Hogue campaign shows GOP's weakness

I called the Bob2Congress hot line after receiving the color mailer here in Kahului. The person answering the phone told me they didn't have any bumper stickers because they had to raise the money to pay for them first. I hope they come in before the general election. I wouldn't want Mazie Hirono to win by default. What? Governor Lingle cannot lend Bob Hogue some campaign money?

And Cynthia Thielen? I am old enough to remember the Dillingham Republicans. Who would have thought there would be a day when we missed them? At least they tried.

I think we are still a ways away from being a two-party system in Hawaii.

Foley's actions aren't homosexuality

Carol White (Letters, Oct. 6) is correct in that the matter concerning Rep. Mark Foley is not about pedophilia. She's wrong when she declares that it is about homosexuality.

The condition of being sexually attracted to newly pubescent males or females is called ephebophilia. White's letter serves only to place blame on gays, who are in no way, shape or form responsible for or, in any rational mind, associated with what Foley did. If we are to extend White's logic, then Foley's behavior would have been acceptable had he sent seductive and sexually explicit messages to teenage girls, a group whom some older men prefer to truly sexually mature adult women.

What Foley did was sexual harassment, made more disgusting and likely criminal by the young age of his victims. His actions were wholly disgraceful and unforgivably unethical because of his abuse of his powerful position over the congressional pages -- no matter whether his amorous attentions had been directed towards teenage boys or girls.

Don't require passport to obtain state ID

It has been suggested that a valid U.S. passport be required as the means of identification to obtain a driver's license or Hawaii state ID. This would allow Hawaii to comply with the REAL ID Act, which sets federal standards for state ID and goes into effect in May 2008. While on the surface this might seem a reasonable solution, until the Department of Homeland Security presents new rules to Congress in December 2007, we will not know which documents will be required.

In addition, should a passport be required, the cost might be prohibitive for many families in Hawaii already struggling to make ends meet. The current passport application and execution fees are $97 -- a family of four drivers would have to pay $396 for passports.

The main issue behind the REAL ID Act, however, is that implementing it will be very costly for the state without making people any safer. Rather, our personal information will be more accessible, making us more vulnerable to identity theft. Until Congress adopts the new rules and regulations, we do not know what the full fiscal impact will be. We can hope that the final costs and the implementation process will not be too cumbersome, or we can work together to repeal or amend this new law and find a better solution.

America to blame for Iraq's problems

Letter writer Arnold E. Widder (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 6) is right that we should honor the desires of the Iraqi people and pull our troops out of their country. If the shoe were on the other foot and they occupied our country, we'd want them out, too.

But Widder is overly kind to our errant President George Bush by suggesting that we will be blamed by the Iraqis "because they cannot create a democratic nation."

The truth is, we will be blamed for attacking, invading, occupying, killing 100,000 innocent men, women and children, rape, torture and more, in a country that posed no threat to the United States. We will always be blamed for starting the Bush/Chalabi Iraq war, for introducing terrorism to their country, turning it into an al-Qaida training ground and for starting a civil war.

Isle politicians should read insightful column

Kim Fassler's article in last Sunday's Star-Bulletin ("Case vs. Akaka: Time to rethink 'local values'?") is 100 percent correct and should become "required reading" for every member of the Democratic and Republican parties, for without change, we are all doomed to repeat the past -- and ultimately, just lose the youth Hawaii so desperately needs to survive.