Once again, Senator Josh Green is the on my radar again. It’s amazing that a senator no less is joining the ranks of those who want to send us back to an utopian agrarian society. He’s apparently hell bent on supposedly doing the right thing.
Well, I’m starting to think that these pandering politicians don’t even have a clue of what the right thing is anymore. At the SB793 hearing, he was cutting off his fellow senators questioning about the extent to which the law was needed. Instead of letting Senator Thielen and Senator Chun-Oakland finish asking their questions, he rudely stopped them from getting their answers and kept the public from knowing the answers of the quantities really being used by all industries.
Not only did he cut off questioning, he rudely chastised Tom Matsuda of the pesticide branch of the department of agriculture for not having the figures of the pesticides. If he sponsored this bill, shouldn’t he have gotten the numbers himself? He also shouted out that they use “gigantic” amounts, which is far from the truth.
As a leader figure, his arrogance and rude behavior is so disappointing for a public figure. I teach my kids to be humble and respectful and here is a community leader showing how not to be. I also teach my children to be honest when you speak and here he can’t even be honest. No wonder Hawaii is going down the tubes when leaders who should be held to a higher standard can’t even even be used as a good example.
The more I think about these poorly written laws, I realize that the passage of these aren’t going to do a thing for these activists and they know it. They already don’t trust government and what they are doing with inspections and licensing. Who is to say that a law is going to suddenly win their trust? They don’t trust the FDA, EPA, or USDA for that matter so why would they even bother to ask for a label from the FDA, whom they don’t trust. The truth is obvious.
These people’s actions have shown that they have no second thought about being honest or even willing to come to the table to work with others in the community. They can cut in line at hearings with bogus claims, exaggerate number figures, cherry pick studies, send death threats, make false accusations all over the social media, create fake websites and buy domain names, graffiti up the community, call for crop destruction, make wanted posters of pro-science folks, and so on.
While the activists are busy pointing fingers at everyone else not being honest and transparent, they forget that 3 more fingers are pointing at themselves.
HawaiiFarmersDaughter 
It’s so disappointing to hear a supposed Hawaii leader speak that way. I don’t even know what Senator Green’s comment is supposed to mean. Is he really serious about the dangers to the keiki that pesticides pose or is it really just all about the abhorrence of Monsanto? I don’t think he is really serious about the keiki because these anti-ag bills do nothing to address the vast majority (87% on Kauai alone!) of Restricted Use Pesticide applications. I have a colleague who is in the turf and landscape business. He expressed dismay that there is outrage over agricultural pesticide sprays when a landscape worker, or technician, is busily squirting RUP product right outside a homeowner’s bedroom window.
So, let’s get serious, the underlying reason for the current batch of pesticide bills is really to make the regulatory climate in Hawaii so onerous that the seed companies shut down and leave! Let’s just call a spade a spade here and not hide behind the rhetoric! It’s so disgusting! The sad thing is that if that goal is achieved there will be collateral damage, despite the fact that the anti-seed company people insist that is not the case! And, that collateral damage will be the small farmers who depend on a few carefully selected and timed application of a handful of RUPs (which we are told will be under the threshold that the bills will establish but there’s no way of knowing what those thresholds will be because the part where those numbers are entered in the bill are blank). I guess the prevailing attitude is, so be it, if that’s what it takes to get rid of the seed companies then fine, the organic farmers will arise from the ashes of the conventional farms that were destroyed and peace, love, happiness, and good health will be restored! Eliminated forever will be the specter of cancer, birth defects, and all manner of other maladies! If there is anyone out there that really believes that then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you!