18 people living in one apartment is too many
It was just reported that an apartment fire in Waipahu left six adults and 12 children homeless over the weekend (
Star-Bulletin, May 8). How is it that so many individuals can reside in a two-bedroom apartment? Shouldn't the landlord be cited, and shouldn't the city building and health departments be conducting an investigation? Fortunately, no injuries were reported, but this bears looking into.
Roy M. Chee
Honolulu
Overthrow instigated by Hawaii citizens
The Star-Bulletin indicates in its
May 7 editorial that the U.S. Civil Rights Commission is off base in recommending that the Akaka Bill be rejected because of discrimination on the basis of race or national origin. But the creation of a separate government based on ethnic origin, as the Akaka Bill proposes, is unquestionably discriminatory.
As to justification, your editorial indicates that the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy was clearly spearheaded by Americans living in Hawaii and backed by American troops. In fact, the majority of the members of the Safety Committee that instigated the overthrow were Hawaii citizens.
As you implied, Minister to Hawaii John Stevens favored a change of government. But he informed the committee that he would not participate in an overthrow. Stevens asked Captain Wiltse of the USS Boston to disembark troops to protect American property and personnel. And this is all that happened.
President Cleveland's private investigator, James Blount, reported the views of Queen Liliuokalani and supporters that Stevens instigated the overthrow. But the much more open and thorough Morgan Report of the U.S. Congress concluded that the United States was not responsible for the overthrow. President Cleveland modified his views and accepted the findings of the Morgan report. Thus there doesn't seem to be a basis for indicating that the overthrow was clearly spearheaded by Americans living in Hawaii.
Frank Scott
Kailua
People don't need that many phone books
We have received many phone books for this year -- probably four or five sets, each from a different company. A set means a large phone book for all of Oahu, and a smaller one because we live on the Windward side. Our apartment has one phone and that means we need one set, and the rest have been recycled. How can we communicate that we don't need all these phone books?
Put another way, we don't want them. This is a tremendous waste. We don't want to destroy natural resources this way. We don't want to fill our recycling bins with phone books that we don't use. Isn't there plenty of real work on the island that needs to be done, that these companies can do, that would contribute to all of us, rather than add so much unnecessary waste to our lives?
Char Nuessle
Kailua
Cigars a less harmful smoking alternative
Did you know that several major life insurance companies do not consider cigar smoking as "smoking"? Cigars have no chemicals like cigarettes do, therefore they are less harmful.
How about a happy medium? Cigarettes, no! Cigars, OK!
Bruce Clark
Honolulu
Democrats are poised to take control
Hawaii's Neil Abercrombie has joined 61 members of Congress in signing House Concurrent Resolution 391, advising the president that he needs congressional approval to invoke war on Iran. But why so few? Sixty-one of 222 members of Congress is just over 27 percent, sharing the patriotic constitutional view that sees Congress and not the president with the authority to declare war.
The recent White House scandals include warrantless wiretaps, outing a CIA agent during a time of war, fantasies of a wealth of motor oil deposits or WMD, U.S. tax dollars unaccounted for in Iraq, initiating Arab control of major U.S. ports, the Katrina debacle, the Abramoff-Bush connection and the run-up in gas prices when the president, vice president and secretary of state are former high-ranking oil executives. This is just the tip of the iceberg from which Bush is launching his ship of disarray, incompetence and profiteering.
I'm thinking the Democrats need to do better and explain to their constituents the truths that are being distorted by the White House if they are to take advantage of this huge opening the Republicans have given them to take control of the Congress in this fall's elections.
Smoky Guerrero
Mililani