Brainstorm! Challenge

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History has clouded Americans' vision

Sixty-two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, we are still mourning the victims and honoring those who sacrificed to vanquish our enemies.

Yet a mere two years after another sneak attack, on Sept. 11, where even more innocents were murdered, partisan politicians debate an appropriate response to this barbarism while media stars vilify our commander in chief and lament the futility of "unnecessary sacrifices."

Two years after Pearl Harbor, editorialists weren't attacking President Roosevelt. Hollywood stars were making patriotic movies and sponsoring Victory Bond drives. Even politicians were fiercely supportive of the war effort.

Where have we lost our way?

John Corboy
Mililani

Gay marriage will add to societal problems

The claim that same-gender marriage legitimacy poses no problems for traditional marriage and society is incorrect. Present societal troubles will increase substantially. Space permits noting only two reasons why here.

>> The demand for same-gender marriage is based on equal rights and protection arguments. Those wanting to practice polygamy, incestuous marriage and pedophile marriage think equal rights are for them as well. There may be few requests at first, but wait until later. Those who claim that this won't happen don't understand legal dynamics.

>> Persuading people to undertake a critical job that two-parent heterosexual families do best, namely the raising of children (which, by the way, lasts a lifetime), will be undermined if alternative conjugal and sexual arrangements are legalized. Sacrifice, devotion and hard work go into building a successful traditional family.

Most individuals generally choose to do what is easiest, so why opt for traditional marriage if less-demanding options provide all the same benefits? Without enough people choosing traditional marriage, the next generation will receive inadequate preparation for life. Thus traditional marriage exclusivity is essential for the good health and welfare of society.

Phillip C. Smith
Laie

Finland way ahead of U.S. in many ways

The article about Finland in your Dec. 7 Travel section was interesting. We like to think that we are the most advanced country in the world, but that seems to apply only to weapons, and many others (even in "Old Europe") are far ahead of us.

Helsinki, a small capital city of 500,000, has an underground metro and light-rail trams. Finland has the most successful economy in the world and provides its citizens with many social benefits: education through graduate school, generous child-care leave, $100-per-month child payments until age 16 and health care. Our radical right-wing would sniff "socialism," but they are way ahead of us. And they are not squandering billions of dollars and human lives by invading other nations.

Nancy Bey Little
Honolulu

Dean endorsement is treasonous

This letter isn't about Howard Dean, who is a good man with strong convictions, however misguided. It's about Al Gore. His announcement endorsing Dean as the Democratic candidate for president took us all by surprise. So, what are the underlying reasons for this dramatic move? Why in the world would he abandon his insider buddies and throw his support to a political outsider?

Part of it is revealed in his statements: Dean is "the only Democratic candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war," the "catastrophic mistake the Bush administration made in taking us into war." The real reason lies in the facts that the DOW just hit 10,000, the Bush administration has our economy on an upswing and Bush just trumped the Democrats with his Medicare bill. What else is left except the war? The really sad part is the negative effect this one-issue political fight will have on our nation.

Most Arab nations subscribe to the saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." It appears that Gore is adopting the same policy. Gore has to be thinking "the war is going bad and will continue to go bad." He seems to be banking on a failed war as the way to get a Democrat into the White House in 2004.

Because of the ensuing political rhetoric condemning Bush about the war, our nation will appear divided. That will embolden al-Qaida and the Taliban to continue attacking our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will demoralize our troops. It will result in more U.S. casualties. Is Gore willing to risk all this? It appears so, and this, my friend, is tantamount to treason. Tell me it ain't so, Al.

Ross M. Rolirad
Kapolei

Ewa-Honolulu ferry is the way to go

In his letter of Dec. 10, "Options For Easing Traffic," E. Alvey Wright has an excellent idea: Use ferries to transport cars to downtown Honolulu, instead of suffering the disruptions of constructing a double-decker highway or light rail.

In addition to avoiding the disruptions of traffic, the ferry option has these advantages:

>> Tremendous savings in energy costs, considering that the energy used by a vessel per ton per mile traveled is one-tenth the energy used per mile by a car.

>> Unlike roads, the ferries can be used profitably during off-hours of traffic, which has the potential, over time, of paying for the ferries.

Fifty thousand cars between Ewa and downtown Honolulu will require 100 ferries at 500 cars per ferry, for a total of $25 billion.

Extensive acreage also will be needed at the harbors and machinery for rapid loading and unloading of vehicles.

With fast catamaran-ferries, it will probably take one hour for a trip between Ewa and downtown, including loading and unloading.

George Avlonitis
Honolulu

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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