Who, if anyone, took the hit for Watada?
Your report yesterday that
Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's unit is returning from Iraq after an extended battle tour of 15 months, with 48 casualties, raises the questions, Did his replacement officer make it back alive, and how many of the men who were under his command were listed as killed in action?
Watching Ken Burns' "The War" on PBS and seeing what the 100th/442 did and the conditions they endured really shines a bright light on this guy.
I was drafted out of Fort DeRussey in 1966, but we were not aware that we could opt out of the combat arms and just go to the officers club. Some good deal, yeah?
Robert Young
Kahului
Potholes seem to be part of a conspiracy
It was a magnificent Metric Century Ride Sunday. Thousands took to their bikes, wheeling through intersections kept safe by Honolulu's finest, a cognizant Honolulu Police Department. Was it just ironic or is there a conspiracy to keep us off our bikes? Those who protect and serve under this very administration were telling us at many a turn, "Watch out for the potholes!" Potholes were everywhere. Those of this administration who keep us safe were telling us again and again to "watch out for the holes" as we turned here and there.
Could any administration of any city find it so impossible to fill potholes, when more than a thousand voters took to the streets on their bikes? Surely a Harvard graduate, a Fulbright Scholar, one who has served under four presidents, knows how to fix potholes ... right? It has to be a pothole conspiracy, as God forbid some of us found a real alternative to traffic congestion.
Jim Cone
Honolulu
We need more travel competition, not less
It's pretty clear that
having Mesa's go! airlines here has benefited the people of Hawaii with lower airfares between the islands. And it's pretty clear that having only one or the other here would not benefit the people, because without the competition either airline would gouge the people in this captive market.
Hawaii Superferry as an alternative interisland travel opportunity niche appears to be on thin ice, though I'm sure it would have had an effect on keeping airfares lower. Let's hope that the court will see that allowing competition in this market benefits the people of Hawaii and that the playing field should be legally leveled so they can both survive and compete for my travel dollars. I don't know about their bottom line, but competition sure helps mine.
Charles Kaaiai
Kailua
Traveling by water is essentially Hawaiian
"Aloha." This word has a lot of meanings, including "hello," "goodbye" and "love." Going back to the time when people first came to the Hawaiian islands from the Polynesias and traveled by canoe, they traveled island to island by canoe, which was their only mode of transportation. Then came the others who traveled via steamship.
How ironic, then, that the Hawaii Superferry, which is designed in the way of a canoe, would be denied and rejected by people whose ancestors founded these islands and traveled by like. God created these islands not so that any one group could own them, but that all people of every race, especially the citizens of Hawaii nei, could enjoy them.
Felisa Miner
Ewa Beach
GOP candidate keeps it entertaining
After reading
John Broussard's letter yesterday quoting Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson about weapons of mass destruction, I was wondering something. As Thompson has left "Law and Order," is he now thinking of branching out into comedy?
Alan Cummings
Port Angeles, Wash.
Formerly of Hawaii
If New Orleans can do it, why not Hawaii?
They eyes of the nation's educators are on New Orleans, which has courageously decided to create a new, innovative school system rather than to simply re-establish the traditional system that existed before Hurricane Katrina.
The restructured school system embraces a number of cutting-edge concepts, such as entrepreneurship, competition, local school governance and parental choice.
The upbeat mood resulting from innovation has attracted some of the nation's top names in education. Teachers are excited about the potential to create something special there.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others have made grants to the New Orleans school system. Corporations and public agencies are closely involved with the schools.
Of course, the New Orleans school system faces substantial difficulties. For example, some school buildings are still unusable, and there are not enough teachers. There are no guarantees that the new system will succeed in providing quality education for all students. However, it has created a widespread feeling of optimism that did not exist previously.
Hawaii's public school system shares many similarities with the pre-Katrina school system of New Orleans, which was also characterized by low student achievement and an entrenched bureaucracy.
Hawaii has made a number of attempts in the past to reform public education, but the results have been trivial. Will it take a colossal disaster resulting from a hurricane to induce real change?
John Kawamoto
Honolulu