Epidemic of obesity must be halted

Experts at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting Saturday warned that obesity is now joining and even surpassing malnutrition as a dietary concern in some of the farthest reaches of the planet.

Reputable studies published by the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association have shown that obesity is a precursor to diseases that account for more than a million premature deaths each year. Among these are heart disease, stroke, cancer and adult-onset diabetes.

The leading causes of obesity are consumption of fat-laden meat and dairy products and inadequate exercise, particularly during childhood.

Clearly, health hazards associated with being overweight can be prevented. Consumers must learn to replace animal-derived foods with wholesome grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits and to undertake a regular exercise program at the earliest age. Parents must insist that their children's schools introduce wholesome food choices, and the USDA must stop using the National School Lunch Program as a dumping ground for surplus meat and dairy commodities.

Laurelee Blanchard

Judging, not skating, is the problem

Thank goodness Anita Liptak has absolutely nothing to do with the Olympics. In her Feb. 20 letter to the editor she declares that figure skating should not be in the Olympics because it is not a sport, since subjective judgment is required to determine the winner instead of a finish line. That requirement would eliminate so many sports that the Winter Olympics would be over in less than a week.

The half-pipe event would bite the dust, as would the aerial ski competition. Ski jumping, which includes a subjective judgment score in addition to distance jumped, would join moguls in the dustbin. And think how this view would decimate the Summer Olympics as gymnastics, diving, boxing and synchronized swimming became the first victims.

Figure skating is not only a sport, but it is one of the most physically demanding of all sports. Yes, sometimes there are judging problems when these so-called experts decide that their political agendas are more important than fairness to the competitors, but those in charge are continually working toward improving the system. The new judging rules being considered would alleviate much of the problem.

Andrew Thomas

[Quotables] "They can just throw me in the desert and bury me. I got a gold medal. I'm good now." Apolo Anton Ohno U.S. Olympic speedskater, after winning the 1,500-meter short track. Ohno actually crossed the finish line after South Korean Kim Dong-sung, who started to celebrate his victory. Moments later, Kim was disqualified for blocking Ohno with a half-lap left to go in the race, and the gold medal went to Ohno. -- "You're wanted, and you're still willing to walk into a police station and give your real name and Social Security number and date of birth. You have to be some kind of brain dead to do that." Paul Perrone State's chief researcher for firearm registration statistics, on the fugitive from Arizona whose Hawaii permit application was rejected last year. Others who weren't allowed to purchase firearms were an applicant who reported hearing voices, and another who had been acquitted of a crime by reason of insanity.

How about a benefit for Afghan civilians?

The Irish rock band U2 and Paul McCartney gave moving performances for all those slaughtered in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks during FOX's Super Bowl halftime extrava- ganza. Now if only FOX and these same musicians would do a tribute to the more than 3,700 innocent Afghan civilians who have nothing to do with worldwide terrorism or that maniac Osama Bin Laden. They are just like the perished of New York City who left behind family, friends and unfulfilled dreams.

Being from an impoverished and war-torn country, these Afghans don't have the billions in dollars or corporate connections to explain to the West what U.S. bombing has done to them.

Ray Catania
Lihue, Kauai

Religious messages aren't contradictory

In response to Ben Henry's "Mixed messages on car bumpers" (Editor's Scratchpad, Feb. 20), I would like to clear up the confusion. There really is no mixed message when you put the two phrases -- "Assassinate terrorists" and "Jesus is my anchor in the storm" -- in context.

"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle," David writes in Psalms 144:1.

Clearly, this is not a pacifist God we serve. It's God who teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight. Over and over again throughout the Old and New Testaments, his people are commanded to fight with the best weapons available at that time. And what were those weapons? Swords. They didn't have firearms, bombs or planes, but they had sidearms. In fact, in the New Testament, Jesus commanded his disciples to buy them and strap them on.

So you see, we are not to be sitting ducks with lots of Kumbaya; rather, we are to defend ourselves, our family and our nation.

Valerie Kajiwara
Waianae

Bicyclists forced into hazardous conditions

When one big rock falls on the road at Waimea Bay, the highway is closed for months and we spend millions of dollars to move the road. But bicyclists have to ride through the gravel and loose stones on Kalanianaole Highway every day. This hazard affects hundreds of bicyclists a day. All it would take to make this a safe road again is about an hour with a street sweeper. I guess if you don't ride a bicycle it doesn't matter.

Larry Mackey

Produce chicken feed on sugar land

The article about Hawaii egg production ("Taking a great fall," Star-Bulletin, Feb. 18) was most interesting. Choice -- fresher and costlier vs. cheaper but older -- is democracy with a capital D.

We would be wiser yet if we had heard mention of what would be the potential effects of the repeal of the Jones Act, not just on the relative costs of mainland and local eggs, but also on feed costs.

Why can't feed be produced in Hawaii, for example, on the multitudinous acres of former sugar lands?

John Pearson
Kailua

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