Bill tells children it's OK to exploit women
This is not smut city! On my first (and only) trip to Las Vegas, as a woman I was offended that there were fliers, brochures and business cards advertising prostitutes littering the streets. It was a major disappointment for my first trip to the mainland, and I'm in no hurry to visit Vegas again.
Now they are considering a bill to legalize prostitution in Hawaii?
Is this what we want to teach our children -- that exploitation of women is acceptable? Our beautiful Hawaii to be littered with smut advertising in the streets? Auwe!
Let's turn a blind eye to the ice epidemic, the homeless ... because, obviously, there are a few politicians in the Legislature who can only get it by paying for it. Well, they can always go to Vegas.
D.C. Medeiros
Kapolei
Drug testing shouldn't be up to HSTA
Once again, a teacher is arrested on drug charges (
Star-Bulletin, Feb. 15). She reportedly has admitted to the charges.
As a taxpayer, I demand that all teachers be subject to monthly mandatory drug testing. Enough is enough. How are we supposed to educate our youth about the dangers of drugs if the educator is on drugs?
Why does the state have to "negotiate" (fancy word for "ask permission") with the Hawaii State Teachers Association on this issue? As citizens, we demand it!
Brilliant Gomez
Waipahu
Illogical EIS brouhaha shows anti-ferry bias
If some of the members of the Legislature
feel the Hawaii Superferry should complete an environmental impact statement, then shouldn't Young Brothers and all other entities who engage in commercial activities in all the state-owned harbors across the state meet the same requirement? The targeting of a single business while not holding others to the same standard is ludicrous at best and smacks of special interest meddling at worst.
It wasn't that long ago that Young Brothers relocated its facilities in Honolulu Harbor. Was an EIS required? I doubt it.
The benefits the Superferry already have been discussed in both news articles and other letters to the editor, so there's no need to rehash that.
Opponents make it sound as if the Superferry will have as many departures and arrivals as Aloha and Hawaiian Air. This is far from the case.
Whether you're talking about invasive species or cross-channel movement, the Superferry should only be held to the same standards and procedures that are required of Young Brothers. I only mention Young Brothers because it has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Superferry and has gone so far as to impose changes as to how freight is moved to Maui -- a tactic obviously intended to enlist more support for its opposition.
If the Superferry is viable, it will succeed and the state will benefit. If it turns out to not be a viable means of interisland travel, it will fail and go away.
Bill Nelson
Haleiwa
Let 'peace' supporters go talk to radical Islam
I believe Robert Kinslow's
letter Thursday about a U.S. Department of Peace is a grand idea.
All we have to do is convince Kinslow to take the lead in these discussions with the Islamic factions over there in their own countries. If he could take along certain others who agree with him, it would be more impressive.
Don Neill
Kaneohe
Grammys need more variety from Hawaii
Gary Chun's commentary on slack key winning a Grammy every year shows his ignorance in the process of how musicians win these awards ("Cut Grammy slack-key strings,"
Star-Bulletin, Feb. 13). I carried the Grammy drive for Hawaiian music myself for about seven years from the mid-'90s to just about the time it became reality, and what I learned is that musicians here in Hawaii are not interested in paying the yearly membership dues. They have their own reason, but it's not because they don't have the funds.
In 1995, Michael Green, former chairman for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences asked me why after so many years and efforts the Hawaiian musicians were not joining to support a Hawaiian music category -- could it be a "brown and white thing?" I told them I did not think so, but if asked the same question today my reply would be that although it's not the obvious reason, I think it does play an underlying role.
Chun's remarks and the approval of NARAS to "appease" the Hawaiian musicians by putting up a Hawaiian music category imply sympathetic racism. Why? Because the rules of validation for categories and membership were disregarded in the determining vote for Hawaiian music to be represented in the Grammys, which has resulted in a bias toward slack-key guitar winning every year.
The way for Hawaiian-language music to win Grammys is to have an overwhelming number of Hawaiian-language recording artists join NARAS and dominate the voting process.
Johnny Kai
Former member
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
Honolulu
Property owners can't afford big HGEA raise
Mayor Mufi Hannemann's pronouncement that offering government workers a 2 percent pay raise is a "slap in the face" (
Star-Bulletin, Feb. 13) is really a fist to the gut of Honolulu property tax payers. The mayor says the city has a "modest surplus." How did he get the surplus that he is so eager to give away to Hawaii Government Employees Association members? It came from more than an 80 percent increase in property taxes over the last two years.
Pandering to HGEA employees with a 4 percent pay raise each year for four years as payback for support in 2004 and for his re-election bid in 2008 won't help him in his political aspirations. There are many more voters out here who aren't members of a government union who are being hurt by Hannemann's continuing demand of our money for rail transit and HGEA pay raises. They will overwhelmingly vote to put him out of office in favor of someone who understands what it is like to live on a fixed income.
Pam Smith
Ewa Beach
A little courtesy can prevent much agony
I am not a pedestrian that often. But yesterday I was -- for a brief moment. I was on a sidewalk in Kailua walking toward the Post Office when a car sped into the parking lot toward Aaron's Dive Shop. I had to jump aside not to get hit.
All it takes is more consideration toward each other. Many drivers seem to own the street and see pedestrians as a distraction. The same applies to pedestrians. As a driver, always assume there is a pedestrian or a pet on the street. And when we abide by the speed limit, we should be able to stop on time. Let's not forget what makes Hawaii so special -- the aloha spirit!
Dieter Thate
Kailua
Make immigrants pay for trouble they cause
An 18-year-old Bosnian immigrant kills four people at a shopping mall in Utah. His family has no idea what went wrong.
A Mexican woman crashes the border and has her baby in a San Diego hospital. Guess who pays for it as she returns to her own country?
The 9/11 terrorists arrive in the United States with tourist visas, and then apply for government loans to attend flight school.
Maybe it would be a good ida to enact a surcharge of $100,000 on every non-American coming into the country. At least these newcomers could help pay for the rebuilding of America while they're destroying it.
Chip Davey
Honolulu
Take offensive books out of public schools
The
Feb. 9 editorial headlined "DOE takes right approach on book" presented a false impression to the community. The DOE's position on Yoko Kawashima Watkins' book "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" is clearly misguided since the book has been recognized by many historians of East Asia as propaganda that glosses over the brutality inflicted on Koreans by their Japanese occupiers. In Hawaii, Republic of Korea officials have asked the DOE to re-evaluate use of the book.
Your editorial stand that allowing the book to remain in Hawaii school libraries is correct because it "presents all points of view" is morally bankrupt. The Star-Bulletin's position is akin to stating that since Hawaii school libraries have "Schindler's List," a book on the Jewish Holocaust on the shelves and teachers may use this great book in the classroom; a book by a Holocaust denier should also be presented in the classroom to allow for alternative positions.
Normally, presenting all points of view is the correct course, but not when a point of view is being presented to young children that is clearly inaccurate as well as offensive to not only Korean- Americans but to anyone who is interested in historical accuracy.
Austin McNally
Mililani