Bush's growth plan is vital to economy

I write this letter from the standpoint of a small-business owner in Hawaii who also works for a temporary agency to try to make ends meet.

It is time about for President Bush's economic and jobs initiatives plan to be enacted to further help our society, economy and the well-being of all Americans ("Bush signs bill for $330 billion in tax cuts," Star-Bulletin, May 28).

The economy needs a boost. The value of gold is down and consumer spending is way below normal. We need the president's plans to help generate the levels of supply and demand to where they once were.

Brian K. Hazel

Special-ed program is awkward and costly

The Department of Education is dysfunctional. It isn't just money, but attitude. Take special education. It would be cheaper and easier to give a kid with a learning disability an accommodation in a regular class along with a few minutes of remedial training.

But what does DOE do? It responds with segregation and watered-down lessons for half the school day.

This is harder in every way. Several extra classrooms are required in each school, kids are still not learning because accommodations are still not provided, and special-ed teachers are expected to give individual instruction to a number of students simultaneously.

The DOE veils this waste with inefficient and unnecessary administrative procedures and paperwork, not all of which are required by law. This drives up the costs. Then there are the legal expenses for depriving kids of their civil rights and retaliation by teachers who sue the DOE in federal court, as I am doing. Wouldn't it be cheaper for the DOE to swallow its pride and do things right?

John Mussack

Music downloads amount to theft

I'm surprised the Star-Bulletin would publish Curt Brandao's May 25 Digital Slob column, which seems to condone theft. Brandao appears to be confusing disparate issues. He sees J. Lo (aka Jennifer Lopez) selling products other than music and so assumes that she is not suffering when someone acquires her music without paying for it. He ignores the songwriters who get paid via sales of her CDs and songs. An appropriate analogy is someone stealing copies of the Star-Bulletin from the boxes, thus depriving the company of revenues.

It's wrong to suggest, as he does, that since we already paid for our PC, MP3 player and Internet access we've already paid enough. That's like saying I already paid for my car, so the gasoline should be free.

James Ko

Bank shareholders are disenfranchised

I am a stockholder of CB Bancshares (parent of City Bank). The recent actions of CB Bancshares in response to the overtures from Central Pacific Financial (parent of Central Pacific Bank) have betrayed a frightening disregard for the interests of its stockholders.

One of the many ironies of the fracas between Central Pacific Bank and City Bank is the fact that Calvin Say, Speaker of the House in Hawaii's state Legislature, is a director of City Bank. Say and members of the City Bank board are vigorously pursuing the most undemocratic activities imaginable. The City Bank board has voted to disenfranchise the shareholders of City Bank.

City Bank belongs to its shareholders, who are the only ones entitled to decide issues important to the bank. Yet the other directors have gone to great lengths to ignore the shareholders and to prevent a fair election among them. And to add insult to injury, they're spending the voters' own money to thwart them.

I have no doubt Say and the rest of the City Bank board can read the writing on the wall. They know they do not have the stockholders' support. They probably know they have angered the majority of City Bank's voters. Yet they persist in their efforts to disenfranchise the voters, whose interests do not coincide with the interests of City Bank's top brass. They like their high salaries and stock options. They are spending the voters' money to promote their own personal interests.

Channing T. Lushbough
Pasadena, Calif.