Brainstorm! Challenge

---

History will show pope to be wrong about gays

As a formerly devout Roman Catholic who once made a pilgrimage to Rome, may I respectfully suggest that His Holiness John Paul II butt out of American politics? The Holy Roman Church was wrong about slavery; it was wrong about the Holy Inquisition, Galileo and Copernicus. It is dead wrong about gay aspirations to full citizenship.

When I was a child, Holy Mother the Church taught me I'd go to hell for all eternity for masturbating -- even once. More recently it has been wrong about birth control. After four children in five years that we could barely afford to raise, it dawned on us that a little birth control might not be a bad thing.

By taking a strong position on gay marriage, the Supreme Pontiff is risking a political backlash and further confirmation that the Papacy itself is a laughable, anachronistic sideshow.

Based on his dubious moral position and selective obsession with certain passages in Leviticus, if the Supreme Pontiff himself does not wish to marry a homosexual, that would be his personal choice and I would respect it.

Tom Dolan
Honolulu

'Sanctity of marriage' is another myth

President Bush claims the U.S. Constitution may need to be amended to protect the "sanctity" of marriage.

If marriage is so sacred, then why are men allowed to purchase mail-order brides on the Internet? Why do TV reality programs present marriage (and divorce) as entertainment? Why do Elvis impersonators perform drive-through weddings? Why did the state of Hawaii issue a license that recognizes satanic wedding rituals? Why do more than half of all marriages end in divorce? Why is marriage a multimillion-dollar business in Hawaii?

The president and others assert that gay and lesbian couples should not be allowed to get married, because their unions will threaten so-called "traditional" marriage. Yet any heterosexual couple can buy a $50 license, chant "Hail Satan" together in the presence of Elvis, and the government will recognize the union as legal marriage.

Actually the government makes no legal distinction between a three-hour church wedding and a five-minute satanic ritual. And neither has more than a 50 percent chance of success. So what is so damned sacred about traditional marriage?

Rather than amend the Constitution to allow blatant and heartless discrimination, perhaps the government, which mishandles almost everything, should simply get out of the marriage business altogether.

Mitch Kahle
Honolulu

Running 9/11 cartoon showed poor judgment

While I enjoy a good cartoon or satire as much as anyone with a decent sense of humor would, I find it in extremely poor taste for the Star-Bulletin to run the cartoon "We'll know how the Saudis feel about the 9/11 report linking them to hijackers as soon as their flight arrives" on Saturday's editorial page.

I doubt that anyone with any ties to the horrors of the attacks on 9/11 will find anything funny about this cartoon. It obviously portrays a jumbo jet about to crash into some significant building, as was the intent of the hijackers on that fateful day.

Journalists and newspapers have a social responsibility to the community they serve, and the author of the cartoon and dailies that chose to run it have shown irresponsibility in this matter.

Gary K. Hashimoto
Waipahu

News media need to dig into the real story

All the talk about the Niger documents mentioned in President Bush's State of the Union speech doesn't add up. What we need is a honest examination of wider U.S. strategic interests in the region to elevate media discussion about the war. The mainstream news media have not provided a significant counterbalance to "administration speak" with stories by liberal conspiracy theorists and others to point out the much larger economic, political, mercantile and global hegemonic interests that shaped the rush to war.

Instead of thousands of hours of airtime and millions of column inches devoted to the 16 words Bush spoke, the media need to sustain inquiry into the planning of the war. To be honest, this would necessarily bring to the fore questions many patriotic Americans have, questions that may include words like "money," "oil" and "power."

We do need an independent inquiry, but it doesn't stop there. The inquiry process, the findings and the conclusions should be newsworthy of bigger headlines than the scant attention being paid to the ongoing inquiry into the 9/11 attacks today.

Emi Chiharu
Honolulu

---

BACK TO TOP
|

[ BRAINSTORM! ] "What can be done with utility poles and lines to improve the view from our highways? Is legislation necessary, or perhaps some sort of invention or new technology?" Send your ideas and solutions by August 14 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Burl Burlingame Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Burl Burlingame 529-4750