Legislators should
learn the gift of brevity

The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on a solitary sheet of paper and included 56 signatures; the entire U.S. Constitution was established on four pages, including 39 signatories; the Bill of Rights, containing the first 10 amendments, was written on a single page. These documents sought freedom for individuals, and defined and restricted the power of government.

By contrast, the 1997 Hawaii legislative session has more than 4,000 bills, averaging several pages each. Much of the proposed legislation seeks to restrict individual freedom and to expand the power of government.

But government isn't the problem; the problem is us. For example, one small community association in my area needed 11 pages to say very little -- except that it was over budget (again), and needed stricter rules, more money and increased enforcement. Heard that before?

Unfortunately, there is no plan for either a restriction on verbiage or a restriction on restrictions, both of which might help a troubled economy.

Michael Colgan

Don't need, don't want
a full-time Legislature!

I must respectfully disagree with the call for a full-time Legislature. I am reminded of the Will Rogers quip to the effect that the seating of a new legislature is like looking into the parlor to find that the 3-year-old is holding a hammer. You know that there will be damage; the only question is how much damage will be done before you can get the hammer back.

Seriously, look at the "accomplishments" of our erstwhile legislators. They have spent us into poverty while we have little to show for their efforts. They have constructed a convention center which they now want to sell. We are overtaxed and overregulated.

Ask yourself what have they done to better the most oppressive environment in the U.S. for small business. They worry themselves with the same-sex marriage issue because they refuse to face the carefully constructed anti-business environment they have crafted.

A shorter legislative session, not longer! Double their pay and send them home in half the time. Believe me, in the long run, it would be the bargain of a lifetime.

William Yates
Kailua
(Via the Internet)

Oink is one lucky pig
to have room to roam

The case dubbed The People vs. Oink moved through our court system during the past nine months. A resolution to banishment was decided in favor of the pot-bellied pig by a District Court judge.

City Deputy Prosecutor Scott Spallina stated repeatedly that "a pig needs a lot of room; Oink's situation is like keeping a dog in a closet."

The average pig on a farm is confined to a space rarely exceeding 3-by- 6 feet for its entire life.

Oink is very fortunate to have the leisure of roaming a space that, under farm conditions, would contain around 30 of his species.

Elizabeth Irvin
Kapolei

Will gay benefits take
money from Hawaiians?

Governor Cayetano and his cohorts' successful effort to overturn Judge Dan Heely's just decision on Hawaiian land issues is an affront to all Hawaiians. Cayetano and party hacks want the total proceeds derived from the stolen land to fund their extravagant agenda and to only give a pittance to the victims.

The unusually high "kanalua vote" that secured passage of HB 2207 was cowardly on the part of many legislators. Hawaiians were disheartened, to say the least.

It is ironic that the Legislature is now contemplating same-sex partnership benefits, when in fact the state is predicting a huge budget deficit. This unpopular act would further drain our tax income.

Will this loss of tax dollars be made up by using the Hawaiians' share of ceded land revenues? Where else can the funding of this unholy threat come from?

Paul D. Lemke
Kapaa, Kauai

Tiger's ethnicity brings up
question about sovereignty

Golfer Tiger Woods, an exemplary young man, is usually referred to in the press as someone who can "serve as a role model for other young African Americans." Never mind that he is as much Asian (Thai and Chinese) as he is black. The sporting press and the U.S. public have decided to pigeon-hole him as a "black."

How interesting that in American society, even the smallest amount of African ancestry means an individual will be considered black, even if that person has fewer African-American ancestors than non-African-American ones.

This raises a question about Hawaii: With the prospect of sovereignty on the horizon, many folks with a small amount of Hawaiian ancestry seem to prefer to identify themselves as Hawaiian, even if the majority of their ancestors were Portuguese, Chinese or even Irish.

Isn't this the "taint" theory in reverse: being Hawaiian is seen as a "good thing," and no longer a ticket to discrimination. In fact, it may be a prescription for cultural self-respect and even a ticket to a piece of an immense real estate pie.

I don't say this to make folks hu-hu. I truly wish to know: Just who is a Hawaiian?

Stephen O'Harrow

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Same-sex archive

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