Natatorium restoration will be costlier than ever

Regarding Corky's Jan. 19 cartoon on the Natatorium restoration: Those City Council members who bought the Natatorium pig-in-a-poke have now learned that they got only half the pig.

Leroy Jack Syrop

Natatorium pool restoration is a ripoff

The Boston Tea Party resulted from citizens revolting against being ripped off for unjust taxes.

Restoring the Natatorium pool is a rip off. Collecting garbage fees is revolting, especially when people don't pay. Raising property taxes, cutting services and at the same time rebuilding the Natatorium is a revolting rip off.

To protest, the good folks of Boston threw their tea into the harbor. Will the angry citizens of Honolulu revolt and throw their garbage into the Natatorium?

George O'Hanlon
Kaimana Beach Coalition

Lying under oath hasn't been tolerated by Senate

There has been much debate concerning whether lying under oath rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and is grounds for impeachment and removal from office. Prior impeachment trials of federal judges before the U.S. Senate during the 1980s are instructive.

Federal judges Harry Clairborne (1986), Alcee Hastings (1989) and Walter Nixon (1989) were impeached and removed from office by the Senate for lying under oath.

Fifty-one of the current senators serving as jurors in President Clinton's impeachment trial voted in at least one of the previous trials.

Thus, it would appear the Senate has already established the precedent that lying under oath rises to the level of an impeachable offense. Sen. Daniel Inouye voted in all three trials to impeach and remove from office the three judges for lying under oath.

It would appear, then, that the only relevant question in Clinton's trial is whether he lied under oath and obstructed justice.

Martin Jordan
Kailua

Why are we so accepting of lies and deceit?

Why is the "lie and deny" attitude so prevalent in our society that telling the truth appears like a mirage? Little white lies, shades of gray, manipulating others every day.

Where have all the truth-tellers gone? What happened to honesty and integrity, black and white, accepting responsibility and doing right?

When alone, in the silence of life, don't we all face our heart's insight?

Russell Stephen Pang

Government dominating Wall Street is scary thought

In his State of the Union address on Social Security, the president proposed that "We commit...investing a small portion in the private sector..."

"We" means the federal government.

This so-called "small portion" will amount to $700 billion in 15 years. Doesn't it scare you to think about big government owning $700 billion worth of shares of private corporations?

What if some of these government- owned shares include newspapers and radio/TV networks? Could big government attempt to influence what can be printed or broadcast?

Rijo Hori

Police need to enforce laws for safer roads

Four years ago, my mother was killed in a car accident. When the shocking news came to my attention, I was petrified with grief.

There are three major causes of car accidents: people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, children riding in the back of pick-up trucks, and unlicensed and/or underaged drivers on our highways.

Three solutions will help reduce these problems. The police should:

Set up more road blocks and crack down on DUI drivers.

Enforce the law about minors sitting in the backs of pick-up trucks.

Warn unlicensed and underaged drivers that, if they are caught, severe punishment will be given.

I hope that the Honolulu Police Department will take these sensible suggestions into consideration.

Chelsea Fernandez
Kailua

Hawaii needs a governor like Minnesota's

With the election for governor coming in three years, Linda Lingle can almost be guaranteed a victory if Mayor Jeremy Harris decides to run for Congress. Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono may have a slim change of upsetting Lingle, but there is even a better candidate who the Democrats could select.

Many people who are fed up with the bad decisions, corruption and general complacency toward the people's problems. They are looking for alternative choices -- like former Navy Seal and professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who was recently elected governor of Minnesota.

The ideal candidate has never run for political office and runs the day-to-day operations of a large and profitable business. She appears in public to be humble, kind, intelligent and articulate, and will definitely get the full support and backing of Ben Cayetano. So how about it, Vicky. Will you be the next governor of Hawaii?

Colin Kau

High gas prices are evidence of gouging

With no more need for election-winning "promises," it seems the urgency of investigating our high fuel prices has gone away. We, the fuel buyers of hawaii, are being had.

Supply and demand with dropping crude oil prices works like this: Where there are competitors, the equation for sales drops the price. In Austin, Texas, a contractor I am working with tells me the pump price on regular unleaded is 79 cents per gallon!

Doesn't a dollar per gallon over that sound like gouging? Isn't it nice that so many people here have such short memories?

Lee Matteson
Mt. View, Hawaii
(Via the Internet)

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