New phonebooks are ripe for recycling
Come on, Verizon, you can't tell me that no one has complained about the weight of the new phone book. "Uugh," I thought, when I received it. Then a simple solution popped into my mind: Just toss it and keep last year's directory. And so I did, into a recycling bin, of course. Let's hope common sense prevails when Verizon gets around to printing next year's edition.
Honolulu
Spearfishermen tempt fate and sharks
I saw a TV news item on spear fishermen and the shark attack a couple of days ago. They were interviewing two spear fishermen. They showed some film of a fisherman who had about six large, dead fish tied around his waist as he swam. Hee was a freaking underwater buffet table to any hungry shark. What do they expect?For fun, I would like to see them tie a bunch of fresh fruit around their waists and then run through Rusti's cage at the Honolulu Zoo. I think I might pay money to watch that if they give me a chair up front.
Amazing.
Waikiki
Voter rolls are routinely purged
Contrary to one reader's observations ("Inaccurate voter rolls make turnout seem low," Letters, Oct. 1), Hawaii's voter rolls are continually updated and maintained to provide an accurate picture of voter turnout and prevent fraud.Hawaii election officials follow federal laws that govern voter roll maintenance. After the 2002 elections, election officials removed more than 103,000 voter records that included the deceased, voters who registered on the mainland and names of voters who have not kept their voter records updated and have not voted in four years. We anticipate conducting these same activities after the 2004 elections as well.
Voter roll maintenance laws are generally designed to keep voters on the rolls to encourage participation and prevent practices that may disenfranchise voters unnecessarily.
Unfortunately, laws and practices alone cannot ensure accurate voter rolls. Voters must also exercise their responsibility by keeping their address records current and by informing election offices of when they move out of state.
City Clerk
City and County of Honolulu
Abercrombie, Case took principled stand
Melvin Partido takes issue with Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case (Letters, Oct. 10) because they voted against the effort to amend the U.S Constitution so that it prohibits same-sex marriage. Our two congressman, however, took a principled stance to protect the Constitution from an unnecessary and dangerous change, which would have undermined states' rights to legislate on this controversial issue. They were joined in this by 27 House Republicans as well as the majority of Democrats.Interestingly, Vice President Cheney agrees with Case and Abercrombie that such action is unwarranted. Bush, too, was first against federal intervention on this issue before he changed his mind; something Bush and many of his supporters would label a "flip-flop."
The push for a constitutional amendment is nothing more than a wedge issue cynically promoted in Congress by politicians trying to get votes in November. Meanwhile, there are many more pressing issues congressional leaders are ignoring. What a waste of their time and our money!
Kailua
Bush did not punish critical general
Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards have repeatedly misused the good name of Hawaii hero, Gen. Eric Shinseki. A CNN fact-check clearly shows that Shinseki was not fired for his concerns on Iraq troop levels. Shinseki served a full four-year term as Army chief of staff and did not retire early. Since World War II, no Army chief of staff has served longer than four years.Now, because Kerry and Edwards seek political gain, America believes that this great man was fired by the Bush administration. Yes, his successor was named in April 2002 and some insist that this reduced his stature; however, this was a year before his disagreements with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq troop levels in March 2003. No one fired Shinseki for his comments.
I am disgusted with Kerry and Edwards for the damage they have done to the legacy of this fine military leader. I regret that the members of our Hawaii delegation and newspapers have not made efforts to challenge these distortions. It would be both timely and appropriate for Senator Inouye to publicly set his fellow senators straight on this issue and restore Shinseki's national reputation and legacy.
Kailua
Bush was justified in going after Saddam
Regarding the Oct. 9 editorial on why the president went to war: We all know that Saddam Hussein used poison gas on the Kurds and Iranians in the 1980s. We also know that he invaded Kuwait and that he tried to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush.We also know that he never came clean about his weapons of mass destruction. President Clinton bombed Iraq in 1998, and Saddam threw the inspectors out, which resulted in no oversight on the WMD programs.
Saddam was in material breach of U.N. resolution 1441, plus about 16 other resolutions. He fully intended to resume his WMD programs after the sanctions were lifted, with the help of his friends on the U.N. Security Council (France, Russia and China).
As Sen. John McCain has said, "Those who criticize the decision to go to war would have us believe that the choice was between a status quo that was well enough left alone and war. But there was no status quo to be left alone." I would take McCain's thinking, before I would take John Kerry's.
Finally, let's not forget that there were other intelligence agencies that thought that Saddam possessed WMDs; it wasn't just the CIA who dropped the ball.
Waikiki
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