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Editorials
Friday, August 25, 2000Federal report favors
self-rule for HawaiiansThe issue: The departments of the Interior and Justice have issued draft recommendations for reconciliation between the federal government and Hawaiians.
THE draft recommendations for reconciliation between the federal government and Hawaiians that have been made jointly by the departments of the Interior and Justice support the legislation on Hawaiian self-determination that has been introduced by the Hawaii congressional delegation.
The recommendations, in fact, call for action by Congress to clarify the status of Hawaiians and to create a framework for a government-to-government relationship with a representative Hawaiian entity. This is precisely the intent of the sponsors of the pending bills.
The other recommendations have to do with establishing offices and committees to deal with Hawaiian issues and urging greater efforts to address wrongs suffered by Hawaiians. One says Congress should authorize the transfer of federal surplus lands to Hawaiians -- a proposal that should be amended to preserve the rights of non-Hawaiians to such lands.
Representatives of Interior and Justice conducted hearings in the islands last December. The draft recommendations, which were released six months late, will now be distributed for comment.
Since the hearings were held, the Supreme Court has handed down the Rice vs. Cayetano decision, which nullified the Hawaiian-only restriction for voting for trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. In addition, a federal judge has issued a temporary order barring enforcement of the Hawaiians-only restriction for candidates for OHA trustee.
These judicial developments have given urgency to the effort to win federal recognition of Hawaiians as a distinct indigenous group with the right to self-determination. The measures introduced by the Hawaii delegation are a response to Rice vs. Cayetano, and now the relevant federal departments are weighing in on the same side.
Senator Akaka, the chief sponsor, commented that the draft report's findings and recommendations "underscore the importance of the federal recognition legislation we have proposed in Congress."
The approach reflected in both the draft recommendations and the proposed legislation deserves support by both Hawaiians and others concerned with the welfare of the islands. Those Hawaiian activists who want to hold out for full sovereignty may succeed in blurring the picture of Hawaiian aspirations temporarily but they are pursuing a fantasy that will never be realized.
Federal recognition of Hawaiian self-determination could restore the Hawaiians-only voting restriction that the Supreme Court has struck down, as well as the restriction on candidates that is now under challenge. Recognition could also lead to the transformation of OHA from a state agency to the government of a semi-autonomous Hawaiian nation.
The news is that the Clinton administration supports such a development. But time is growing short, both for the administration and the current session of Congress. By next year, the situation in Washington could be less favorable to the Hawaiian cause.
Stem cell research
GUIDELINES issued by the National Institutes of Health on the use of stem cells derived from human embryos for use in medical research are bound to produce an outcry from conservative sources on moral grounds. But the protests are unfounded, because the cells at issue have no potential of developing into human life. Promising research should not be derailed by such rhetoric.
Medical conditions that could benefit most from such efforts include Parkinson's disease, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, burns and spinal-cord injuries. Related research also could open new avenues of discovery for pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies.
Scientists explain that when a sperm fertilizes an egg, a single cell is produced with the potential to develop into a complete human organism. In the following few days, the cell begins to divide into identical cells, then into specialized cells, one category of which are called pluripotent stem cells. Although having no potential of developing into a complete organism, pluripotent stem cells are capable of limitless division and can be maintained indefinitely in tissue culture. They can be an important tool for research.
Medical researchers and patient advocates welcomed this week's release of the NIH guidelines, which had been developed over more than a year. Lana Skirboll, a top NIH official, expects numerous grant applications seeking work with embryonic stem cells. "There are few lines of medical research that will not benefit from this tool," she said. "Very shortly, we'll see a lot of projects using it."
President Clinton has given his support to the effort, calling the research possibilities too great to pass up. "I think we cannot walk away from the potential to save lives and improve lives, to help people literally get up and walk, to do all kinds of things we could never have imagined," he said.
Opponents maintain that the research should be halted because of a congressional edict that no federal funds be used for studies in which human embryos "are destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." That edict should not be used to ban research using specialized embryonic cells that have no potential by themselves of becoming a human life.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
