November 29, 2009
Raphael O'Suna
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by Raphael O’Suna
Being raised in a Mafia home, I was exposed to two currents of affection and authority.
One current proclaimed through her action, the value and power of love. This current showed the wisdom and necessity of sacrifice. This was the path of duty and competency. Respect and admiration came to one, because of one’s service to others. On this path one gave of one’s need and rarely complained. This was the path of protection and providing security and education to one’s children.
The other stream of energy was less about light and love, and more about force, control and power. One gained respect on this path through fear and intimidation. One gained power by the same means, and through corruption and bribing. This was the path of crime; of the strong-arm; of the gang. On this path loyalty, courage and obedience were valued.
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November 29, 2009
> MAUI TODAY
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 Square Dance Day
Day 333 of 2009
32 days left in this year
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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY —
Mea e ho’ohiwahiwa ai ka noho’anao: Luxury
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY
—Chang: Cheap, Frugal
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY
— E ho’a'o no i pau kuhihewa –
“Try to end the panic.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY —
“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” - Douglas Adams
November 29, 1843: Britain and France Declare Hawaiian Independence
In a move never emulated by the government of the United States, both France and Britain make formal declarations accepting the “supreme independence” of the government of Hawaii. It is interesting that the declarations were made at the prompting of the U.S. Government. For decades, this date was celebrated as the official “Hawaiian Independence Day.” 
The political jockeying began in July of 1842, when King Kamehameha III appealed to U.S. President John Tyler (”Tippecanoe and Tyler too”). In his letter to the president, the King complained about the severe encroachment of one Lord George Paulet, Captain of her British Majesty’s ship Carysfort, who by force was attempting to take over several of the Hawaiian Islands, and the King beseeched the president to talk with Britain on Hawaii’s behalf, and press the issue of independence.
This the president did, making note that “The United States Government has for its sole object the preservation of the independence of these islands.”
A Hawaiian delegation was soon dispatched to England, where Lord Aberdeen assured them that “Her Majesty’s Queen Victoria’s Government was willing and had determined to recognize the independence of the Sandwich Islands under their present sovereign.” Aberdeen determined that Paulet had not acted with orders of Her Majesty’s Government and he would withdraw immediately. Paulet did.
After talking with the King of France, Britain and France formally announced that “Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations, have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich 
Islands as an Independent State, and never to take possession, neither directly or under the title of Protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed.”
This declaration is credited with opening the doors of diplomacy around the world between more than 93 nations and Hawaii over the next 40 years. Hawaiian diplomatic delegations and consulates were established in everyone of these nations, most of which proclaimed the Sandwich Islands to be free and independent….
…most, meaning all of them except the U.S., which never made any formal announcement, and in 1893 began its takeover of the country once ruled by legitimate monarchs.
