The good budget news is also the bad news
So, the state has a huge surplus, and there is talk about giving some of it back (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 19). Isn't that great!But how did the surplus accumulate? By not spending money where it was needed, like schools for example.
That's not so great.
Honolulu
Keep profiteers away from our beaches
Thank you for your recent coverage of Laniakea Beach and its turtles (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 14). Regarding the Aug. 16 editorial advice to North Shore residents that we should accept the reality that our neighborhood is a tourist spot: Natural attractions such as our surf breaks, small sandy beaches and Sharks Cove can only serve a limited number of people at one time. Weekends and holidays bring more people than these locations can safely accommodate. While we suffer from lack of parking and a single two-lane highway, we are wise enough to know that large parking lots, as proposed for Laniakea and Chun's Reef, and more roads will bring even more people to already overcrowded spots.The only way to immediately relieve the pressure on our beaches, and the ocean and its creatures, is to prohibit the commercial use of resources that belong to the public. Why should a few profit while the residents of Oahu are crowded out?
Haleiwa
No one can escape consequences of war
Cindy Sheehan's stand in Crawford, Texas, is a courageous one.One Crawford resident suggested that Sheehan move her demonstration to her own neighborhood. This is another example of NIMBY. This unfortunate war is sadly in the backyard of every American citizen.
Military Families Speak Out
Mililani
With these Christians, who needs Osama?
I wonder, with the recent "fatwa" from evangelical Christian Coalition and TV offering plate "The 700 Club" founder Pat Robertson asking for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which God does he listen and speak to?Sounds similar to the god Osama worships. Kill 'em, because it's the right thing to do.
Robertson rivals another televangelist, Jerry Falwell, who says the 9/11 attack was allowed by God as a punishment for gays, and previously thought a Teletubby dressed in purple was a gay symbol. Doesn't Crayola have a purple crayon? So they're gay, too, I suppose.
Let not forget G.W. Bush, a "born again" who authorized and launched an elective war with catastrophic consequences we see developing and worsening every day.
What is it with these "men of God" who have trouble interpreting the four words of the 5th Commandment?
Lahaina, Maui
Gas prices now kept artificially low
Should we expect gasoline prices to rise when the state's gas price cap law goes into effect on Sept. 1? You bet. But the reason they will is only because the local gas wholesalers are purposely keeping the prices "low" now. They are doing this so that they and their supporters (i.e., Republicans) can blame the gas cap law when they raise their prices next month to the maximum allowed. They are doing this in the hope that the law will be suspended and eventually repealed. They are keeping the current prices lower than they would like, because they are willing to temporarily take smaller profits if they can eventually resume their gouging of the Hawaii consumers in the future in the absence of a gas price cap.Don't be fooled, people. Think about it. When were our gas prices ever equal to (or even lower than) the mainland prices, as they are now? Has everyone forgotten that while Hawaii represents only about 3 percent to 4 percent of Chevron's gas sales, we produce 20 percent of its gas profits?
No matter what price you pay for gasoline after Sept. 1, it would have been even higher if we did not have the gas cap law in effect.
Waialae
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