'Bishop' justices deserve forced retirement

It has been correctly pointed out that the proposed constitutional amendment abolishing mandatory retirement at 70 for judges is a transparent attempt to deny the first Republican governor in 40 years the opportunity to make appointments to the state bench.

However, there is another compelling reason to oppose this amendment. Compulsory retirement at 70 appears to be the only way to remove the Supreme Court justices who willingly served the purposes of the Hawaii Democratic Party machine through their appointments to the board of the former Bishop Estate, now Kame- hameha Schools.

At the behest of the party, they appointed people whose chief qualification was their status as political insiders -- Henry Peters, Richard Wong, Lokelani Lindsey and Gerard Jervis -- and whose recklessness and arrogance came close to costing the estate its tax-exempt status. That would have been disastrous.

These justices deserve far stronger punishment for their scandalous complicity in the politicizing of the Bishop Estate board, as reported in the Star-Bulletin in the historic "Broken Trust" expose and the subsequent book by two of the original authors, Randall Roth and Samuel P. King. But the reality is that these justices are not going to be punished except for the public exposure of their shameful actions.

By retaining compulsory retirement the voters can bring their careers on the bench to an end. It's the least we can do.

Thielen takes active role in isle classrooms

I am an eighth-grade Social Studies teacher at Kailua Intermediate School.

Every year Rep. Cynthia Thielen comes into my classroom as part of her Legislative Road Show tour of all the schools in her district. She prepares a packet of materials on a bill she knows will interest my 13-year-olds, such as the bottle bill or video game regulation. Then she and her staff spend two full class periods on a mock legislative committee hearing. Students take roles for or against the bill and have to defend their positions under questioning by the "committee." The students learn about the legislative process far more effectively than through reading or lectures.

Recently, Thielen took an even more active role in our school. When we were looking for a service learning project, she suggested collecting Teddy bears and soccer balls for children in Iraq. She put the students in touch with the military, the media and community leaders. She helped make the project a huge success and a great learning experience.

Cynthia Thielen is the only elected official we see in our school on a regular basis. Her energy and effectiveness will make her a great U.S. senator.

Thielen will be leader on education, energy

I have been proud to have Cynthia Thielen as our forward-thinking representative in Kailua for the last 14 years. As Americans we need to think beyond our next dollar of pork to tackle long-term problems such as education and our dependence on oil. Thielen is committed to passing legislation that will increase federal funding to give teachers more technology and training, as well as push forward legislation to increase energy efficiency in automobiles and buildings.

Fast forward another 15 years: Will Hawaii be its way to greatness with the Class of 2021 and our decreasing dependence on oil, or will we have crumbled under the weight of "business as usual"?

Governor overreacted to quake damage

It looks like Gov. Linda Lingle does not know the first thing in leadership. First, her Civil Defense did not come on line right after the earthquake because it did not have power. Then, without getting any report from the police and fire chiefs of all the counties, especially Honolulu, she needlessly declared the whole state a disaster area.

She is not a leader.

Lingle calmly led isles through quake crisis

On the day of the earthquake, Gov. Linda Lingle happened to be on the Big Island, about six miles from the epicenter.

Lingle once more displayed her awesome calm and decisive leadership qualities. She immediately worked with the Civil Defense and law enforcement personnel. She was ready with the National Guard. She immediately declared the Big Island a disaster area to get funding for the victims and for repairs to roads, piers and schools.

As a former police officer and investigator for the Medical Examiner's office, I've been to hundreds of crime and accident scenes. In every case, the situations were only exacerbated by the excited police officer who had no compassion, yelling back at the victims. In all cases, the calm, deliberate voice of a caring police investigator is what quelled every storm.

I like that kind of leadership for myself, my family and the people of Hawaii. Gubernatorial candidate Randal Iwase's "rah, rah" style reminds me of the former, an excited, uncompassionate officer at a scene. Lingle reminds me of the latter example, a calm, deliberate, caring officer. Lingle has my vote.

Lingle takes undue credit for good times

It's true that there was an unfortunate error in judgment made in the recent television ads for the Randy Iwase-Malama Solomon campaign. But was that ad any more misleading than the Lingle/Aiona message of "Moving Hawaii Forward"?

Hawaii's economy was already on an upward trend when Linda Lingle took office, with tourism doing well and increased federal spending and construction projects largely due to the efforts of Hawaii's congressional delegation. And many of the improvements she takes credit for in her ads are as a result of initiatives passed by the Democratic majority in the state Legislature. Lingle is not "Moving Hawaii Forward," she's just along for the ride.

Hirono passes muster with Mink's family

The endorsements of Patsy Mink's daughter and brother for Mazie Hirono for Congress are very significant. Hirono has the intelligence, experience and fire to be a great congressional representative for Hawaii.

Hirono has taken time to know 2nd District

Despite what you said in your recent editorial (Oct. 16), those of us who live in the second congressional district are lucky to have a candidate who knows the district like Mazie Hirono. Not only did Hirono represent the district for eight years when she served as lieutenant governor, she's spent this entire year on a daily neighbor-to-neighbor campaign, meeting residents in towns on every island.

In towns on Maui she has listened to residents and will work with them on important local concerns like traffic, affordable housing and coastal protection.

We're equally fortunate that Hirono will bring local values to Washington in the debates on national issues like Social Security, reproductive freedom and tax policy.

Attack ads tell nothing about Hirono's agenda

Disgusting! That's what I think of Mazie Hirono's latest TV campaign advertisement. Instead of listing her accomplishments and agenda, she attacks her challenger. Could it be because she has none? In addition, she does not have the common courtesy to address Mr. Bush as president. Shame on her. And to think she may represent Hawaii. Makes me want to throw up!

Hirono runs against Bush, not Hogue

It's worrisome to me that we could send someone to Washington who proudly makes the promise to vote against our president one of her campaign issues. Is this the winning Democratic strategy? Does this attitude sit well with you? Please, get out and vote! Remember, anti-war, anti-Bush supporters, we are in this war together and in the spirit of cooperation we will share the benefits of our victory with you so you can continue to live in the greatest country on Earth while still protesting it.