This is an important issue that I don't think has been diaried about yet, re labor's opposition to the "Patent Reform Act of 2007" (aka "Infringers Protection" act), and a call for action to support labor and oppose this legislation.

This also out last Thursday in InfoWorld:

Opponents of legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system have enlisted new allies who may cause majority Democrats in Congress to rethink their support of the proposals.

Since late July, three labor unions -- the AFL-CIO, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and the United Steelworkers -- have sent letters to lawmakers saying they oppose two current patent reform bills. Patent reform opponents say they hope their alliance with organized labor, which has a long history of supporting Democrats, will stall the legislation.

Steve Elmendorf, notorious in the netroots, has been hired to pressure the unions to back off their support.

From the Star-Bulletin breaking news:

Hawaii's Republican Party has chosen state Rep. Cynthia Thielen to run against U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka in the Nov. 7 general election.
[...]
The Republicans were able to pick a candidate after Jerry Coffee won the GOP primary in the Senate race. Coffee, former Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war, had withdrawn from the race over the summer because of a heart attack and heart surgery.

Thielen, a 16-year legislative veteran who represents Windward Oahu, is known as a strong environmentalist who was endorsed by the Sierra Club this year. Thielen ran unopposed this year and was automatically re-elected, so she will not have to give up her House seat to run against Akaka.

The Advertiser notes that:

Thielen is considered a moderate who could appeal to supporters of Akaka's Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Ed Case, who lost Saturday's primary.

FYI, Thielen has been a strong advocate for medical marijuana and the hemp industry. Her son Peter is a hemp activist.

Peter Kay, who has been maintaining VoteHawaii.com, has announced that he is "taking a sabbatical" from the management of the site.

Peter had been primarily syndicating posts from my blog (on Hawaiian independence and Native Hawaiian issues) and also from conservative blogger Grant Jones. The fact that the two of us come from quite different places politically made for some interesting juxtapositions at times, and I think there's value to a group blog that offers a range of points of view on Hawaii politics.

Anyway, I am probably going to arrange with Peter to be able to continue syndicating some of my own posts there, but I wanted to put this out to readers here to see if anyone with an intererest in Hawaii politics might be interested in taking on the management of the blog, through managing syndications and/or posting original content.

Doug White at the Hawaii political blog Poinography.com also comments on the article.

He was the former Minority Leader for the Republicans.

As noted in the conservative online rag/blog Hawaii Reporter, surprisingly enough, this context:

More info and sources at Doug White's Hawaii political blog Poinography.com, plus possible collateral damage from the governor's office keeping his arrest under wraps for so long.

No speculation yet on who would run to replace him, but that will be interesting to monitor. Still very likely a reliably Dem seat, but would be good to get a progressive Dem to run.

Abercrombie has a relatively good record in Congress and would probably make a decent governor, in my opinion, and is popular and very well known so he could mount a strong campaign against Lingle.

I still like the idea of a Harry Kim candicacy, though. Here's a previous diary on the Hawaii Island Mayor's possible challenge to Lingle as well.

The question this raises that Borreca doesn't address is the opening this would leave in the House seat and who would step up to run for Congress in Abercrombie's place.

I have noticed in the past a lot of discussion here about supporting and networking local party blogs, but I wasn't paying close attention to the details because it wasn't directly relevant to me.

But now I would like to ask folks here if you could give me a little help in this area, for instance resources for making local party sites effective, such as email list and blog tools and other features, and networks/directories where local party sites should be listed.

Any pointers and ideas are much appreciated.

Mahalo.