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Profiling law doesn't make sense for Hawaii

I question Ohana Foley's wisdom in wanting a law to ban racial profiling in Hawaii since many of us could pass for Muslims (Gathering Place column, Star-Bulletin, Sept. 22).

I don't know of any instances where ordinary citizens have been stopped because of their race. If anyone is being profiled, it is young Hawaiian males who are being stopped by Hawaiian police officers. On the mainland, Foley failed to mention that many Hispanics have been stopped because they look like Middle Easteners.

Authorities profile the wrong people

Regarding the Sept. 22 column about racial profiling by Ohana Foley of Amnesty International: During the last three years, I've been through four airports: JFK, LaGuardia, McCarran and Honolulu. I've seen profiling at these airports; but by and large it has been aimed at senior citizens like myself; the group that is least likely to commit a crime.

At LaGuardia about two years ago, an old couple was behind me in line. The husband was pushing his wife in a wheelchair. A security screener made the elderly lady stand up so that he could give her the magic wand treatment. Screeners did the same to her husband and me. They let younger people go through without checking them.

If I were a "magic wander" at the airport, you can be sure that I would be profiling Arab Muslims. Why? Because they are the ones who are commiting these bombings. Until the moderate Muslims start turning in their own people -- and they know who the people are who commit these bombings -- then we should profile them.

Amnesty International has its own agenda, and that's not the way to keep America safe from another 9/11, which could happen any time.

Absentee, mail-in voting are way to go

After the primary election, the news was about low voter turnout and the increasing number of absentee voters. It is clear that voters are choosing to vote absentee for its convenience. Voting absentee also lessens the amount of traffic on the road, and offers a no-pressure environment to decide who to vote for.

During our hectic schedules, the chance to mark the ballot at the voters' convenience gives people virtually no excuse not to vote -- just drop the ballot in any mail box and the reliable postal service will deliver it hassle free. And think of the savings if we didn't have to set up polling sites at schools at all.

I do not see any reason we should have to bother going to a polling booth again. The state of Hawaii should adopt a 100 percent absentee and mail-in voting method.

One Ewa candidate foresaw our nightmare

Once again, we had many candidates running for the House seat in District 43 (Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point). And again, we got the same promises, specifically from the incumbent, about the most important issue to residents of this district -- traffic. As usual, the incumbent and other candidates added to the traffic congestion with their sign-waving.

Years ago, one candidate warned us of the problems that the recent flood of developments would bring to our district. Long before he was a candidate, Jeff Alexander stood on the side of the road 20 years ago with a few family and friends armed with homemade signs warning us of the pending traffic nightmares all the planned development would bring.

As a candidate, Alexander made it a point not to contribute to the traffic by sign-waving. He also advocated saving the now-demolished military housing at Barber's Point. Shortly after the double-tiled, metal-roof housing units were demolished, Governor Lingle announced a need for 17,000 more housing units.

Alexander is a longtime resident and community activist, who graduated from Campbell High School.

It is sad and true but, year after year residents of this state vote for candidates based on their ethnicity. Nobody really wants to say it, and there are a few exceptions, but it is a reality: Your ethnicity goes a long way in determining your success as a candidate.

So the general election for this district should be interesting; the candidates are of the same ethnicity (with one trumpeting the fact).

And Monday morning, while we all are sitting in traffic again, consider the one who you will vote into office: Did he or she live here 20 years ago when there was no traffic?

Be very concerned if Bush is re-elected

I am appalled at how many people are still Bush supporters. His administration is one the most corrupt and secretive that America has endured.

They repeatedly lie and use propaganda to push their issues, which mostly favor big business. They use fear and erosion of civil liberties to control the American public. They control major media outlets, such as Fox News, in which they have a 24-hour propaganda supporter.

Although Bush might have handled the events around 9/11 well, that is where it stopped. He has pulled resources out of Afghanistan to wage a pre-emptive war in Iraq, that was based on lies and propaganda. It is a massive failure.

The death toll between American soldiers and innocent Iraqis is increasing. The 9/11 terrorists were not associated with Iraq, even the 9/11 Commission has said this, but the administration still keeps making that link. They continue to underfund troops in Afghanis-tan, where reports say that the terrorists are reorganizing successfully. Bush's deficit is record setting. He has cut money to education, the environment, family and children programs, while giving tax cuts to the rich.

If re-elected, Bush will make more war. Europeans see him as the biggest threat to world security. Bush has had more worldwide demonstrations against him than any other president ever. The world is very concerned about this next election and world security if Bush gets re-elected. How come Americans aren't worried, too?

Kerry too deliberative to be a good president

I am very happy that John Kerry finally has an Iraq policy. He would not have gone to war. Great. The problem is that we are already in a war. The American people are not interested in what he would have done two years ago because he has had two years to think about it. The American people are interested in what he would do now and in the future.

With Kerry's terrific hindsight, he would probably be a much better marriage counselor. "Yes, Mrs. Smith, as I look back on your two years of marriage, You shouldn't have married him."

The president of the most powerful country in the world has to make quick decisions that affect millions and possibly billions of people and dollars. It certainly is not for people who take two years to decide what to do about an event that is now a part of history.

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] Planting an idea The first and last thing visitors see as they encounter Hawaii -- other than security personnel instructing them to take off their shoes -- is the elevated freeway by Honolulu's airport. Accordingly, when it was built, it was designed to be attractive, including a meandering garden running down the center of the lower level, and, up top, set between the elevated concourses, large planter boxes. The idea was to plant wonderful hanging gardens that would delight visitor and resident alike, and for a while, they did. But the state Department of Transportation is focused these days on potholes, not on making the roads look pretty. The elevated gardens have become choked with weeds and debris. So fire up those brain cells. What other use could these midair garden plots be used for? Thematic displays? Lei stands? Minimum-security prisons? Foosball diamonds? Storage for giant downtown Christmas ornaments? Headquarters for our newly reduced National Guard? A place for all the dirt from Castle Junction? Instead of offshore gambling, elevated gambling? Send us your ideas about what should be done with these highly visible, weed-racked lots. E-mail your ideas and solutions -- please include your name and address -- by Oct. 20 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or fax to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750 Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813