Transsexual paddler should row with men

This LiAnne Taft person should not be considered a woman for any type of sport (Star-Bulletin, July 29, "Paddling rule biased, transsexual woman contends"). If "he" wants to play the part of a woman, which "he" isn't, that's fine. However, "he" physically is a man. If Taft wants to paddle, let "him" do it on a man's team.

Any women's team that wins a championship with a man on it, even if that man is a transsexual, would claim a tainted victory.

Personally, I think the other women paddlers should be allowed to make this decision. If every single one doesn't mind if Taft wants to compete, then fine. But if even one woman objects, Taft would then be invading her rights as a real woman.

Michael McElyea
Via the Internet

Government employees must work harder

I was astounded but not surprised by Russell Okata's rationale that if Hawaii Government Employees Association workers are "working harder and becoming more efficient, (they are) entitled to more pay." Once again, our union leaders are living in an insulated environment sanctioned by our government.

In the private sector, if employees don't work harder and become more efficient, they don't have jobs, let alone higher pay. It seems the unions and government feel they are entitled to operate under different rules than the rest of us.

Once government and the unions figure this out, our economy will grow. The private sector is doing its part. Government and union workers should do theirs.

James M. Brown

Ben should look in mirror for real culprit

Blaming the victims (Star-Bulletin, July 29) is Governor Cayetano's explanation of tax cuts, which will require slashing even more public services. False! It was Cayetano himself, not the people of Hawaii, who asked for even larger tax cuts.

The 1998 Senate lowered his proposed 40 percent income tax reduction to 15 percent. That saved us from even worse damage.

Jerome G. Maniss

Tax cuts were given only to win re-election

It didn't take Governor Cayetano long to blame the $124 million deficit in FY 2002 on the public. The income tax cut was only $150 million per year (of a $6 billion budget), the general excise tax cut is phased in slowly over seven years (Who knows if it will make it that far?), and I don't even know what the "many other kinds of tax cuts" are that he is talking about.

All I know is that Cayetano needs a lesson in economics. Why does he blame the public for the projected deficit when he:

Gave state workers a $166 million pay raise?

Spent $1 billion in an economic jump-start that didn't work and will now cost $50 million annually over 25 years?

Hired an additional 800 government workers in 1999, when there were already over 65,000 on the state payroll?

We didn't even ask for the tax cut. Cayetano granted it only to win re-election and so he could brag about giving Hawaii the "biggest tax cut in history" (and the only one, I might add).

I may not be an economic genius like Cayetano but I know shibai when I hear it!

Marge Young
Ewa Beach

Quotables "It was a kick. It was like running down a kickoff on a crowded, narrow street with a 2,000-pound bull running up your back." Doug Semones FORMER KAHUKU HIGH HEAD FOOTBALL COACH AND UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII ASSISTANT COACH On participating in the daring "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain, last month "I was determined to do it (too). I was not going to come back from this vacation and listen to my husband tell stories of his run for the next 25 years." Linda Semones WHO ALSO RAN WITH THE BULLS IN PAMPLONA

Too much pride in self can result in hatred

The white man who shot non-white and Jewish people recently, when asked why he hated non-whites, said, "It was just a love for my race." What a tragic set of values.

Yes, each person should have a mature love of oneself. Each person should be proud of his or her ancestry, race, ethnic and cultural heritage, physical characteristics, faith, and even his or her sexual orientation.

But sadly, too many people distort this love, which can become self-centered and result in barriers, hatred and even killings.

The leader of the Chicago killer's so-called church said that the white race is superior and should have nothing to do with other races.

Even in Hawaii, there are those who place too much emphasis on their ancestry, race, culture or other differences, so that tension and even hatred results. Yet we are basically one people, with no fundamental difference as human beings.

D. Richard Neill
Aiea
Via the Internet

Bronster walks on water in opinion of voters

Linda Lingle should have kept her big mouth shut about Margery Bronster (Star-Bulletin, July 28, "Lingle: Bronster 'came after me' in lawsuit"). Right now, Bronster walks on water in the opinion of the voting majority.

After reading what many people in Hawaii have said about her ouster and from the comments I hear at work, whoever is anti-Bronster and needs a vote to keep his or her job will soon be unemployed.

Desiree Hope
Via the Internet

UH faculty work through the summer

I would like to correct the misconception that the University of Hawaii at Manoa faculty are not on campus during the summer months. This rumor was most recently promulgated by President Mortimer.

In fact, a substantial majority of the UH faculty are on campus during the summer. Most work 11-12 months each year.

When classes are out, they spend their summers writing grant proposals, journal manuscripts and books, developing headline-grabbing techniques for cloning, doing marine research and studying outer space.

In other words, they are doing the work that has allowed UH to become a world-class institution.

When President Mortimer greets the faculty senate this fall with his typical "welcome back" speech, we will all shudder at his error and wish our administrators had also been here all summer, working to KEEP this campus a world-class institution.

Jill Karsten
Via the Internet

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