It's wrong to joke about racial violence
The
"Deck the Halls with Bowels of Haoles" cartoon that accompanied Charles Memminger's Dec. 23 "Honolulu Lite" column was outrageous beyond words.
With interracial tensions here increasing noticeably, the last thing we need is a supposedly serious newspaper making a joke of racial violence.
Tom Macdonald
Kaneohe
DOE has enough funds to cover drug testing
The Star-Bulletin's coverage of funding for drug testing for public school teachers completely missed the mark. The drug testing provision is part of the contract for the Hawaii State Teachers Association and should be covered by the Department of Education's $2 billion annual base budget.
While the DOE continues to request additional funding, the fact is, during the past two fiscal years, the DOE left $77 million of its budget unspent. The DOE should be able to find $500,000 for drug testing within its large budget.
State employees who belong to the United Public Workers union have random drug testing as part of their contract, and other departments have used funds within their current budgets to fulfill their contractual obligation. The DOE is the only department that requested additional funds to pay for drug testing. The other departments have responsibly managed their budgets, which are significantly smaller than the DOE's.
Since taking office in December 2002, the Lingle-Aiona administration has adhered to fiscal responsibility and prudent management of our state budget to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent wisely, effectively and efficiently.
While many requests from the DOE and other state agencies have merit, only a limited number of programs and projects can be funded at this time due to the state's financial outlook. Just as Hawaii families must live within their means, the state must also be fiscally responsible and not spend more than what it is expected to take in.
Georgina Kawamura
State director of Budget and Finance
Pro-choice mind-set is really pro-death
For a high school junior, Rachel Marumoto (
"Student Union," Star-Bulletin, Dec. 20) is wise and brave. She has compiled accurate figures pointing our just how rampant is the wanton killing of the most innocent of all human beings, those who should be in the safest place possible, their mothers' wombs, yet risk being killed by contract killers hired for the avoidance of embarrassment or inconvenience.
The abortion industry, of course, isn't going to like this courageous young lady who has her facts straight. Abortion is not the answer.
Not a person on Earth is alive by accident. Almighty God was in ultimate control of just which genes and chromosomes came together to form the blastocyst that then became the embryo that had every particle of genetic coding that would accompany that tiny human through life. Even the reproductive technologists who know how to combine sperm and egg cells and then implant the resulting embryo in a surrogate mother can only go so far in controlling which genes, chromosomes and bits of DNA actually merge and become the new human being.
Come on, people! Let's be consistent. The opposite of life is death, and therefore the "pro-choice" people, by opposing the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the most innocent, are declaring themselves pro-death!
The Rev. Samuel M. Smith
Kailua
More children should learn to be grateful
On Christmas Day, I watched Oprah's show, and tears came running on my cheeks. The show was about her giving away school supplies, jeans, sneakers and soccer balls and dolls to AIDS orphans. The faces of those children were so sincere and so grateful. They had never received presents in their life.
Then I look around my neighborhood where children demand toys and take them for granted. They just open the box, play with the toy for a while and toss it out. And ... next box, please. This is sad -- very sad in comparison.
Hope some of you who watched the show learned a lesson. Teach our children to value things and earn them. Granted, it is hard to be disciplined parents, but for the sake of our children's ethics, please do it. I suggest that parents get a copy of the show and show it to their children.
Rosita Sipirok-Siregar
Makakilo
Voter apathy big part of state GOP's problem
Sunday's editorial dealing with another net loss for the Republican Party in the state Legislature highlights the continued contraction of the party's influence. The multidecade doldrums the Republicans find themselves caught in not only reflects poorly on the party's agenda, but in a way that mirrors the overall apathy toward political involvement so evident in the state's low voter turnout.
Much of the party's leadership's fixation on winning over Democratic Party voters has shown itself successful in the Lingle elections but has proved useless as the basis for long-term party growth. The Republicans' best hope for growth is in creating a vehicle that those who have abandoned participation in the electoral process will feel comfortable riding in.
Paul Mossman
Kailua