Kahele trying to look tough for election

Well, the saga keeps going on. This is really a big shibai. The bus strike was started to avoid layoffs. This issue was settled rather quickly. In the middle of the strike, local Teamsters president Mel Kahele changed course and now it is about money. Everyone knows by now that the bus drivers make good wages and have excellent benefits. That is fine. Everybody knows by now that almost everyone is affected -- older folks, students, taxpayers (because we fund this system) ... this list goes on and on.

The real issue is: Kahele is facing a re-election soon and he has to show muscle. He is holding almost all people on this island hostage, abusing his powers and just whipping the rank and file into a useless fight. It is a lose-lose situation for the sole benefit of union bosses. I am very much in favor of organized labor, but if we have union misleaders, we as a society are suffering. Kahele is right in line with Gary Rodrigues' clan and other AFL-CIO characters who have damaged the American labor movement.

Hanni Hartmann
Honolulu

Make car drivers pay for budget shortfall

It is time to acknowledge our bus riders as one of the most important groups in helping reduce traffic on our gridlocked roads and making our air cleaner to breathe. Let's not punish them by making it more expensive for them to continue using the bus.

Let those who are determined to use their cars pay for the mess they have created. Pass on the shortfall to car owners. Increase the gasoline tax. Let's stop coddling our car owners by building more roads and having cheaper gas.

We need more bus riders and fewer subsidized pollution machines on the roads.

Paul Rufo
Kamuela, Hawaii

Iraq relief money will go to U.S. companies

So President Bush is asking for $87 billions to help Iraq? Don't make me laugh! To whom do you suppose the money is going? Most of it is coming right back to the good old U.S.A. in the pockets of companies like Bechtel, which will receive the contracts to go over to Iraq and rebuild the country we destroyed!

Those U.S. contractors love this war! It means jobs, it means big profits for them, the chosen few. Oh, how my heart aches when we are duped into thinking that billions of dollars are going to help the poor Iraqis whose parents are being killed and children are being maimed, physically and mentally. We have destroyed not only the Iraqis but our brave men and women who have been used as the destroyers.

So who will get the $87 billion? The already huge American companies, the wise and compassionate U.S. psychiatrists and doctors and nurses and social workers, the U.S. oil companies and engineers and consultants ...

Somebody, prove me wrong!

Yoshie Tanabe
Honolulu

WMDs don't matter as much as dead Iraqis

We have not found weapons of mass destruction and if we never do, we should count ourselves lucky because if Saddam Hussein has them, using them will be his final act.

We should have gone into Iraq before 1,500,000 men, women and children were murdered. Whether we are speaking about world annihilation, our annihilation or that of the Iraqi people, it should not make a difference. Human life is human life. We as human beings cannot tolerate these acts. If we don't defend our fellow human beings, what do we stand for?

We call ourselves a religious world. All our gods preach peace, love, brotherhood and happiness. None of our gods condones the murder of innocent women, children and men. As religious and compassionate human beings, we cannot allow the murder of the innocent. So why do many who call themselves religious condone the persecution and murder of millions of their fellow human beings?

By condoning these murders, the world is saying, "It is all right for any government to murder its own people and neighbors. The murder of the innocent is not enough cause to be removed from power. All that matters is that to date, no weapons of mass destruction were found."

Beatrix Shishido
Mililani

TSA needs help with more than luggage

The Sept. 8 Star-Bulletin contained an article about airline luggage-handling complaints, which said "(the Transportation Security Administration) also said that of the roughly 12,000 complaints received through July 23, it has settled 481. The TSA denied payment on 121 claims. The bulk of the claims -- 8,605 -- are still pending."

But 8,605 plus 121 plus 481 equals only 9,207. The TSA appears to have misplaced some 2,700 of the original 12,000 or so complaints. How can people in the TSA be expected to track down lost luggage when they can't even keep track of the complaint files in their own office?

Ironically, a headline adjacent to the TSA article says, "Math scores puzzle test makers."

Garry Rush-Nelson
Mililani

[ BRAINSTORM! ] What, if anything, should we do with Diamond Head crater? Fill it with water and use it as a reservoir? Turn it into a giant "bark park"? No idea is too nutty, so let us know what you come up with. Send your ideas and solutions by the end of today 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

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