Prayer helps keep loved ones from harm
I want to send my prayers to all the soldiers and my son, Samuel Ioane, who just left Iraq after an 18-month tour and is now in Germany, a brother in the 411th Engineers in Iraq, two more brothers (Taliese and Tauveve Vivao) in the 487th of the 29th Brigade, and my husband (Atonio Ioane) and father of six in the 100th Battalion, all of whom are leaving for Fort Bliss, Texas, and then heading into harm's way this week.
Honolulu
Pledge, fast food bills were too broad
This responds to James Roller's letter questioning two of the more than 1,000 votes I have cast in the 108th Congress.The first was in opposition to HR 2028, seeking to provide that no federal court, up to and including the Supreme Court of the United States, can consider or decide any challenge to the constitutionality of our Pledge of Allegiance. The second was in opposition to HR 339, seeking to prohibit lawsuits against a broad range of food industry entities.
While both measures passed the House, they have seen no serious action in the Senate.
HR 2028 is a reaction to controversial challenges to the required recitation of the words "under God" in our Pledge. I personally support recitation of the entire Pledge, and so earlier voted in favor of a House resolution to that effect. But to address the issue by stripping it away from our courts is overkill. More important, it strikes at the heart of our system of checks and balances that has served us well, for example, in ending restrictions on interracial marriage, integrated public education and freedom of worship.
HR 339 is a reaction to controversial lawsuits brought by consumers against fast-food chains relating to obesity and related-health conditions. I agree that frivolous lawsuits have become all too common, and have supported responsible litigation reform, including voting for HR 4571, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2004 (one of 16 Democrats to do so.)
But HR 339 was a much-broader special-interest giveaway of immunity to the food industry from safety lawsuits.
These bills demonstrate a disturbing tendency in Congress to overrun specific issues with larger, unnecessary and unwise solutions and to address those issues through attacks on the foundations of our government. Although I may agree with the starting point, I cannot sanction the solution or the means with my vote.
U.S. House of Representatives
2nd District
Meat processing eats up fossil fuels
Last week's crossing of the symbolic $50 mark for a barrel of oil should be a wake-up call for U.S. energy policy officials.According to the U.S. Geological Survey, global oil reserves are fixed at around 3,000 billion barrels. Likely fields have been explored and assessed. Yet, the annual global consumption of 27 billion barrels is growing at 1.6 percent, threatening to outstrip production capacity.
Our desperate dependence on oil imports precipitated the invasion of Iraq and will lead to future disastrous adventures. Combustion of fossil fuels is precipitating a global-warming crisis. Both concerns demand a drastic reduction in fuel use for our cars, homes and diets.
Yes, our diets. According to Cornell University Professor David Pimentel, production of animal protein accounts for 8 percent of our national consumption of fossil fuels, nearly as much as driving cars. The additional fuel powers manufacture of fertilizers, operation of farm machinery and factory farms and processing and refrigeration of meat products.
Anyone who cares about peace and environmental conservation should know the effects of meat production.
Honolulu
Candidates should talk about creating jobs
I am an 18-year-old college student at Leeward Community College. The upcoming presidential election will have a deep affect on what kinds of jobs are available. Unfortunately, there has been little discussion of how President Bush will fix the problem with joblessness in America. When will the American people make it known to the president they want him to stop talking about Iraq and concentrate on the country he was elected to serve?All I really want to hear from either candidate is a plan to help the American people. I don't want to hear that Iraq is more important than America.
Ewa
Votes, not debates, will decide election
If I did not love this country so much, I would not be so angry. Instead of pursuing those who attacked us, our energies have been diverted and our ideals perverted. We now have the terrorists right where they want us.Henry David Thoreau said there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one striking at the root. One root is our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and our willingness to do whatever it takes to maintain our grip on it. The other is unconditional support of Israel.
Debates will not decide the election; votes will. I hope enough grown ups show up on Nov. 2 to stop the stupidity.
Honolulu
Truth gets twisted about military records
Carol Lum (Letters, Oct. 4) repeats the hard-core right's intentionally deceptive sound bytes, i.e. "President Bush has signed papers to release all of his military records. Kerry will not sign papers to release his records." Sounds like Bush is forthcoming and Kerry is hiding something, doesn't it? Here are the facts:
>> Bush may have signed some papers, but it's taken several years of the "liberal media" invoking the Freedom of Information Act to get most of what's been released so far, and there are still major gaps in the record. Agreeing to do something is not the same as doing it.>> Kerry didn't need to sign release papers because he posted his complete military records on his Web site months ago.
One interesting thing in the records: John Kerry requested duty in Vietnam; George Bush stated that he was not volunteering for duty in Vietnam.
Being an informed voter requires looking beyond the sound-bytes for the facts.
Lahaina, Maui
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