Cast your vote against candidates' big signs

Obviously we need to limit the size of campaign signs. Law or no law, there is a way to make it happen. Concerned citizens can have considerable collective power if they focus on a common goal.

See an offensive sign? Don't fret, simply say out loud, "'X' won't get my vote." If the candidate is not from your district, talk to someone who can cast a meaningful vote for the opponent. If each one tells one, in the style of the lowly ants, change can happen. Political signs can shrink. An optimistic, thrifty solution!

City is addressing concerns about opala

The Star-Bulletin's May 30 editorial regarding Honolulu's waste disposal needs was a bit confusing, since it recommended steps that are already in place.

A third boiler for the H-POWER garbage-to-energy plant, to dispose of an additional 300,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year, is already planned.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann unveiled the master plan for islandwide curbside recycling in April. An additional 40,000 homes will be phased into the program beginning in November, and the entire island will be covered by May 2010.

Bid proposals for shipping at least 100,000 tons of trash to a mainland facility are due in mid-June, and shipping should begin by July 2009.

The draft environmental impact statement for the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill found that allowing the city to utilize the remaining 92.5 acres there would have no significant negative impact. This expansion will provide a reasonable opportunity to continue pursuing alternatives.

The Star-Bulletin should recognize that our mayor has rolled up his sleeves and is diligently addressing the city's waste disposal concerns.

Celebrate birthdays, but not communism

An insult beyond belief to America's and the free world's victory over the forces of communism arrived this week in my mailbox.

I'm sure the creator of the large postcard ad for the Top of Waikiki restaurant's pitch to attract birthday parties was meant to be cute, but who ever thought this thing up needs a down and dirty lesson on the 80-year brutal history of the communists. It continues to fester in Cuba and North Korea.

The card depicts a Communist Party-style poster showing a silhouetted couple, with the title "JOIN THE PARTY," in which the "N" in JOIN and "R" in PARTY are printed backwards, suggesting it was written using a Russian alphabet. It's also on the restaurant's Web site. It goes on: "JOIN A REVOLUTION IN CUISINE ON YOU BIRTHDAY" - this time with the "Ns" and "Rs" printed in mirror.

I don't think American veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars or the many American citizens and immigrants who fled communist tyranny around the world will think it's very cute.

And it might just be a bit counter-productive to the intent of the ad, which I assume is to create new business.

Single rail line would displace many homes

Frank Sansone, in his letter in the May 29 Star-Bulletin, asks why the airport and Salt Lake cannot be served a single rail line. During the Alternatives Analysis phase of project in 2005 and 2006, several alignment options serving the airport and Salt Lake were explored. The options for connecting the two locations required traversing Navy property that is used for housing Navy personnel and their families. The city and its consultants held discussions with the Navy concerning a possible rail alignment in the area. However, the street pattern in the area would not allow aligning the rail line within existing streets, but would have necessitated the rail alignment displacing 30 to 40 newly constructed Navy homes. The Navy did not find this to be acceptable and so informed the city.

Leadership is what really counts

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's current statement that President Bush ran a "political propaganda campaign" to enlist America's support of his invasion of Iraq is just old news. We all know now that the reasons given for that invasion were totally absurd but absolutely necessary.

It's simply that our commander in chief needed to have the public behind him. That's his function, after all. That he had to make up the reasons is totally beside the point.

What kind of a leader would he have been if he couldn't have gotten his followers to actually follow him?

Studying vog a waste of our tax money

I can't believe that the Legislature is going to do a study on what to do about the vog. Next, I suppose, they will try to do something about when the sun rises and sets.

What a waste of time and taxpayers' money ... but then again, what else is new? Whose bright idea was that, anyway?