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Non-Hawaiians weren't consulted on Akaka bill

The main thrust of the proposed legislation by Sen. Daniel Akaka is to reaffirm that the United States has a special responsibility for the welfare of Hawaiians. If passed, they would receive sizable federal funding and have broad autonomy over their own affairs.

By what right does Akaka delegate to non-Hawaiians the status of brother's keeper?

Like all liberal policies, this is all about money and entitlements. We who will foot the bill have not been consulted in the matter.

So who will benefit from this bill?

The laziest and most useless of Hawaiians leaders, under their expectation to land fat-cat positions in the distribution of the loot.
The government, which will establish yet another layer of bureaucracy with good pay and benefits.

If I were Hawaiian, I would have considered Senator Akaka to be a disgrace to my people. By proposing this act of plunder disguised as a bill, he is a disgrace to the rest of us.

Titus Bontea
Hilo

New rich will divide and destroy Hawaii

The state is standing in a virtual bed of diamonds and isn't smart enough to reach down and pick them up. These diamonds are the Hawaiian people and their culture.

Destroy this great gift, and Hawaii becomes another Mexico, the Caribbean, the South China Coast and Australia, minus their cheap labor. Hawaii will not be able to compete with these developing tourist areas in the future unless it is able to retain its unique sense of "Hawaiian place."

Real estate is hot today, fueled by the "nouveau riche" coming out of the Silicon valleys of the country. These super-wealthy transients will expect the local citizens to cater to their exclusive whims and warped needs.

Two categories of citizens will emerge from this phenomenon: 1) the self-indulgent and insulated new millionaires and 2) a second class of Hawaiian citizens who care a great deal about what happens to these beautiful islands.

How many local people will be able to afford a piece of property on Lanai, which David Murdock expects to develop into an enclave for the rich and famous? Should the Hawaiian lifestyle be lost, aloha will go the way of the dinosaur.

Rod Ferreira
Kamuela, Hawaii

Quotables "There's no doubt in my mind that (the governor) wants a settlement before the Akaka bill is passed." Mililani Trask OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TRUSTEE Claiming that Governor Cayetano wants to immediately replace the current OHA trustees so he can appoint those who would be more supportive of the state's position on ceded lands "This continues to highlight how really inept the state Office of Elections is." Linda Lingle CHAIRWOMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN HAWAII On the city's finding that as many as 543 Oahu residents who are registered to vote in this month's primary may be ineligible because they are not U.S. citizens

Foley's partner proves judge won't be impartial

I read, with a certain wry amusement, Earle Partington's Saturday tirade against those who opposed the appointment of his law partner, Daniel Foley, to a seat on the Intermediate Court of Appeals.

I suppose you could make an argument against judging someone by the company they keep, but Partington, at least, seems to think that he and Foley are in agreement.

So, that being the case, we might now have some insight as to what Foley really thinks of those who opposed his appointment: that they are "bigots" who desire nothing less than to "strip us of all our basic freedoms" and return us to the "Dark Ages."

Doesn't sound like someone who will be impartial in his judgment of the law, does it? Perhaps the opposition had a point.

Steven Eggleton

Columnist would ban religious expression

I'll admit that I don't normally agree much with Cynthia Tucker's syndicated columns. But the one which ran in your paper on Sept. 2 stretches the imagination more than most.

According to Tucker, Christians have nothing to worry about since a poll found that nearly 90 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians.

I would imagine that a similar poll would find that 90 percent of Americans identify themselves as racially tolerant, not "sexist" and not "homophobic."

However, I doubt Tucker would say that racial minorities, women and homosexuals should stop complaining that they are being discriminated against since such a vast majority of people identify themselves as tolerant.

How interesting that those on the left are so intent on banning religious expression, when expression of any other nature, no matter how offensive, is "protected." On many college campuses, speakers are shouted down if their views don't conform to the majority's. I haven't seen anything by Tucker bemoaning that.

Instead of singling out Christians, Tucker should have discussed the tendency of many groups (some Christians among them) to complain about being persecuted and demand the public ear because of it.

David Fitzgerald
Mililani

Editorial chills people's right to protest

I was troubled by your Sept. 1 editorial on the issue of Hawaii County having to send back federal grant money for marijuana eradication. You attributed it to an inability to get insurance against "legal harassment."

"Legal harassment" carries with it a tone of opportunism. By using this term, I venture to say that your newspaper could not have examined the issue prior to making such a statement.

Had you done so, you would have learned that the lawsuit being "threatened" is the one constitutional mechanism available under the County Charter, wherein Council persons may be impeached. This happens when they openly defy the mandates of the charter -- for example, in calling for mandatory program review at least once every four years where county money is used, such as in marijuana eradication.

How is invoking a process called for in the charter tantamount to harassment?

Moreover, why does your newspaper, which exists pretty much unregulated because of the First Amendment, choose to label the potential action of citizens speaking out against what they perceive as malfeasance in government as "harassment"?

Speeches that chill the invoking of a process designed to make government actions accountable to the people do not seem like the proper role of a newspaper.

Jack Schweigert

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