Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Liberal philosophy is downfall of Hawaii

We have so much to be proud of here in the islands. We're the first state to legalize the murder of unborn children. We don't put criminals to death even though they have commited horrible crimes.

We're proud to have some of the most restrictive laws in the nation relating to the ownership of firearms. We've also legalized medical marijuana, still a harmful and illegal drug.

It strikes me that these things are bound together with a common thread: liberal thinking. According to such thinking, it's OK:

To have sex and then murder the result of that behavior because you are unwilling to take responsibility for your actions.

For criminals to murder innocent members of our community and not have to pay the price with the ultimate consequence -- capital punishment.

For lawmakers to deprive us of the ability to protect ourselves and our families through ownership of firearms because we are not trusted to behave responsibly.

To enjoy the benefits of an illegal drug that some say helps with pain and nausea because feeling good in our society is more important than anything else.

Thanks to liberal thinking, Hawaii residents will soon be on the threshold of being free of responsibility for all human behavior. As such, liberal thinking is truly the best thing that has ever happened to our islands. Or is it?

C.T. Marshall
Kailua

Touring U.S. senators are right about Cuba

Kudos to Sen. Dan Akaka and three other U.S. senators, who favor improving relations with Cuba by lifting the U.S. trade embargo, easing travel restrictions and establishing a student exchange.

The senators met for hours with President Fidel Castro and his cabinet during a recent visit and are convinced that it is in the best interests of both countries to establish better a relationship.

Shame on House Majority Whip Tom Delay, R-Texas, who sided with the anti-Castro Cubans in the U.S. and keeps pandering to them. He said, "Where is your compassion for Cubans and Americans who Castro has killed?"

We have established normal relations with Germany, Japan and Vietnam despite the horrible wars. It is time for Cuba and the U.S. to move on.

How Tim Chang

Rainbow logo was significant in meaning

As a University of Hawaii football fan and season ticketholder for 20 years, I read with interest your July 26 and 27 articles on the new UH logo. To me, the old rainbow logo had two meanings:

The icing on the islands we call paradise, and the valley UH calls home.

The beauty and harmony of ethnic diversity, for which many a university strives but few attain.

The new "H" is nicely done, but I liken it to the Air Force's changing of its uniform. It is costly, contributes nothing to the team's ability to excel and, in a small way, nibbles at your personal pride. You don't see the Marines changing their uniform, or other universities fiddling with their logos.

If you must change something, give the "UH" a tapa design and keep the rainbow, a fitting symbol for the university.

Frederick F. Fogel
Hawaii Air National Guard

Quotables "The stronger Bush is, the longer his coattails." Barbara Marumoto REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR FROM WAIALAE IKI Optimistic that presidential candidate George W. Bush's popularity at the polls in Hawaii might help other GOP hopefuls in local races "We're not treating felons. These are children with problems." Bret Marshall MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF A SEX-OFFENDER TREATMENT HOSPITAL BASED IN SALT LAKE CITY Trying to assure angry residents at a Pearl City Neighborhood Board meeting that a state-run sex-offender treatment facility for minors would not be an endangerment to those living in the community

Declaration awarded Taiwan to China

Laura Anderson was wrong to write, in her July 3 letter, that Taiwan was awarded to the Nationalist Party of China. The Cairo Declaration of Dec. 1, 1943 -- issued by Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek -- declared territories Japan had stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa and the Pescadores, to be restored to the Republic of China, not the Nationalist Party.

Hung Peng Lee

Conservatives love to dwell on abortion issue

James Roller's July 10 letter -- espousing the right-wing issue of "partial-birth abortion" as the only thing on which to base our votes in November -- is hogwash.

Extremists have coined this ugly label for what is properly called "late-term abortion," which is rare and used only to save the life of the mother in medical emergencies. Yet the radical right has turned this most private decision into a cynical political weapon in its quest to completely dominate our nation by any means possible.

This group is the real threat to our nation. Its members seem to enjoy describing the most personal medical procedures in graphic detail.

Nancy Bey Little

No one will want to go to Hanauma anymore

Everyone is upset over the impact of new structures at Hanauma Bay, including me. Don't worry. I have first-hand information from my daughter, Jill, who used to be a frequent visitor to the bay but who moved to the mainland.

She said the last time she visited Hanauma, most of the fish were gone or were swimming around in large schools, like in the old days. Now, with the overmanaged bay and an overabundance of do-gooders, no one will want to go there.

Perhaps the bay will revert back to the days when the local fish populations had plenty of fresh food. After all, it's their home.

If people want to see buildings, they stay in L.A. or go to Mall of the Americas. What Hawaii offers is natural beauty -- not some dumb project based on someone's idea of what we should be seeing when visiting Hanauma Bay.

Jim Delmonte

Cops don't do good job of traffic control

Earlier this month, I experienced one of my worst fears: being stuck on the freeway and having to rely on the Honolulu Police Department to handle the mess. It took me 45 minutes to go from the Ewa Beach exit to the Waikele exit, where the accident occurred.

As I got to the accident scene, police were standing around and talking, but not one officer at the exit was letting traffic go through.

The police should have had traffic get off the nearest usable off-ramp, then get back onto the highway beyond the accident.

Can you imagine this place in time of real disaster?

Luke Meyers
Ewa Beach

---

Write a
Letter to the Editor

Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.