Senators failed to support tax breaks

Hawaii residents are probably the highest taxed people in the country, with one of the highest cost of living, yet neither of our U.S. senators voted for the federal tax cut.

Perhaps it's time that the voters rethink who they're voting for instead of what party the politicians belong to. Apparently, these two senators don't much care about how difficult it is to make ends meet in Hawaii.

Gary Fuchikami
Ewa Beach

Arakawa is going in the wrong direction

Regarding Clyde Arakawa's countersuit of the Ambrose family: What is he thinking? His car is proof, and Dana's too, that he was not going the speed limit, whether he had the green light or not. He should stand up and take it like a man, and admit wrongdoing. I cannot understand that man's thinking.

I'm sure there are others who feel the same way I do, that he's trying to cover his behind at the expense of the late Dana Ambrose, whose life ended way too early.

Ivan Nishimura

Cats deserve better from humans

This morning I counted 13 cats in my neighborhood. There were likely many others hiding among the plants. I did not know whether they had owners or were strays.

Yesterday I started the day full of joy at having found a home for a friendly stray cat. We drove to the veterinarian's office to get a check-up before heading off to his new home.

Within an hour, everything changed. The little fellow tested positive for an untreatable disease, along with several other problems. I chose to stay with him as he was euthanized. A stray cat who might have been lost or more likely dumped in our neighborhood deserved to have love, respect and someone to stroke his head during his last moments.

To those who own cats and allow them access to the outdoors: Consider that you are exposing your animal to any number of health problems, some more serious than others. If you don't have identification for your cat (microchip), consider that if your cat wanders off, it may not be identified and returned to you.

To those of you who think it's acceptable to abandon a cat in someone else's neighborhood, have the decency to take the cat to the Humane Society. Don't leave it for someone like me to have to make difficult, heart-wrenching decisions.

I don't know how many of my tears are for the sweet, little cat who was looking for a home and how many are for the numerous others each day who are abandoned, become ill, or get hit by cars.

Eileen Towata

More defections would stop 'Star Wars'

Bud Ebel, the Wag of Makaha (Letters, June 1), suggests that Senators Inouye and Akaka defect to the party of Linda Lingle and George W. Bush.

In the wake of Sen. James Jeffords' defection from the Grand Old Party, change is already in the works. Carl Levin, is slated to become Armed Services Committee chairman, and Joseph Biden, Foreign Relations Committee chairman. Both oppose development of a Star Wars missile-defense system. Yet Inouye still favors the anti-missile shield.

Some other member of the Senate of either party must abandon the swaggering president in order to stop the $100-billion boondoggle.

Richard Thompson

[QUOTABLES] "Now I'm back leading the band, and it feels like I never retired." Del Courtney, Hawaii's legendary Big Band leader, who, at age 93, swings his baton at the Blue Tropix on the first Sunday afternoon of the month, drawing capacity crowds. "If we don't fish, what recreation are we going to do, sit around the TV?" Tommy Navarro, Recreational fisherman and North Shore resident, who dislikes a state proposal to make diving spots at Shark's Cove and Three Tables off limits to fishing as part of an expended marine life protection effort.

Let failing schools fail; let good ones thrive

If I was sending my child to a Dayton, Ohio school that resembled one described in the May 29 article -- with a high dropout rate, low morale, little discipline and poor test scores -- I would want a choice, too.

What I did not find in the article was why closing these failing schools is a bad thing when plentiful public and private options are available for all students. I also did not find any parents or students complaining about the charter schools; just public workers worried about their jobs. If students can get a better education at an alternate school, no one should anyone deny them the chance.

The article's closing allusion to the failing school as a sinking ship was appropriate; let the obsolete one go and build a better one. It sounds like Dayton already is.

Daniel Davis
Kaneohe

Immigration laws should apply equally

I can't believe some of your readers and the media want to see Chef Chai get off the hook even though he committed a crime. The guy entered into a sham marriage just to get a green card. So the immigration service should let him skate because he employs 70 people and he's a millionaire?

My wife is from Thailand and one of my sisters-in-law went back to Thailand eight years ago to care for her mother, who had diabetes. My mother-in-law died a year and half later. When my sister-in-law tried to go back to New York, the embassy took her green card because she had overstayed her time. She's still trying to get back to the United States, to no avail. They told her it will be 10 years before she can return.

The immigration laws should apply to everyone; whether they are the average "Joe Blow" or Donald Trump, and anyone in between.

Fred Cavaiuolo

Hate-crime laws may erode other freedoms

I sympathize with those who are victims of hate-motivated crimes, but hate-crime laws are not the cure. Violent assaults are already crimes punishable by stern penalties. Criminalizing hate will run afoul of our freedom of speech and thought and will discriminate among victims.

Courts can take into consideration motive, whether a violent act was premeditated, and set penalties accordingly. We don't need laws that confuse the politics of hate with acts of violence.

The hate-crime law says some victims are more worthy than others. Felons will be punished more severely for hating and beating a gay, a woman, or a Catholic, but not for hating and beating someone who holds offensive political views or who simply plays loud music.

Furthermore, in a free society, it is every person's right to hate whoever they please for whatever reason they prefer. Some would argue that it is actually honorable to hate and despise those who would take away our constitutional freedoms.

Finally, such a law might beg the question in court. If a Nazi punches a Jew, many will assume it is a hate crime. How will a jury know, and how will a judge make sure, that one's politics are not the evidence of a crime?

By punishing the crime, we avoid muddying the legal water. We should impose sure, swift punishment for people's misdeeds and vigorously defend their right to hold opinions, popular or otherwise.

Khalil Spencer

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