Merrill Lynch's loss could be Kapolei's gain

Merrill Lynch Company in New York has agreed to a $100 million settlement for some shady activities and the award is to be distributed to the 50 states.

Hmmm ... Divide $100 by $50 and you get $2 million for each state, which is just about what is needed to get the Kapolei library up and running.

Why not earmark our share for the library? How about it, Governor?

Frank D. Slocum
Waianae

Palestinian youths have no reason to live

We may need to rethink our ideas about terrorism. Are these Palestinian youths really practicing terrorism in the traditional sense of the word? How else would they defend their homes? No one else will stand up for them. They don't have millions of U.S. dollars to buy tanks to drive through towns, to equip tens of thousands of soldiers to shoot around their neighborhoods. What do they have? Youth, dedication, courage and desperation.

These teenagers and young adults are coerced simply by their surroundings and their lack of a positive future. They feel their lives would mean more if they ended it in a public display of dedication to their beliefs instead of allowing themselves to live out their lives oppressed by the U.S.-supported Israel. If the same situation were played out on another front somewhere else in the world, the United States would have our sons and daughters and our tanks and airplanes over there in the name of the smaller country's freedom and independence.

Since we carry Israel on our shoulders, we politely tell Sharon to back out. No show of force from the United States has been or will be visible. Why? Why would we go against basically our own tanks, our own planes, our own guns?

Why should we? To give these desperate Palestinian children something to live for. They already have something to die for.

Steve Phillips
Waipahu

Concern about gas prices is just talk

Terumi Kanegawa thinks that the gas price caps will solve our problems with high gas prices (Letters, Star-Bulletin, June 28). While she says she will vote for the candidate willing to look after the consumers, I guess that means she'll vote for anyone willing to pass things like unconstitutional gas caps and then wait two years to implement them, as our democratic Legislature has done.

Just before the 1998 elections, Governor Cayetano sued the gasoline companies to great applause and eventually no consumer relief, but he won re-election. In 2002, the state Legislature passed gas caps to mild enthusiasm and equally no effect on consumer relief, and they are hoping it will lead to their re-election. It seems every governor election cycle the Democrats get serious about doing something about the high price of gas in Hawaii, but then after another Democrat is elected nothing comes of it.

If a gasoline price cap is such a great solution by itself, why is Hawaii the only state in the country ever to pass such a gas cap; and if it is such a great idea, why are we waiting two years to implement it?

Garry P. Smith
Ewa Beach

Worship of the flag borders on idolatry

I wish the Republican politicians were as concerned about corporate greed as they are about the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance. Religiologists should wonder whether the right wing hasn't brought the pledge and flag worship to the level of idolatry.

If they knew the history of the pledge, they might rethink their reaction to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision.

The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by a socialist to promote socialism in the most socialist institution: government schools. The author, Francis Bellamy, belonged to a religious socialist movement known as "Christian socialism" and belonged to a group known for "nationalism," whose members wanted the federal government to nationalize most of the American economy. He saw government schools as a means to this end.

The original salute to the U.S. flag was the same as the Nazi salute, and in the 1930s the salute was changed to place the hand over one's heart.

That invisible guy in the sky should have told all those church folks of this little secret.

Edwin Corl

Procurement reform is needed immediately

We are disappointed that the campaign-finance reform bill was vetoed. The American Council of Engineering Companies of Hawaii strongly believes that engineering firms should be selected based on their qualifications, not on their political contributions.

In 1972, the U.S. Congress established as federal law a policy that engineers and architects be selected on the basis of their qualifications (Public Law 92-582, the Brooks Act). This law forms the basis of a Qualifications Based Selection system. Currently, more than 40 states have adopted similar laws. The beneficiary of a QBS system is the general public, who will be using the facilities that are well designed and cost effective.

For many years, ACECH has strongly lobbied the state Legislature to revise the Procurement Code to reflect a more open, transparent and accountable QBS system. This revision would help eliminate the alleged connection between the awarding of government contracts and political contributions.

Although we have some support, we have been unsuccessful in persuading the Legislature and select government agencies to revise the Procurement Code. We ask for everyone's support to do this.

Roy K. Yamashiro
President, ACECH

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