1) Can we stop a terrorist with more inspections? No. To place a bomb, a terrorist need only find a cleaning person, gate person, mechanic or guard who wants money, whose family is held hostage or who is in love. If that doesn't work, a ground-to-air missile will do.

2) How many bombs have been discovered by these inspectors and X-ray machines over the past five years of delays? None. Once, I had an antique knife taken away from me at inspection time; later I was handed a similar metal knife with my onboard meal.

3) The evening news showed an airline captain and crew being searched. Get real. If the captain wants to hijack or sabotage the plane, who is going to stop him or her?

4) Have you done your math? Assuming that there are 3 million passengers a day traveling by air and each one spends an hour and a half because of inspections, that is 4.5 million hours.

So each day, the U.S. loses the equivalent work force of 2,000 people that could be productive toward self-improvement or environmental improvement or other social good. Now multiply this 2,000 by 365 days and this nation has lost 730,000 productive "work years."

John Wollstein

In 1801, shortly after the U.S. government moved to its third location, the village of Washington (after convening earlier in New York and in Philadelphia), Oliver Wolcott, then secretary of the Treasury, said this of D.C.: "An awful contrast to the public buildings there were many small, miserable huts . . . no fine churches or schools . . . the inhabitants, as far as I can judge live like fishes, by eating one another."

Perhaps Washington, D.C., shouldn't be judged by the standards of other cities. If it was awful in 1801 and a disgrace today after almost 200 years of politicians' occupancy, it could have been the ideal venue for an infant prodigy government to develop into an enfant terrible.

M. Colgan
Makakilo

I enjoy reading Honolulu Lite. He brings both humor and the truth to his column. The recognition he received from the Society of Newspaper Columnists is well-deserved.

Keep up the good work.

Kelly McMahon

Meanwhile, Diane Chang commended "One community's fight to erase graffiti" in a July 15 column that completely overlooked why graffiti has worsened. Gangs do not appear from whole cloth; there are complex reasons for same.

The mayor's televised meeting could have been significant, but he chose to lecture rather than listen.

More than gang members ought to be concerned over the police behavior on June 7. A badge and a blue uniform are not a license to kill, even a presumed criminal.

It's too bad Mayor Harris doesn't understand the problem any better than two Star-Bulletin columnists.

Willis H.A. Moore