Warriors coach should point finger at himself
Please, oh please, June Jones! Enough already! After every loss, here's the University of Hawaii football coach telling us all about what the players did wrong.
Let's place the blame for their poor performance where it belongs -- on the coach and his staff. After all, isn't it the coach and his staff who study the opposing team, then set the offensive and defensive tactics? How long is UH going to put up with an overpaid, excuse-passing failure of a head football coach? He is a drain on the Athletic Department's budget and the private individuals and companies that further reward him for his failure to succeed.
I feel for those players who play their hearts out, only to hear their coach slam them in the media.
John Shupe
Honolulu
What do 3,000 staffers do in White House?
Bulletin, bulletin -- the latest news from the White House! George Bush has sent a memo to his White House staff that all 3,000 are to receive ethics training (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 8).
The training is needed, but 3,000 staff members? What do 3,000 people do in the White House? How much tax money is that to pay 3,000 staffers? Oh, by the way, Halliburton is tasked with conducting the training. More of my tax money going down the drain.
Roger Hutchings
Portland, Ore.
Former Honolulu resident
Clinton lied and got away with it, too
Wendy Pollitt (
Letters, Nov. 8) questions why a public citizen goes to jail for telling a lie while federal officers like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are allowed to go back to work.
There is precedence -- Bill Clinton lied to a federal grand jury 13 times, and it is on videotape, and he was allowed to walk. Of course Bill Clinton was a Democrat, and Democrats are seldom prosecuted for lying.
Yes, it seems politicians have different laws. It comes with the job.
Otto Cleveland
Pearl City
Political system favors the criminally minded
While I wholeheartedly agree with Kristin Paulo (
Letters, Nov. 4) that we should clear out criminals from politics, her solution of expelling any politician with so much as a misdemeanor on his record won't work. The problem is that our political system ruthlessly weeds out ethical people. Most people who run for office do so because they want to spend money that doesn't belong to them. In any other profession such behavior is called theft, so legalizing it pretty much guarantees a majority of political candidates with a mercenary streak.
Then, enormous pressure is applied to those candidates to engage in unsavory behavior -- political hit pieces that distort or outright lie about one's opponents, walking door to door telling people whatever they want to hear instead of the truth, and accepting campaign donations and endorsements from special interest groups that expect a good return on their investment.
Candidates who engage in unscrupulous tactics to win office will not miraculously turn into saints if they win. If you see unscrupulous behavior, don't vote for that person, even if it means leaving half your ballot blank.
Jim Henshaw
Kailua
Reviving language still work in progress
On behalf of the
'Aha Punana Leo Hawaiian language organization, I would like to thank the Star-Bulletin for
John Heckathorn's article on our dinner, Ne'epapa 2005, as well as all those who supported the event. While great progress has been made in the revitalization of the Hawaiian language, much remains to be done. Out of the approximately 150,000 children under age 18 in Hawaii, only some 2,000 are enrolled in our Hawaiian Medium School System and are fluent speakers of Hawaiian. We still have a long way to go! However, this is indeed a big change from when we started, when there were about 30 Hawaiian speakers under 18.
When we first dreamed of the Punana Leo schools, the only children left speaking Hawaiian were children who were of at least half-Hawaiian ancestry from Niihau. Today, children who speak Hawaiian include Niihau children as well as Punana Leo children from all the other islands except Lanai. A majority of these speakers are of Hawaiian ancestry.
When we began, the kupuna encouraged us to include all the children of Hawaii. They reminded us of a time when Hawaiian was spoken by all children who were raised in Hawaii, regardless of ethnicity. We continue to work toward that goal.
Kauanoe Kamana
President, 'Aha Punana Leo