If you dislike status quo, vote out the incumbents!
Our political "process" is a very sad joke. It has been comprised of the same lack of innovation and intelligent solutions for as long as I can remember. People here promote themselves as being part of the same Democratic Party, but offer little in the way of cooperation or long-term strategy to solve the problems the state faces now and has been facing for years.Just look at how long it took to make a decision on a state convention center! Finally it's built and looks great but, for crying out loud, couldn't we have finished this off 10 years earlier and for about $100 million less?
However, in the cynicism and apathy that is Hawaii politics, this same slovenly group will get re-elected by the same grass-roots support that continues to prop them up via donations and good ol' boy backroom deals.
So, you want a change? Change it! Vote someone else into office!
Brian D. Hughes
(Via the Internet)
Time to acknowledge viability of gambling
With the closing of this legislative session, our political leaders have not solved the financial woes of this state. They have maintained the status quo on all major issues, not wanting to step on anyone's toes for fear of retribution at the election polls this year.Everybody is covering their butts. They can't even agree on a mild increase in the general excise tax.
Tourism is down and it will be for a while, agriculture is literally in its dying throes, with all the plantations shutting down, and taxes can't be raised because Hawaii already has the highest cost of living.
The only alternative that hasn't been fully investigated is gaming: the lottery, shipboard casinos, bingo and video machine halls, horse racing and paramutual betting. Why not? Nothing else has worked.
Steven T.K. Burke
Pearl City
(Via the Internet)
Both genders suffer through cancer tests
As a man with several deeply loved and loving women in my life (wife, daughters, mother, in-laws, friends), I fully understand and feel for women who undergo mammograms (Changing Hawaii, April 20). If it's any consolation, guys don't have it any easier.Check our related test: for prostate cancer. We start at a scale of zero and go through to a number four. Reliability of the test? Who knows! The nonsense? There's a greater degree of test irregularity if we have copulation about 48 hours prior to the test. Who said sex was good for you?
Men and women are pretty much in the same boat. Therefore, take your veggies, skip the meat, say your prayers and be good.
Jose Luis Martinez
Hollywood, Fla.
(Via the Internet)
Hit-and-run drivers are a terrible problem
Your April 10 article, "Driver says he was adjusting car radio when he hit photojournalist," really said it all for me. Very recently, I was the victim of a hit-and-run myself and, although I wasn't physically injured, it shook me up quite a bit.Being alert, remembering how to brace myself from driver's education years ago and having a great bumper (thank you, Acura!) saved my life.
As I was giving my report to the police officers, six of HPD's finest, I uttered my disbelief that the other driver did not stop to find out if I was OK. I was told that this was a common problem. Well, it shouldn't be!
Dori Lowham
Ewa Beach
(Via the Internet)
Niihau missile site story isn't being covered fairly
If, in fact, your Kauai correspondent is not already in the employ of the Robinson family or Gay & Robinson Sugar, then the Robinsons may want to retain her services. No, come to think of it, why should they pay her when they currently receive her PR expertise for free?The front-page article, "Niihau residents favor missile sites," makes the attempt to serve as a set-up piece for the following day's editorial, "Niihau residents OK missile launch sites." Unfortunately for the supporters of fast-tracking Navy activities on the Robinson's "privately owned" island, the validity of testimony in support of Navy activities was contained in a single statement.
After explaining the patriarchal conditions under which the last Hawaiians of the island are kept dependent on the Robinson's generosity, the core truth was told: "In return they are expected to live by certain rules, foremost of which is a ban on speaking out against Robinson business activities on the island."
If government officials accept the testimony of these Robinson employees as anything other than a statement of the Robinsons' own financial position, our government should equally accept the propaganda of Cuban, Iraqi or other dictator-chosen mouthpieces as freely given.
Ikaika Valdez
Pearl City
(Via the Internet)
HT and TT work because the mind is powerful
I believe that therapeutic touch (TT) and healing touch (HT) work (Star-Bulletin, April 8). I have had it done to me before, and it was very relaxing.Even if HT doesn't really work physically, it definitely works mentally. And to heal the mind is just as important as healing the body.
If patients believe that it works, they will get healthier, quicker.
There have been many cases where patients were supposed to die, but because they had so much faith in God, or in the healing being done to them, they survived.
Debbie Liu
Age 14
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