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Altering stamp 'protects' us from historical fact

Your Feb. 10 editorial on the postal service's tampering with the photo used on the Jackson Pollock stamp was right on the mark. One is not taking a stand on smoking by simply recording a historical photo. We also realize that in the art and music communities, smoking has been historically prevalent.

Sanitizing the photo is just another example of political correctness run amok. Shame on the Postal Service for trying to emulate Orwell's Ministry of Truth.

Khal Spencer
(Via the Internet)

Straights are breaking the law, not the gays

The suggestion that a new word be created -- "heterophobe" -- is not entirely a bad idea from this gay man's perspective. In fact, if Matthew Shepard had been a heterophobe, he would not have been beaten and left on a fence to die like so many other gay men and women who have been assaulted and murdered at the hands of homophobes.

Now let's see, who would be a heterophobe? I guess it would be the people who are customarily denigraded, humiliated, slandered, told they are not equal under the law, and of course those beaten and murdered by the homophobes.

I also wonder if all the women regularily beaten by their heterosexual lovers and husbands, or the women raped by heterosexual men every so many minutes in this great country of ours, should also be encouraged to become heterophobes.

After all, it's not the homosexuals who are committing these hideous crimes. It's heterosexual men.

Learning to be a heterophobe just might save your life.

Lee Mentley
Kapaa, Kauai
(Via the Internet)

Hate-crime laws should apply to all

The hate-crime laws introduced by the state Senate Judiciary Committee are biased against Christians, conservatives and anyone with moral values, which is typical of Hawaii's liberal politicians.

The laws proposed are mainly directed toward helping homosexuals. White victims of hate crimes like Jay Waller, Daniel Nadler and Dana Ireland will not be included in this liberal interpretation of reality

Let the hate-crimes laws apply to all races and tourists. Otherwise, they will be meaningless and racist.

Ronald Edmiston
Hawaii Director
National Association for the
Advancement of White People
(Via the Internet)

QUOTABLE "Fireworks that aren't burned make beautiful little bombs for boys." -- Paul Honzik of Makiki, favoring a ban on fireworks because of safety and health risks. "The problem teachers have is with dictatorial change rather than collaborative change. If we had collaborative change, I don't think we'd be here today." -- Bishop Estate trustee Oswald Stender on Kamehameha Schools. "Bill King needed to do something dramatic that would get media attention, which would attract, in their warped world, new members." -- Jasper County, Texas, prosecutor Guy James Gray in the trial of John William King, charged with murder in the death of James Byrd Jr., dragged from a pickup truck. "We must not be afraid, but we must be aware." -- Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala on the possibility of a bioterrorist attack.

Medical marijuana alleviates suffering

Sandra Lacar's opposition to medical marijuana (View Point, Jan. 30) misses the point: It works better than the alternatives that medical science has offered and is no more harmful than strong chemotherapy drugs. When cancer and AIDS patients need relief from nausea, they need fast relief, and this is what marijuana provides.

Synthetic marijuana is a pill that must be swallowed and kept down -- not so easy when nausea is the problem. It is also slow, taking hours to work, and frequently produces unpleasant side effects.

The argument that scientific studies haven't proved the medical benefit of marijuana is spurious, since the government has prevented AIDS researchers like Dr. Donald Abrams of San Francisco General Hospital from studying it properly.

Like alcohol, morphine and fire-arms, marijuana can be used beneficially or harmfully. Like these other potentially dangerous things, reasonable restrictions should be used to prevent abuse. But those who can benefit from medical marijuana should not be prevented from doing so.

Governor Cayetano is to be congratulated for recognizing that the appropriate use of this plant should be considered on a rational basis, not in the emotional context of moral judgment used by Lacar.

Tom Sheeran
(Via the Internet)

Hawaii has lost aloha that once was prevalent

Regarding the changes to the Cherry Blossom queen pageant (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 2), these are long overdue and I hope the beginning of many more. In truth, Hawaii has been a multi-ethnic society for generations, making the people of Hawaii known throughout the world for their distinct point of view and approach to life.

I have lived in different areas of the mainland for about 17 years and in Hawaii for 30 years, where I grew up and raised three children. But we have permanently left Hawaii. The primary reason was economic.

The second reason was that my children are only part Japanese and were not accepted by the predominately Japanese infrastructure in the islands. On the mainland, my children are well on their way to becoming highly educated professionals.

Where we live now, no one cares about anyone's genetic recipe. I have found that there is more aloha in the ohanas that have sprouted where Hawaii residents have settled than in today's Hawaii.

Here, we are living the dream that once was Hawaii. I challenge those of you still living there, especially the young at heart, to bring back that dream of a people living in paradise.

Glenn Viernes
Bothell, Wash.
(Via the Internet)

Fire-ravaged Farrington needs help to rebuild

The fire at Farrington High School damaged two out of four of my classes. Please, I ask the comunity to help our school rebuild. Farrington has greatly improved since the 1980s, but this might stop it.

Moreland Nagal
(Via the Internet)

Injured UH players should wear team uniforms

I loved the UH Rainbow upset basketball victory over the University of New Mexico Lobos.

But why we are paying the college tuition of a UH student athlete who, when injured and not able to pay, wears the red and white colors of the rival team while sitting on the bench?

Green and white are proud colors. Since the player in question is no Michael Jordan, maybe he should emulate a player with the same work ethic as Jordan and get a better team attitude, too.

Carl L. Jacobs
Aiea
(Via the Internet)

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