City Clerk's Office must uphold Charter

There has been much ado in news coverage about the recent presentation of Stop Rail Now's initiative petition to my office. Unfortunately, some of the information received by the public has not been accurately reported.

The City Clerk's Office did not reject the petition of the signatures presented to us by Stop Rail Now. What we did say to them was that we could not ACCEPT their petition at this time, because the petition asks for a special election for this question to be put before the voters.

Under Section 3-404.3 of the Honolulu City Charter, which deals specifically with "Initiative Special Elections," we are instructed that "No special initiative election shall be held if an election is scheduled within one hundred eighty days of submission of the proposal."

We consider that a prohibition against my acceptance or processing of a request for a special election during this period of time.

While we respect the intent of the signers of the petition to have a voice in the decision regarding Oahu's transit system, we are confined by the wording of the Charter and responded accordingly.

What about illegal Japanese workers?

There has been a lot of news lately about the illegal Mexican alien farm workers in Hawaii, and how the federal government is in the process of deporting them to Mexico ("Isle immigrants face felony counts," Star-Bulletin, Aug. 4). There are far fewer than 100 aliens cited in the paper. And to my amazement, there hasn't been one word mentioned about the hundreds or maybe thousands of illegal Japanese immigrants working for Japanese companies that service the Japanese tourists.

The Japanese illegal workers need no visa to come to Hawaii. They work as long as they want and then return to Japan. And Homeland Security has no program in place at the airport for when these illegal workers leave Hawaii, so that it shows up that they were illegal for months or years. Japanese companies direct-deposit their illegal workers' pay into their accounts in Japan, so they never pay any state or federal income taxes.

This has been going on for many years. The state is out millions of dollars in income taxes.

Economics should not dictate our morality

Same-sex marriage obviously continues to be a hot topic. What baffles me is that at least a few letters to the editor indicate that same-sex marriage should become legal here to help the local economy.

That is absolutely ridiculous. Since when do economics supersede morality? If all that matters is the amount of money generated, the state could also bring in big bucks by opening casinos and legalizing prostitution and drug dealing.

Some have contended that same-sex marriage is a civil right. That is also erroneous. One's civil right is that he or she can vote, run for office, express an opinion and enjoy other freedoms without persecution for being gay. Marrying somebody of the same sex is not a civil right.

There are those who accuse those of us who oppose same-sex marriage as gay bashers and that is not right. We are simply standing up for what is a sacred and holy union between one man and one woman. Any other combination is not a marriage.

Big Oil won't give Americans a discount

When it comes to offshore oil drilling, one has to wonder: How many Americans really believe that those oil corporations that own U.S. offshore leases are going to drill and deliver that oil to U.S. consumers at below world market prices? Do Americans think that U.S. offshore oil will be dedicated just for America?

Oil companies will do what they do best; extract and deliver U.S. offshore oil in the form of options to commodity traders. The traders in turn, will sell the oil to world market oil consumers -- India, China, Europe and the U.S. These countries will purchase U.S. oil at whatever the world market price dictates.

U.S. consumers are fooling themselves if they think they are going to get deep discounted gas prices at the pump as a result of drilling for U.S. offshore oil. In reality, our oil will not be dedicated solely for U.S. consumption. The world will enjoy our oil and pay up for it, just like we all will when it finally arrives at our local gas station.

Little by little, great ship can be repaired

I, Turner Hunt, have lived with my aunty Lynne Waters and my uncle Clayton Hee all summer. When I heard the news about the Falls of Clyde, I was shocked. When I came here I wanted to tour the Falls of Clyde. But ... IT WAS CLOSED! I like masted ships a lot and when it was closed, I was mad.

I think you should put the ship in dry dock, then fix it and then put it back in the water. I know the problem is you don't have enough money, but do it over time, not right away. Fix it piece by piece. If you "have" to sink it, sink it on the Atlantis submarine route off of Waikiki so the people of Hawaii can look upon it forever along with tourists and can remember their maritime past.