DOE should not allow ads in schools

This is incredible ("BOE considers ads in schools," Star-Bulletin, June 19). Students and teachers are a captive audience. To allow advertising in schools is just too much. How are we to teach children to weigh the facts and look at the evidence when they will be exposed to commercials that do not show the other side of any product or issue?

I can only hope that this is a "trial balloon" and that Department of Education has an educational policy that would not permit ads of any kind, ever.

Bush went to D.C. with war in mind

I've grown very tired of Bush supporters impugning the Downing Street memo. How quickly they've forgotten that Paul O'Neill, Bush's first treasury secretary, stated that the invasion of Iraq was discussed at Bush's very first cabinet meeting. It's obvious that President Bush arrived in Washington, D.C., with an intent to have this war. The only problem was how to sell it. That was solved, as the Downing Street memo stated, by "fixing the intelligence to the policy."

The president should be impeached.

Use Nagasaki report to prevent repeats

I am writing in response to the June 20 Associated Press article concerning the censored Nagasaki report. When reports like this surface after 60 years, it is shocking to read the contents and shameful to realize that a general of the United States managed to censor the truth. Yet the most tragic aspect about this report is the fact that it is too late to do anything about it. Reversing the effects of the bomb is impossible. Apologies will not revive those killed and ease the suffering of those who did not die immediately. Perhaps all there is to do is to acknowledge this act of cruelty and prevent the repetition of history.

Emergency crews save lives with those sirens

The June 10 letter from Gary R. Johnson titled "Sirens should not be used so often" does nothing but expose the author's lack of knowledge on the subject. His self-proclaimed experience in health care has no relation to the conditions on the streets faced by emergency crews every day. My own knowledge stems from working as an EMT 10 years ago in Virginia and Ohio. I may be a little dated, but I do know this: Emergency driving is a darned dangerous business, and most EMS and fire crews would be delighted not to have to use the lights and sirens and "run hot" in heavy traffic.

In real-life emergency calls, there is no choice. Callers to 911 have no training in sizing up situations. When our ambulance rolled on a "difficulty breathing" call, it could mean anything from indigestion to full cardiac arrest. A fender bender on the freeway can in reality be a multicar pile-up with entrapped victims. Rapid response saves lives.

Traffic is horrific on Oahu and drivers too often do not even notice an emergency vehicle is behind them without a siren blast. Our EMS and fire people need every advantage they can get. If someone dear to me needs help I want every light, bell, whistle and siren full on, and so would Mr. Johnson. To all Hawaii emergency crews: Keep up the good work and make all the noise you need.

Not all Realtors oppose Legacy Lands Act

I have been reading the editorial section and have seen several important groups including environmentalists, affordable housing providers and farmers calling for the governor to sign the Legacy Lands Act, House Bill 1308. I have also noticed that of the very few letters arguing against this bill, most are from Realtors and those involved in development. Since I am a Realtor, I know that our national association opposes use of conveyance tax funds for conservation and affordable housing.

But Hawaii is different, and I and many of my Realtor friends strongly support the Legacy Lands Act despite the association's position because it is the right thing to do. Not only am I a Realtor, but I'm in the process of buying a new home and I think it is responsible and right for a mere 20 or 30 cents per hundred dollars of value to go to creating affordable housing and protecting our precious environment in Hawaii. After all, if we don't protect the beauty of Hawaii, then what will we as Realtors have to sell in the end? Paradise is worth the few pennies that the Legacy Lands Act asks us to give.

Slaying is assault on press freedom

In late April Fulbright researcher Chris Conybeare provided a grim report on the high price of journalistic freedom at a Honolulu Community Media Council luncheon at the Pacific Club. Having spent 2003-2004 as a Fulbright research fellow in Turkey and having traveled extensively elsewhere, Conybeare was able to provide numerous stories of journalistic courage in the face of harassment, intimidation and very real threats to life.

Recently we received with sadness and outrage the news of the assassination of outspoken Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, who had been under constant threat because of his courage in speaking out against Syrian domination of his country's politics. This tragic event lends further weight to the importance of Conybeare's report and the need for continued vigilance in protecting the freedom and responsibility of the press to keep the public informed.

According to Conybeare, who is also a television journalist, media and human rights lawyer, in 2004 more than 55 journalists were killed while on the job, and scores of others beaten, jailed and harassed.

We deeply regret that today one more important voice has been silenced.

Patriotism isn't blind support of our leaders

It's a sad thing when people confuse patriotism with loyalty to a leader or party instead of to a nation's founding principles. Witness the spectacle of a ruling party accusing those who disagree with its actions as hating their country when they are really trying to restore balance.

One difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that allegiance is pledged to the laws and values of the constitution rather than to a partisan leader who insists on having it all his way.

Actually, our leaders are sworn to defend the U.S. Constitution, and efforts to undermine its guarantees are rightly seen as grounds for impeachment, dismissal -- even punishment.

Tyrants try to rule public thought and speech by controlling public discussion, by intimidating questioners and critics while suppressing inconvenient facts and resistance.

Thanks to a free press, decent public education, a Fairness Doctrine and public broadcasting, we were long defended against deceitful domination by one faction.

Unfortunately, President Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine, most mass media and press are now owned by a few large corporations, public schools are failing and public broadcasting has been intimidated.

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