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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0745.015 2010-2012 Page 1 of 1 Pi CPU NCZL Murashige, Laura COMM. 746 PubI1G litarin5 From: Kaleopono [kaleopono @hawaii.rr.com] Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 5:16 PM ,y. r n� To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: Bill 266 Draft 3 (regarding ag and tourism) Aloha. I and my partner Janice M. Bovard operate a small (7-acre) macadamia nut and avocado farm on Kamehameha Schools leasehold land in Keauhou Mauka, Holualoa, HI 96725. I have read the testimony submitted by Deborah Ward in opposition to this bill in its present wording(Bill 266 Draft 3), and wish to record my agreement with her view. This bill should not be passed in its present form. Rather, it needs further revision so it is structured to affirmatively rule out any end runs around current ag land zoning. Struggling small farmers need all the help they can get to keep capital and operating costs low while they produce food that can compete in the marketplace with subsidized, imported products produced on a huge scale by multinational corporations that are larger in their economic power than most countries. Kaleopono Anti-public intellectuals create what William Black has called a "criminogenic environment" that spreads disease and fraud in the interest of bolstering the interests, profits and values of the super wealthy. There is more at work here than carpet bombing the culture with lies, deceptions and euphemisms. Language in this case does more than obfuscate or promote propaganda. It creates framing mechanisms, cultural ecosystems and cultures of cruelty, while closing down the spaces for dialogue, critique and thoughtfulness. At its worst, it engages in the dual processes of demonization and distraction. The rhetoric of demonization takes many forms: for example, calling firefighters, teachers, and other public servants greedy because they want to hold onto their paltry benefits. It labels students as irresponsible because of the large debts they are forced to incur as states cut back funding to higher education (this, too, is part of a broader effort by conservatives to hollow out the social state). Poor people are insulted and humiliated because they are forced to live on food stamps, lack decent health care and collect unemployment benefits because there are no decent jobs available. Poor minorities are now subject to overt racism in the right-wing media and outright violence in the larger society. - Henry A. Giroux comm.ni. No. Ref. To: VItinuet r Ref. Date SEP 04 2012 8/28/2012