Glad to see Mary's comments today. Thank you. I want to point out again though that the really cruxy Hawaii Island Journal article of Keala Kelly's is the one from October 16, 2003, where she details the relationship between the Hawai'i senators, Senator Stevens of Alaska, ANWR and the Akaka Bill--"Native Senators and Oil." This was the breaking article for this issue. Go to www.hawaiiislandjournal.com archives to read the article. all best, gabe

A comment from Keala: "Senator Stevens has conveniently bought support from Inouye and Akaka to destroy the environment in ANWR and
Inouye and Akaka get Stevens' support to destroy the environment in Hawai'i via the Akaka-Stevens Bill. How? Because the Akaka Bill opens up more land for the already out of proportion military expansion. And the military destroys every piece of land it inhabits. Hawai'i is the endangered species capital of the world, with more endangered species habitat per square mile in some areas than anywhere else on the planet. And the military industry is the largest threat to endangered species habitat in hawai'i."

Besides the Akaka-Stevens bill quid pro quo, the other reason why Inouye voted to open the arctic wildlife refuge for oil companies is military pork. A report from budget and watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, finds that "members of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee received 65 percent of all Senate earmarks. Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, led the way with $694.45 per person, for a total of $434.5 million, followed by Defense Appropriations ranking member Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, with $382.84 per person in his state and $463.8 million total."

Here's a few fun facts about the military in Hawaii:

• Hawai'i is one of the most militarized groups of islands in the world.
• The military controls over 20% of all land in the Hawaiian Island chain.
• The military population makes up over 11% of the state of Hawai'i, as opposed to less than 1% of the U.S. population.
• The U.S. Army secretly tested chemical, biological, and deadly nerve gas agents in Hawai'i watershed/forest reserve areas, facts repeatedly denied but later confirmed.
• Currently 7.1 million live rounds of various weapons are fired annually on sacred Hawaiian lands at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on the Big Island of Hawai'i.
• More than 400 square miles (250,000 acres) on Hawai'i Island may contain live arms and other military toxins and should be considered military hazard areas.
• In 1995, there were 405 toxic sites in 122 military facilities statewide.

Then there is the entire island of Kahoolawe that had the crap bombed out of it by the Navy for a couple decades or so.

Also see the website Keala put up on the Akaka bill connection at:

http://www.cnhaexposed.org

And here's the article Gabrielle is referring to:

Natives, Senators and Oil

The connection between drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Akaka Bill.

http://hawaiiislandjournal.com/stories/10b03a.html

Correction to my comments above - the cnhaexposed.org website was not put up by Keala Kelly. Although it uses her articles, she is not associated with it.