Hawaii Little Leaguers are a class act

I offer my heartiest congratulations to Hawaii's Little League team on its recent accomplishments in the Little League World Series. I had the pleasure of watching the final game from San Bernadino and watching the first game from Williams-port. In both instances your team represented Hawaii in an outstanding manner. These young men epitomize all the best in our children!

Bill Persell
San Diego, Calif.

Many are willing to defend freedom

In response to the Aug. 12 letter "Is going after Iraq worth the sacrifice?" by Dennis Spain: Some people can continue to live happily ever after without a thought of what affords them the opportunity to advance such opinions, never understanding what it is to sacrifice for something bigger then a single individual.

There are many more of us who will gladly do what we are called upon to do (today's military is 100 percent volunteers) in order to ensure a safe world for our children and provide the freedom others so easily dismiss. The letter writer did have one part correct, "Here is what our democracy asks of you ..."

Keith Miller
Mililani

Are we prepared to fight in Baghdad?

I am very concerned about a new war in Iraq. I am sure that military strategists in Iraq have hashed and rehashed their losses in Desert Storm. The bottom line is that in 1991 enemy troops and equipment in the desert were vulnerable to powerful American bombing, and the war ended very quickly. If Hussein's military advisers are as intelligent as I suspect they are, they will advise hiding men and equipment in the inner city, causing civilians to become hostages of Hussein's insanity.

Of course, the United States and its allies will have no choice but to kill civilians in order to prosecute such a war. Each civilian killed then becomes a publicity issue that Hussein will attempt to turn to his advantage. Any country attempting to conquer Iraq would be required to bomb heavily before entering into a populated area to prosecute a war, so that they will not be defeated as we were in Mogadishu, Somalia.

There is no way that we can wage a war in an inner city without many civilian and military deaths. Washington needs to weigh the danger posed by the Iraq dictatorship to the world as a whole vs. the anti-American mentality that will develop when civilians are killed.

My question is, why are we afraid to bomb Baghdad, where everything is a military target disguised in civilian clothing? On the other hand, when we conceived Japan to be a radical nation, we unleashed everything we had, killing innocent civilians who were in the way of the war effort hoping to end the war quickly.

No American life is worth a half-baked war effort. Let us hit them with all or nothing at all.

Philip B. Sterry
U.S. Army Reserve (Ret.)
Kailua

U.S. must not engage in pre-emptive war

America must say no to war and killing in Iraq. If the United States, along with Israel, establishes a global law of pre-emptive aggression we will find ourselves forever the principal target of its application.

We must say yes to peace-building processes of problem solving based upon mutual recognition of grievances and needs. The goal is mutual respect and reconciliation. The means is an unceasing readiness to seek to satisfy needs without threat or use of force.

Non-violent resources for this exist in the United States, Iraq, Israel, Palestine and elsewhere. The supreme task of leadership is to evoke and engage them. A practical example is the well-crafted bill to create a cabinet-level Department of Peace (HR 2459).

As Gen. Douglas MacArthur once warned in a speech to the American Legion, the abolition of war is "no longer an ethical question," but a matter of "scientific realism" for survival and advancement of civilization. He warned, "We must break out of the strait-jacket of the past."

Glenn D. Paige
Center for Global Nonviolence

Threats to Hawaiian benefits need answers

The shameful lawsuits against Hawaiian entitlements show the plaintiffs and their supporters as revisionists of Hawaiian history pandering to the self-interests of non-Hawaiians who, of course, are the overwhelming majority. Ken Conklin is unmatched in attempting to erase legal and moral obligations to right the wrongs against Hawaiians.

In this election season, candidates are giving lip-service to federal recognition of Hawaiians as if it were a panacea, in spite of the fact that constitutional challenges are a real issue. Hawaiians have legitimate claims that should be resolved within a U.S. constitutional framework.

If "annexation" and subsequent statehood are indeed questionable, such, I propose, is the dilemma. Are we so beyond hooponopono (to make right) today that viable introspection is a thing of the past? Auwe. It's a shame.

Michael Locey
Anahola, Hawaii

Big Isle offers help through tough times

As the three individuals who were arrested July 8 for having medicinal marijuana at our home, we would like to thank the Big Island communities for their aloha and support. Their generous outpouring of compassion towards us, their prayers, their smiles, their donations and encouragement, along with strength from God, will get us through this.

We also would like to thank our Hawaii County Council for allowing us to testify ("Medical pot debated in Big Isle Council," Star-Bulletin, Aug. 15), and for going beyond the call of duty in contacting the Hawaii County Police Department.

Thank you, Acting Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna and Lt. Tavares, for allotting time to attend the Council meeting.

Kea Wells, John Robison, Rhonda Robison
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Schools don't get equal funding

Regarding the Aug. 13 Star-Bulletin editorial, "State's single district assures equal education": Nothing could be further from the truth. A recent audit by legislative auditor Marion Higa showed the disparity of funding in Hawaii's schools. In 1998-99 the difference ranged from Keaau Elementary School ($3,633) to Waiahole Elementary School ($11,858).

Your last two sentences, however, were astute. Vouchers and charter schools can provide for equal funding and eliminate the current political and monopolistic system.

Sen. Fred Hemmings
25th District (Kailua-Waimanalo)

Editor's note: The Star-Bulletin editorial was based on a survey of funding disparities between school districts, not differences in spending on individual schools.

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