Statistics distorted Oahu beach drownings

I noticed a discrepancy in your lead article on May 27, "Oahu beaches perilous." What I found disturbing was the misuse, perhaps inadvertent, of statistical data, comparing two different annual samplings of drownings: one a total for all Oahu, and one a total at city-lifeguarded beaches.

The illusion is that the number of drownings at city-lifeguarded beaches is roughly equal in number to those at all Oahu beaches. In fact, if you put the lifeguarded scale in equivalent light, it would appear there are far fewer drownings at lifeguarded beaches.

My math teacher at Radford would have been horrified, but my philosophy teacher at Leeward would have simply smiled and given you an A for effort.

Everett Peacock
Kula, Maui

Kids handing out video are not brainwashed

Regarding Alfred Bloom's May 31 "On Faith" column ("Giving out Jesus videos at school creates disharmony"): Although admitting that the children did nothing illegal by distributing the Jesus videos and recognizing that in the United States religious freedom includes the propagation of one's faith freely, Bloom is offended by students following the above principles.

He justifies his fears by claiming that they were exploited, and basically brainwashed, by adults to disseminate the tapes. I am a retired psychologist, a former professor like Bloom, and I can add some information to the great amount of knowledge he probably already has as a professor emeritus: Children of school age are more intelligent and independent than he thinks.

I personally was a child under the Nazis and the Communists and they did not succeed in brainwashing or influencing me, or my colleagues, and they really tried with very advanced scientific methods.

I learned to be informed before making decisions. When I chose Christianity, it was after reading the main Buddhist books, the Koran, Hindus books and others. Nobody is stopping Buddhists from presenting their teaching in schools. In fact, it is already done in history and religion classes, even in most Christian schools.

Bloom himself, as a Buddhist minister, was teaching at a state school supported with my tax money, and I think that was just fine. If he sees the movie, he may find many teachings with which Buddha would wholeheartedly agree. I challenge Bloom to try it; he may like it.

Dan Motet

Opponents of tax cut should send it back

All those who feel the need to bash President Bush for signing the tax cut approved by Congress should put up or shut up. I know they're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, and they shouldn't be hypocrites by cashing the checks. That will show 'em.

They should feel free to refuse and return their checks to the feds. The rest of us will try to respect their decision -- without cracking up, of course.

John Ornellas
Lanai

DNA no excuse for animal cruelty

Raoul Gutenpfennigen's June 2 letter to the editor, "Humans deserve more concern than animals," was way off-target. He criticized Cathy Goeggel's excellent May 29 column on the acts of cruelty to animals, asserting that the DNA match between humans and chimps is only 95 percent.

By this reasoning, we should have absolutely no concern for a dog beaten by his owner, since dogs are even less similar to humans. This unthinking, automatic response is speciesist -- the view that humans are entitled to special treatment.

We can admit we are similar to apes, but fail to realize that we are apes. I offer two quotes, the first from Charles Darwin: "Animals whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equals." And from Peter Singer: "All the arguments to prove human superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: In suffering, the animals are our equals."

Pamela Davis

Mayor raids incomes to save government

As a child, I read the fable about the grasshopper and the ant. During the warm summer months, the grasshopper was busy hanging out at the beach, playing his ukulele, having a good time, and not worrying about the looming winter. Meanwhile, the ant was busy toiling and building up his stores of poi.

When winter came, the grasshopper had nowhere to go, nothing to eat, and not much chance of surviving the harsh winter. Meanwhile, the ant was warm and snug in his nest with plenty of poi.

Our beleaguered mayor of Honolulu is the ultimate grasshopper. Now that his winter has arrived, he wants to raid the ant's nest to survive. Raise taxes, raise bus fares, invent new taxes, add new fees and cut city services. All this to pay for his field(s) of dreams. Good thing he didn't become governor, or taxpayers would really be in trouble.

Royle Kaneshige

Dems fail to speak up about Iraq issues

What is going on with the Democrats in Congress? They are in disarray, and also acting like Tony Blair, who worships Bush so much that he tried to be morphed like him but -- poof! -- he became just an echo in the foggy streets of London.

Before he morphed into oblivion he promised to write about the "Hidden Treasure of Baghdad," but he had to wait for Bush to stop digging the cemeteries in Iraq trying to find the weapons of mass destruction. But what about the Democrats? What is their final exit?

Fred Young
Keaau, Hawaii

Addicts are the key to solving 'ice' problem

It's great that many in the community and government have decided to do something about the ice problem in Hawaii ("Lawmakers to form panel on 'ice,'" Star-Bulletin, June 3).

But many people still don't understand the heart of the problem. By focusing efforts on drug dealers and importers, you only cut off the supply, not the need. It's the need that will make the use of ice continue, no matter what we do to eliminate the dealers and importers. The only way to get rid of ice is to stop people from using it.

There are two methods to curb drug use: incarceration and treatment. Incarceration doesn't address the individual's addiction problem, and treatment only works when the individual is ready to stop using -- and ice addiction is hard to break.

By combatting just the drug dealer-importer aspect, you will not solve the real problem -- ice addicts. The addicts commit most of the crimes; by somehow curbing their appetite for the drug you will get rid of the dealers. It's a hard problem, but our islands need a solution.

Charles W. Santiago Jr.
Wahiawa

Marijuana opponents suffer from hysteria

Jerome Kellner ("Pakalolo is dangerous and should be illegal," Letters, June 3) and other drug warriors suffer from a disease called "reefer madness."

It's a destructive disease. Sufferers are deluded into thinking that keeping marijuana illegal and jailing the users of the herb will make our society safe.

Having lived in Hawaii from 1991-1998, I saw the crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," epidemic escalate, while our fearless drug warriors were destroying and poisoning the marijuana crop.

I'll be traveling to the Netherlands for about a week to get away from the United States' drug warriors. You see, in Amsterdam, the people don't suffer from reefer madness. One can buy marijuana and hashish safely in the coffee shops.

Lo and behold, their teen drug use is only half that of U.S. teens, and I can walk the streets of Amsterdam safely after midnight, unlike major American cities like Honolulu.

I hope that people who are afflicted with reefer madness get the help they need. They are truly destroying America with their drug-warrior hysteria.

Sean Porter
New Orleans, La.
Former Hawaii resident

Column induces longing for islands

Although I live on the mainland, my heart is forever in the islands. Luckily, I am able to keep in touch via visits and visiting your Web site.

The May 25 "This Sunday" column by Heidi Chang, about the Kamakoa Preserve on Molokai, made me feel like I was home in the midst of the awe-inspiring beauty that can only be found and felt in the islands.

I hope you keep infusing these treasured tidbits into your paper. It keeps me reading and waiting for the next reunion with Hawaii and helps me tolerate the frigid winter weather of the midwest.

Laurel Kime
Green Bay, Wis.

EWC gives spotlight to communists

Had Saddam Hussein consulted the East-West Center for an excuse for the financial incentive, he gave to the suicide bombers' surviving family members, he may have a good excuse to the U.S. accusation that he helped terrorism.

The center has a clever answer when accused by local Vietnamese of supporting the human-rights-abusing Vietnam government when it sponsored the Saigon Puppet Theater's shows in Honolulu. William Feltz, the center's art program coordinator, said the theater is an independent company, not a government arm. That is just short for saying that Hanoi is adhering to the freedom of speech, and Vietnam newspapers, radio and television stations are privately owned.

EWC President Charles Morrison said the center would continue to sponsor the Saigon theater shows despite the protests. In their letter to Morrison the Vietnamese wrote, "Had the Swede invited a German symphony orchestra to Stockholm in 1943, where thousands of French refugees lived ... then we have a comparison to your insensitive sponsorship to the Communist art team. But the Swede did not."

So what are the conclusions? Supporting suicide bombers widows and orphans is not supporting terrorism, or that the two EWC scholars are not that scholarly about Southeast Asian politics and civilization?

Thinh Nguyen

New Web site design has brighter look

Your new Web page setup is superb. I read the Star-Bulletin newspaper every day, but last Wednesday I noticed the changes on the front page. I want to commend your staff on a job well done.

A little change here and there spices up the newspaper's look. I'm originally from Kaneohe and left home in 1974 to serve in the military. I retired in 1994 in Texas and now make Hawaii my vacation spot.

Please keep up the good work so that I can keep tabs on what is going on back home.

Daniel K. Akui
Lampasas, Texas

Improved Web page made my day

It was a pleasant surprise to discover your new, more readable and same-day on-line edition and format Wednesday morning. Mahalo nui!

Martin Rice
Kapaa, Kauai

Supporting native land rights improves karma

Everyone who benefits and everyone who doesn't benefit from our system of governance shares in our liability and responsibility to support land for the kanaka maoli. Denial of the liability perpetuates the karmic mistake.

Only when aina and aloha are given to the kanaka will our burden be lightened. Only when we recognize the primacy of our responsibilities over inherited rights will we have peace.

If you live in these islands, please do your part to pay our debt, for it is a large and heavy debt. It's time to repay. It's only right. Tell your friends about our responsibility to cleanse our karma, so that the next generation will be cleansed. If not now, when? If not you, who?

Rob Kinslow

Men are capable of deep understanding

This is in response to the May 6 "Goddess Speaks" column, "Baby knows mom takes care of people" by Laurie Okawa Moore.

The Goddess generalized the male role in our society and seemed to paint men as incapable of understanding. Physically men are conditioned to feel no pain, but this is like an individual losing an injured limb. The individual feels none of the pain caused by the injury, for it was amputated from their existence, but he feels the pain of loss, which slices deep. As a young boy I would get many scrapes. I was not given the option to feel the pain, and today I know that inside it was more painful not being able to feel pain, any kind of pain, or express it in a healthy manner.

Men are allowed to feel only one emotion: anger. You ever wonder why so many men are angry? Maybe they are in pain. I think nature works hard at balance. Birth is beautiful, and I am grateful women have that ability, not because the pain deters me but because it is part of what makes women beautiful. I am tired of hearing the "pain of birth" thing. We understand it's painful, but at least women can experience it.

Moore' husband probably is a great parent because of his gender, not despite it. Men can be as loving and as caring as women. The difference is that men are conditioned to distance themselves from this natural human ability.

Michael A. Proffitt

Federal program helps Hawaii curb gun crime

We could not agree more with the headline of your May 16 editorial -- "U.S. gun statutes should be enforced" -- and in fact they are being aggressively enforced on a daily basis in Hawaii. The National Rifle Association study cited in the editorial, which contained outdated and speculative statistics, does not accurately portray the current state of gun prosecutions in Hawaii. Let me take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Last year, under the direction of Ed Kubo, the U.S. Attorney's Office launched President Bush's Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program in Hawaii, an initiative designed to reduce gun violence. PSN represents a unique -- and unprecedented -- partnership among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including all county police departments and prosecutor's offices, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and others who are working together to stop gun crimes.

In just over one year, we've already achieved impressive results. To date, PSN has resulted in the investigation of more than 150 of Hawaii's toughest criminals. These offenders, as a group, have been arrested more than 3,000 times. Thanks to PSN, the U.S. Attorney's Office has charged approximately 90 of these individuals, and is taking them off the street.

Our goal is to use federal law in conjunction with Hawaii's existing gun laws -- which are some of the toughest in the nation -- to reduce gun violence and firearms-related offenses.

Through our partnership with each of the county prosecutors, every gun crime occurring in Hawaii is being reviewed and evaluated for potential federal prosecution. The cases are screened and then are handled by the office that can receive the most appropriate sentence given the nature and circumstances of the particular offense. At times, this may be the U.S. Attorney's Office, but at other times, where there are juveniles involved or a more significant state crime has occurred, the counties are often best suited to handle the case.

A key component of PSN is our community outreach and public awareness program. Our goal is to reach out to the entire state with one simple message, offenders will do "hard time for gun crime." We encourage the public to report gun crimes by calling ATF at 808-541-2670, and to find out more about how they may participate in PSN to help keep their community safe.

Since its launch in early 2002, the U.S. Attorney's Office's PSN program has increased federal gun prosecutions in Hawaii by more than 300 percent. Therefore, it is evident from our efforts that the Bush administration and U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo have taken concrete steps to reduce gun violence across the nation and specifically within our state.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, in partnership with ATF and the counties, is sending a strong message to criminals that gun offenses will not be tolerated in Hawaii.

Ron Johnson
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Coordinator
U.S. Attorney's Office