Ferry prevents theft and protects the Earth

Like every Hawaii resident, I have a disgraceful carbon footprint. My guilt includes interisland travel with its wasteful short-haul jets and gas-guzzling rental cars (often "upgraded" from econobox to something truly embarrassing).

Interisland travel means inconvenience, too. TSA guards are usually pleasant, but when three people show up with backpacks stuffed with electronic equipment, they demand that the whole lot be individually scanned. We check our geologist's hammers, but will we get them back? I'm still searching for a rock pick with the same heft as my old companion, swiped from checked bags on a trip to Maui.

The Superferry promises a way out. Me, my colleagues and our equipment just fit into my nimble hybrid. The Superferry will get us to Kauai for about the same fuel per person as the jet, but that fuel is less highly refined, so it consumes less raw petroleum. In addition to the convenience, overall the Superferry represents a significantly reduced burden on the Earth. But only if it runs.

The verkrampte environmentalists should be careful what they wish for. They may get it.

Don't want it stolen? Don't leave it in the car

Last week a report of someone losing a wedding gown, honeymoon tickets and a laptop computer echoed a familiar sound. Though the items in the different stories are different, the plot stays the same. Somebody locks things of value in their car. Soon after, they discover someone has broken into their car and stole pricey items. It is sad and it shouldn't happen, but it does.

What doesn't make any sense is, why would anyone with any sense take a chance in leaving their items of such value unattended? It seems rather thoughtless to leave valuables in a car.

Too often one can see someone take packages from shopping to their car, open the trunk, load it up, close the trunk and walk away. One might as well put a "blue light" special on their car. This happens a lot during the holidays, so be forewarned as we approach the holidays.

If you don't want things stolen, don't leave them in such vulnerable places ... like your car.

Locker searches won't target dangerous drugs

As concerns the intended searches of student lockers and the random drug testing of teachers, I would like for the Drug Enforcement Administration to tell us exactly why marijuana is a dangerous drug.

I understand the parents would want the drug testing of the teachers in the hopes of preventing their children from being negatively influenced. However, which drugs are we going to test for -- aspirin, cough drops and vitamins?

Searching student lockers might catch some drugs. But there is such a thing as an illegal search when there in not enough probable cause. "Probable cause" is defined as "that which causes reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, to act."

I would recommend that the government read up on the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, for example, Mapp v. Ohio, 1961.

I am a taxpayer and I do not like to see my tax dollars wasted. The average government employee and political hack spend taxpayers' money like it comes from some sort of bottomless pit. If marijuana is a relatively harmless recreational drug, as I suspect, then the government should not waste our tax money prosecuting marijuana-related offenses. It is the harder addictive drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, crack and crystal methamphetamine, not marijuana, which cause people to have compulsive self-destructive behavior. When children associate with dealers who also deal the harder drugs is when the parents and government should be concerned.

Students can't expect lockers to be private

The fatal flaw in the logic of a students' expectation of privacy in school lockers (Star-Bulletin, Sept. 15) is that there should be no expectation of privacy. A student locker is not like a self-service storage room. Lockers should be subject to a implied consent arrangement with reasonable and enforceable guidelines in writing signed by the student and parents as part of using the facilities. Use the locker, dogs can sniff it.

Let's not forget, the idea of the dog search of lockers is not to catch someone with drugs, but provide a clear tangible deterrent to keep drugs off campus.

No real shockers in Greenspan's book

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has just published his memoir, which states the real reason for President Bush's invasion of Iraq.

It wasn't to get rid of weapons of mass destruction, or to punish Saddam Hussein for what he did to Bush's father, or to avenge the 9/11 attack, or to protect America from terrorists, or to bring the blessings of democracy to that nation, or to keep the Middle East from falling into chaos, or to obey a mandate from Tel Aviv, or to carry out a command from interplanetary aliens.

It was, surprise of surprises, because of OIL!

Thank you, Alan, for that great revelation.