Lingle right to employ budget restraint

Gov. Linda Lingle's budget policy with the return of a surplus is a breath of fresh air in state government (Star-Bulletin, July 14). It is an example of the change voters desired in 2002. The governor is following a fiscally prudent budget strategy. She is planning the budget for the future and taking into account future costs that will determine a surplus or deficit.

This is a welcome change from past administrations whose budget policy was that surpluses were only a means of funding programs for the here and now, and not thinking of the future -- a future with negative economic news, as happened after the Waihee administration.

Theodore Taba
Honolulu

Bush's stand on war, abortion consistent

In his letter of July 14, physician John Roberts was wrong to accuse President Bush of inconsistency for being pro-death penalty, pro-war and anti-abortion. Death may be an appropriate penalty for severe crime. War may be an appropriate response to a dangerous scofflaw regime. Some consider abortion to be the killing of innocent human life. These three issues are distinct.

Regardless of religious or secular justification, one could hold all, one or none of these beliefs without being inconsistent.

Rhoads E. Stevens, M.D.
Hawaii Kai

Stop building houses, build casinos instead

Inasmuch as we are running out of fresh water on Oahu and much of our workforce is in the development industry, we are rapidly approaching a melting point. The water supply is critical. We need a moratorium on building homes and condos.

Since so much of our workforce is involved in the development industry, we need to create jobs for them to replace their construction jobs. This could be done with legalized shipboard gambling. Many people here in Hawaii have the NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude about legalized gambling. Shipboard gambling would remove the casinos from the local neighborhoods, create jobs for residents and create tax revenue for the state on revenue that is currently unreported or taxed by Nevada.

Are we to treat people who go to Las Vegas on vacation as pariahs? Do they come back with some sort of plague and go through withdrawal as they step off the airplane?

Four percent of gamblers are compulsive; for them, they have Gamblers Anonymous. Think of the tax revenue for the state of Hawaii that would be realized, the alternative jobs for construction workers who have no solution to our water dilemma and all the political hacks who have their fingers in the illegal gambling cookie jar.

Phil Robertson
Honolulu

Cheney too secretive about energy advisers

Vice President Dick Cheney has refused to reveal the sources of advice he received in formulating the Bush administration's so-called energy policy. These secret sources are reported to be executives and corporate board members from the energy industry.

The alleged reason for maintaining secrecy about the source of energy policy advice is that the administration wants its sources outside of government to feel uninhibited in coming forth with candid advice; implying that only in anonymity can these sources be relied upon to tell the national government what they view as being in the best interest of the nation.

In the event that an individual or organization insists on remaining anonymous as the source of information for energy policy advice, doubt is cast as to whether that advice is in the best interest of the nation.

The first Republican president proclaimed "A government of the people, by the people, for the people." There would appear to be no reason to suppose that, in using the phrase "the people," Abraham Lincoln was talking about a few privileged individuals with special access. Does the vice president have other priorities than government of the people, by the people, for the people?

James Weatherford
Rural economist
Keaau, Hawaii

Just what is wrong with Hawaii's schools?

I am a 12-year-old student who attends Washington Middle School. I will start eighth grade in the fall. The thing that concerns me the most in Hawaii is our schools. If we were to grade my fellow students using the mainland standard, every A student would be a C student. Why are we graded at a lower level than students in other states?

It also concerns me that in elementary school I learned about arithmetic and the circumference of a circle and then, in the seventh grade, we only started to learn that stuff at the end of the year. Most of my classmates did not get what was being taught to them, but the lessons only lasted a week or so. Then we moved on to something easier.

The thing that really confuses me about this is that I was supposed to be in a higher math class for seventh grade, and for next year, too. However, I find out "it's too full." Well, they have extra chairs, don't they? Why not add a chair? That is what they did for another student.

In addition, when we received our report cards in the mail my friend was accepted into that class even though he got a lower ranking than what I had. I know this might sound like jealousy, but it might be more than that. There might be a crime, like discrimination, going on.

Is there a problem with the Board of Education, or with our schools? If I'm lucky, then maybe I can go to a private school. But what are the rest of Hawaii's students supposed to do?

Jenifer Evans
Honolulu

Is U.S. above bounds of international law?

Is any country above international law?

>> The United States invaded a sovereign nation based upon false intelligence.
>> The military operation in Iraq has and continues to generate civilian casualties.
>> According to the International Red Cross, the United States is hiding and interrogating "ghost prisoners" in detention centers around the globe.
>> All of the above violate international law.

The fact that Saddam is a very bad man who inflicted unbearable pain upon his people doesn't justify the above facts. There are many horrendous situations in this world where the United States has stood on the sidelines. The genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda are past examples; the ethnic cleansing in Sudan is a current example.

The United States invaded Iraq to prevent a perceived threat based upon false information. If one substituted any other country's names for the United States and Iraq, what would be the response from the world community, including the United States?

Chuck Cohen
Honolulu>