Do bikers have to wear seat belts, too?
Surviving the "Click It or Ticket" campaign without a $77 scratch, I wondered why the police are so gung-ho on seat belts, while there is no motorcycle helmet law in Hawaii.Attempting to avoid hate mail from the local Hells Angels, it seems to me riding a Harley without a helmet is far more dangerous than driving a car without using a seat belt. Head trauma is the most severely debilitating injury.
Considering most cars built since 1999 have dual airbags and cars since 2004 include side impact bags (that's four bags), why the "free ride" for motorcycle riders?
Paul D'Argent
Kihei, Maui
Fight extremists with Christianity
The beheading of Paul Johnson, like the beheading of Nick Berg, proves again that the only way to deal with Islamic fundamentalism is with a Christian fundamentalism that does not compromise with Islamic fundamentalism.
Clifford Ishii
Waimea, Kauai
Japan should pay reparations for WWII
John Corboy wants to know "why in heck we U.S. taxpayers will have to pay $125 million to Guamanian victims of Japanese atrocities during World War II" ("Letters," June 15). The more intriguing question is why the United States and other Allied powers, in Article 14 of the 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan, decided to "waive all reparations claims ... arising out of any actions taken by Japan and its nationals in the course of the prosecution of the war."The mystery of Article 14 will not be explained until the U.S. government declassifies many more wartime documents.
Claims against Germany were not waived, and as a consequence Germany has paid more than $45 billion in reparations, rehabilitated itself and currently enjoys good relations with its European neighbors.
Japan has strenuously resisted claims made by former Allied (including American) POWs and by Asian "comfort women" and others who were forced to perform slave labor. Kenzaburo Oe, the Japanese writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994, voiced his frustration with his government's unwillingness to come to terms with its wartime past in an article in the New York Times Magazine (July 2, 1995).
"For the Japanese to be able to regard 21st-century Asia not as a new economic power rivaling the West, but as a region in which Japan can be a true partner," Oe wrote, "they must first establish a basis that would enable them to criticize their neighbors and be criticized in turn. For this, Japan must apologize for its aggression and offer compensation."
Warren Iwasa
Honolulu
China deserves to be among G-8 nations
The G-8 nations should include China. China is a nation with the world's largest population. Its consumption is awesome. It is greater than France, Germany and Japan. It will be even greater as the years roll by. China should be in the G-8.
How Tim Chang
Honolulu
Reagan was imperfect but he meant well
Ronald Reagan might not have been the most intellectual of presidents, and at times he may have been something of an actor. And surely he had faults and made mistakes because he was only a human being named Ronald Reagan.His shortcomings notwithstanding -- and he may have been errant, inadvertent or oblivious on some issues -- would you not believe that his thoughts and actions were more likely to be altruistic and less likely egocentric?
What else should we want to think and say concerning the Reagan presidency and the present presidency?
Tetsuji Ono
Hilo, Hawaii
Whiny cop should apologize to co-workers
I can't help but comment on David Hernandez's "Gathering Place" column ("HPD deserves more than just another bureaucrat," Star-Bulletin, June 15).He does so much bellyaching and whining, it's obvious he is a very disgruntled employee. All one needs to do is read the article to prove my point.
What is really sad is the comment about a second-class police department providing second-class service if the people of Oahu allow the Police Commission to select a chief who is not the best qualified. The Honolulu Police Department has about 2,000 dedicated, hard-working officers who are anything but second-class.
Hernandez should apologize to the men and women of HPD and their families who have served and continue to serve the citizens of the City and County of Honolulu with pride and first-class dedication. If he is so unhappy, he should resign!
Morris DeRego
Retired lieutenant
Honolulu Police Department
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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:
Or by mail:
Brainstorm!
c/o Nancy Christenson
Star-Bulletin
500 Ala Moana
7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813Or by fax:
Brainstorm!
c/o Nancy Christenson
529-4750
