What if Watada were in Hitler's army?

I wonder how those critical of Lt. Ehren Watada's refusal to engage in illegal warfare feel about the Nuremberg Trials of the Nazis who adhered to their oaths during World War II? Should the Geneva Conventions not apply to American soldiers?

What Watada is doing is following international law against the wishes of the U.S. government and, sadly, those of many readers of this newspaper. I commend him for refusing to be a sheep and doing his part to promote a moral conscience in this country that could help stave off the ruthless American imperialism we are witnessing.

Bush is the one who shirked his duty

Julianne Barcia's letter (Star-Bulletin, June 10) concerning Lt. Ehren Watada's refusal to serve in an illegal war closes with "Real men don't quit." Perhaps she should remind George Bush of that and ask him where he was in 1972.

A rich kid just walking away from his commitment to the "Champagne Unit" of the Texas National Guard smacks more of desertion than an act of conscience.

Certainly the rest of Bush's neocon, chickenhawk administration, including Dick Cheney and his five deferments, made sure they never got anywhere near Vietnam or any form of military service.

It takes far more courage to stand up for what's right and be willing to face the consequences than to send other people's children off to war.

Lt. Watada's brave action is far more American than invading another country than hasn't attacked us, endorsing torture and illegal wiretaps, or vindictively outing a CIA agent whose husband rightly dared to criticize this president.

Soldier should have bowed out sooner

I have been reading the pros and cons of this situation. I want to know why only after he got his orders to deploy did Lt. Watada voice his concerns about the war in Iraq. That is why this has a smell of cowardice. I might have a different opinion if he had voiced his concerns before he received his orders.

Does he realize the consequences of what his selfish actions might have on the brave who are in Iraq fighting. This man deserves whatever happens to him.

Repeal of gas cap brings price spike

We can now see the gasoline price cap did not increase prices, and if we had it now we would be paying 10 cents a gallon less (Star-Bulletin, June 11).

We also can see that all of the studies put together by the Lingle administration's appointees were based on nothing more than false assumptions. The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and Public Utilities Commission, among others, were merely speculating about what the price would have been without the gas price cap.

Now we know the truth. We can see the actual prices and calculate the cap and compare them, just as you did in your article on Sunday. We can clearly see the oil companies are charging more than they could with the cap.

When you take 10 cents a gallon and multiply it by the number of gallons sold during the past month, it's obvious that Hawaii businesses and consumers are losing millions of dollars to price gouging without a price cap in place.

Governor Lingle should activate the new gas price law before further damage is done to our economy and the household income of every family in the state. This is an emergency and there's no excuse for her not to take action.

Does health system have evil intentions?

Last Saturday we attended a "Caregivers' conference" at the Hawaii Convention Center, sponsored by AARP, Hawaii Medical Service Association and others. They distributed a meal and snacks that included "Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies" (the quotes are on the label). Because it is locally produced, there was no "Nutrition Facts" label.

The ingredients included enriched flour (no mention of whole grains), sugars and margarine (trans fats). Oats are included unobtrusively in a list of other items, but one wonders how many real oats are included.

As far as I can tell, the cookies are not fit for human consumption. We are going to crush them and feed to the pigeons (and wish them luck).

I also recently visited a "Diabetes Shoppe" in a local hospital. I noticed that in addition to a pharmacy, it had shelves chock full of twinkies and other goodies laden with sugar, trans fats and cholesterol.

In both of these cases, I wonder if there is any hidden motivation to make this stuff available to the unsuspecting -- a way of boosting sales of anticholesterol and glucose-control medicines, maybe?