Why insult those who help their community?
How insulting that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani mock the role of a community organizer. For more than a century, community organizers have made a difference by helping disenfranchised people and empowering them to become productive citizens. The desperate and disparaging comments of Palin and Giuliani are a reflection not only of their elitism but of their appalling arrogance. How shameless that they put down the efforts of community organizers, many of which have led to the birth and advancement of civil rights.
Community organizers have put people first, often times sacrificing their personal interests ... and lives. It is the community organizers who have put their community and country first - not those politicians who emptily use the slogan "country first" just for partisan purposes.
Raymund Liongson
Ewa Beach
McCain and Palin will fight waste
Our country is facing many challenges this election year. There are many, many people telling us what to do about them. Some of them are louder and get better press coverage, and some more reasoned and softer spoken. Some of the reasoned voices are telling us to be fiscally responsible. Unfortunately, both of our Hawaii senators and one of our representatives rank in the lowest tiers of wasteful pork barrel spenders, according to Citizens Against Government Waste (www.cagw.org), a public service watchdog that ranks all members of Congress.
Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have committed to a bipartisan executive office and to attacking government waste and inefficiency. We need to cut spending, increase revenues and stop these deficit budgets and pay down our debt. Vote for a fiscally responsible team that will put our country before their party. Vote for McCain/Palin.
Brian Bott
Honolulu
Don't feel too bad if you voted Republican
Have you been misguided and voted Republican? Their campaign supported profits for business and let voters to believe there was something for everyone.
Don't feel bad, many friends and relatives have voted for the GOP. My dad campaigned actively in the late 1940s and became a state Republican Party vice chairman. After he learned that they didn't live up to their promises, he quit and joined the Democrats.
The Republican platform even calls for protection of worker's rights. But in reality Republican John McCain routinely voted against minimum wage increases and voted to increase the number of immigrants who take American jobs at substandard wages.
McCain claims to support the troops, but has voted 10 times against veterans' health care benefits. McCain talks about family values, but at a biker rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, he offered his wife, Cindy, to be a contestant in the Miss Buffalo Chip Beauty Pageant.
It's obvious McCain will say anything to get votes. America needs a president who feels our pain, not causes it like McCain has.
E. Stephen Burns
Mililani
Sermonizing singers left a bad aftertaste
I am writing to express my deep offense at the display that took place at the Taste of Kalihi festival on Saturday. At 4 o'clock a church group took the stage and proceeded to sing songs of a political and religious nature. This is not an acceptable performance at a public neighborhood gathering. I found it so excessively offensive that I left halfway through the second song.
This group failed to realize this was a public neighborhood gathering, not a church where a religious sermon through song would be appropriate. This display reflects so poorly on the event for allowing such an inappropriate display that it completely negates the purpose of the event which was to build a sense of community and, according to the official Web site, offer "dynamic entertainment." This performance was neither dynamic nor entertaining. It was offensive, period.
The mayor's presence there only seemed to condone these actions which would not be appropriate by any elected official.
Perhaps next year's performance will not be so offensive.
Heidi Moore
Waipahu
Fishermen should tidy up after themselves
O noble fishermen who enjoy fishing in Kaaawa, when you are through taking fish free from the ocean and enjoying the beautiful environment, do take your beer bottles with you, along with your free fish and tako. Also, take your spent fishing line, food wrappers, plastic bottles, cigarette boxes and papers. Do not leave your trash on the ground nor throw it into the rocks and onto the beach. Do your part to "Keep the Country County," for yourself when you return and for others as well.
For those readers who do not qualify here, "Mahalo!"
William Smith
Kaaawa