Is Lt. Gov. Aiona lying about his ties to the Transformation Network and Transformation Hawaii, or did he just misspeak again, and again, and again?
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
i L i n d
Ian Lind • Now online daily from Old Kahala
Scary stuff. On some many fronts! … Ian, why do you think that this issue has been ignored by most of the larger media outlets in town?
@ Keith: I would start with cowardice and work from there
media consolidation, corporate monopolies. no competition motive, and media outlets are free to serve their advertisers/political biases.
the star-advertiser still has not even agreed to pay severances to fired advertiser employees despite it being written in stone in the contract, so they obviously have no moral compass. greed rules the day.
“I am a part of a prayer evangelization program called Transformation Hawaii” Duke Aiona
“I am not a member of Transformation Hawaii, I am not a member of International Transformation Network” Duke Aiona
Duke’s credibility based on these two statements went to zero for me.
The amazing arrogance of this organization that that tells people to burn the book of Mormon, Catholic religious images, and native art, aside-
Ian,
Thought you might want to see the truth: http://cot.ag/a8nyOl
Steve,
What is the “truth” in the information you are directing us to read? Mahina’s summary is quite accurate and concise. Aiona explicitly says he is part of Transformation Hawaii in one place, the turns around and denies it when the broader public becomes aware of the association.
It is often said politicians are two-faced. This is more true of some politicians than others. Aiona and the GOP are clearly running a stealth campaign through the conservative churches, asking ministers to get pledges from their members to volunteer hours on political campaigns. But the religious right is only 20-25% of Hawaii’s voters. So Aiona is also running a public campaign, using appealing to Hawaiians based upon race, to fiscal conservatives based upon “taxes” and “small government” appeals. If the broader public becomes aware of the theocratic mobilization of the born-again churches, a number of the more moderate voters will fall away from Aiona and his chance of winning will decline significantly.
The link you call “the truth” is actually a set of lies designed to conceal the truth and preserve Aiona’s chance to win.
Kolea,
+1
Awesome analysis, really. If you are not in politics as a consultant, you should be.
He thinks flu shots might be harmful–but when he gets criticized for it he goes and gets a flu shot.
He says he’s part of the transformation network, then when he’s interviewed in the midst of a campaign he says he’s not a member.
He says he’s a part of the Lingle/Aiona administration until he’s asked about one of the many things that went haywire over the last 8 years, then he says “it’s not my administration.”
These examples have happened only since I started paying attention. Must be the tip of the iceberg.
No matter your political persuasion, all of this adds up to an untrustworthy person.
Mahalo to the indi news blogs for covering important stories. Monopoly is right that we can’t expect corporate owned media to do principled work when that means going against the political interests of their oligarch masters. Eight more years of do nothing Gov. would stalemate progress for a total of 16, and seal Hawaii’s fate as an economic backwater colonial outpost of a dying empire.
“Catholic religious images”
But isn’t Duke a Catholic? What does he do then?
I think that I am amazed that the Catholic Church is not ablaze with indignation (referencing the burning of Catholic saint images, as idol worship)……and is this not a heresy that Aiona is professing….by being associated with Transformation Hawaii? I am also amazed that the idea of a ‘living prophet’, as in Cindy Jacobs has not got the Church all freaked out…I mean, isn’t their scripture about false prophets? The Catholic Church was all down on liberation theology…..where are they now with this new scriptural problem?
He’s lying. Too bad the local media are so gutless that they won’t follow this story.
When it first came up at the time of Carroll Cox’s request that Aiona & Gary Okino dissociate themselves from Ed Silvoso’s cult, the Star-Advertiser did not give any credit to the journalist-blogger, Bruce Wilson, for his work nor would they allow any links to Wilson’s work.
Shameful.
@ Augustus John:
Apparently, this isn’t a problem for the RC church or its clergy in Hawai`i.
Check out this longer video of Bruce Wilson’s (http://www.vimeo.com/9428428) which was made of Aiona’s speech at the November 2009 ITN conference in Hawai`i. In it, he introduces a Father Demetrius & talks about them both being proud Catholics who are members of ITN.
The relevant part is between 9 & 10:30 minutes, with his speech starting at about 5:15.
This issue was dealt with at length in a Star-Bulletin article in May. http://bit.ly/cr7JK0
From the editorial:
“The state Democratic Party has entered a danger zone in alleging a connection between an international evangelical group with anti-homosexual activities in Uganda, and an activist organization’s effort to link Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona to the evangelical group is even more reckless.”
This is an odd approach for Aiona’s campaign to take. He is denying his involvement with Transformation Hawaii with the hope that few people will bother watching the video’s where he expresses his enthusiastic support for the group and its mission.
How is it “reckless” to link Aiona with the ITN? He linked himself by appearing at their event and singing their praises. Not just here in Hawaii, but flying thousands of miles to Argentina to attend another ITN international gathering.
Francis Oda, the president of ITN, is a STRONG Aiona supporter, as is Cal Chinen.
There is nothing “reckless” about reporting these connections. Why is the Star-Advertiser so determined to suppress Aiona’s ties to this group and disparage those who call attention to it?
“He thinks flu shots might be harmful–but when he gets criticized for it he goes and gets a flu shot.”
Does anyone know if that anti-vaccine group Ian mentioned rescinded its support of Aiona as a result?
I just saw this. Nothing short of astounding.
Aiona is connected with organization that encourages the collection of various items to be destroyed by burning: Books of Mormon, Catholic saints, totem poles, native art. They alleged that these bring honor to spirits of darkness.
Native art?
Native HAWAIIAN art? Irreplaceable relics of ancient, traditional Hawaiian culture? A burning of rare objects like the way missionaries burned valuable wooden tablets at Easter Island?
This organization is openly encouraging wiping out Hawaiian culture and more.
And Aiona, a Hawaiian descendant, is endorsing this.
If he becomes governor, what else will he want wiped out?
It is good to see a leader who fears God and wants to see righteousness in the state. The US constitution protects freedom of religion and the government is not allowed to impose a standard of religious belief on leaders to elected office. Aiona is within his rights to exercise his religion, and pray.
[edit]
As for burning idolatrous stuff, burn it all.