One Big Hawaii Photography Thread

Post photographs you took yourself - no cheating. Doesn't matter if they are vacation, scenic, friends or family etc.


Lanai Point, Oahu - Final Resting Place of Barack Obama's Mother


Pololu Valley, Big Island.


Off trail inside Diamond Head, Oahu.


Waikiki and Honolulu by night from the top of Diamond Head, Oahu.


Maunawili Valley and a bit of Kawainui Marsh, Oahu


Spirit Leap (leina a ka ‘uhane) near Kaena point where some Hawaiian belief holds one departs to the afterlife.


Me at Lanai Point. How big? This big!

Would you believe me if I told you I took all of these (except for the portrait) with a 5 year old cellphone camera?

Toons: Leaving Iraq, Safe Driving, the Worlds Most Exclusive Club and more. 12/15/11

Toons: Trumpmas, Bigotry, Occupy God, and more. - 12/14/11

Frank De Lima

Frank Wilcox Napuakekaulike De Lima[1] (born July 8, 1949), a popular comedian from Hawaii, is considered by some media sources to be the most sought after comic in the state. With a Portuguese, Hawaiian, Irish, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Scottish heritage, he is known for light-hearted "Portagee" (Hawaiian Pidgin English for "Portuguese&quot slurs in his routine. In Honolulu, he attended the Cathedral Elementary School, Damien Memorial High School, and Saint Stephen Minor Seminary, later graduating with Bishop Clarence Silva of Honolulu at St. Patrick Archdiocesan Seminary in Menlo Park, California. He was subsequently ordained a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church, serving at Holy Trinity Church, Kuliouou, Honolulu. He remains a devout Catholic.

As a service to the community, De Lima also administers the Frank De Lima Student Enrichment Program. Through the Enrichment Program, Frank travels around Hawaii to various schools to perform motivational speeches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_De_Lima

Toons: Santa, Mittens, an Invented People and more. 12/13/11

Democracy for America Training

I went to one of these in the Spring of 2005 in Portland, OR and found it to be very useful for learning nuts and bolts grassroots campaign. My trainer Arshad Hasan is now Executive Director of DFA; he has a ridiculous amount of energy. You can catch his weekly updates on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/democracyforamerica

Has anyone else gone to a DFA Training?

DFA Campaign Academy Schedule (2012 coming soon): http://www.democracyforamerica.com/campaignacademy
January 28-29 - Bloomington, IN is good to go.

Request DFA Training for your Democratic/progressive group (at least 4 months ahead): http://www.democracyforamerica.com/activities/413-dfa-campaign-academy-application

DFA Training Curriculum: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/pages/1911-training-curriculum

DFA Campaign Academy Alumni Stories: http://democracyforamerica.com/pages/1887-dfa-training-stories

DFA Training Manual PDF Sections: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/trainingmanual2009dfa

Sample:

Walt Chappell, Kansas Board of Education District 8

Kansas City, MO Training - May 2008

In a heavily Republican state, I was the only Democrat in Sedgwick County to win who was not an incumbent. This included all judge, legislative, county commission, sheriff, county clerk and registrar of deed candidates. Learn more about my campaign at http://www.chappell4ksboe.com. Like Obama, I built a broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters. However, I received 45,251 votes to beat my Republican opponent with less than $11,500 in contributions from 116 small donors. I will be glad to share the details of my winning campaign strategy if it would be helpful to other candidates.

The DFA training that I received in Kansas City plus the online Night School sessions was practical, effective and presented by people who have actual experience winning elections. My own campaign team was made up of dedicated and determined DFA-Wichita volunteers who gave good advice and worked hard. We created a Message of Change that voters could believe in. I encourage any Democrat who is running a campaign to participate in DFA training if they want to win their election.

Howard Dean, Speeches, Campaign Press Releases, Interviews and more...

This extensive collection goes up until 2008 and is the best accumulation I've found on the web.

http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/Dean_Speeches.htm

Please post what you find in the 1,000 Posts to Applaud Howard Dean Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/11051 - I've locked this thread so we'll make it!

Enjoy!

Here's a favorite of mine from the 2005 Winter DNC Meeting when Howard was elected Chairman:

You've given me enormous responsibility, but it's a responsibility that we share. We can change the party, but only by working together and competing in all 50 states and territories. [Cheers and applause] We can change the party, but only by working together and becoming a national party again. We can change this party, but only by working together at the local level, because if we want to win nationally we have to start by winning locally.

[Applause]

With your help, I'm certain that today will not mark the end of the process of selecting a DNC chair; today will be the beginning of the reemergence of the Democratic Party.



[Applause]

We have a lot of work to do. We have a bright future, exemplified by other candidates, the other candidates who had joined me in this race, and I want to thank all these great Democrats for having competed, 'cause I learned something from every one of them. [Points to someone off camera] I thank you [inaudible-- "wes"?]

[Applause]

"...he has given this party so much..."



[speaks slowly and emphatically] And I want to thank Terry McAuliffe. He has given... [Applause] ...He has given this party so much, every waking day for the past four years of his chairmanship, and he's given us something else. A party in strong financial shape, with an infrastructure to meet the challenges of the future. This is no small gift.

I can't tell you how ironic it is for us to be side by side two years later, and me telling you that I have learned a great deal from a man I am proud to call my friend, and every Democrat in this room owes an enormous debt to Chairman Terry McAuliffe. Thank you so very much.

[Applause. McAuliffe gets up from his chair and he and Dean shake hands warmly.]


Dean: We're gonna build on his work. Among the first things I will do is to establish a budget and finance committee that's inclusive. [Scattered cheers and applause]

I want to thank others as well. Most important, my family-- I would not be here, not only without their support, or their belief in a more just and fair America. And I want to thank my wife Judy for her patience, and her love, and she is here today. Judy, would you please stand and be recognized?

Dr. Judy Steinberg Dean

[There are cheers and applause. Judy stands up briefly, smiling bashfully, then goes to sit right back down again.]

Dean: [coaxingly] Stand up.

[Judy stands back up, smiling broadly. The audience comes to their feet as they continue to applaud her.]



http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/DNC_WinterMeetingFull_Feb12_2005.htm

Toons: $10,000, Putin, and the Republicans and more. 12/12/11

One Big Hawaiian Music Thread

Please post any Hawaiian music you like in this thread (Jawaiian and contemporary is okay too )

Let's start with:

Charles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui (April 22, 1921 - October 13, 1980) was a slack-key guitarist.

Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s. It was impoverished at the time, very much resembling a shanty-town with small cluttered buildings and tin roofs falling apart.[citation needed] He spent his childhood supporting his family by selling newspapers and shining shoes. He dropped out of school after 5th grade at Pokukaina School.

-------

The Hawaiian Renaissance of the '70s launched a cultural reawakening of all things Hawaiian. Gabby played an important part in the rise of this Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance. First there were the albums recorded through the 1960s with the enormously popular and influential Sons of Hawaii, which he started with `ukulele virtuoso Eddie Kamae: their self-titled debut album (Hula HS 503, 1961); Music of Old Hawai`i (Hula HS 506, 1964); and Folk Music of Hawai`i (Panini 1001, 1971).

As he enjoyed his new success in the '70s, his life-long drinking and a bad road crew accident left his health failing. He retired from road work but took up teaching in the City and County's cultural programs.
He died in 1980 at the age of 59.

The Honolulu Star Bulletin Newspaper stated about Pahinui "The thing about Gabby Pahinui," says DeSoto Brown, a Hawaiian cultural-history expert whose brother worked with Pahinui, "was not only that he was an outstanding musician and entertainer, and a central figure -- maybe THE central figure -- of the Hawaiian Renaissance in the '70s, but that he was an inspiration to others. Thousands of Hawaiian kids learned that they were worthy as a people because of Gabby's example."[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabby_Pahinui

This one is in English, the rest are in Hawaiian:

Libya's new battle is getting young people into jobs

By Katy Watson Business Reporter, BBC News, Tripoli
11 December 2011 Last updated at 11:01 ET

It is a sunny winter afternoon in downtown Tripoli. Martyrs' Square - known as Green Square under Gaddafi rule - is bustling again.

Libyans are returning to their daily lives after a brutal year of fighting and watching over them is twenty-three-year old Abdul Aziz Masood.

Sat in the driver's seat of his battered pick-up truck, he's armed with a 20-year-old sniper rifle.

Life for Abdul Aziz has changed dramatically. This time last year he was a student. But now he's taken on a new job - he says he needs to protect Libya until stability returns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16110295

It's a really interesting article on post-conflict transition. Many of the same dynamics are relevant to gang life in America. Hope you find it thought provoking. Please discuss the subject of the article and not the whole on-running debate over "intervention" in Libya.