Case should confess: He's a Republican

Congressman Ed Case frequently has voted opposite the rest of Hawaii's congressional and Senate representatives, effectively canceling Rep. Neil Abercrombie's vote.

Many of his votes do not represent the wishes of his constituents, including voting for the extension of the Patriot Act, and voting in support of the Iraq War at every opportunity. Case, too, does not think there should be a time-line for withdrawal of the our troops from Iraq, clearly against the wishes of his constituents. At one time, Case did not advocate recognition for Hawaiians. Other than pandering to the Hawaiian vote, there's no clear indication why he supports recognition now.

Case's entire political career has many moments of advocating the conservative Republican position. Let there be no doubt, Case is the quintessential Republican wolf dressed in Democrat sheep's clothing.

City's 'political games' block Round Top Drive

Did any of your reporters noticed how long it took them to get to the Makiki Heights shooting site Thursday? Well, that's how long it took the police and ambulance to get there, too -- roughly 30-40 minutes.

The reason: The 2600 block of Round Top Drive has been closed since March due to a landslide. The city has refused to clean up the road by kicking the ball to the state, even though its not a state road. Residents were warned during a community meeting in March, right after the heavy rains, that any emergency on Round Top can be devastating because there's only one way in and out. There's not enough time for any body to respond by coming up on Tantalus side.

The city need to take emergency measures to open up Round Top Drive, rather than play political games with the state. The people's lives are far more important.

Humane whaling aids Japanese research

With respect to the June 20 commentary "Japan keeps up slaughter in name of science," by syndicated columnist Bonnie Erbe, I would like to present the counter-arguments of the government of Japan.

Japan's whaling program, which is sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission, is essential as it provides necessary scientific data helping to establish proper conservation of whales and other species. From every whale taken for research, Japan collects scientific information on more than 100 data points and annually reports the findings to the commission, where those efforts and scientific knowledge are highly commended.

The byproducts of the research conducted are treated strictly in accordance with the obligation under Article 8 of the convention, which stipulates "any whale taken under special permits shall so far as practicable be processed." As for Erbe's analysis of the declining demand for whale meat among Japanese consumers, we are assured that the demand for meat substantially exists. On this point, I would like to emphasize that Japan's whaling is solely for research purposes, not for supply purposes, and therefore the market principle of supply and demand for the meat is not applicable here.

Moreover, the accusation of Japan purchasing votes on the IWC is totally groundless. To suggest that Japan is buying nations with foreign aid is not only a false allegation but also an insult to those countries referred to as bought at the IWC as well as to Japan. Japan is one of the world's top donor countries of official development assistance and provides aid to all countries regardless of their position on whaling.

Japan believes in conservation of whales that are on the brink of extinction, such as the blue whale. Minke whales have never been considered endangered and should be allowed to be hunted in a sustainable and humane manner.

Immigration laws are not enforced

Due to a Congress that is beholden to American corporations or too lazy or stupid to set up a reasonable legal immigration and temporary worker program, we have American corporations that brazenly hire illegal aliens, and we have 11 million illegals freely roaming our country with no fear of arrest or prosecution.

If Congress would enforce our laws and arrest the employers who hire illegals, and tell all the illegals to return to their country of origin under a six-month amnesty plan or face arrest and hard labor and lose the possibility of obtaining future citizenship, we the people wouldn't have to vote a bunch of lazy, stupid, self-serving congressmen and women out of office in the next election cycle.

Schools need their own Lt. Watadas

The other day I was asked by a teacher if I thought that there would be a 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of education. I had never thought of education in the same context as war: organized action to kill an enemy.

We agreed that the issue of education, like war, is either just or unjust and how the policymakers for both war and education are explaining their positions with statements about defense. The war in Iraq pre-empts any threat that Iraq can pose toward the United States; in turn, public education pre-empts any threat that American children may pose to the status quo of the United States.

In the industry of war, the workers are the soldiers who follow orders. In the testing industry, the workers are the administrators who follow orders.

So where, my teacher friend asked, are the administrators who will stand up to their superiors and say, "No, I refuse to follow the unjust mandates of standards and No Child Left Behind. I believe in the potential of every student whose interest and direction in life need encouragement and enrichment, not enslavement. I refuse to build educational processes whose only goal is higher test scores. Therefore, I refuse to test students."

Who in education, like Lt. Watada, has the courage to say "No, I won't?"