Lingle-McCain sounds like a winning ticket

It is time to take the wind out of Barack Obama's sail. The McCain vice-presidential announcement should be made public the day following the Denver Democratic National Convention with a major surprise - surprise nominee.

A fresh new face, a major change, a Ronald Reagan conservative, a Republican governor of a Democratic state ... and the biggest surprise of all - an outstanding woman.

Who is this woman? She will revive the conservative base of the Republican Party. She will appeal to the Hillary backers who were disenfranchised by the DNC during the primaries. Her state is small, but her influence especially on the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada) will be huge.

America needs a woman's influence for the ship of state to sail a straight, meaningful, significant course. America needs this woman, Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii.

After visiting the islands for many years, I have found Lingle to be a winner!

A note to John McCain: You can't go wrong with Linda Lingle as your VP nominee.

We need a leader who understands hardship

While thousands of Americans are losing their homes, John McCain can't even remember how many homes he has. Where does that leave him in terms of the realities of life for the average person? What kind of judgments can he make with such a limited view of our world? Who needs that kind of shortsighted leadership?

This is the most important election most of us will ever live through. Weigh your decision carefully; it will affect you, your children and even their children.

God help America!

Don't rely on Obama, help yourself instead

Is it just me, or are there any other voters out there that still have some critical thinking skills after many years of public school indoctrination? I sense that there is a large segment of the population, after being duped by politicians from before voting age, who will buy into Maya Soetoro-Ng's promise, "If you elect Barack president, he'll be there for you, just as he's always been there for me. I know he'll help you realize your dreams, just as he's helped me realize mine."

What ever happened to the Americans' tradition of self-reliance? Do some of us really think we can rely on the government to make our lives better? Contrary to what the public schools were teaching, I was taught by my parents that if I wanted a better life, I would have to work for it. Any help I attained was from family, friends and local sources. How in the world is Barack Obama going to help me personally, as he has helped his sister? The message is delusional.

Dialysis bed shortage must be addressed

Helen Altonn's article on Hawaii's shortage of dialysis beds available to patients with kidney disease (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 18) sheds light on a systemwide problem confronting hospitals across the state. Hawaii Medical Center inherited a situation in which it was relied upon by other local hospitals to provide the majority of the inpatient dialysis for the state. Because insurance reimbursements do not cover the actual costs of the treatment, HMC made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce its disproportionate burden of inpatient dialysis patients as part of our overall effort to achieve financial health.

Patient care is of the utmost importance to HMC. We will never endanger a patient's life by denying needed dialysis services, and HMC is ready to work with other hospitals and stakeholders to find viable solutions to serve this segment of our community, which must include more realistic public and private insurance reimbursement schedules.

Theater performance shows cultures' value

"Loo Choo nu Kwa" performance at Mamiya Theatre on Sunday was one of the most powerful cultural performance we have seen of late. I extend my admiration and thanks to Eric Wada, Norman Kaneshiro and their company for putting forth light on this little-known rich culture of Ryukyu (Okinawa) islands. Not only did they bring a remarkable performance to stage, they also reminded us that we must remember and respect our diverse cultures. Every one of these cultures is an evolution of thousands of years of language, art, dance, poetry and spirit.

Throughout the show they reminded us that respecting and nurturing the lessons learned from our kupuna are important. Past is our foundation on which we build our future. There is also an element of urgency as our kupuna have a finite life span, so learn from them now.

I am grateful to the Hawaiian people that we thrive as a harmonious multicultural society. Every culture is like a beautiful plant bearing different colorful fragrant flowers and fruits. Lest we nurture our cultures, we all will be lost in the barren landscape of a mono-culture.