Child support agency is overdue for audit
I've been reading through past articles about the child support agency in Hawaii and it seems that not much has changed over the years. I'm a single, working mother who is trying to find out why the Child Support Enforcement Agency received money, on my behalf, only to send it to the state of Hawaii (when their statements clearly show there is no balance owed to the state). I've had the "pleasure" of speaking to three different people at the child support office and received three different reasons for my situation (none of which make sense). I've even tried the Attorney General's Office. No luck!
As I speak out about my situation, people I know have shared with me their horror stories about this agency. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that an audit is overdue.
Crystal Rodrigues
Wahiawa
Let the public debate over rail continue
I attended one of the mayor's early public presentations for the proposed rail alternative to our commute from Kapolei to town. The presenters struck me as boys with a new electric train that they are going to play with come hell or high water.
The caution I offered was that the best and brightest should wade into this issue. Reading columns by Jerry Coffee, Cliff Slater and the work of the Stop Rail Now group, I feel hope for an honest debate.
A price tag this high should make it a state issue. Here there is no room for debate between the city and state on autonomy. The upside is, what a hot topic to bring out young voters, the people who will be paying for it over a lifetime.
Bill Madigan
Honolulu
U.S. has responsibility to force aid in Burma
As the world's remaining superpower the United States is often faced with the unpleasant task of deciding when and where to intervene in international affairs. The suffering in Burma is a prime example of this dilemma - a natural disaster made worse by man.
The answer is clear: Stand up, lead and inform the Burmese junta they have 48 hours to accept aid and aid workers. They can take credit for the aid, we don't care! However, if they refuse they should stand clear and be warned not to interfere. Any interference will result in severe and immediate consequences.
To stand by and watch as a thugs and tyrants kill thousands of innocent men, women and children is criminal. What is the purpose of being a superpower if we never exercise the moral virtue we claim to possess?
Sens. Reid, McCain, Obama, Clinton and Speaker Pelosi, go to the president, show a unified stand and do something right for a change. Let the president know you endorse and would support him in sending aid to Burma even if that requires a military escort to accomplish the objective.
Kirk N. Hovious
Kailua
Though far away, Hawaii remains home
I am Hawaiian. I traveled with my father when he was in the Army, returning to live in Aina Haina when I was 5. My parents were divorced and we kids moved around Oahu with our mother. After she moved to California, we followed, but for only a couple of years and then returned to the island.
After graduating from Roosevelt, I joined the Air Force and met my wife in Turkey. We married and moved to Pennsylvania. We both graduated from Slippery Rock University and raised five children that know of their ancestry. That is where I am today.
I am a poet transplant, sometimes pulling the smell of day-old poi out of nowhere. A warm breeze caught at an unexpected moment while waiting in a parking lot; the same one I felt waiting for my girlfriend to finish her dance at the Polynesian Cultural Center too long ago.
Hawaii can never be taken out of Hawaiians. It is our blood. I miss the food; it is my nourishment. I miss the music; it is my voice. I miss the people; it is my spirit that I share: It is ohana.
Chuck Failing
Scranton, Pa.
Real patriots will closet their golf clubs
In an interview May 13, George Bush said it all: "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," so he is no longer allowing himself to be photographed on the golf course.
If our president is willing to make such a sacrifice in honor of the tens of thousands of our soldiers being wounded and killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, the least we can do is to support him by making similar sacrifices.
John A. Broussard
Kamuela, Hawaii
Clinton will keep on going and going and ......
"Never surrender." Perhaps Sen. Hillary Clinton is fondly familiar with Sir Winston Churchill's famous phrase during World War II that helped to boost the morale of his armed forces and the public at large.
However, with her obsessive-compulsive, say-anything or do-anything lust for power, she's misinterpreted that as well.
More of a nuisance, both to herself and the Democratic Party, she'll still be campaigning around the country, if not abroad, long after the election.
John L. Werrill
Honolulu