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This is a short video from the Pahoa community center townhall. The details were told about the petty, behind-the-scenes spats that led to the downfall of many bills in a session that many believe failed to deliver on key issues.
* Improving government
* Environmental Protection
* Failure to do anything again about Rat Lung
https://youtu.be/P1Tz-35hOZ4
The video is worth watching. There is also a text version here
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2017/0...cal-games/
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And this is a surprise because . . . ?
While I don't always agree with some of Ruderman's policy points, I give him a lot of credit for challenging a broken system mired in power politics. Funding rat lung disease research at UH-Hilo, having all postal voting, and allowing physician assisted death with dignity are three no-brainer proposals where I agree with him totally. All three were torpedoed by petty Democratic party in-fighting that Ruderman didn't provoke. Enough of those clowns already!
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It's not a surprise, but it's nice to see the fingers pointed in the right direction by the right people. The Rat Lung issue is really what disturbs me the most.
"People play politics like this all the time and there was all kinds of other things that they punished him for. I think playing that kind of game with this kind of issue is outrageous. There’s a life or death issue that harms our community and instead the money that should have gone to our lab went to the Department of Health, which didn’t ask for it, doesn’t have a plan to spend on vector control on Maui where they’ve been fighting this disease for a full two months [vs Big Island for about 7 years], and so you know … that’s what happened in the end."
Maui gets the money and Ruderman is trying to get them to work with (i.e. fund) the actual rat lung worm lab in Hilo
A Deadly Brain-Invading Worm Is Disturbingly Widespread in Florida
The joint project between the University of Florida’s UF College of Veterinary Medicine and the Florida Museum of Natural History discovered traces of rat lungworm in five of the 18 counties studied, Alachua, Leon, St. Johns, Orange, and Hillsborough. Of the 171 rats tested, 23 percent were infected with the disease. In the counties where the parasite was found, around 16 percent of collected rats feces showed traces of the disease, and nearly two percent of land snails tested positive.
The new study reveals the alarming degree to which the parasite has now spread in the state of Florida, and discusses how climate change may be contributing to its expanded geographic range.
“The parasite is here in Florida and is something that needs to be taken seriously,” said study lead author Stockdale Walden in a statement. “The reality is that it is probably in more counties than we found it in, and it is also probably more prevalent in the southeastern US than we think. The ability for this historically subtropical nematode to thrive in a more temperate climate is alarming.”
http://gizmodo.com/a-deadly-brain-invadi...1796514141
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If the State can't be bothered to help us, let's stop sending them our money.
Example: I wonder how much TAT is actually collected on-island. It must be less than our "share" from State, or someone would have suggested we keep it instead -- or not, because that would require some leadership/backbone.
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Eric1600, Chunkster and kalakoa-
Elect Republicans and Greens to the Legislature-
Then these critters would be less likely to indulge in their ****.
They would have a bit of a check on their conduct.
JMHO.
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Elect Republicans and Greens to the Legislature-
Simpler solution: recognize that government is broken and work around it.
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kalakoa @ 13:26:38 -
That too.
"One way or another"
Blondie
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fwiw Rat Lungworm has been here in HI for over 1/2 a century now, and no one has died YET from it...
worst case is the German lady still in coma for ten yrs ago...
over 90% of the 500+ rats tested in Hilo had rat lungworm.... so its prob peaked IMO! ???
solution>>> wash YOUR OWN veggies, iow, dont expect the county to come wash them for you...
the real DANGER!
Lepto / Leptospirosis has killed 33 people in HI in last Century, including a few on the Big Island this decade too...
iow 1 every 3 yrs on average...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptospirosis
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
