Brainstorm! Challenge

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Goings-on in U.S. should make you mad

Cynthia Oi's Under the Sun column "Trickle-down antagonism stains political discourse" (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 19), is encouraging to this "mad reader."

What has happened in America since the 2000 election is appalling: war, debt, lies and deceit, millions of jobs lost, civil liberties violated as well as the Constitution, Congress and the presidency bought by big corporations, the gullibility of a lot of the American public under the guise of patriotism, the blind trust of Republican voters as their savings disappear as well as their jobs and health care.

Yes, I am mad!

Pat Blair
Kailua

Real news falls victim to sensationalism

It is disturbing that CNN, Fox News and much of the broadcast media have chosen to give extensive coverage to Michael Jackson's legal problems while more important events are downplayed. President Bush faced the largest demonstrations ever staged against a visiting foreign leader in London, yet CNN coverage was cursory and shallow, with no examination of why Bush and his policies are so unpopular.

The media scarcely note the United States has lost almost all support it had just after 9/11, and there is still no official report of how 9/11 happened and the extent of our government's negligence. The White House has stalled the appointed panel's efforts to discover the truth.

The U.S. is involved in disastrous wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines, causing the loss of thousands of innocent lives as well as a growing number of deaths and injuries among our own troops.

Hostility to the U.S. has been bolstered by these state-terrorist responses of the Bush administration. Americans are less secure now than before 9/11, thanks to the actions of our government, which seeks to curtail our freedom for the bogus rationale of "saving" it.

Yet the mass corporate media fill the airwaves with coverage of Michael Jackson's problems, ignoring or minimizing much more significant news.

We are witnessing the worst journalism imaginable, a crass, profit-driven sensationalism that threatens to undermine an informed, democratic society. We must challenge this numbing, nitwit news fix that promotes ignorance of what we really need to know.

John Witeck
Honolulu

Gas caps ultimately bad for everyone

While your Nov. 23 article on gasoline prices in Hawaii contained some factual information, it failed to make clear the unambiguous findings of the Legislature's recent report on the subject. The study, conducted by Stillwater Associates as the result of a bi-partisan legislative directive, made it clear that Hawaii consumers pay more for gasoline than do folks on the mainland because of the overall higher cost of living here and the fact that we pay the highest taxes on gasoline in the nation, not because of oil company marketing practices.

Disclosure of the report's findings on refinery profits was likewise incomplete and misleading. Stillwater found that refinery profitability here "is not beyond reasonable returns on investment." On the contrary, they concluded that "a long-term trend can be discerned that shows eroding profitability in gasoline."

Most important, the article neglected to inform consumers that if the Act 77 price caps are implemented, they likely will increase consumer costs and force small "mom and pop" dealers in rural areas out of business, which would mean fewer consumer choices. And Stillwater's observation that gas caps could well jeopardize the very existence of Hawaii's refineries, without which the state would lose about 1,400 jobs and more than $400 million per year in economic contribution, is not to be taken lightly.

If the goal is to help consumers, a good first step would be to make them aware of the findings of the Stillwater report, the FTC and others in their entirety, to ensure a balanced public debate.

Melissa Pavlicek
Western States Petroleum Association

Why are priests not investigated further?

Catholic priests who committed dastardly deeds of the past with choir boys received pardons, so to speak, from prosecution. Why didn't the vigilant law officials invade the inner sanctums of churches and priories, as they did the Neverland Ranch of Michael Jackson, under further suspicion of molestation? Or is this sacred ground?

I am not particularly a fan of the weird or unusual behavior of the supposed pop star, but the weird so-called "men of the faith" deserved front-page billing just as much; and what, pray tell, is the difference in their past behavior? They're all tarred with the same brush.

They are a sorry lot, wearing phony robes, with the despicable gall to carry a cross.

John L. Werrill
Honolulu

Smoking ruins looks as well as health

During my many trips to Oahu, I continue to observe residents, especially teenagers and young adults, ignore the message that smoking is devastating to their health. Each trip, while my wife and her mom are at Queen's Medical Center, I sit on the patio reading. During this recent trip I decided to take count of people who smoked on the patio. Within a hour, 19 out of 27 people, mostly employees, lit up.

I realize that the medical profession is stressful, but they should know that smoking, including second-hand smoke, causes lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and may lead to other medical problems.

My other area of observation was Ala Moana Center, where I noticed the high percentage of teenagers who smoke. Teenagers who think it is fashionable to smoke or who need to be accepted by their peers are harming not only themselves but the people around them with second-hand smoke. As far as all the women who puff away, you are spending your money needlessly on makeup, hair styling and even clothes to improve your attractiveness when in the long run not only are your destroying the interior of your bodies, but the exterior also. Smoking causing the skin to wrinkle and dry earlier in one's lifetime.

The obvious solution is to quit and get a life, and a healthy one at that!

Mike Chiaramonte
Santa Ana, Calif.

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] Dirty gutter talk Those orange rolls that highway engineers have been shoving into storm drain openings -- there must be a more efficient or practical or attractive way to filter out road debris. These things are about as useful and pleasing to the eye as huge, discarded cigarette butts. Send your ideas, drawings and solutions by Thursday, Dec. 17 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