What have you done for our troops today?
The Hawaii Army National Guard longs for sign of "aloha" from Hawaii. The Web site to contact the men and women service personnel deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait is:
www.dod.state.hi.us/uplift.html
Morale of the troops is of the most importance.
Michael P. Augusta
Honolulu
To protect humans, treat farm fowl better
Pam Davis is correct when she says, "
Our leaders aren't doing enough about avian flu" ("Gathering Place," Star-Bulletin, Oct. 18). Politicians around the world are taking an ineffective, hindsight approach to dealing with this potential disaster. Shigeru Omi, Western Pacific regional director of the World Health Organization, has said that the only way to reduce the threat of bird flu to humans is to change farming practices in southern China, where influenza viruses thrive: "This means a thorough overhaul of animal husbandry practices, and the way animals are raised for food in the region. I believe that anything less than that will only result in further threats to public health."
In other words, we must clean up the overcrowded, filthy disease reservoirs in which farmed chickens, pigs, ducks and geese are forced to live. By treating these animals better, or by not eating them at all, we could avoid most -- perhaps all -- flu pandemics.
Kathy Guillermo
Senior writer
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Norfolk, Va.
Warmed by thoughts of returning home
With all that is troubling in the world today, there's one thing that keeps me going -- that one day, I will return to my beloved Hawaii. A land of beautiful people, a proud history, a place where the feeling of just being there is like no where else on the Earth.
Being Hawaiian is something that I hold dear to my heart and my kids. It's something that I teach them to be proud of.
I love you, my Hawaii ... someday we will meet again.
Johnny Santiago
Baton Rouge, La.
Mayor, HECO heeded public's concerns
Thank you, Mayor Hannemann and Mr. Robbie Alm of Hawaiian Electric Company, for the interest you took in addressing the community concerns regarding HECO's proposal to
build a wind farm above Kahe Power Plant.
The public meetings hosted by HECO showcased the conflict between the need for ecologically sound, renewable energy sources and the need to preserve the integrity of our cultural sites and landscapes.
We continue to affirm our commitment to work with HECO to explore energy-saving practices and implementing renewable energy sources.
The goal for all of us is to create and instill a conservation ethic, an attitude that recognizes and respects living on an island of finite resources and very visible limits.
Makaala!
Walterbea Aldeguer
Maili, Waianae
Other nations treat prisoners worse
This refers to the
letter to the editor in your Oct. 17 issue titled "Americans should not tolerate prison abuse."
I, for one, am fed up with the constant boorish American bashing. Let these bleeding hearts, who are so eager to blame America first, also start demanding fair and proper treatment of prisoners and cessation of civil rights abuses in other countries, if they are going to continue to accuse the United States.
If one goes to Amnesty International's Web site and reads its "Statement and Demands," they will see that the term "all governments" is used in the "Statement" section. However, in the "Demands" section it is clear that the only government being accused by AI is the U.S. government.
Not one word about the prisoner abuse, torture and executions in Iran, North Korea, Cuba, China and other countries that have a history of these acts. And might I remind you that the prisoners in Abu Ghraib were merely humiliated. None had their heads removed and their murder broadcast around the world via the Internet. What happened at Abu Ghraib was an aberration carried out by a few renegade soldiers, and is not U.S. policy. Yet that's all the left-wing and liberal groups focus on. Those responsible for the abuses have been punished.
You cannot accuse only one government and ignore the rest. Let's be fair about this.
Jim Fromm
Waipahu