Fairness Doctrine will give people all sides
In response to Joanne Fichtman's
Aug. 4 letter regarding reinstating the Fairness Doctrine in order to shut up conservative radio; suggesting it would curb right-wing free speech rights is as misleading as Alberto Gonzales' testimony before Congress.
The Fairness Doctrine calls for equal time on the air of all sides of major public issues. Republican who profit from war would promote it while Democrats looking out for the well being for all would speak out against it (in the same newscast). That's how it was before the Reagan era, when broadcast regulations were relaxed allowing a small number of operators to own most of the stations. Now whoever owns the radio or TV outlets gets to slant the news to promote their agenda. This resulted in the repeated broadcast of the lies concerning WMD, 9/11 links to Saddam Hussein and the outing of a CIA agent, without opposing views in the same news cast.
To be fully informed, contact your congressional representatives and urge them to vote for reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, otherwise do nothing!
E. Stephen Burns
Mililani
So many options, so many decisions
Scientific studies about the human brain have determined that on any given day whilst fully awake we make approximately 389 decisions and stick with them. What to eat, what to drink, what to wear, what we need, how's the kids, how's the pets, what's important, what isn't, which eventually brings us home hoping we've made all the right ones.
Perhaps in this decade or the next we will know whether to take the bus on rubber wheels, the bus on roller skates, the train on metal tracks, the tram on skis, our car on asphalt, the ferry in water or the faithful bicycle on the path. Hopefully with directions.
John L. Werrill
Honolulu
Double-deck freeway worth another look
Long before the mayor started haphazardly rushing the rail transit decision, Gov. Linda Lingle had the vision for an upper-deck freeway atop the H-1 from Kapolei to Honolulu. While her idea included a toll, that is no different from charging people to ride a rail. You're still paying for the option to get from point A to point B faster.
Regardless of tolls, an upper deck couple becomes a multiuse platform for future growth, adapted for buses and high-capacity car pooling (say three or four people per vehicle) at first, creating a bike path and even accommodating the potential to add a rail like.
Creating such a multiuse transit platform along the freeway would be least obtrusive to existing property owners, efficiently reuse space already assigned for transit, and it could even steer future rail to all areas, be it Salt Lake, the airport and the farthest reaches of West Oahu.
If we've waited decades for rail, we can wait a couple of additional years to get the decision functionally correct, not just politically compromised.
Von Kenric Kaneshiro
Honolulu
Local news media are too Oahu-centric
Why is that every time high costs are mentioned in the news, everything is based on Oahu? We on Maui have way higher prices for food and gas, but every time we watch the news here or read the paper it's always Oahu complaining about how high the prices are there. It is costlier here but that is never brought up.
Yes, we have our own paper, but when it comes to the news it's always about Oahu. Outer islands get talked about only if major things happen. Maybe there should be a segment for news of the other islands. Lots of things of interest happen on other islands but do not get mentioned in the news and many residents are shocked that some of these incidents are not on the news. There are other islands besides Oahu.
Jeffery Shea
Kihei, Maui
Military families don't have it that easy
This is in response to Waimea Williams (
Letters, Aug. 6), who was disgruntled that military personnel "most of whom not born and raised here," in his mind, have an advantage when it comes to buying homes here in Hawaii.
People in the military make a choice to serve at the expense of their individual wants, rights and freedoms. They pick up everything they own and move every three to four years, kids start new schools, spouses try to find jobs in communities that resent them being there and only want the military around while they are spending money. They witness things that most people can't fathom and carry the grief and scars for the rest of their lives. They don't have extended family support structures here because they were not "born and raised here." They have each other and they cry like babies when it is time for them to leave the service because it is the only family that understands and cherishes them.
I cried the day I retired from the military. I started my new life in Waianae in a house I bought while I was in the service. I discovered that the vast majority are not small minded and resentful. Most people thank me for my service and welcomed me home, even though I was not "born and raised here."
Mitchell Quinn
Waianae