Vacation rentals and Bed and Breakfasts permitting has been such a contentious issue here on Oahu. The current rules are ineffective, unenforceable and archaic. The opponents proposal is to add "tools" for enforcement only. They did not consider the financial impact on Oahu economy as a whole. Similar action in Maui produced disastrous result and ultimately failed. Unscrupulous individuals, recognizing that state agencies have not been enforcing current law, are not complying with vacation-rental and tax requirements. We cannot attempt to address this problem by punishing those who are compliant with current law by stripping them of their opportunities and freedoms. It doesn’t matter where the property owner resides, the property is in Hawaii and therefore the existing laws of the state that admirably uphold constitutional and trade-agreement provisions must be enforced. Allowing permitting along with enforcement of reasonable rules address both issues of enforcement and its financing. Hawaii residents would like their neighborhoods to be places where they can expect enjoyment of their free time. They’d like their communities, and those of their friends and families, to have the services and support that make them good places to live, work, and explore. Owners of legal vacation-rental properties share these values, but we recognize there are some owners who do not. Rather than penalize all, we need to identify and address the owners who do not operate within their social license. Owners of legal Hawaii vacation rental property contribute to the state’s ability to offer the accommodation choices of any globally significant tourist destination in the competitive tourism marketplace. We would appreciate an end to the special-interest lobby-based bills that arise each year. Such bills harm what Hawaii stands for and threatens its economic future. Support Resolution 15-72 Support Resolution 15-86

In many states throughout the country, LGBTQ individuals are still denied basic legal protections on the statewide and federal level. It is legal in Indiana to eject an LGBTQ person from a hotel or restaurant, deny them housing, refuse to hire them, deny them a promotion in the workplace, and even terminate their employment solely on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Unfortunately, the lack of statewide protections create a patchwork of "safe" and "unsafe" states throughout the country. While LGBTQ individuals may be protected in their home state, that is not necessarily the case if they leave to visit a friend or relative. The introduction of Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bills also compound the issue by threatening to allow religious extremists to ignore existing local ordinances that offer protections to the LGBTQ community. RFRA bills will also grant a "license to discriminate" that allows any person or business to deny service provided that they can proclaim a sincerely-held religious belief.

America’s political system is ramping up for the 2016 presidential election. The two leading candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties are Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, respectively. Each has formed a leadership political action committee (PAC) to prepare for a run. Both are expected to announce their candidacies in the coming weeks. The Bushes and Clintons served at the pinnacle of American power without interruption for three decades beginning with Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1981. They remain as power brokers even while holding no political office; Bill Clinton serves as the de facto head of the Democratic Party. Some are concerned that potential Democratic candidates are holding back for fear of the long shadow cast on the party by the Clintons. The Bush family, too, maintains a position of power within the Republican Party. Jeb Bush has been depicted as waiting “his turn” while his brother served as president. Now, with his family and its powerful supporters behind him, his nomination is highly probable. Arthur M. Schlesinger warned forty years ago in “The Imperial Presidency” of an alarming concentration of power in the Executive Branch of the federal government. Despite this warning, power has continued shifting to the presidency at an accelerating pace. Consolidating presidential power further by limiting choice to two families is a major threat to the republic and the interests of its citizens. In the eyes of many the democratic principle of power shared among the citizenry through universal suffrage is in jeopardy. Our political system is intended to bestow equality through the voting process, but the reality is that powerful moneyed elites drive the choices put before the voters in major elections. After elections, those same few advance their priorities through direct and indirect influence that results from financial support of campaigns. The Bushes and Clintons, historically entrenched in this distorted system, are not likely to confront it. On a cultural level, the political division within the country is personified by the Bushes and Clintons. They depend on ideological polarity to muster support and gain the levers of power. To select Bush and Clinton as the party nominees for the 2016 election is to assure continued bitter division in the country for another four to eight years. It is time to move on to new and fresh ideas and faces. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, it is clear to see that the nation’s interest is best served by moving away from these two families. Visit http://www.nobushclinton2016.com for stickers and additional information.

This block of Eddy Street is a major location for Tenderloin street drug dealing and we believe that a trial removal of parking on the Northern side of the block will disrupt the drug activity that uses these parked cars to hide drug sales and use. Parking was removed from Turk Street, one block away, and drug activity significantly declined. We hope to replicate that experience on Eddy Street and increase safety and improve the quality of life on the block.

As a biker, we cannot use blue or red under-body lights because they are police colors, but the lights are not flashing. There are headlights that flash like the police but those are OK, but under-body lights that glow on the road and around you are not. Please let's get this changed. Let us have a safer ride so everyone can see us at night as well.

The performance of Prince George's County's Animal Management Division has been held up as a bad example at national conferences on animal sheltering. An increasing number of our pets are being exported outside of the county to non-profit organizations while the adoption rate has remained flat at about 10% for decades. Residents of the county avoid use of the facility in spite of the brand new building, consequently the compliance rate for licensing (and certification of rabies vaccination) is about 8%. This puts residents of our county at risk. The present trajectory is not acceptable or sustainable. It's time for the change that was promised.

FORCED ADOPTION AND ILLEGAL ACTS AGAINST CITIZENS IN FAMILY COURT,FAILED TO REPORT SEXUAL CRIMES BY COURT OFFICERS

Johanna is being held hostage in Missouri Foster Care over a malpractice cover up, a false hotline report, and fraudulent removal for county funding. She has been abused in foster care and never abused at home prior to foster care. She has had her mouth busted, a 90 -min seizure in the Christian County Mo. foster Care. She was left with Foster father alone at time of seizure. This child never had a seizure before foster care! She has never been around strangers. The foster mother signed for a spinal tap, they never called us. We have proof they never called. The foster Mother signed for spinal tap without parental permission.! The tap was not successful so a second spinal tap was done!! She was 16 months old at the time and having a stress tachycardia! The caseworkers never called us and she could have died. She is grieving for us we have videos of her grieving for us at CPS visits. The caseworkers signed that we could not visit her in hospital. The Foster Parent's attorney yelled, "I don't care," at the courthouse when I complained about his client and the abuse to my grandchild. Johanna has had her Mouth busted and pink eye more than once. I believe she is being molested in foster care. I now have been forced to file suit against the State. Someone must stand up to the state of Missouri and Gov. Nixon about this abuse of power and fraud, abuse to my grandchild by their lousy system. The complaint advocate is under their paycheck too. M. Bower, 2015. for Truth and Justice in Missouri , (see the facts on Saving Johanna on Facebook, view the foster abuse pictures. )

It is important to encourage all citizens to vote, and it is the responsibility of those with legislative and enforcement power to eliminate barriers and develop simple and easy methods for citizens to register and vote.

Imagine seeing your child for only 56 hours a month! You could see them more often, but the other parent has too much power and won't let you see your child for no reason other than to cause you emotional turmoil. However, they will let someone else see your child more than you. This needs to stop. EQUAL CUSTODY will end this pain.

For the last 6 years,the DOE has given permits to Adult Sports Leagues to use Lower East Side school playgrounds for their games locking out local parents and their kids. These games go on for hours 5 days a week with 50 players at any given time. The adult games taking place on D.O.E. property have little to do with socializing through sports and more with socializing centered around binge-drinking culture where "teams" are encouraged to chronicle their drinking on game nights and off-nights, on Facebook and Instagram, in order to win a $100.00 bar tab for having the "team with the best bar spirit". If the DOE is truly for "Kids first" then they need to revoke these permits for private use immediately.

As a caring human being, and an atheist, I am horrified that Phil Robertson's comments go unchallenged and unremarked. The A&E organization directly funds the continuation of a television show lionizing this man and his family, and gives legitimacy to his hatred. That it was offered as an example of proper Christian behavior towards unbelievers is abhorrent and beyond the norms of civilized human behavior.