March 27th marked the end of a weeklong celebration honoring Ke Ali’i Makaainana Prince Kuhio and his contributions to strengthening Hawaiian culture. His life and work in creating the Hawaiian Home Commission Act and in establishing the Hawaiian Civic Club have helped strengthen an enduring Hawaiian Culture. He is a shining example of Hawaii’s greatness and goodness.
Makani’aheahe also favored that day for channel swimmer Abhejali Bernadova. She began a journey to cross the Moloka’i Channel. Finishing in just under 22 hours, she is the first woman from the Czech Republic to successfully swim the Ka’iwi Channel or Moloka’i Channel. Although the swim began with calm waters off the shores of Moloka’i, nighttime brought rough waters, huge swells and man-of-war jellyfish. In spite of these challenges, she finished on the shores of Sandy Beach Park at 3:13pm on March 28th.
Abhejali‘s recent swim joins her four other successful channel swims as part of her bid to complete all seven of the world’s longest channel swims, called the Ocean’s Seven. Like the attempt by elite mountain climbers to summit the highest peak on every continent, the Ocean’s Seven is a coveted badge of honor, earned only by a select few who possess an ironclad will and tenacity of spirit. The other swims she completed so far are the English Channel, Gibraltar Straits, Catalina Channel and Tsugaru Strait.
Inspired by the example of her spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, Abhejali says her goal is to always go beyond what others might consider to be the limits of the human spirit and to show that we all possess unlimited potential to change the world in a positive way. Within each person is endless courage and resolve, she says. In the words of Sri Chimnoy: “We are all truly unlimited if we only dare to try and have faith.” Abhejali hopes to use her swimming to show that the courage within to accomplish her swimming comes from a deep sense of peace developed through her life of meditation and discipline.
An athlete, poet, writer and musician, Sri Chinmoy has composed many songs about Hawaii with expressions of the beauty of its new dawn, the delight of the Hawaiian people and its flowing affection for life.
Hawaii. Is there any place on Earth more culturally nuanced, or more diverse? Of course, not. Then why is there a long standing teacher crisis? When I’ve asked teachers if they would be interested in teaching in Hawaii, the overwhelming response has been, WHO WOULDN’T!
It’s April. New teachers are to arrive in Hawaii to begin preparing for the new school year by July 1st. My information had yet to be included into the HDOE teacher database as a prospective teacher for schools to consider hiring.
One can’t toss their belongings in a U-Haul and head down the highway to Hawaii. Relocating means selling property at a fraction of its value, paying relocation expenses that include hefty deposits for housing, automobile purchases, furnishings, and hopefully thereafter having enough funds remaining to make it to the first salary installment. These combined hurdles would probably wreak havoc on one’s credit rating, which would add to the already stressful situation of new employment, and adjusting to a new environment. The expenses alone would cause most prospective teachers to no consider working in Hawaii. Additional expenses that I would have to incur include filing visa documentation with ICE, as my wife is a citizen of Japan.
Jack Stone
I estimate that it would cost 30,000 USD to relocate to Hawaii. The HDOE doesn’t provide any financial assistance. How many people have a spare 30 grand laying around? Its recently been reported that the average American doesn’t have 400 dollars to their name.
I’ve been applying to the HDOE since December of 2016.
The HDOE application process:
The first stage for employment consideration was to submit personal data through an online web form. During this stage I spent a great deal of my time aiding the HDOE in updating the form coding as information could not be inputted including addresses, zip codes and phone numbers from international locations. (I’m an American citizen teaching abroad for the past decade.)
Once the initial step was completed, it was on to the StyleProfile Assessment. Here, a third party contractor gave 45 seconds to respond to a myriad of questions. I successfully completed this stage of the process on February 3rd, 2017.
The next stage was a face-to-face interview with a recruiting representative. This meant flying to Hawaii at my own expense, to partake in a one-hour interview. I wrote to the HDOE stating that I could not afford to fly to Hawaii to do the interview. The HDOE then scheduled an interview via telephone. I was to pay for the call.
The face-to-face, in person final interview:
The one-hour interview lasted 40 minutes. I learned the interviewer had done many interviews over the phone. If this was true, then why were teachers required to fly to Hawaii?
During the interview I was asked the same questions successfully answered in the StyleProfile Assessment. Those questions included:
“What would you do if a student was crying?”
I would find out what was wrong. Perhaps it was a bullying issue, something that happened at home, or on the playground. I’d have to determine if it was a first aid issue, or something that had to be dealt with on the administrative level.
“What job would you be doing if you weren’t working as a teacher?”
I already do it. I write and shoot photography for various publications. I’m an educational researcher and writer, and I compose music.
What if a student told you, “My father said tomatoes are fruit.” How would you respond?
The tomato is the official vegetable of New Jersey, and the official fruit of Arkansas. I wanted to share a real life teaching example, but felt there was not enough time provided to answer the question. During an oceanography class I disclosed to students that there are high levels of mercury contamination in tuna, and as a result, it is unsafe to consume. The following day a student returned to class and stated that their father had said there was no mercury contamination in tuna. I provided the student government data on the topic to share with his family, and left it at that.
“Have you ever given a student extra time?”
See response to the question above.
“What if every student in class didn’t want to do an assignment?”
Teachers have curriculum they are required to teach, regardless of a staged coup. I’ve never taught a lesson that ALL STUDENTS didn’t want to do. These kind of questions are not based on realistic teaching experiences, and call for unrealistic responses.
“What if a lesson didn’t go as well as you would have liked?”
I would reevaluate my approach to learn what I could do to improve on the topic the next time it had to be covered.
Finally, I was given time to ask questions. I had nearly two dozen prepared. Yet, after asking the second question, I sensed the interviewer wanted the matter over with. I didn’t ask any more questions. As I was saying thank you for… (your time), I was hung up upon.
That is how the third stage ended.
I was told after the face-to-face interview that I would only be considered as an emergency hire, and my application would be placed in the database pool only after “qualified” applicants were given first consideration. Qualified applicants are apparently new graduates with little to no teaching experience.
On March 13th, I received a rejection notice claiming my final interview answers were “less than satisfactory.”
My name is Jack Stone. I’m the father of a three-year-old child. I have nearly 20-years experience as a teacher and at the administrative level in both private and public education. I have a law degree, but loathe lawyers, and judges and that alone should rain multitudes of accolades upon me.
I’m looking for a teaching position. I’ve taught children as young as two, PhD holders employed by JAXA requiring security clearance, and in nearly every category in between, including elementary, high school, business, technology, law, and seminars
Any takers?
Jack Stone, a US citizen, is a Japan-based educator and writer. He can be reached at email@stackjones.com
By Tom Yamachika – This year’s legislative session, as in many others, considers many and varied forms of tax relief. Terms being bandied about include exemptions, deductions, and tax credits, and among tax credits there are the “CreditAbles” – refundable, nonrefundable, and assignable credits. This week we will take some of the mysteries out of those terms.
An “exemption” or “exclusion” describes something that normally would be subject to tax – an item of income, perhaps – and says it won’t count toward figuring your tax. A “deduction” describes something that may or may not be subject to tax in the first place – such as an expense – and will be subtracted when figuring your tax. For personal income tax purposes, for example, a payment you get from an employer to reimburse you for bills you paid on your employer’s behalf is exempt (payments from your employer are normally taxable), but interest you paid to the bank on your mortgage is a deduction.
Exemptions or deductions can be worth a little or a lot, depending on the tax rate. For state income tax where you are in the 8.25% bracket, for example, a $100 exemption or exclusion would change your tax bill by $8.25.
Tax credits don’t reduce the income on which the tax is based. Instead, tax credits reduce tax directly. Different kinds of CreditAbles work differently, however.
Refundable credits are functionally the same as cash. You can pay your tax bill with refundable credits, and if there are credits left over after all the tax is paid, the government will write you a check for the difference, just as if you paid your tax with the same amount of money. Typically, the Department of Taxation (DOTAX) doesn’t like refundable credits. They’re a lot of work, and involve more than one agency because under our system DOTAX can’t cut refund checks. Instead, a refund request needs to go through DOTAX’s checks and balances to the Department of Accounting and General Services, and those folks, after going through their own checks and balances, cut and mail the checks. I still wonder why DOTAX can’t cut its own checks.
Nonrefundable credits are a lot less work because they are like store coupons. You can pay your tax bill with nonrefundable credits, but if there are any left over after your tax for the year is paid, no check is forthcoming. Instead, you need to wait for another occasion to use the credits – next year’s tax, perhaps.
With assignable credits, the coupons can be bought and sold. The concept addresses nonrefundable credits that are earned by folks who typically don’t pay state tax, such as nonprofit charities or out-of-state organizations. A store coupon against tax is useless when you aren’t paying tax, but would be worth something to a person who does owe tax. In states that offer assignable credits, the credits typically trade at a small discount to compensate the buyer for the trouble it is going through. That’s one way a tax credit can be made valuable to a non-taxpayer without making the credit refundable.
Putting this knowledge to work, one of the earlier drafts of a bill being considered by our legislature made a certain credit refundable and assignable. We said it didn’t make sense. Who would want to buy or sell cash? Fortunately, the powers that be saw the absurdity and got rid of the assignability feature. It turned out that the bill author wasn’t thinking about having taxpayers make a market to sell the credits, but wanted something slightly different, which might be accounted for in the next bill draft.
That covers our list of CreditAbles. We trust that it will make the discussion of tax credits and incentives more understandable, and help make our tax system more tolerable.
Carleen Mackey will be at the WaikikiCommunityCenter to share her knowledge on the new future of work.
As an Emergent Workforce / Alternative Career Planning expert, Carleen’s writing and speaking is focused on helping people improve their competitive value in this fast changing, technologically advancing global economy. She is especially versed in multi-generational emergent workers looking at alternative career options as contrasted with “traditional” jobs.
“Knowledge is based on the practical premise that “work” – in all its iterations – is to the 21st Century what “jobs” were to the 20th. Learning to manage a business or a career – wherever people may live – requires new strategies and actions if people, of all ages and at all stages of their careers, are to reach, regain or retain financial independence.” — Carleen MacKay, National Keynote Speaker and Author
Carleen believes all generations must learn your greatest investment is in YOU! She says, “Your career is your business. Develop strategies to sustain your work/lives”
Learn:
How the workplace has changed & what trends support that change
Strategies to “take charge” of your work life and create new opportunities
Workers Comp is an important safety net that we should all appreciate and have a better understanding of. Please join Dr. Scott McCaffrey, Senator Matt Matsunaga, Esq. (and yes, Matt is the Son of US Senator Sparky Matsunaga) and myself as we discuss this very important program.
A State Seabird Sanctuary is being targeted by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to be aerially bombarded with rat poison, in yet another attempt to eradicate rats from the island.
According to the Environmental Assessment (EA) released in March, 2017, “Lehua Island is a 284-acre island located three-fourths of a mile off the northern shore of Niihau (a privately owned 46,080-acre island). Lehua is a state-designated seabird sanctuary managed by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and federally owned by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). Lehua is one of Hawaii’s most important seabird colonies because of its size and height above sea level. It also offers a unique opportunity for restoring an island ecosystem.”
In 2006, Lehua restoration involved the successful trapping and hunting of all of the rabbits on the island. In 2009, rat eradication using the anticoagulant rodenticide diphacinone failed. Now, they want another crack at it.
Unfortunately, success of eradication is far from certain, especially given Lehua’s steep cliff terrain. But what is certain is that there will be non-target impacts, which means lots of dead birds.
Most susceptible will be the seabird chicks, including endangered, threatened and protected species. The poison bait pellets will be distributed throughout the island to expose every single rat to high enough doses to make them hemorrhage internally, like a hemophiliac. When the pellets fall from the big hopper in the sky suspended from a helicopter, some will fall near chicks, some of which will eat the pellets.
Some other birds will eat poisoned rodents, killing them through secondary exposure. This will happen to the island’s barn owls and cattle egrets, two species of predatory birds introduced to Hawaii in the 1950’s for rodent control, but now targeted by the DLNR as invasive pests. In fact, the DLNR is currently shooting all the owls and egrets they can find on Lehua, and elsewhere, so they don’t care if the owls or egrets they miss end up getting poisoned.
To most people, the thought of sickening Albatross chicks with rat poison that makes the chicks bleed internally while experiencing pain and suffering, is enough to oppose this new attempt to eradicate rats from Lehua. But in their Environmental Assessment, the DLNR assures the reader that, “Birds consuming sublethal doses of either [the rodenticides] diphacinone or brodifacoum will experience reduced blood clotting ability, but will recover within a few days.”
Of course, no scientific evidence of their claim of recovery was provided.
They also don’t give any science about what will happen once the rats are dead and gone from Lehua. After eradicating the rabbits, invasive grass grew back, along with other invasive weeds. Rats eat ants and grasshoppers, which are a serious pest on Lehua. Ants can also attack chicks and eggs, so fewer rodents means more insect pests. And nobody knows what plants will start to grow once the rats are gone.
Ironically, the DLNR considers the invasive grass a good thing, since it prevents erosion. On the other hand, restoration of Lehua requires removal of invasive grasses.
Of course, if they could eradicate all the rats from Lehua, it may all be for nothing if new rats come back. Since the island is less than a mile from Niihau, re-infestation is a real possibility. So all the collateral damage to birds, fish, and anything else that is harmed by these poisons could all be for nothing.
That’s the case with any war. Those who make war are willing to accept that there will be casualties. We try to minimize casualties, but the fact that some innocent individuals will be victims of the war is accepted. Using this line of reasoning, it’s worth the short-term losses of seabirds in the fight against rats for the long-term benefits of the rats being gone.
But what if eradication is not necessary? What if reducing their numbers with available birth control is enough to mitigate their negative impacts on the island? In fact, birth control was mentioned as a possible alternative by the DLNR. According to the EA, “The use of hormonal treatments for the eradication of rats on Lehua Island was considered and dismissed because the current available treatments have been designed and tested for population control in urban areas and have never been used to achieve complete eradication.” In other words, it’s easier to use poisons than try something new.
According to recent reports, the rodenticide market worldwide is expected to be worth 1.23 billion USD by 2022. That’s just for rodenticides. Add other pesticides, and you can see the power and influence of the poison industry, and why poisons are the method of choice by government restorationists.
Unfortunately, the money obscures the facts, and war drums are heard beating for the eradication of rats to save the birds. Who will save the birds from the war?
And is a war really necessary? According to the EA, some seabird species on Lehua are thriving and arriving despite decades of rats and rabbits. Are rats really as bad on Lehua as we are told to believe? Will Lehua really be better off without any rats, despite still having lots of invasive plants and insects that had been controlled by the rats? Whom can you ask?
Well, you could ask the DLNR. But, unfortunately, the DLNR is the applicant on the EA, the decision-maker, and will be the implementors of the eradication. In other words, they want this done, they will be doing it, and it will take a miracle to stop them. The USDA Wildlife Services is backing them up, too. They are the part of the USDA that kills wildlife, and they use lots of rodenticide.
It should be no surprise that the EA concludes that there will be no significant impacts from their poisoning the entire island of Lehua. They do not want to do an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, which would require them to more deeply consider the impacts of their proposal. An EIS would require thoroughness that an EA does not. That’s why it’s important to comment on this EA and tell the DLNR that they should do an EIS.
Abhejali‘s recent swim joins her four other successful channel swims as part of her bid to complete all seven of the world’s longest channel swims, called the Ocean’s Seven. Like the attempt by elite mountain climbers to summit the highest peak on every continent, the Ocean’s Seven is a coveted badge of honor, earned only by a select few who possess an ironclad will and tenacity of spirit. The other swims she completed so far are the English Channel, Gibraltar Straits, Catalina Channel and Tsugaru Strait.
Carleen believes all generations must learn your greatest investment is in YOU! She says, “Your career is your business. Develop strategies to sustain your work/lives”
