Actions of a few don't justify tyranny

"Outlaw guns and killers won't get them" ("Letters," April 22) is quite probably one of the most ignorant letters to the editor I've seen. If the writer is pleased to allow only the police to defend his home, family, life and property for him, well, good for him -- he must know some Chuck Norris kung fu that disarms a meth-crazed burglar. Must be nice to live in Hawaii Kai, where there's lot of police to respond.

I prefer to take matters into my own hands, as I swore an oath to defend my Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. So the letter writer is welcome to tyranny and despotic rule just because of the actions of a few.

When the next car driven by a drunk tourist plows into pedestrians on Lewers Street in Waikiki, I'll be looking for cars to be outlawed as well.

Kids need boundaries, not more gadgets

What happened at Virginia Tech is a tragedy, pure and simple. However, I read and hear reports about how things should have been done differently, who should be fired, how schools can protect themselves better, and more gun control. What happened could have happened, and has in the past, at a fast-food restaurant or crowded shopping mall; both are locations where young people congregate. The one thing I am not seeing, in contrast to the Amish schoolhouse shooting, is a ready forgiveness and acceptance of the temporary nature of life on this earth.

This is a problem of the secular world in which we rear our children. We throw gadgets at them like iPods, cellphones and X-boxes, and then expect them to develop normal interactive social lives. If we want to protect our youth, let's try instilling some values in them and providing good moral examples. Limit the amount of time they spend in front of the mindless babysitter (TV), limit their exposure to violent video games and internet sites, know where they are, what they are doing and who they are associating with. Parents need to interact with their children, not just keep buying them things in hopes of appeasing them or buying their approval or, worse yet, their love.

If parents love their children, they will provide discipline and boundaries, all done in the name of love.

Comics were replaced with inferior ones

Here is an adult's opinion on "Preteena" and "Zack Hill." I heartily agree with the two 10-year-old girls who enjoyed those strips ("Letters, April 18 and April 20), and I agree that "Preteena" was a good role model for girls in that age group.

Why in the world did you replace two charming, funny, well-drawn strips with three inane, poorly drawn ones? Even "La Cucaracha" had a certain appeal; it was, at least, distinctively drawn and bizarre. I, myself, could do without "Zits," "Sherman" and "Bucky Katt."

Smear tactics show senators' real motive

Confirmation hearings at the state Capitol, particularly the one involving Peter Young, have become like something out of the old West: shoot first and find out the truth later.

Young has headed the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the past four years. He has done a great job. Now state senators are resorting to innuendo in an attempt to discredit him, when it is clear they can find no basis for the allegations. They are making a mockery of the entire confirmation process, all in an effort to find some way to justify turning down Gov. Linda Lingle's cabinet member for another term.

It is clear, as Lingle said, that they are throwing mud in the hope that something sticks. They are apparently set on destroying the reputation of a man who was not even in office when certain alleged violations occurred, and who was the one to call upon the attorney general to investigate when he discovered, after taking over, that there might be some problems within the department.

The senators should stop playing politics, confirm Young as head of DLNR and let him get back to running the department, for the good of everyone in Hawaii.

Immigrants could learn from Roosevelt

Many ethnic groups are celebrating centennials. I believe there should be an "American Centennial" paying tribute to President Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on immigrants and on being an American:

"Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

One of his five principles is that the Oath of Citizenship includes "renunciation of allegiance to any foreign country or leader to which the immigrant has had previous allegiances."

Also, we should be reminded of President Kennedy's quote. To paraphrase it: Ask not what benefits you want to receive from your country, ask what you can do for your country.

Let Wal-Mart fulfill its super Kauai plans

I've been around long enough to know that anything with "Super" in front of it is good, whether it's Superman, Supercenter or Superwife.

My Superwife told me that bigger is better. The last time I disagreed with her, I lost. That was sometime during the last century, if super-memory serves me correctly.

I reside in a Super Nova condominium known as Sun Village on the Garden Island of Kauai. It is a tranquil place of Super Senior Citizens where seldom is heard a discouraging word, partly because of faulty hearing aids, and partly because they frequently are turned off.

One reason for the prevailing bliss at Sun Village is because of its super-neighbor, Wal-Mart.

During the last 11 years Wal-Mart has provided us with super-low prices and super service. Wal-Mart allows us to use its shopping carts to take home the products we buy. But better yet, Wal-Mart provides some of the more frail of our residents with a company super associate who not only takes our goods home for us, but places them in our cupboards.

Now that's Super Duper Service.

But, perhaps surprisingly, Wal-Mart has not been perfect. The company has not provided us with super selections of groceries and other goods.

Fortunately for us, Wal-Mart finally has discovered the error of its ways. It wants to provide us with a Supercenter.

Because we at Sun Village are such super people, we are willing to share our Supercenter with the rest of the island.

If, in its infinite wisdom, the Kauai County government wants to deny the rest of the island a Supercenter, because of the possible harm lower prices and better services might bring, please do not deny it to Sun Village.

If Sun Village is denied a Supercenter, please be cognizant of the fact that some of our residents are no longer able to drive. Because of that, the least the county could do would be to build a monorail from Sun Village to Costco. The county could finance such a project by the money it presumably would save by denying the Supercenter.

I thank the county government for wanting to save its constituents from addictive frenzied shopping. After all, is that not the purpose of government?

Editorial on antibiotics needs clarification

While I support your call for careful, limited use of antibiotics, careful use does not mean no use ("Our Opinion," April 16).

The antibiotic being evaluated for approval by the Food and Drug Administration would, in fact, be used carefully and only under a veterinarian's prescription to treat sick cattle for life-threatening respiratory diseases. Preventing the approval of this drug, as your editorial suggests, would likely increase animal suffering and disease and increase human food safety risks. It would not, however, affect in any way the rise in antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.

The bacterium that causes gonorrhea is not found in cattle. It does not naturally inhabit humans, and is found only after sexual contact with an infected person. Since it does not come in contact with bacteria that might come from or be found in food animals, antibiotic resistance this bug might acquire cannot come from animals or result from the use of antibiotics in animals.

Resistance to antimicrobials in the treatment of gonorrhea in humans is nearly always due to failure of the patient to follow the prescribed duration of therapy. That is why effective single-dose antimicrobial products are considered almost mandatory by public health officials for treating this disease.

Furthermore, the FDA has not "put on the approval track for treating cattle an antibiotic that is the fourth-generation version." The FDA is pursuing its normal science-based review process.

The misunderstandings perpetuated by your editorial clearly demonstrate why policy decisions about the use of antibiotics in food animals should be made on the basis of careful scientific assessment of the risks and benefits involved.

Lawmakers should address sub pay

On April 12 I was out in front of the Capitol building, holding a sign, to bring attention to the plight of the 5,000 substitute and part-time teachers working within our state's educational system.

Since House Bill 1009 and Senate Bill 610 died in committee for lack of interest or support, our hopes and expectations are pinned on the fact that there is a procedure whereby miscellaneous appropriations can be made to settle outstanding obligations.

As a substitute teacher for the past 11 years, I, and many other substitutes, are demoralized by the fact that the state, via the attorney general, continues to neglect its responsibility to comply with it's own laws and the judgment of it's own courts. These responsibilities are stipulated in Act 89 in 1996, the ruling by Judge Karen Ahn in 2005 and the intent of this years' HB 610 & SB 1009.

It is difficult to understand why the state would choose to spend its funds defending itself against litigation brought to enforce the state's own laws.

We are appealing to the public for support in urging our governor and Legislators to settle this long-overdue compensation issue.