Judges too lenient with fraud suspect

Regarding the Feb. 8 story "Police bust identity theft operation": This is a marvelous piece. I hope you are sending it to everyone in the court system. In this way, other criminals would be able to acquire the suspect's lawyers and also request the judges who are so openly generous with other peoples' lives. Can you imagine if a victim were allowed to sue the judges who allow her to operate so freely with no punishment? If anyone is responsible, they are.

Arnold Van Fossen
Waikiki

Boredom, pressure lead to school fights

Much has been made out of public schools' inability to quell the recent rash of student riots. The predictable calls to increase campus security have been issued, a la adding more prison guards to the prison. But no one is asking why the students are acting out in such a violent manner.

In the case of prison riots, we know why -- the inmates don't want to be there. Could the reason be the same for our students? I suspect that if they were engaged and enthusiastic about their school, they wouldn't be fighting. The fighting is simply a symptom of a larger problem -- public education fails to meet the needs of a large percentage of students. Some students cannot perform academically and are frustrated. Some have interests and passions that don't fit in with the standard curriculum at our schools. So they're bored, which can manifest itself as aggression.

Fighting at the University of Hawaii is rare because those students want to be there and are usually personally invested in their enrollment. Same could be said for private high schools. Until our public schools cease to be half-day-care, half prisons for our young adults, we will see problems such as the riots.

Bryan Mick
Kailua

Gasoline price caps will end the gouging

Capping gasoline prices will not lead to shortages. Right now gasoline prices in Hawaii are $2.42 per gallon, on average, as compared to $1.87 in the rest of the country.

That is a whopping $.55 more per gallon that Hawaii is paying than those on the mainland. The tax difference, $.55 per gallon for Hawaii and $.42 per gallon for the rest of the United States, is only $.13 per gallon.

It costs no more to purchase and ship oil and refine it in Hawaii than anywhere else in the country. That means the oil companies are gouging $.42 more for a gallon of gasoline in Hawaii.

At 1 million gallons of gasoline used in Hawaii per day, that is a whopping $420,000 in additional profit for oil companies every day. That is $155 million per year that Hawaii residents are getting ripped off.

And yet the oil companies will continue to claim, "It's just doin' business in Hawaii."

And Governor Lingle wants to get rid of the price caps for her oil buddies that helped get her into office.

David Soule
Mililani

Radicals use disabled to fight death bill

On Saturday at a House Health Committee hearing, disabled people were used in a most cynical way to pretend that they are potential targets of the Death with Dignity Bill, along with the poor and minorities. This is an outrageous lie. This bill seeks only to enable the terminally ill who choose to end their suffering, and there are 14 pages of safeguards for their freedom of choice. Now these extreme busybodies have denied them this comfort for yet another year.

It was another disturbing display of the extreme tactics of the radical religionists in their takeover of our nation.

Nancy Bey Little
Honolulu

What is motive behind anti-suicide ads?

Last Thursday's and Friday's editions of the Star-Bulletin contained half-page ads sponsored by five doctors and 10 organizations opposed to physician-assisted death legislation. Sponsors of this ad represent 25 percent of our population since reliable polls indicate 75 percent favor such a law.

What do doctors, hospitals and care givers reveal by sponsoring these ads? Could it be they profit more by keeping people alive when they are diagnosed with a terminal condition and want to die? Are they so convinced that they are right and that 75 percent of the population are wrong they still want to impose their will on the majority?

Forget the emphasis on pain management. People in Oregon who have had such a law for the past six years have found that pain is not the reason people choose to die. The loss of control over their lives is the main reason they want to end their lives.

John E. White
Kailua

[ BRAINSTORM! ]

Seeking state symbols

Hawaii has a state bird, a state fish and a state flower. What other symbols should the Aloha State have? For example, should we have a state insect? If so, what should it be? Or how about a state bento? Come up with your own categories and share them with Star-Bulletin readers.