Gay marriage sends anti-family message
Your extensive June 29 coverage of a
"Same-sex wedding windfall" suggests that legalizing homosexual "marriages" would be a boon the state. However, the push to renew that battle and to market Hawaii as a gay wedding and honeymoon destination could have unintended consequences.
A gay institution's estimate of a large windfall in tourism dollars was apparently not discounted by an inevitable greater loss of revenue from tourists who will no longer view Hawaii as family friendly.
While various factors have contributed to Hawaii's tourism slump, including major fuel price increases, fewer scheduled flights, an excessive smoking ban and a perceived lack of Aloha by some, changing Hawaii's family-friendly image would further diminish Hawaii's appeal from which it might never recover.
Janice Pechauer
Honolulu
Clinton never served, and he was a dud
Leonard Chun (
Letters, May 30) berated U.S. presidents who had served as military officers. He concluded by saying "maybe we should start from the bottom up the next time."
By that he seems to mean we should elect a president with no military experience, like Sen. Barack Obama. President Clinton, who never served a day in the military, was the most immoral and unethical president in history. As a result, Clinton was impeached by the U.S. Congress. Why is that better than electing a president with career military experience?
Our ignorant media and legislators in Congress have failed to remember that it was Clinton who advocated the removal of Saddam Hussein and the support of democracy in Iraq, which led to the Iraq Liberation Act (Public Law 105-338) passed by Congress in 1998.
I believe we would be better off electing a president with a military career background, which is usually polled as the most respected profession in America. I wonder why career politicians never fare well in those polls? Is that because they come from the bottom up?
Russel Noguchi
Pearl City
What's next excuse? Rail causes obesity?
For the last four years, I thought the main issues with the Honolulu rail project were cost, reducing traffic congestion, even noise and development rights. I was surprised to learn from the Hawaii Highway Users Alliance in its
June 26 column, that a main rail transit issue is that it is the "most crime-ridden of all transit systems." So we should oppose rail if we oppose crime?
More crime on the train than on highways or buses? What about auto theft, carjacking, drug and prostitution in cars and other highway-related crimes? As a long-time resident of an East Coast city with one of the worst street crime rates but also one of the safest rail transit systems, I find this accusation about Honolulu's proposed rail transit system laughable. It's another desperate effort by those who would take away our travel options.
Will their next argument be that rail transit causes obesity in kids or leads to more gun control? Let's keep this debate sane and focus on real rail issues.
Tom Smyth
Honolulu
As prices go up, so should minimum wage
Some time ago I did a comparison of the earning power vs. the cost of living in the 1950s and today's equation. Gas was about 14 cents a gallon and the minimum wage was around $1.15 an hour. Most people worked at 40-hour-per-week jobs. The growth comparison has been widening that today's minimum wage should be about $35 an hour in comparison to the rising cost of living. Everything is more expensive with the reasoning being the price of oil. Comprehensive charges are now a la carte; we're being nickel-and-dimed to death.
It's about time we tell the companies and government that we are demanding a raise comparable to the rising cost due to oil price increases as well. Ever wonder why there are more homeless people? To counter this, we then should tell the legislators to pass a law that whenever companies raise their prices, the minimum wage should be raised in the same percentage to keep up with the rising costs. This way the burden doesn't fall on the consumers.
David M. K. Inciong II
Pearl City
We can survive tough economic times
Today people are having hard times. Gas is high, food is high; everything is high in price. When I was young (born during the Great Depression) everything was hard to come by. We had to plant a garden to eat and there was no money to buy gas. Those were hard times. People in other countries are worse off than we are. We must learn to do more with less.
Be thankful that you are healthy, have a job and have food on the table. I know what hard times are. I survived and so will you.
Mike Pcola
Honolulu
Police deserve praise for peaceful ending
Please send my congratulations to your police department. The handling of the stand-off with the barricaded suspect ended without violence or injuries ("Standoff in Kunia ends peacefully,"
Star-Bulletin, July 2). Patience prevailed. More police departments around the country could learn from the tactic of wait and negotiate.
David Constantine
Oak Park, Calif.