Hawaii should execute all drug dealers
Hawaii's "ice" problem is out of control. Every day we hear of robberies, vicious assaults on innocent people and even
a son (allegedly) killing his father for drug money. This sick problem will escalate and the law is helpless. There is an answer that might seem harsh, but something has to be done.
Anyone caught making, selling or transporting drugs should face the death penalty. Hawaii does not have the death penalty. Our nice, timid, gutless lawmakers better wake up and do something before it's too late. This would put a scare to these idiots who deal in drugs. Hawaii's laws are so weak that the same drug offenders keep coming back after they get caught. It seems like a joke.
Eugene Cordero
Pearl City
Peanut allergy nothing to smirk about
That Charles Memminger, what a riot! His "Just when did peanuts go bad?" column (
Star-Bulletin, Nov. 20) was a killer.
As a person who has experienced the death of a close family member due to an allergic reaction, I naturally was amused when he wrote that "if a kid even sees a picture of a peanut in a magazine, he can go into shock." Or that "students who want to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will soon be relegated to the lunch tables in the parking lot (near the smoking teachers)." Man, those parents and teachers of allergic kids sure do overreact, don't they?
But funniest of all was his practical advice that maybe kids can "will" themselves to "overcome the allergy" the way he did with an egg allergy when he was a child. Of course, the first taste of a peanut for someone with a severe allergy could very likely kill them, but really, is it that big a deal? After all, "not a lot of kids are dying from peanut exposure. Only 200 people nationally die each year from all types of allergic reactions." So why take it so seriously?
I sure hope some of the adults interviewed for the original article that he was satirizing were able to read his "Honolulu Lite" column on Sunday. I bet they got a good, hearty laugh out of the whole thing. Anyone who can't see the humor in the possible death of a kid really needs to lighten up.
DeSoto Brown
Honolulu
Whom do they think they represent?
Last Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives there was a charade.
Rep. John Murtha's (D-Pa.) reasonable bill for the timely withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq was replaced by a "just to spite" bill for immediate termination of U.S. operations in Iraq. The latter got three "yes" votes and was rejected by the overwhelming majority of representatives.
At the same time Lou Dobbs of CNN polled the viewers of his program, asking, among other things, whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq. Eighty-six percent polled voted for withdrawal. Another poll -- that of USA Today/CNN -- showed 57 percent of Americans favoring withdrawal from Iraq. These polls are not scientific, but they provide an overview of what Americans want. Using simply mathematics, take these poll results and determine their mean value. You'll get 71.5 percent.
This is what the percentage of the "yes" votes should have been if our representatives were truly representing us. There is a margin of error, they say. Yes, indeed -- in favor of their paychecks.
János Samu
Kalaheo
Heftel right about DOE finance accountability
Board of Education member Cec Heftel should be commended for his accurate analysis of the financial and management problems with the Department of Education (
Gathering Place, Star-Bulletin, Nov. 20). As a five-term U.S. congressman and businessman, he knows first hand what it takes to operate a large organization. One of the basic requirements is good financial data and a financial officer who knows what he or she is doing.
Heftel calls for an independent audit of the DOE. Gov. Linda Lingle and the Republican caucus similarly called for a complete, independent audit of the DOE more than three years ago. The governor and legislators also recommended a performance-based budget so taxpayers, parents and board members could see exactly what we are getting for more than $2 billion annually spent on our schools. Our requests for measurable results and explanations of what the public will get if we invest millions more dollars in the DOE have gone unanswered.
A series of mini-audits prepared by Marion Higa, the legislative auditor, found accounting irregularities and questionable expenditures dating back almost 20 years. Heftel is right that it is time to establish a method of controlling the DOE's financial structure.
Rep. Lynn Finnegan
R, Lower Pearlridge, Aiea, Pearl Harbor
Keep all obscenities out of skies, streets
Let's not dance around the subject. Close-up graphic pictures of aborted feti are obscene ("City ban on aerial banners challenged,"
Star-Bulletin, Nov. 22). Yet, for some reason, we have no laws against obscenity in Hawaii nei. Pornography is limited to sexual images of the human body. We deserve protection from any attempt at forcing us to view obscene materials, not just sexual images.
One's views on abortion, or even aerial advertising, don't even need to be addressed to halt this problem. Why make it an abortion issue or a free speech issue when it is really an obscenity/lewdness issue?
How odd that most would agree that I can't drive around with explicit pictures on my car of a baby being conceived, but anti-abortion activists can drive their truck with shocking images and now are seeking court blessing to fly their banner.
Public lewdness is illegal. If one's act is likely to be observed by others who would be affronted or alarmed, one is guilty of public lewdness. Come on, politicians, bring back lewdness-free roads, and keep airborne obscenity from our view.
Michael A. Glenn
Honolulu