My Candidacy for State House – “A Fresh Vision for Maui’s Future”

VISIT: http://kanielaing.com

Aloha readers, thank you for all of the support throughout the past couple of years!  A lot of transpired over the past year that has kept me from writing, so I apologize for lack of updates! What’s been happening? Well, let’s just say that I am in a very exciting, transitional time in my life.  From my experiences in the past couple of years, being heavily involved in multiple levels of government, and recognizing the rapid changes that have been occurring on my home island, I have made the decision to run for State House District 11: South Maui (Kihei, Wailea, Makena).  I seek to bring about “a Fresh Vision for Maui’s Future.”

Throghout 2012, I will be spending countless hours holding signs, knocking on thousands of doors, and really getting to know my neighbors and what is important to them and for the State.  Regardless of where you are from, I could use your help getting the word out! If you have contacts you think might be able to help me, please let me know.  But most importantly, I would like this campaign to funded in the grassroots by people like you, who believe in positive change.  Any contribution will make a huge difference, and will allow you to get involved in shaping the future of Hawaii!

Also feel free to check out the website @ http://kanielaing.com/; Find me on Facebook @ facebook.com/kanielaing.com; or follow me on Twitter @twitter.com/VoteKanielaIng. Mahalo for continuing to support me!

Osama Bin Laden is Dead–Let’s All Celebrate!…Wait, what?

All this coverage of these celebrations following Bin Laden’s murder is making me a little: nationalists in stars and stripe bandanas on their heads chanting “U.S.A. U.S.A”…

Should we be celebrating? I understand that justice was served on a humanistic level—I‘m not lamenting Bin Laden’s death, and I think he definitely deserved it. But to rally and celebrate his death at ground-zero and at the White House? It seems a little hypocritical. Celebrating a killing is morally questionable in itself, and in this context, is this excessive nationalism? What does Bin Laden’s death really do for USA? I understand it will bring closure to the loved-ones of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy, but does it do much for us as a nation? How much safer and stronger are we now?

Yes, Bin Laden was a bad man. However, I think it remains essential for Americans to keep in mind that Bin Laden was an effective leader in many contexts– across organizations and national borders. Even while they starkly disapproved of his rash, terroristic, morality-mocking methods, many respectable Middle-easterners followed the man.

His attack on 9/11 was political, it was not solely meant to spark a holy war. Despite American media’s tendency to pidgin-hole Bin Laden into the irrational Muslim extremist pool, he was fundamental in leading a movement against the American crusade of forced democracy in the middle-east: an issue extending far beyond clashing faiths.

That is part of the reason why he attacked–not just because we were perceived as a Christian (or at least non-Muslim) nation, but because he was against the (now proving to be grossly ineffective) Americana societal ideal of a democratic republic rooted in capitalism being constantly shoved down his people’s throats throughout the past half-century. To raise our flags and chant in jubilant celebration of his death acts is a testament to our arrogance, pretension, and naivety–its a signal to the rest of the world that our societal values prevail and that our crusades will press on.

The bottom line is this was no true victory: his death won’t bring anyone back from the dead, it won’t automatically stop the terrorists who saw him as their leader, and it won’t end all our wars in the Middle East.

Now is a time to remember those who suffered at his hands, and wash his memory from ours. But to kill a terroristic leader and celebrate his death in the name of the United States…we need to be careful.