Adrian K. Kamali'iLegislature should get basics right first
The problems of suicide and assisted-suicide have exercised the world's greatest minds since the days of Confucius and Aristotle. Isn't it a bit presumptuous for the Legislature of Hawaii to try to resolve this issue? Only one other state has permitted assisted-suicide and the long-term results of that experiment are far from clear.Our Legislature contains many compassionate, clever and principled people, but they have had great difficulties in recent years with basic issues of government such as traffic safety, taxation, budgeting and public education.
Perhaps they should set themselves more modest goals. If our legislators are compelled to do some great deed of compassion in 2003, let them help the poor by repealing the general excise tax on food, shelter and medicine. It will not put us on the front page of The New York Times, but it will be a good work and long overdue.
Ray Gagner
Kailua
Public employees' fund should be protected
Hopefully, with the new governor, the government Employee Retirement System and economic conditions in Hawaii will improve. I doubt they could get any worse.After speaking with Linda Lingle and Duke Aiona during a campaign event in Pearl City, I feel things will get better. Instead of government stealing from the ERS, it should be made clear that the funds are only for the ERS members.
Elected officials previously have considered the ERS money theirs for the taking. ERS members have had no say. Elected officials have recently tampered with our health benefits and cut out our bonuses. Is there no shame? With a new governor and lawsuits pending, perhaps some of these wrongs will be made right.
I suggest, with the exception of the retirees, that all state and county workers, as before, contribute a percentage to the fund, not just those in law enforcement. If the state and/or counties really need to use ERS monies, it should be treated as a loan, with payback in interest on a monthly basis.
Floyd Burns
Lieutenant
Honolulu Police Department Retired
Pearl City
Bush shouldn't profit from war with Iraq
Let's forget that George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott, was caught trading with the enemy during World War II, that the president's brother Neil, an officer of Silverado Banking S&L, mismanaged the operation resulting in a loss to taxpayers of a billion dollars, or that his dad, who claimed he was leading a kinder, gentler nation, had 30,000 U.S. troops invade Panama, killing 2,500, just to get one man, Manuel Noriega!We don't even need to remember that George W. promised to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and after winning office, let us know he was just kidding, because regulation could increase energy prices.
Now the president says he's not going to war in Iraq for oil, but to stop terrorism. Let's put him to the test. He needs to sign a affidavit that neither he, nor any U.S. company or related international corporation, will accept any profit taken from an Iraqi oil-related business and certify that oil profits will be used for the poor in Iraq. A promise like that could restore trust in the Bushes again.
Ron Rhetrik
Mililani
War talk spreads unease, even in Hawaii
War jitters have caused a decline in the stock market. More likely than not, the hawkish Bush administration, together with its ally Great Britain, will attack Iraq in the next 45 days.Will oil prices spike? Will tourism in Hawaii be severely affected?
How Tim Chang
A chant of sorrow for Aunty Gladys
It is with great sadness that the board members of Hui Ho'oulu, Inc., create this kanikau for the late Aunty Gladys Brandt.It is her fearless spirit that allows Hawaiians to reach new heights .
If each person were one-tenth of what Aunty Gladys was, this world would survive for another millennium. Our heartfelt aloha and condolences go out to Aunty Gladys' ohana.
The chant and an English translation follows:
He Inoa No KamakaküokalaniAuwë! Auwë! Auwë!
Ua hala ka wahine wiwo'ole
'O Kamakaküokalani kou inoa
Ua hele 'oe I nä 'äina like 'ole
No ka ho'äla i nä Hawai'i
Ho'äla nei
Ua ho'opololei me ka pono
Pono nei
Uwë ka lani, Uwë ka 'öpua
Ua hala ka wahine koa
E moe e ka wahine wiwo'ole, e moe
Kaumaha loa mäkou
E hui pü me nä lani, 'oli nei nä lani
Hele 'oe I ke ala ho'i 'ole mai
E komo i ke kau ana o ka lä
Lamentation for Gladys Kamakaküokalani Kanuha 'Ainoa BrandtWoe betides us! Grief! Sadness!
A fearless woman has left
Kamakaküokalani is your name
You traveled to many lands
To uplift our people
Uplifted we are
You corrected with right-eousness
Righteous we are
Our heavens weep, our clouds pour
Gone is our warrior
Oh sleep our warrior, sleep
Grief stricken are we
You have joined our royal ones, rejoicing are they
Travel now on the path of no return
Join now your ancestors
Ulalia Woodside
Vice president, Board of Officers
Hui Ho'oulu, Inc.
|