Name-calling obscured columnist's point

My goodness, Maureen Dowd (April 25) sure hates Pope Benedict XVI. She managed, in one short column, to call him an "eminence grise," a "tough cop," an "absolutist," a "fundamentalist," a "Jurassic archconservative," "gloomy," a "bully," "Cardinal No," "Darth Vader," "God's Rottweiler," a "global enforcer" and a "Panzerkardinal."

Too bad. If she had any intelligent point to make, it was lost in all the shrieking.

Straitjacket might be better disciplinary tool

It could be said that the wrong people were called to quell that unruly 5-year-old (who was handcuffed by St. Petersburg, Fla., police after throwing a tantrum in school). The people in the white coats could have been called, because they know how to handle people like that at their funny farm. Their standard procedure is to use a straitjacket.

Would that have been better? A lot more struggle would have ensued to get her into one, including perhaps a hypodermic of joy juice to quiet her.

Simply grabbing her enough to get handcuffs on entails the least amount of struggle, but has an unattractive appearance. Having people in white coats put her in a straitjacket looks sanitary, a standard procedure used on people who are unruly.

But which way would be physically easier on her? Or mentally?

Don't let religious fanatics take over U.S.

I read, with great amusement, the April 25 story of how Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist addressed a Sunday telecast organized by religious zealots who are trying to stereotype Democrats as godless.

These are the same kind of fanatics who burned Giorano Bruno at the stake in 1600 A.D. because he challenged the prevailing religious orthodoxy by saying that there are an infinite number of inhabited worlds in the universe. These religious zealots want to take us back to the Middle Ages and the days of the Inquisition, when Galileo had to fall to his knees and repent before them.

We live in a free society, where freedom of thought and scientific inquiry are key elements. The Republican Party, by allying itself with this lunatic religious fringe, could endanger our cherished freedoms. There could be an attempt to establish a theocracy here in America. It is time to challenge these fanatics!

When people make it, government wants it

It is hard to fathom the reason why the Legislature is proposing a rise in the general excise tax when supposedly the unemployment rate of the state is below 3 percent. Does the fact that more of its citizens are now working mean that lawmakers should seek additional tax revenues? Are they hoping to reduce the gains made by lower-income families by expanding the money they have to make themselves look good?

Governor is criticized no matter what

It is difficult to understand why anyone would deem the information released periodically by the governor to be political or campaign material rather than a means of informing the public about what is going on.

Can you imagine the horrendous clamor of the media and Democrats if the governor failed, even inadvertently, to release some information that in their opinion should have been made public?

As related by that office, all information released by the governor can be reviewed first and disseminated or dismissed at the discretion of the media.

So, what's the beef?

How to write us The Star-Bulletin welcomes letters that are crisp and to the point (150 to 200 words). The Star-Bulletin reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length. Please direct comments to the issues; personal attacks will not be published. Letters must be signed and include a daytime telephone number. Letter form: Online form, click here E-mail: letters@starbulletin.com Fax: (808) 529-4750 Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813