They're quiet unless they live next door
Regarding the points raised in Kim Kido's letter ("With all our problems, why target chickens?"
Letters, June 12), he/she is very fortunate not to have heard one crow in years. In my quiet, urban, residential neighborhood, I too hadn't heard one crow in years -- that is, until 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Apparently, one of my neighbors decided to bring home a rooster.
Yes, a crowing rooster might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But my neighbors and I work days, and a continuous wake-up call from 4:30 a.m. to well after sunup is not appreciated. I do not allow my dog to bark continuously and disturb my neighbors at night, and I would expect the same courtesy from my neighbors.
Our once-quiet neighborhood is no more. Haven't heard one crow in years? You are very lucky indeed.
Dave Nagata
Honolulu
Rail will help reduce roadway fatalities
We have been experiencing an increase in pedestrian and traffic-related fatalities and injuries recently. Protracted time in traffic has led to frustration, which in turn induces carelessness and impaired judgment.
The Legislature has made stricter laws; however, this has not been as effective as we would like it to be. This degenerating problem is due to an increase in automobiles and a highway system that is over capacity.
We need a fixed guideway system, which would offer a viable transportation option. This type of system is reliably predictable and one does not have to factor an additional half-hour in travel time to ensure timely arrival at a given destination.
I am hopeful and elated that this fixed guideway system will finally materialize after previous political failures. This system will offer a better option than sitting for hours in traffic, and when successfully integrated with TheBus and the impending ferry system, we can be veritably proud of our city being a world-class destination.
Vincent Lee
Honolulu
Aiona mixes religion and politics
It is no surprise that Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona has
announced he will run for governor. Beware Hawaii: Aiona seeks office only to further his personal religious ideology.
Like George W. Bush, Aiona is a self-proclaimed "man of faith,"which means he believes things without evidence.
Aiona once proclaimed that "Hawaii belongs to Jesus" (Star-Bulletin, June 27, 2005), an absurd claim considering that fewer than 30 percent of Hawaii residents are Christian. In fact, more than half of Hawaii's people are unaffiliated with any religion and more than 10 percent are Buddhist.
Like Bush, Aiona seeks to limit a women's right to choose in matters of reproduction and family planning. Like Bush, Aiona wants to prohibit stem-cell research. Like Bush, Aiona wishes to include creationism within the science curriculum of public schools. Like Bush, Aiona wants to enact "faith-based" initiatives using public funding for religious purposes.
We've all witnessed the abuse of power when self-righteous "men of God" are elected to high office.
Hawaii can do better, much better, than James "Duke" Aiona.
Mitch Kahle
Honolulu
Yes, you can support troops and not war
Why is it so difficult to understand that a person can support the troops but not support the war? First, forget about the past and present and think about the future. Next, agree that we're all human and capable of making mistakes. Now, imagine a time in the future when the government makes a mistake and goes to war with the wrong country, and a general compounds the mistake by sending troops into battles that can't be won. As thinking members of a democracy, not followers of blind faith, we would have a duty to support our troops by working to end the war. To do otherwise would be to support the useless death of our honored soldiers.
Lou Zitnik
Hilo, Hawaii
U.S. leaders' actions don't seem liberating
I see that U.S. commanders (like President Bush) want to maintain a long-term military presence in Iraq -- in other words, permanent bases as we have in South Korea. In addition, a Kuwaiti company is using lowly paid foreign workers from outside Iraq to build the largest, most heavily fortified U.S. embassy in the world in Baghdad.
In part, this approach reflects a less optimistic view of how the U.S. war in Iraq is going, but it also reveals the larger goal that the president's team has had all along: to use Iraq as a base from which to dominate the Middle East, which has the largest strategic oil reserves.
But has anyone thought to ask the Iraqis about these plans? The mainstream U.S. media failed to do so, despite their quest for "insider" sources in the American administration. Independent media have made the effort, however, and found that Iraqi leaders, whether opposed to the U.S. occupation or dependent on it, unanimously resented not being involved in planning and disliked the prospect of the U.S. military staying in their country indefinitely. In fact, a majority in the Iraqi parliament has asked for a U.S. timetable of withdrawal (same in Afghanistan).
Such information raises a question: Are we liberating people or just using them as our pawns?
David Chappell
Kaneohe