s five pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise taxpayer-funded abortions was sent along to the house Tuesday in Honolulu.

Patterned along similar lines with a 2015 law in California that is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as this year, the Hawaiian senate bill (SB 501) was originally introduced with a parallel house bill, which was on hold as the senate bill went through.

Planned Parenthood Northwest and Hawai i— which is currently suing an Idaho pregnancy center over use of a shared parking lot — has been a vocal supporter of the legislation

“In its rush to appease Big Abortion, the Hawaii legislature is running roughshod over the First Amendment rights guaranteed to its own citizens,” Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International—an affiliation network that includes Hawaiian centers—said. “If the state can force its own people to violate their own deeply held religious convictions by advertising for abortions, then free speech and free religious exercise are effectively dead.”

Leaders at pro-life pregnancy help organizations on the islands—who receive no state funding whatsoever—had testified against the bill at an earlier senate hearing, but their written testimony was held back from the senate’s Ways and Means Committee ahead of its vote last week.

Pro-life advocates, including National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) vice president Anne O’Connor, said the breach of protocol ahead of the Ways and Means Committee vote indicated the state’s disregard for the First Amendment’s guarantee of citizens’ rights to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Ironically, that breach underscores the law’s clear intent to trample on the First Amendment rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, O’Connor argued, calling the censorship—intentional or not—“mind-boggling in our democracy.”

The bill as it currently stands would threaten pregnancy centers with a $500 first-time penalty and a $1,000 penalty for future infractions, forcing them to post or disseminate the following notice to women seeking care at their facilities:

"This clinic does not provide abortion services or abortion referrals.  Only ultrasounds    performed by qualified healthcare professionals and read by licensed clinicians should be considered medically accurate.  Hawaii has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services including all FDA-approved methods of contraception, prenatal care, and abortion for eligible women.  To apply for medical insurance coverage that will cover the full range of family planning and prenatal care services, apply on-line at mybenefits.hawaii.gov.”

Read more here.

From another article on TheResurgent, NIFLA President Thomas Glessner (a Supreme Court-approved bar attorney) said, "The Hawaii effort to suppress free speech is especially concerning because one of the state’s pro-life centers is housed in a church — which means the church itself would be forced to refer for abortions. This is an egregious violation of religious freedom."

The Democratic Party holds all 25 seats in the Hawaii State Senate (the only state legislative chamber with no minority party).

Dear Mr. President...

Dear Mr. President,

First of all, let me start of by congratulating you on your victory last November. Even until that last day, I thought that your opponent, John McCain, would pull it out. You proved me wrong.

Having said that, I did not vote for you, and if given the opportunity again, would still not vote for you. In fact, I would work even harder to defeat you. Your policies and beliefs are so counter to those of mine, and I might add, most Americans, that I would have no alternative than to oppose you with all of my strength.

Now, to get to the point of this missive.

I have one simple request of you. Could you please produce your original birth certificate?

Before you throw this in the trash, let me say that I never have really believed the theory that you don't have a birth certificate, and are an illegal alien born in Kenya or Indonesia. I've always thought that there was a logical reason - perhaps you just didn't feel obligated to pay attention to the tabloids and conspiracists, which I can understand.

However, your lack of cooperation has fueled the fires of rumor and gossip. Just one day this past week, I talked to four different people within fifteen minutes who stated that you are an illegal immigrant with no birth certificate.

Frankly, it's annoying, and I am tired of it all. Please, would you just put all of these rumors to rest, and show the world your original Hawaiian birth certificate?

That is, unless you...