Bring swift end to Waimea dispute

City Councilman Romy Cachola's call for action on Waimea Valley ("Gathering Place," Star-Bulletin, Jan. 2) is consistent with his guardianship of the public's purse. The more billable hours that pass, the more money goes to the attorneys. The city must push for an end to this dispute. A fair price for this conservation land at the time of condemnation can be determined in court and in public.

We face many dangers going into new year

New Year's is a good time to take stock. When I look down the road I see great danger for our children and grandchildren.

The greatest danger is our leaders who have failed to heed the warning of global warming. We are long overdue for a "man on the moon"-like effort to develop and implement clean energy alternatives. With the tremendous increase of automobiles in China and India, I fear that it already could be too late to save the planet.

The second-greatest danger is the national debt. When President Bush leaves office in 2008, the national debt will exceed $10 trillion; 96 percent of this debt was run up by three so-called conservative presidents, Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2. In the process they have piled enormous load on the backs of the newly born and the unborn. At considerable distance behind No. 1 and No. 2 is terrorism.

It's abundantly clear who is the worst enemy of our children and grandchildren. It clearly is not al-Qaida.

Get politics off of the comics pages

The Star-Bulletin has a Sunday comics section, seven pages of which contain 32 comic strips. Please note how far away from "comic" many of these strips have become. The following sample from Sunday's edition have sarcastic, sneery political points made in them, which surely go over the heads of most children and are out of place in a comics section for young or old:

» "Zippy" by Bill Griffith -- "Dick Cheney ... bunker mentality."

» "Candorville" by Darrin Bell -- "Thousands of Americans killed in 9/11 attack," "President's approval rating," "Thousands killed in Katrina," "Administration's weak response."

» "La Cucaracha" by Lalo Alcarez -- "Holiday Greetings from the Border -- Go back to where you came from."

And it goes without saying how irritating are G.B. Trudeau's strained attempts to come up with nasty political comments and references in his "Doonesbury" strip.

On the bright side, there are some good strips -- "Hi and Lois," "Baby Blues," "Luann," "Garfield," "PreTeen" and "Pickles" come to mind.

But left-wing, liberal, Democratic wisecracks and anti-Bush jabs or, for that matter, anti-Democratic or any political positions, are out of place in the Star-Bulletin comic strips.

Mayor Fasi could run city with less money

Congratulations to Mayor Mufi Hannemann. He and any elected official who supports all the recent tax increase decisions just might have bought themselves a front-row seat at the unemployment line come next election year.

The mayor can redeem himself and recall many of these tax increases and start over, this time being more sensitive to our elderly. Remember, with the high number of elderly on Oahu, our average age is not as young as other states.

Any chance of Frank Fasi coming back next election year as an independent mayoral candidate to fix this mess for us? Perhaps City Councilman Charles Djou?

We need to fight back as a whole body of voters and vote for the right person and not the "right party."

No panhandling, no Waikiki performers

In trying to deal with the street performers in Waikiki, the city went about it in the wrong way. It should have done what so many mainland cities have effectively done -- pass a law against panhandling. The street performers are nothing more than costumed panhandlers. Take away their money pots and they would be gone post haste.

Many mainland cities have successfully passed and enforced anti-panhandling laws. They do not allow any panhandling within so many feet of any commercial business, park, bus stop (train station) or school. A law of this type here would rid Waikiki of its panhandlers and could also be used in Chinatown, Hotel Street, Fort Street Mall, around Ala Moana Center, at bus stops and so on. Panhandling is not free speech, it is begging.