Government should learn to butt out
The headline on John Henry Felix's View Point column last Saturday was, "Government must protect people from smokers." Well, excuse me, Mr. Felix, I am a non-smoker but I don't need Big Brother to protect me from something that I can control by exercising my freedom of choice. I either choose to be in (or work at or eat at, etc.) an establishment (or restaurant or bar, etc.) or not. And I will take full responsibility for my actions.That is not to say there is no role for protection being provided by the government (e.g. police and fire protection, where freedom of choice is usually not an option). However, in this case, the goverment should butt out! How dare Felix and other bureaucrats presume to know what is better for me than I do!
R.D. Greenamyer
Mililani
(Via the Internet)
Public money should be used to finance elections
Larry Bartley's Nov. 20 letter criticizes taxpayer-funded election campaigns. I like to attend baseball games. Part of my ticket fee goes to pay the salaries of umpires, even though the umps sometime make decisions that I don't like. I still want to watch a fair game and want it to be a fair season, so I pay the price.Can you imagine how screwed up the game would be if the batter could hand the home plate umpire an envelope full of cash and ask for special consideration when calls are made? This is just how our election contests are screwed up! He who pays the piper calls the tune.
There's no free lunch. Pay now or pay later. And we taxpayers pay billions in corporate welfare to let them continue to own our elections. How about if we just pay for them upfront and own the whole deal? Then after the elections, the winners will only owe favors to the public.
George Fox
(Via the Internet)
Voucher system would improve education
Our state currently spends an average of $6,000 a year per child on our public education system. What do taxpayers get for this investment? SAT scores below the national average, underpaid teachers, non-certified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, schools in desperate need of repair, high taxes, and the need to worry for our children's safety every morning when we send them off to school.Hawaii private schools operate as a business, and they manage to survive in the most anti-business state in the nation. Why? Because private/parochial schools score above the national average on the SAT, students learn in safe and controlled enviroments, the schools provide structure and morals, and they do all these things and more at an average cost of $3,000 annually, or half the cost of our failing public education system.
Raising taxes and pouring more money into a failing public education system is not the answer. Hawaii has proven that.
Maybe we should follow states like Ohio, Vermont, Maine andWisconsin and adapt the voucher system -- utilizing tax dollars to send children to private school. This may be an excellent alternative to quality education at half the taxpayers' expense.
Thomas Suster
Ewa Beach
(Via the Internet)
System of cat microchips isn't working purr-fectly
I'd like to thank the Hawaiian Humane Society for advocating the microchip law, but it's very flawed. Recently, we found a stray cat and were able to retrieve her microchip number. We called the Humane Society and asked if it could contact the owner, but the person there refused, saying that we would have to bring the cat in.I said that we wanted to hold onto the cat until the owners were found and that, if they weren't found, we would keep her. We were informed that we would need to readopt the cat for $40. We decided to keep the cat and contact the owner by mail (the Humane Society would only give us an address.) We never heard from the owner.
Now, one of our other cats is missing. We called the Humane Society and were ready to call "Dead Animal Pick-Up" when out of curiosity I asked if the city checks animals for microchips before disposing of them. Apparently they don't, because they don't have the scanner. Per the Humane Society, the city has to buy its own scanner.
Why weren't any of these issues discussed by the Legislature? I'm a distraught pet owner with nowhere to turn. I'm disappointed at the lack of forethought by well-meaning agencies.
Alicia Maluafiti
Ewa Beach
(Via the Internet)
Trash spoils experience of island newcomers
As new residents of Oahu, my girlfriend and I were looking forward to experiencing the many wonderful natural beauties that this island has to offer. You can imagine our alarm when, while hiking along the beach from Malaekahana State Park to the Turtle Bay Hilton, we found five miles of coastline littered with more trash than we have ever seen.Being from Louisiana originally, where all the Mississippi River's garbage seems to end up on Louisiana shores, that is not a mild statement. The site was more reminiscent of a landfill than one of the world's most admired coastlines.
I understand that most of this garbage has washed up from offshore rather than being dumped from the land. But when was the last time that anyone (whether state or volunteer group) has attempted to clean any of this up?
Does the fact that the highway does not run right along the coast in this area mean that it is not as important as some other areas? And what about local residents? Do any of them understand what they have been blessed with, or does everyone just take it for granted?
Steven G. Riggs
Kaneohe
(Via the Internet)
Where is silent majority in gay marriage issue?
Where are the 70 percent of Hawaii's people who voted "yes" for traditional marriage values? Must we only hear from the sore losers, or those who were duped by the "human-rights" activists?After all, we were forced to view advertisements featuring Japanese war camps and abortion-rights claims, as if they had anything to do with the real question facing us. My family and friends still don't get how the semi-humorous "dog ad" put anyone down. Light-heartedness was needed at the end of a very emotional campaign.
My family and I thank Mike Gabbard for his bravery and persistence on behalf of Hawaii's family values.
Ellen Abrams
Kailua
(Via the Internet)
Church has no right to impose its beliefs
In his Nov. 20 letter, Garret T. Hashimoto of the Hawaii Christian Coalition wrote that the government would be putting "a seal of approva on homosexual behavior" if it offered domestic partnerships to lesbian and gay families. That logic suggests the state puts "a seal of approval" on spouse and child abuse when these occur in a heterosexual marriage. Ridiculous!The moral values of some Christians should not be imposed upon the rest of us Christians, let alone on Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and everyone else.
The church, regardless of which church it may be, has no business restricting civil rights. If it persists in doing so, it should lose its tax-exempt status and be treated as any other political organization.
James F. Cartwright
(Via the Internet)
Ruling on racial slur was an outrage
The news item in last Saturday's paper, "Court upholds judgment for racial slur at UH game," was just another outrage here in the People's Republic of Hawaii. Taxpayers are the losers in this one, as well as the Constitution and common sense. Our taxes will pay $30,000 to help soothe poor Eric White's hurt feelings. He was called a bad name and he is in a "protected class."Our taxes pay the salaries of state Civil Rights Commission attorneys and judges like Bambi Weil. (And these logic-challenged judges are underpaid?)
Would someone please call me a name and hurt my feelings, too? I need the cash.
R.L. Garver
Kailua
(Via the Internet)
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