Bainum is just as local as anyone else

There are many important issues facing the city but it seems like mayoral candidate Mufi Hannemann and his supporters feel it's more important to portray their opponent Duke Bainum as a non-local and an outsider (haole). It's a shame that they took this road. Mufi started it when he opened his campaign with his slogan "Our Home, Our Mayor." He ran a television ad featuring children with local roots supporting Mufi as one of their own.

Some people say they will vote for Mufi because he is a "local" boy. In looking up the word "local" in Webster's Dictionary, there's nothing that says one has to be born in a certain place to be "local." The true definition is: "belonging to a particular place or serving the needs in a specific district." That qualifies Bainum to be local, having lived on this island for 25 years, having a medical practice here, being married to an island girl and having served in the state Legislature, Honolulu City Council and on various community boards. So, to say Bainum is not "local" is incorrect. He is just as "local" as Mufi.

Oahu is the home for everyone living on this island and not just for someone who wants to be mayor at any means.

Hannemann protected city workers' jobs

In an Oct. 28 letter, Gary Okino lauded the virtues of mayoral candidate Duke Bainum and how he values the efforts of city employees. Gary, a former city employee and now a City Councilman, is not as unbiased as he tried to appear in his letter.

Gary and I worked together in gathering support against the reorganization of city departments in 1998. But I think Gary has selective amnesia regarding who played the most important role on behalf of employees throughout that period.

It was Mufi Hannemann, not Bainum, who heard our protests and took action by organizing employee meetings, arranging for an independent facilitator to meet with employee volunteers to collect input from the rank and file about how and where monies could be saved and raised in order to balance the budget, and who worked tirelessly in opposition to Mayor Harris to save jobs in the Department of Planning where Gary then worked, as well other departments.

Of the more than 300 positions that were slated for elimination when the administration proposed the reorganization, all but about 25 were saved when the reorg went into effect. Gary was one of the lucky ones who kept his job due to Mufi's intervention.

Bainum served on the City Council after the reorg. Gary now is a Councilman. Neither of them have seen fit to correct the "inefficient new organization" Gary alluded to in his letter.

I want a mayor who will partner with city workers in building a strong city team. The mayor I want is Mufi Hannemann.

Liberals' fault that U.S. depends on foreign oil

Can just one liberal John Kerry supporter please tell me how President Bush lied to "we the people"? You tell us that it's all about the oil in the Middle East. Why are we so dependent on it? Maybe it's because some people won't allow exploring for oil in our own back yard. Next time you fill up your tank so you can get to your protest on time, notice the price and figure out what is causing it to be so high. Then next time the chance for oil exploration in Alaska comes up for vote, bite the bullet and vote for it.

It makes me so proud to hear all these rich Democrats talk about how the greedy Republicans will help their friends in power and forget the working class. Last time I checked, both parties were filthy rich. The sad part about all this mudslinging is that, as Americans, we should all have the same hopes and dreams.

Bush has failed as CEO of America

As voters, we need to evaluate President Bush in the clear-eyed manner in which shareholders would evaluate a CEO's performance.

When Bush became president, our nation had a budget surplus of $400 billion. In four years, he has racked up a national deficit of $800 billion. The primary reason for this huge loss? Bush's tax cuts, which primarily benefit the rich.

Bush could have rolled back these tax cuts after realizing the high cost of homeland security and war in Iraq. But he has refused to do so. In four years he has failed to veto even a single spending bill from Congress.

The major decision of Bush's presidency -- to plunge our nation into a war in Iraq -- has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 service people, a growing insurgency, a spiraling price tag and severe overdeployment of our troops. Why should we trust such a poor decision-maker to lead us out of this mess?

As a shareholder in the future of our country, it is frightening to imagine the scope of damage that Bush could incur if he were given another four years. Based on his abysmal record, he doesn't deserve to be re-elected as our leader. Please vote for Kerry for president on Nov. 2.

Plan would send trash to Washington state

Congressional candidate Mike Gabbard has proposed a practical and visionary solution to the problem of the opala (trash) that is piling up in our island paradise. He supports recycling, but since an effective recycling program has not been implemented as yet in Hawaii, Gabbard suggests that as an interim measure we ship our opala to federally approved sites such as the Roosevelt landfill in southeastern Washington state, which meets or exceeds all Environmental Protection Agency Subtitle D requirements. Several states are already doing this, including Alaska. The EPA has stated that it prefers that our nation's trash be placed in large, federally approved locations and not remain out of control in numerous small landfills across the country.

Thanks to Mike's concern and actions, the proposed private Kunia landfill on Oahu was stopped. This landfill threatened to contaminate the Pearl Harbor aquifer, which supplies 70 percent of Oahu's water. Let us remember our state motto, "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono" "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." I believe Gabbard's proposal is the right interim solution to the opala that is polluting our aina and inevitably contaminating the aquifers. By shipping out the opala, we are helping to preserve our aina for present and future generations. Thanks, Mike!

Hawaiian events need financial backing

Hawaii gives wonderful lip-service to appreciating, respecting and supporting Hawaiian culture and traditions. In reality, the Pro Bowl football game receives millions of dollars a year, but the state of Hawaii gives nothing to honor the Hawaiian alii (Kamehameha Day Parade, Prince Kuhio Day Parade, Aloha Festivals) nor to the World Invitational Hula Festival.

The World Invitational Hula Festival, Nov. 11-13, at the Waikiki Shell, is in its 13th year and brings in more than a million dollars in business. However, the festival has been so ignored by financial backers that it is scrambling to survive. Hula dancers are coming from Africa, France, Japan, Iran, North America and the South Pacific, as they love Hawaiians and our culture.

Although this festival publicizes Hawaii globally, there is still no respect for Hawaiians. Pat them on their heads occasionally but give them no money to continue worthwhile events. Eventually they will just fade away.

Auwe. Where else can you enjoy a relaxing lomi lomi and sip on kava while watching handsome kane in malo and scintillating wahine performing on stage?

Leaky concert hall desperate for money

Some folks would spend millions of the City and County's money to restore the Natatorium; meanwhile, the roof of the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall, a City and County facility, is leaking. Priorities, folks, priorities!

Let stem cells be valiant warriors

Waging the war against terrifying diseases of humanity, and developing the weaponry to do so through stem-cell research, is a heroic effort wherein the soldiers sacrificed are human embryos.

In Iraq we are sacrificing young men and women in a fatal mission against fellow human beings in an attempt to destroy the terror and hatred generated by our own insensitivity. This course of action seems acceptable to many Americans, yet to most of these same citizens, conquering disease is immoral if embryonic cells are used in the battle.

If life is in fact lost in the stem-cell procedure, let it be lost on a mission of hope and enlightenment rather than on a blundering assault against hatred and terror spawned by our own arrogance and stupidity.

With defiant disregard for the vital sacrifices previously made to ensure our freedoms, we are now trading them for security, along with loyalty for obedience, thought for doctrine, truth for belief, and now science is being replaced by ideology as we continue to "advance" into the next age of darkness.