People will revolt against cameras

Either the new traffic camera operators have to be tolerant and not ticket folks unless they're driving significantly higher than the speed limit -- the same standards implicit in the prior ticketing practices of the Honolulu Police Department -- or speed limits need adjusting.

Now I have to spend all my time on the road focused on my speedometer. If my mind wanders for a moment, next thing I know my speed has crept up to 5 miles an hour or so over the speed limit.

I don't attribute this to habit; I think it's because so many of the posted speed limits are unnecessarily and unnaturally low. Don't try to tell me that going a couple of miles an hour over those slow speed limits is dangerous. This just makes it so obvious that installing the cameras is all about revenue generation, not safety. But when the government turns against the people instead of working for them, one thing is sure -- the people will revolt.

David Kemble
Kailua

Reproductive rights require vigilance

Jan. 22 will mark the 29th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the landmark reproductive rights ruling that ensured women's right to reproductive choice.

Today the fate of Roe vs. Wade hangs by one vote in the U.S. Supreme Court. Should a justice who supports reproductive rights retire, the Bush administration likely will nominate an anti-choice advocate.

That could begin the process of eroding the protections afforded to American women by Roe, and start us down a road leading back to a time of back-alley abortions and grave risks to the health and lives of women. Doctors could face the heart-wrenching dilemma of risking criminal prosecution or denying medically appropriate patient care. How can we allow a return to "underground railroads" that shuttle women to safe havens for reproductive health care?

Although Hawaii was the first state to decriminalize abortion in 1970, three years before Roe, reproductive freedom also is under attack in the islands. A dozen bills were introduced in the Legislature last year that would restrict a woman's choice.

We at Planned Parenthood of Hawaii stand for the right of individuals to make their own reproductive health-care deci- sions without interference from the government. Now more than ever is the time to join us in the fight for women's health, their lives and their reproductive freedom.

Barry Raff
CEO. Planned Parenthood of Hawaii

[Quotables] "I do sweat a lot. I change jerseys three times every practice. ... I believe if you're not better than other people, you can at least outwork them." Nash Subotic Hawaii Pacific University men's basketball player, whom an opposing team's fans nicknamed "Sweaty Man" at a game in Washington state where the 22-year-old was visibly perspiring despite below-zero temperatures. "We weren't lost. My family is the one that panicked." Antoinette Pacheco Hiker whose family had reported her missing, after being taken out of the Ewa Forest Reserve by a Honolulu Fire Department helicopter. Pacheco, 54, had walked into the forest near her Wahiawa home the day before to pick orchids, accompanied by two of her nephews, ages 12 and 9, and their dog. After darkness fell, the trio decided to sleep under a tree. They did not realize that their family, firefighters and Army Rangers had been searching for them since 10 p.m.

Integrity should rule political candidates

Why do we need a Campaign Spending Commission? It is more unnecessary government spending to monitor people who should already have the integrity to do the right thing.

It's sad that our governor doesn't have a clue who contributed to his $9 million campaign. If there is a discrepancy in candidates' campaign fund raising, then it is their discrepancy. Saying they relied on someone else is not an excuse. If their names are on a contribution check, then they'd better know where the money is coming from.

I think $1 should be tacked on to all business licenses and this money put into a fund. Each candidate for political office would be required to apply for $100 from this fund and be limited to the $100. If they are sincere about running for office, they can stand alone out on the street corner with one sign.

We don't need glitzy television commercials, campaign brochures stuck in our doors or on our windshields, or dozens of sign-wavers disrupting traffic.

Carol Chun

Tax cuts will bring U.S. out of recession

The liberal economic bias of your newspaper shows when you publish only cartoons blaming the current economic weakness on the president.

This severe recession began during President Clinton's last term and was long overdue because of the extraordinary economic expansion starting in 1992. Note that this expansion mirrored the one from 1982-1991. Recessions are normal; however, they become severe after expansions continue unduly for a long time.

Projected "deficits" due to tax cuts are an absolute fallacy. Tax cuts increase government revenues, as proven in the '80s and '90s, simply because it shifts capital from the inefficiencies of government to the efficiencies of the private sector, and the economy grows.

What causes deficits? Government spending beyond its revenues. It's a spending problem, not a taxing problem. In the '80s, public revenues nearly tripled and guess what? Our legislative branches increased their spending in punch-drunk fashion.

Republicans in the early '90s cut this baloney and that is why we ended with a surplus.

It is utterly blind to project shortfalls due to tax cuts without factoring in the growth naturally following tax cuts.

Families cut their spending and look for ways to increase their incomes. Government should do the same, with the wisdom to know that higher taxes retard growth and lower taxes increase growth and public revenues.

Gene J. Dumaran

Babies brought curves for Skinny Minnie

What an article by Wendy Au ("The Goddess Speaks," Jan. 15)! I was a skinny bamboo, too, so skinny that my mother made me take Wate-On tablets to gain weight. I was so flat-chested I asked the doctor why. He said that his wife had been flat, too, but pregnancy changed all that permanently.

You know, he was right. I have real breasts now. Trouble is, I have gained weight in other body parts, too.

I don't know which is worse, being a skinny bamboo or being a fatso.

Glenda Chung Hinchey

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