Loud music causes acts of violence

Regarding the article "Noise dispute becomes fatal fight" (Star-Bulletin, March 17): Stiffer, harsher laws must be enacted by the county and state to curb the problem of loud music. Loud music is a violent act plus it deprives people of their basic privacy rights. The incident at Ala Moana Harbor is just one of hundreds of violent crimes generated by loud music.
Peace and quiet bring out the good qualities of men; loud noise breeds the negative.

We do need more than one news outlet

A May 17 letter to the editor reported there are too many television news outlets spending too much time on sensationalized events rather than actual news. The latter is true. The writer suggested that news was news and so the news should be consolidated to one station.
The party controlling our government and the Federal Communications Commission, which governs the airwaves, would love that! They have already eliminated the Fairness Doctrine, which called for discussion of both sides of a political issue, so now whoever owns the TV or radio station decides what is said. A chain of radio stations that supports the political party in control provides propaganda 24/7 by as many as seven stations in a single city on public airwaves.
America was brainwashed to invade Iraq for WMD, and 1,600-plus American lives later, you learn that WMD is a wealth of motor oil deposits! What's insidious is the propaganda mills tell you that if you don't support the party in power and the corporations it represents, you are un-American, when you are just not pro-big business.
Imagine only one news source -- it's a Third World nightmare come true!

When will U.S. retract its story about WMDs?

Newsweek ran with a story that proved to be false, and issued a retraction and apology quickly. The Bush administration jumps up and down about the 17 dead from this story.
The United States launches a full-scale invasion of a sovereign country based on 100 percent false intelligence. No yellow cake uranium, centrifuges, armed missiles, WMDs. Thousands are dead. Saddam's capability to attack us was far less than North Korea or Iran.
When can we expect Bush & Co.'s collective apology?

What qualifies Hee to say who's Hawaiian?

Regarding Sen. Clayton Hee's racist dismissal of Fred Hemmings' qualifications as a Hawaiian (Letters, May 15) -- what special power does Hee possess that allows him to determine the true heritage of an individual? Is Hee's version of a Hawaiian the one true version?
Through the course of daily events, how does Hee know when he is working with a certified Hawaiian, or an ordinary person?
Perhaps Hee could enlighten all of us with more of his wisdom by writing back to the editor detailing his unique powers of divisiveness.

U.S. offers better life for overthrown groups

Having read Sen. Fred Hemmings' letter to the editor (Star Bulletin, May 13), I'd like to relate a different version for being fortunate to be living in Hawaii. My parents had to emigrate from Okinawa in 1906 to seek a better economic life. Plantation life was not easy but much better than the meager subsistence type of life in Okinawa.
The Meiji government of Japan annexed the independent Kingdom of the Ryukyus (Okinawa) in 1879 and the citizens of Okinawa were treated like second-class citizens. There was no means to oppose the occupation since Okinawa had no organized group to contest the will of the Tokyo government. Unlike the United States, there was no constitution to allow protesting of any abuse or unlawful order. Similar to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893, Okinawa became the 47th prefecture of Japan while Hawaii became the territory of the United States.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the native Hawaiians should feel blessed to be living under the U.S. Constitution and not under the kind of government that my parents endured during their childhood.

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