Jobs aren't the only factor to consider

Mahalo to Cynthia Oi for her "Under the Sun" column ("Hawaii's values are not up for a cheap trade," Star-Bulletin, Sept. 24). Somehow, our citizens must learn to differentiate between jobs and jobs. Just like the construction business -- some say it creates jobs; others say, "So what happens after the resort/development is done? Maids and gardeners."

Keep helping us look at the bigger picture. I'm passing the column on -- it's definitely "right on."

Marjorie Erway
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Columnist attacked entry-level jobs

Cynthia Oi's Sept. 24 column is tone-deaf to irony. In the first half of her column she exuded sympathy for a salesperson she met who is stuck in a crummy job, and bemoaned that "good jobs are hard to come by." So far, so good. Who wouldn't empathize with a person in such a plight?

But in the second half of the column, Oi launched into an anti-business tirade that seemed designed to scare off any potential employers who might offer her beleaguered salesperson a better job.

Oi wrote that government "fail(s) to investigate whether these jobs are worth having ... or merely supply minimum-wage work," insulting employers offering entry-level jobs and implying that we should eliminate those jobs altogether.

Oi implied that we also should reject employers that might not "fruit into a sustainable industry," "will have an adverse effect on the cultural atmosphere," are "big-box outfits" or will generate what she deems to be excessive profits.

Then, after proposing to eliminate pretty much all employment, she triumphantly concludes, "then anti-business we should be."

Governor Lingle declared that "Hawaii is open for business," but Oi seems dedicated to trashing that laudable vision.

Jim Henshaw
Kaneohe

Don't give RU-486 to Hawaii youths

On Sept. 17, Californian Holly Patterson,18, died after she took the "abortion pill," RU-486. Patterson was at least the seventh woman in North America who has died from taking the drug that the Food and Drug Administration, approved in 2000 as "safe and effective."

Patterson was living with her father, but she chose not to tell him what she did and it probably contributed to her untimely death. This story so dramatically points to the need of parental involvement laws in Hawaii. The father said if he had only known the truth, he could have helped her.

With RU-486 on the market in Hawaii it is imperative that our daughters have proper protection -- loving parents involved in all their children's decisions. Parental involvement laws have been associated with a lower abortion rate among teens as well as a lower pregnancy rate in those states that have such laws.

RU-486 should not be given to our young daughters in Hawaii.

John Calvin Long
Executive director
Hawaii Right to Life
Honolulu

Bush is improvement over lying predecessor

I for one am tired of all the "Bush lied to us" commentaries. Take a look at the man who was in office for eight years before George W. Bush.

Some of his lies have become household terms for blatant falsehood, such as "I smoked but I didn't inhale" or "I did not have sex with that woman." What makes Bill Clinton's lies more serious is the fact that numerous lies were made while under oath. At that point the nature of the lie is immaterial. If you say the sky is green under oath, you can be convicted of perjury and imprisoned.

It is insane that we as a nation allowed Clinton and his gang of spin-meisters to distract us from the key issue, that a lie is wrong, and sidetrack us onto a million other distractions. Just as one small example of how far Clinton went to avoid the truth, in the portions of his deposition that were made public in the Paula Jones case, his memory failed him 267 times.

The war on terrorism should have been started on Clinton's watch, but the country was too wrapped up in itself; i.e., as long as I have a big fat wallet, let people do whatever they want as long as they don't bother me. The overtolerance of the immorality of the Clinton administration is reflective of the immoral overtolerance of American society.

At least we have a president now who has a backbone and is willing to stand up for the values and principles of morality and freedom.

James Roller
Mililani

Sunday section offers food for thought

Fascinating, thought-provoking juxtaposition in your Insight section Sept. 14, with the National Focus op-ed piece "Nazi's bright light extinguished" by Tom Teepen about Leni Riefenstahl, and the My Side of the Story column by Stephanie J. Castillo, "Cockfighting documentary is a cultural exploration, not advocacy."

Janine Brand
Hauula