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Teachers are greedy at expense of kids

During the past year, we've heard teachers demanding more money all in the name of the children. They need more books, supplies, maintenance work, etc.

But when the state says there's not enough money for both the children and for teacher raises, their union says forget the children and give the money to its members.

Again, the teachers show their true colors.

Donald Allen

When Santa lies, kids get the wrong idea

Two TV commercials are depicting Santa as a liar. In one, he has a message on his answering machine claiming he was out shoveling the driveway when he was actually shopping. The second says he was out walking the reindeer, when he was really at the mall.

Impressionable children are receiving mixed messages. They are taught -- at home and at school -- that it's wrong to lie; however, these commercials imply that it's OK when Christmas shopping.

Lying is never acceptable. For the sake of our youngsters, we shouldn't be subjected to this prime-time commercial hoax.

Frances J.U. Segundo
Makawao, Maui

Quotables "I met with a lot of the trustees and there's a lot of talent. Some of them just don't like each other. If we can get past that, we could do great things." John Waihee IV NEWLY ELECTED TRUSTEE FOR THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS At age 30, the youngest ever to be elected or appointed to the OHA board "Ultimately all that matters is I want a ring and so do the rest of my teammates." Lily Kahumoku WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Downplaying her selection by saying that she and the rest of the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team would rather win NCAA championship rings

Ed Case is right about state priorities

Here we go again -- a proposal to legalize gambling. These gambling interests never give up. They've been trying to exert pressure for the past 30 years.

Rep. Calvin Say's reasoning sounds good on paper but, as Rep. Ed Case puts it, "The Legislature may turn to legalized gambling... to raise state revenue rather than to pass civil service reform and privatization to reduce size and cost of government operations."

I agree with Case. Civil service reform and privatization are of primary importance and will bring in the necessary money to care for the elderly. This is better than condoning the addiction of gambling, which will result in more destitute people and increase the financial burden to the state.

Surely, our elected Legislature is akamai enough to generate revenue by means other than gambling. Can't the $50 million expenditure being proposed for development in Kakaako be used, instead, for elderly care?

Let's elect Ed Case as governor. I wish we could clone him.

L.G. Crockett
Ewa Beach

Jimmy Carter must be summoned to help

Remember Henry Ford, the great American capitalist? Said the CEO once about his Model-T: "You can have any color you want as long as it's black."

Well, in America you can have any candidate you want as long as he's a Republicrat. The same guys who design products and services in America also design the elections.

If you're suffering impatience, frustration or outrage, think of all those corporate bribemasters who spent millions trying to buy both candidates and now -- darn it! -- ordinary people like volunteer vote counters will decide.

I say we bring in good, ol' Jimmy Carter. He was in Nicaragua in 1990 to help set up the election that ultimately turned the Sandinistas out of office. In the last couple of weeks, two Sandinista campaign workers a day were being assassinated while Jimmy turned a blind eye. Now he wants the Nobel Peace Prize. Way to go, Uncle Sham!

Frances Viglielmo

Chapter 19 will ease trauma to students

What many people forget about the Chapter 19 controversy is that today's families include gay and lesbian parents. When homosexuality is called unnatural and abnormal, the children of gays and lesbians are being told that their parents are somehow lesser than heterosexual parents.

I am a lesbian parent. My hanai daughter was a college student during the 1998 same-sex marriage battle.

During one of her classes, an overzealous Christian activist distributed a horribly worded petition against same-sex marriage. My daughter read the petition, saw how many of her classmates had signed it, and passed the petition on without signing it.

She was so upset, she never heard a word her professor said for the rest of that class. Was it right that my daughter was denied the day's lecture because of the belief of others?

I had to talk my daughter into not withdrawing from the class because she was convinced the professor had allowed the petition to be circulated.

I talked to the professor and was satisfied that she hadn't known. However, it took a lot of healing conversations between my daughter and me before she agreed to go back to that class.

This happened on one of the University of Hawaii campuses in spite of a Board of Regents policy banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. This has been in place for almost 10 years.

Why did this happen? Could it be because there has never been a program to educate UH students, faculty and staff about the policy? Has there been consistent enforcement of it? Could this be the future of Chapter 19?

I am a community college educator. Because I am openly lesbian, students have come to my office to disclose that they are gay or lesbian, or to confide that their parents or relatives are gay or lesbian.

What all of these students have in common is the hurt they have endured from kindergarten through 12th grade for being gay or lesbian or for loving someone who is gay or lesbian. All the while, their main concern should have been on learning.

The revisions to Chapter 19 are meant to help stop these hurts. They are meant to foster a fair educational environment for gay and lesbian students as well as students who love their gay and lesbian family members.

Forget the political posturing on both sides. The truth is there are many truths. The truth is the last time that I typed "homosexuality + biology" into an Internet search engine, I got 12,200 hits.

End this pain. Implement the revisions to Chapter 19 comprehensively, correctly, effectively.

Rae Watanabe

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