Brainstorm! Challenge

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Mom is responsible for life of baby

I read with interest the letter from Joe Ryan, "'Ice mom' is a victim of dealer, prosecutor" in yesterday's Star-Bulletin.

While I do agree that dealers should be punished, no dealer held a gun to this woman's head, forcing her to use. She chose to try it for the first time. And she chose to continue using, knowing that it would harm her and her baby. She is not a victim, the baby was a victim.

Amanda Cannon
Kailua

Reagan never backed stem-cell research

Hawaii Democrats have a new party chairman but their old ways of rewriting, excluding and distorting facts continues.

President Reagan was never in favor of human embryonic (stem cell) research, and Democratic Chairman Brickwood Galuteria's assertion that he was is an interesting rewriting of facts. Featuring this controversial issue as a centerpiece of the Democratic Party message indicates how out of touch the Democrats have become from the community. Many people continue to have grave concern about this type of research. This position is likely to be troubling to their own party members who are opposed to this research based upon their own moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

The state Democratic Party excludes the facts by failing to pay tribute to the most remarkable event of the Cold War -- stopping communism in its tracks, symbolized by the removal of the Berlin Wall. Like Joshua, President Reagan commanded that "the wall" be brought down and, to the amazement of the world, it came down and ended a period of captivity of the East Berlin citizens.

The remarks of the Hawaii Democratic Party chairman distort the reflective view of our great President Reagan. People should be wary of leaders who engage in rewriting of documented facts and label it as a tribute.

Kay Ghean
Chairwoman
Maui County Republican Party

GOP has had its personalities, too

Andre Lemond (Letters, June 5) tries to make an issue out of the fact that the new Democratic Party chairman is "only" a radio and TV personality, Brickwood Galuteria. We are the party of the people, and represent decent, hard-working people of all kinds.

The Republicans had a president and a senator who were movie actors and have a governor who was a body builder. The Republican candidate for our 1st Congressional District was a TV personality; the other one owns a health food store.

The Democratic Party of Hawaii is proud to have Brickwood Galuteria as its chairman.

Nancy Bey Little
Honolulu

HGEA head's attacks on Lingle baseless

In a recent "On Politics" column ("It's about the money," Star-Bulletin, May 30), Richard Borreca made some insightful comments about the nature of the relationship between state Democrats and their "steadfast political ally," the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

Borreca pointed to attacks that Russell Okata, HGEA executive director, aimed at Governor Lingle, including a rant during the union's convention in which he accused the administration of lacking honesty, fairness and integrity.

The official HGEA Web site posts the ridiculous claim that Governor Lingle is biased against the union and that her "strategy to isolate us from other unions underscores the war she has declared on us at the Legislature."

What effects do those baseless accusations have on the attitudes of state employees? Can they shrug off such claims as nothing more than partisan politics from their union leaders, and then go about their jobs? Or do such claims create an antagonistic relationship between labor and management that undermines the work ethic in our state government department?

If the latter is true, and unfortunately it is in some cases, then we know who's being harmed. Government exists for one purpose -- to serve the people. The people are not well served by angry state employees who are being told that the governor has declared war on them, which she most certainly has not. She offered employee raises in an amount the state could afford.

Having been a government worker herself for 20 years, Governor Lingle admires and supports these employees. But she is not willing to mortgage the future of our state for employee raises that will create large deficits and cause cuts in important programs.

HGEA's leaders should tone down their political rhetoric, including the constant bashing of the Lingle-Aiona administration, and conduct themselves in a way that can bring honor to their members.

HGEA's vision statement declares that the union is "dedicated to improving the lives of all people." If the HGEA leadership really cared about all the people of Hawaii, their behavior would be far different. They would keep their partisan politics out of the workplace and let the good people who really want to serve the public do their job.

James R. "Duke" Aiona Jr.
Lieutenant governor

Brady Bill hasn't stopped anyone

In her June 5 letter, Sally Raisbeck calls for a renewal of the Brady assault-weapons ban. She gives several reasons for her opinion, all of which are invalid.

She says terrorists will outgun the police if the ban isn't renewed. The Sept. 11 hijackers used boxcutters to do their dirty work. Attacks before Sept. 11 (Oklahoma City, previous World Trade Center attempts) used explosives.

Raisbeck believes letting the ban expire will create more Columbine-style massacres. The tragedy at Columbine happened in 1999, well into the gun ban.

She also believes it will give criminals more firepower than the police. The North Hollywood shootout was in 1997, also well into the ban. These two robbers had fully automatic AK-47s. Fully automatic weapons have been illegal since the National Firearms Act of 1934. Her letter seems to imply that John Hinckley used an assault weapon. Hinckley used a .22-caliber pistol in his attempt to assassinate President Reagan.

When people plan a murder, they don't worry about whether their weapon of choice is illegal.

Jacob Gollihugh
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] The ponds at the state Capitol are full of icky green stuff. What, besides holding an election, can we do to get rid of all that scum at the Big Square Building? Or should we just replace the ponds with something else? Tell us what you think, whether you know of a way to clean the ponds or if you'd rather see a remodel of the Capitol grounds. Anything would be an improvement. Send your ideas by June 16 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or by mail: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Or by fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750