Hawaii considering new holidays, parks to honor Obama

[Pirate Smile]

Hawaii considering new holidays, parks to honor Obama
Celebrate Obama Day at Obama Park, or cheer for Obama High's team

Senate President Colleen Hanabusa wants President Obama's Aug. 4 birthday to be a state holiday, right up there with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana'ole Day, King Kamehameha I Day and even Christmas.
State Rep. Della Au Belatti, D-25th (Tantalus, Makiki, McCully), would like the Jan. 20 date of Obama's presidential inauguration to be forever known in the Islands as Barack Obama II Ohana Day.

And even Republican state Rep. Gene Ward, R-17th, (Kalama Valley, Queen's Gate, Hawai'i Kai), hopes to turn 4,124 square feet of overgrown scrub land owned by the state Department of Transportation into President Barack Obama Birthplace State Park.
The land at 6091 Kalaniana'ole Highway was taken over by the state for its highway widening project. The empty parcel sits next door to the modest house at 6085 Kalaniana'ole Highway where Obama was first brought home after his birth at what at the time was known as the Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital.

"We're all Americans first and then we're Republicans and then we're Democrats," Ward said yesterday as he drove past the vacant parcel on his way into town from Hawai'i Kai. "It's bare, except for two big HECO transformers and a big rock. It's there just kind of growing weeds."

As Obama and his family and friends continue to enjoy a scheduled 12-day vacation in his hometown, the Honolulu City Council has tentatively approved an effort by Mayor Mufi Hannemann to rename 'Āina Moana Beach Park — more commonly known as Magic Island — to President Barack Obama Beach Park at Magic Island.

But it's the state Legislature that's considering resolutions that would bring six new changes in Obama's honor, such as urging the state Board of Education to rename Obama's first school — Noelani Elementary School — President Barack Hussein Obama II Elementary School, and to change the name of McKinley High School to President Barack Hussein Obama II High School.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100102/NEWS01/1020332/Hawaii+considering+new+holidays++parks+to+honor+Obama

[FrenchieCat]

1. Take that, damn Birthers!

The empty parcel sits next door to the modest house at 6085 Kalaniana'ole Highway where Obama was first brought home after his birth at what at the time was known as the Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital. :rofl:

[struggle4progress]

3. Um, Hawaii is really part of Kenya, y'know. It snuck down a subduction rift and then back up

through volcanic tubes so it could be in the Pacific when Obama was born. This explosive new revelation -- which shows that Obama was really born in Kenya even though it may seem that he was born in Hawaii -- will make a special guest appearance in Dr. Taitz's next lawsuit

[Cha]

11. In your face birthers! Presidetnt Obama, Hawai'i born

and bred(side trip to Indonesia for an International Flair).

As my son says from Kaua'i, "We're Obama Friendly Territory Here"B-) I cannot wait to go back~

[dkf]

18. Take note that Gene Ward is a REPUBLICAN.

HAHAHAHA.

[MercutioATC]

2. It's all a conspiracy to give his forged birth certificate legitimacy.

You KNOW that's going to be a birther claim.

[Retrograde]

4. As much as I like Obama

I think that things shouldn't be named for people until at least 10 years after they die - and that goes for St. Ronnie as well. Maybe even longer if it's renaming something, especially if it was named for someone else originally. What, are Noelani and McKinley no longer deserving of commemoration?

[Better Today]

6. +1

[Drunken Irishman]

7. Eh...Utah named TWO places after MILLARD FILLMORE while he was president.

MILLARD FUCKING FILLMORE!

Fillmore, Utah ( http://www.fillmorecity.org/ ) - which was designated the state's first capital before they eventually realized being located in bumpfuck Egypt wasn't going to get it done. And Millard County ( http://www.millardcounty.com/ ), where Fillmore is located.

Again. MILLARD FILLMORE! Who has zero ties to the state of Utah (I could see if he had been born here - but he was born in New York) and was a lousy president at worst and meh at best.

[Drunken Irishman]

8. MILLARD FILLMORE, PEOPLE!

[HopeOverFear]

10. lol

[CreekDog]

15. That was because Fillmore named Brigham Young governor of Utah Territory

He was president from 1850-53, shortly after Mormons began arriving in Utah.

"Fillmore appointed Brigham Young as the first governor of the Utah Territory in 1850.<9> In gratitude for creating the Utah Territory in 1850 and appointing Brigham Young as governor, Young named the territorial capital "Fillmore" and the surrounding county "Millard".<10>"

source: Wikipedia

[Drunken Irishman]

16. Thank God James Buchanan wasn't president back then...

Or we'd have places named after the worst president in American history.

[CreekDog]

21. I wouldn't lose any sleep over what they named that town with the truck stop

:rofl:

[dave29]

22. hehehe

.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Pff, at least he was president.

There are still a lot of Blaines out there.

[Cha]

13. Hawai'i's proud, man..

let them have itB-)

[WeDidIt]

5. Think Bush's birth state will ever do this?

Nah, I doubt Connecticut would ever do something like this.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. How about the airport in Honolulu.

[Cha]

14. I would love that since I'm going

to be flying in there in October when I move back to Kaua'i.

And, Fast Track it!B-)

[salguine]

17. How about "Mandate Park"? $3,000 admission fee with no guarantee you'll get in.

[Hekate]

26. Just all pissy today, aren't you? Hawai'i is a small state and having one of their own as POTUS...

... was something that no one ever, ever expected to see. It's not like being a tiny New England state, where everyone in the country takes it for granted that your primary vote counts more than residents of big California.

I'm sure there are a few freepy-minded folks over there that you could gripe with, but on the whole, Hawai'i has got to be pretty pleased to claim Barack Obama as a native son.

They'll name a whole bunch of stuff for him in the coming few years, and why not?

Hekate

[dkf]

19. Some things Obama is doing drives me nuts, but he is definitely great for our state.

I still think it is amazing how far he has gone. He is a huge inspiration to anyone who wants to get ahead through education and determination.

[depakid]

20. Oh, good grief

At least have the decorum to wait until the guy's out of office before plunging headlong into the hero worship.

[Drunken Irishman]

23. Why?

It isn't the first time we've named things after sitting presidents.

No skin off your back, eh?

Buck up!

[treestar]

25. What hero worship?

there are things named after all sorts of people. Locally you'll find schools, etc., named after people you never heard of, even if you are local

[Drunken Irishman]

27. I went to Clayton Middle School.

Have no clue who Clayton was/is.

[depakid]

28. Please, declaring public holidays- naming schools and parks, etc.

at this stage is very much a sort of hero worship.

Hell, even the Reagan acolytes had the good sense to dignify their efforts with a little passage of time.

and btw: wherever I live or travel, I make it a point to learn about who and why places and such are named. And much more often than not, they have a rich and written history.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. yes, it's all so uppity.

[depakid]

32. Now that was a beaut!

Uncanny how it resembles the sorts of shallow, kneejerk responses we grew so accustomed to hearing from Bushbots and Reaganites.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. The shallow bushbot reaganite kneejerk responses we're used to hearing...

are expressed in post #20.

There are no substantial differences to what gets posted on conservative messageboards to what you post here.

[depakid]

36. Irony impairment, lack of self awareness and objective critical thinking

surely runs deep in some folks.

To the point of pathology.

Kind of sad, actually- when it's not wholly pathetic.

Then it's a source, at best- of pity.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. Actually, I'm finding you humorous.

But in the sense that I'm laughing at you, not with you.

[treestar]

33. Crazy

I went to a school named after a signer of the Declaration of Independence. All three of those from this state have high schools named after them. And one delegate to the Constitutional convention. Is that hero worship of these men?

My elementary school was named after an educator who never achieved prominence beyond the (small) state. This old lady was hero worshiped? Her portrait was up in the school.

There's a highway named after a rich family prominent in the state. We're hero worshiping them?

There's another highway named after a Revolutionary War colonel. I guess I'm hero worshiping this guy every day I drive.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. He's the first black president. He's a Nobel laureate. He's already made history.

So suck on it.

[Number23]

34. Thank you. Truly -- 'nuff said.

[treestar]

24. Hehehe

When's Joe Biden's birthday? Delaware ought to make that a holiday! :party:

[davidpdx]

31. They are all great ideas

but I'd like to see them wait until 2016 (assuming he was reelected) or even after he left office to do that. Obama is a young man and he'll be around a long time after his Presidency much like Bill Clinton. There will be plenty of time to honor what he has done at that point.