Pearl slaying shows evil face of terrorists

I hope the savage and senseless murder of journalist Daniel Pearl will finally end the repeated and almost self-loathing "Why do they hate us?" lament that is usually answered, "Because America is bad." This obscene crime should finally convince everyone what evil killers these terrorists really are. Perhaps now people will instead ask the more insightful question, "Why are they evil?"

The answer is clear: Most of the terrorists come from societies that are not democratic, free or respectful of human -- especially women's -- rights. Under these conditions, evil flourishes.

The answer to the question of why they hate us is simple -- evil hates good. Even Jesus, Moses and Mohammed had some people who hated them. The United States has been guilty of many things, but no more than any other nation in this imperfect world.

They hate us because they fear our freedom, democracy and openness to different cultures, religions and ways. The terrorists and terrorist governments fear losing control if their own people realize there may be other reasonable religions, government structures and ways of life than the ones that are forced upon them.

Leighton Loo
Mililani

Kick out traffic cams but follow the rules

We are proud to tell the whole world that our country is governed by rule of law and not by dictators and tyrants. But do we all follow our own rules of law and call ourselves civilized? We don't, not even some of our lawmakers and law enforcers.

That's the dilemma. We cannot even follow simple rules of our society, like traffic speed limits. Because of this, legislators create another law to force us to follow the first law. This new law brings in a group of people with a gadget called a "digitized traffic camera," peeking and spying at us to see if we are following the speed limits.

We feel our privacy and our freedom are transgressed. We are penalized for not following our own traffic rules, and we pay them to do this. They take away our money that we can use to improve traffic in our already congested roads. If we don't, they take us to court.

Go ahead and raise hell. Kick those stupid traffic cameras out and call yourselves "civilized." But please follow the traffic rules.

Hilario A. Aquilizan
Maui

[Quotables] "If you are a garbage collector addicted to smoking, you are going to buy less milk for your kids or cut out something else so you can continue to smoke." Lowell Kalapa Executive director of the Hawaii Tax Foundation, on legislative plans to increase tobacco taxes. -- "He's doing good. He was always a grayish, bluish color. Now he's pink." Peggy McCall Describing son Matthew McCall after the Kula boy received a heart transplant.

Haleiwa drive-through criticism lacks merit

In recent weeks, complaints have been made about McDonald's of Haleiwa. They say that McDonald's should not have a drive-through because Haleiwa is historical.

The complaints are really without merit. Haleiwa is no longer historical. New stores and even a shopping center have been built.

The people complaining refuse to accept change. Older businesses have had a free ride in Haleiwa for years. When any change comes, they do not want to accept it. They simply don't want the competition.

McDonald's has been providing quality food and service to tourists and locals for a few years now. They provide employment to our residents and contribute to the community. The drive-through is a convenience to the customers.

The City Council should ensure that the drive-thru remains for the customers of the Haleiwa McDonald's.

Mark Trexler
Waialua

Revised assisted-death bill offers no dignity

After refusing to hear the Death with Dignity bill passed by the House, Sen. David Matsuura has now introduced his own version of the bill. His proposal totally guts the original; it allows a surrogate, who may not even know the patient, to request the discontinuance of artificial nutrition or hydration after the patient has fallen into a comatose state.

The bill requires the patient to continue to suffer to the point of unconsciousness, and then starve to death. This is hardly what I would call a "dignified" death.

The original bill allowed a terminally ill patient with less than six months to live to request assistance from his or her physician in hastening death. Safeguards in the original bill included confirmation of diagnosis by a second physician, a psychological evaluation if there is any question as to the competency of the patient, and a full explanation of alternatives.

Last year in Oregon, which has a Death with Dignity law, of the 44 prescriptions written only 21 were used. The knowledge that they finally had the power over an illness that had been controlling them for so long gave some patients the courage to go on.

Let's recognize the new bill for what it is: a thinly veiled attempt to run out the legislative clock. While I respect Matsuura's right to oppose the original bill, I strongly believe it deserves to be heard, in its entirety, by the Senate.

Roland L. Halpern
Social Justice Council
First Unitarian Church of Honolulu

DHS program helps hundreds on welfare

Thank you for bringing public attention to the innovative "Bridge to Hope" program supporting post-secondary education as a means of economic self-sufficiency for welfare recipients (Star-Bulletin editorial, March 14).

While your editorial supported the innovative Bridge to Hope program and remarked that only 100 recipients are participating, I would like to give the Department of Human Services credit for supporting educational activities by clarifying that there are more welfare recipients attending college than the 100 serviced by Bridge to Hope.

DHS reports that there are now approximately 500 welfare recipients pursuing higher education to achieve economic self-sufficiency. This number has more than doubled in the last two years since the implementation of new "First To Work" educational policies. Bridge to Hope on all 11 University of Hawaii campuses currently serves 100 of these students.

Teresa Bill
Bridge to Hope
University of Hawaii system-wide coordinator

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