Talking politics among friends is dangerous
This is pure foolishness, ("Registration is only first step to becoming an informed voter," Gathering Place, Oct. 10).The author writes, "Talk to your friends and acquaintances about politics when it is not an election year. Politics is only a taboo subject for the uniformed." Doing what this writer suggests is one sure way to have fewer friends. It is my experience that there are very few "friends" who want to listen to a serious discussion of the issues we face today, especially if they strongly disagree with your position.
Honolulu
Reps don't follow will of the people
Congressmen Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case are not good for the people of Hawaii or America.They do not vote in Congress for the will of the people of Hawaii. They ignored us about supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment. They voted against the bill! They're too liberal. I know that their opponents, Mike Gabbard and Dalton Tanonaka, are men of principle and God-fearing candidates.
They will not let down Hawaii's people.
Ewa Beach
It's the American way to protect minority
Melvin Partido (Letters, Oct. 10) should have thoroughly researched the Federal Marriage Amendment before casting stones at Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case. Had he done so, he might have learned that there are conservatives, including Bob Barr, the Republican author of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, who say Congress should reject the problematic FMA.Abercrombie and Case support liberty and justice for all, not only for the majority. Politicians who, at the behest of the majority, enact unjust, legally problematic, arguably un-American agendas, violate a key concept of our system of government: the natural equality of all persons.
American writer Robert Ringer observed that "most people have never dared to question the basic morality or logic in the assumption that the majority should have power over the minority. A majority of the people in the South once believed in black slavery. Did that make it moral?" Of course not. The majority, especially when incited by demagogues, is capable of being regressive, tyrannical, and dead wrong.
Thomas Jefferson cautioned that the will of the majority, "to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate (which) would be oppression."
Honolulu
Sierra Club is off base about bottle bill
Recent Sierra Club statements regarding implementation of Hawaii's beverage container deposit program reveals that this environmental organization is way out of touch with what is actually happening in state government ("Bottle bill supporter worries state won't be ready," Star-Bulletin, Sept. 23).It also reveals how irresponsible this group is at times. Rather than attempting to accurately determine the new recycling program's status, Sierra Club Director Jeff Mikulina apparently prefers to mislead the public to fit his agenda.
A simple phone call to the governor's policy office or the Department of Health's Solid Waste Department would have enabled Mikulina to determine that the bottle bill implementation plan is in fact on track. But perhaps that wouldn't have fit in with his preconceived notions.
Instead, his inflammatory statements are filled with allegations that are not reasonable and are patently untrue.
In July, Governor Lingle allowed the amended deposit beverage container program to become law and the administration will implement it in a timely manner -- despite Mikulina's opinions to the contrary.
As Mikulina well knows, the governor has implemented the most far-reaching environmental initiatives in recent memory. These include an unprecedented $3 million effort to battle invasive species, a commitment to using alternative fuels for electricity generation by requiring 20 percent renewable by 2020, and mandating ethanol blending in gasoline.
In addition, the governor led the state-county federal partnership to clean up Lake Wilson and restore it as an important recreational asset for Oahu's families.
The Sierra Club is just flailing around looking for an issue to hang its hat on since there has been so much positive movement in so many long-stabled environmental programs
I suggest that if Mikulina actually wants to help the governor further her environmental initiatives, he should stop burning bridges and start doing his homework and show that the Sierra Club is more than just a partisan, political special interest group.
Senior Adviser for Communications
Office of the Governor
Catholics can think for themselves
An article in the New York Times dated Oct. 12 reports the Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Colorado has started a drive urging the faithful to vote for President Bush. He declares abortion rights and stem-cell research are "non-negotiable," and that it is a sin to support these issues. He says, "If you vote this way, you are cooperating with evil." The archbishop does not define what he considers to be "sin and evil" in this context.This is a one-issue prelate who conveniently ignores equally critical issues such as a "just" war, social justice, the environment and the corrosive abuse scandal within the church. This narrow-minded bishop needs to be reminded that there is an informed Catholic faithful, and that we are living in the 21st century and not medieval times when the church ruled by edict.
Honolulu
Anti-Bainum signs should be condemned
At least twice a week I pass by stink-talk road signs that are obviously an organized effort to smear mayoral candidate Duke Bainum and his family. I've heard that campaign workers for his opponent, Mufi Hannemann, say it isn't their work.If they're not doing it, they certainly know who is. To deny it is cowardly. To not publicly and forcefully call for such tactics to end is inexcusable. These are not the qualities we need in the next mayor.
Mililani
Only 'guilty' sharks will be hunted?
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources will not hunt for a Molokai shark unless proven it has attacked others ("Shark attacks diver off Molokai," Star-Bulletin, Oct. 10)?Let a state official stand in the same waters and see what happens.
Honolulu
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