Brainstorm! Challenge

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Pali shootout shows dangers of gambling

Gambling and crime do, indeed, often go together. The recent shooting incident at the Pali golf course underlines this fact. This is one of many reasons for continuing to keep gambling from being legalized in Hawaii.

Illegal gambling would not go away if gambling were to be legalized for many of the reasons pointed out in articles about the shooting: promoters of gambling seeking for ways to avoid paying taxes, arguments about wages and winnings, security issues.

Expansion of gambling is losing across America. In 2003, gambling proponents attempted to legalize 45 expansions in 30 states. Forty-two of these efforts were defeated in the courts, at the ballot boxes and in the capitols by grassroots gambling opponents. Tom Grey, president of the National Coalition Against Gambling points out that, "States, like individuals, cannot gamble themselves rich." Last year Nevada had a $840 million budget deficit.

Murder, theft, embezzlement, fraud and suicide all come along with gambling. In Hawaii, we don't have to defeat gambling expansion, we are already ahead by not legalizing gambling in the first place.

Judy Rantala
President
Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling

Plant-based diet can help environment

Animal agriculture poses a greater threat to our natural environment than all other human activities combined. Shifting toward a plant-based diet and eliminating meat and other animal products from our diets is one of the most powerful ways we can protect the environment.

Raising animals for food is a leading cause of resource depletion and environmental degradation. Seventy percent of the organic water pollution in the United States is caused by animal agriculture. Nationwide, 130 times more animal waste is produced than human waste. Because these animals are injected, fed, and sprayed with antibiotics and pesticides, their waste is filled with toxic chemicals. Much of it is washed by rains, untreated, into our waters.

The meat industry consumes more than half of all the water used in the U.S. Most of the water is used to irrigate the pastures and crops that livestock eat.

We directly contribute to massive amounts of ecological devastation by eating meat, eggs and dairy products. Each of us can refuse to subsidize environmental destruction every day by boycotting animal foods.

To learn more about the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet, please attend the free lecture given by Jim Motavalli, editor of E/Environmental Magazine, at 7 p.m. this Saturday at McCoy Pavilion, Ala Moana Beach Park.

Adam Bromley
Kihei, Maui

Immigration plan is practical, courageous

President Bush shows political courage in his response to the problem of illegal immigration. Most politicians are too gutless to deal with this situation because illegal immigrants cannot vote. Continued failure to act would cause illegal immigrants to form a permanent underclass of underpaid workers with no representation and no rights. There is no way to render our borders with Mexico and Canada impenetrable. The only other solution would involve the morally outrageous and physically impossible step of expelling 12 million difficult-to-identify human beings from our country.

Bush's proposal will allow former "illegals" to work for regular pay rates in positions that better reflect their skills, because as legal workers they can more freely choose employment. It will free them to buy homes, apply for credit, invest and form businesses. This enhances economic growth, creating jobs for all Americans.

I recognize they have violated the law. Bush's proposal makes an implicit decision about this law that reflects one of the great strengths of our Constitution: its flexibility. There are no laws for which the consequences are absolute.

The world desperately needs more Americans. Bush's proposal puts 12 million more people on the road to becoming U.S. citizens. The vast majority of immigrants appreciate the unique qualities of our nation in ways that those who have never experienced life in the underdeveloped world may have difficulty imagining. The current wave of immigration from Latin America and Asia is much like the wave of European immigration 100 years ago, which brought many of our grandparents to these shores.

Those of us who favor free enterprise know risk takers and opportunity seekers when we see them.

Andrew Walden
Hilo, Hawaii

Big Oil has made price caps necessary

We must put caps on gas prices in Hawaii! The oil companies have been stealing us blind for more years than I wish to remember. Please stay on top of this.

Robert G. Devine
Ocean View, Hawaii

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] What should the city do with the elegant old sewage pump station? It's empty and fading, and now it's taking a beating from all the construction going on around it. The O.G. Traphagen-designed sewage pump station on Ala Moana Boulevard, more than a century old, is a monument to the glory days of municipal architecture, when city fathers took such pride in their community that even a humble sewage station became a landmark structure. Millions of tourists drive by it every year, and it's an embarrassing reminder of how poorly Honolulu treats its historic landmarks. Over the years, dozens of uses and excuses and blue-sky speculations have been suggested for the striking structure. Now we're asking you, Mr. and Mrs. Kimo Q. Publique, what should the city do with the elegant old pump building? Send your ideas and solutions by Jan. 15 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750