Warriors simply need to start winning more
Here we go again. The University of Hawaii Warriors football team is on course for mediocrity and Coach June Jones tells us how great the team "looks."
Wins and losses are what matters and this team has not delivered and never will. The "Defensive Guru," Jerry Glanville, seems to be moving backwards as well. Not exactly a steel curtain, Jerry. Let's move on already. There are coaches available who are not all talk.
Jones' gift seems to be politics because how he has held onto this job for so long we will never know!
Matthew Neavill
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Former Hawaii resident
Join others to protest treatment of detainees
Congress just passed legislation that will continue to allow the Bush regime to use torture and limit legal rights for detainees. This will allow coerced evidence, give torturers immunity from prosecution and lawsuits, prevent detainees from using the Geneva Conventions to challenge detention, allow the president to decide what is considered a Geneva Convention violation, allow secret evidence, and maintain the president's ability to declare anyone an "enemy combatant" and hold them without charges indefinitely.
To accept this without protest is to be complicit in torture.
On Oct. 5 people in more than 125 cities will walk out of school, take off work and come to different locations around the country to join in a mass movement to drive the Bush regime from power, the only real way to stop this administration's crimes.
In Honolulu there will be a rally from 4-7 p.m. at Thomas Square. Speakers representing many community organizations, as well as musicians, poets and performers, will come together to speak out against war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the Bush administration.
Carolyn Hadfield
Honolulu
Spend more money on schools, not Superferry
I attended the
ferry meeting Wednesday on Maui and once again the Hawaii Superferry people stated that they were not required to get an environmental impact statement because other ships using Hawaiian harbors didn't have to. Wrong! There is a big difference. The Legislature approved an expenditure of $40 million for harbor improvements to prepare for the ferry. Hawaii taxpayers didn't give $40 million to NCL, Matson, Young Brothers or any other harbor users. But we are giving $40 million to the Superferry and this triggers HRS 343, which requires an EIS by law. The Superferry people then stated at the meeting that the courts have all ruled that an EIS is not necessary. Wrong! Maui Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza ruled only that the Sierra Club and other environmental groups lacked the legal standing to challenge the Superferry in court. Cardoza never ruled on the merits of HRS 343. I believe the state Supreme Court will overrule Cardoza's decision.
Think what Hawaii could have done with that $40 million. On Maui we could have finished the Lahaina bypass to end the massive traffic jams there and built the Kihei High School and air-conditioned all of our existing schools. Gov. Linda Lingle is giving $40 million to private enterprise so it can make a profit while forsaking her duties to the people to build better roads and better schools to educate our children so they will have a brighter future.
Bob Babson
Kihei, Maui
Cars, planes cause more harm than ferry
What is the Hawaii Superferry? It's a long overdue alternative way of transportation for the Hawaiian islands, but many are against the Superferry for crazy, unproven reasons (
Star-Bulletin, Sept. 28).
I like to see the positive, and here are my positive thoughts on the Superferry:
» It is for people who do not like to fly.
» It's for people who would like to take their cars, bikes or trucks to another island.
» It's mass transportation, so you are using less gas than going on a private yacht or boat.
» Competition is healthy. Look what happened when go! airlines became an alternative for flying, both Aloha and Hawaiian airlines reduced prices dramatically.
» For all those crying about the environmental issues, I ask, how many of you drive a car every day that contributes to global warming? What about the huge cruise ships in our harbors? Has anybody done an environmental impact study on them? What about jet fuel from the airplanes? I am sure that jet fuel is more toxic than ferry fuel.
Let's sit back, relax and welcome this long overdue ferry.
James Kimo Rosen
Kapaa, Kauai
GOP behaved badly in choosing Thielen
I was appalled, although not surprised, at the recent actions by Linda Lingle and the various heads of the Hawaii Republican Party. I can only imagine the weeks of planning and the back room manipulations that went on to
get Cynthia Thielen on the general election ticket for the Senate while still assuring her seat in the state House if she loses. Thielen ran unopposed in the primary and is unopposed in the general election, assuring her the seat in the state House. I hope Jerry Coffee was not a part of this, but it is suspicious that he withdrew from the race right after the ballots were printed. Gov. Lingle then urged voters to vote for Coffee anyway so the Republican leaders could then pick whom they wanted to run for the Senate.
There were five other Republicans running for this office. In the normal course of elections the voters would pick one of these and then the party would back that person in the general. These five men all filed their papers, worked on their campaigns, had volunteers out there, incurred expenses and, I assume, hoped to win. They all got more votes than Thielen did. I doubt they expected to have their own party turn against them. So, good job, Governor. You have learned well, and George Bush will be proud of you.
Pat Hammers
Honolulu
What happened to our Abercrombie of old?
As I watched the election returns, I was struck by the fact that Rep. Neil Abercrombie has turned into a Democrat completely. Too bad. Neil used to be a real person who was resistant to being "status quo." What happened to the Neil I remember passing out nickels? The Neil of the "expletive deleted" to Gov. George Ariyoshi? Once he cut his hair, I knew he was done.
So long Neil, I miss you.
Louie Vierra
Haiku, Maui
Voters sent message about moving forward
I couldn't help but notice a Malama Solomon campaign print ad that audaciously listed the "Voters of Hawaii" as an endorsement and claimed that "voters agree" that our state government must change in order to "move forward."
Perhaps this candidate for lieutenant governor should read the final primary election printout, because when a candidate receives less than one-third of Democrats' votes (in a race with only three other candidates), one can hardly claim an "endorsement." More than two-thirds of the Democrats who voted in the primary chose not to vote for her. Now that sounds like an endorsement.
What's really telling about the results is that out of the 238,000 Democratic ballots cast in the primary, more than 77,700 were left blank in the "lieutenant governor box. Solomon beat these blank ballots by just 100 votes.
I think this primary election left one thing clear: Voters agree that the Democratic ticket cannot move the state forward. Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona can.
Stephen Stinton
Kailua
OK, we voted -- now it's time to tidy up
The election is now over. Thanks to everyone who voted. Now, please take down the signs.
Jude Waterman
Honolulu