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POSTED: Monday, November 24, 2008

State should deport immigrant law breakers

Regarding “;Don't let sleazy gangs ruin innocent lives”; (Letters, Nov. 18): Yes, I am for deporting the gang members from other countries who break the law. If they are going to live here, they should be good citizens or go home and don't come back. It's up to their family to control them or they all go back to their country. When they come to Hawaii they must do their part to help make it a better place for all. Letter writer Cassandra Aoki is right and more of us need to feel this way too. When do we start, when it's too late? We need to make it known now.

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Where are the parents of gang members?

Regarding the alleged criminal acts of the three Outlaws gang members (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 12), my first response was, “;Who are the parents, and where have they been for the 17 to 19 years?”;

How is it possible any parent can let loose such evil in the ranks of humanity? These three gangbangers and their attitudes and criminal bent are grounded in an absolute deranged disregard for human life.

Maybe one day parents will share the penalty in cases of this nature, along with their offspring. In the meantime, the three young outlaws must take responsibility for their crimes, and let's hope our courts lay stiff sentences upon them when convicted because the freedom they possessed and squandered in criminal behavior is the very freedom they must be denied.

Don't blame Islam for acts of some Muslims

In his letter “;Cartoon missed point about pirate danger”; (Star-Bulletin, Nov.21), Peter Glick went on a tangent and described pirates in Somalia by saying, “;If they are Muslim, it adds just another relation to the Barbary corsairs and to the Islamists.”;

My question is, when the Quran was desecrated by some U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, were these soldiers described by their religion, whether it be Christianity or anything else? When some U.S. soldiers abused detainees and prisoners, and some taunted a crippled dog in Iraq, nobody mentioned their religion. Can a similar claim be published if it was attributing the inhumane siege of Gaza and consistent and organized killing of Palestinians to the Jewish religion? If Mr. Glick is trying to use historical events such as the Barbary war to prove the relationship between Islam and piracy, then there are a lot of similar conclusions can be drawn from historical events such as the Crusades, Inquisition and slavery. To make a blanket statement and attribute wrongdoings of some Muslims to their religion is a mistake. The problem of us Muslims is that were are away from Islam; we would have been better persons if we followed Islam. That is what the Quran, prophet Muhammad as well as history tell us.

Obama is a product of his environment

It appears appalling to some to see a president-elect at the culmination of an extremely contentious race to embrace his so-called “;enemies.”; Barack Obama is a product of his environment.

What do I mean by this? I am a licensed attorney for both Hawaii and the Washington, D.C., area. I am not a litigator, I am not a practicing attorney, but I am cognizant of the rigorous process of being “;adversarial.”;

I am trained in mediation and facilitation. As a native Hawaiian, I am also trained in “;hooponopono”;—a process by which problems are resolved in an conciliatory fashion rather than an adversarial fashion, whereby “;enemies”; are embraced rather than attacked.

The values of this “;hooponopono”; process is woven into the fabric we call Hawaii. Whether we like it or not, we need to live together, play together, shop in the same stores together and practice “;island toleration.”;

Obama spent a significant amount of time in Hawaii. Regardless if he knows it or not, he has an “;island mentality”; where we are forced to get along.

Obama is embracing Sens. Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Joe Lieberman—just like he had to accept those in his life in Hawaii that he did not agree with. He has taken a very important part of Hawaii with him—whether he knows it or not. I embrace Hawaii's son.

Wahiawa school worthy of support

Ho'ala School is highly regarded in the private school community for its distinctive mission and program and for the diversity it contributes to the PK-12 academic “;ecosystem”; on Oahu.

Adding to reporter Alexandre Da Silva's description of the school's efforts to fight foreclosure (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 22), everyone should know that this school is resilient, thanks to the “;whatever it takes”; dedication of trustees, school leaders, faculty, staff, students and friends.

The school is accredited by our association (Hawaii Association of Independent Schools) and by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and is licensed by the Hawaii Council of Private Schools.

The governance and leadership of the school are strong. The faculty is comprised of high quality professionals who serve the students and parents at Ho'ala, and share their unique and rich educational philosophy with colleagues in both public and private schools.

Our association stands by Ho'ala School and invites others to join us in supporting a school that is invaluable to so many in our community.

Breaking up DOE would help everyone

We have reached a point where the Department of Education as a government agency has become ineffective as the provider of public education for the children of Hawaii.

We must restructure, and here is my plan. Break up the department as it exists today into seven school districts at a total cost of $1.4 billion, which will be a savings of $1 billion annually.

The seven districts are East, West, Central, Leeward, Hawaii, Maui and Kauai. Each district will have five high school complexes with a total of approximately 25,000 students. Each district will be allotted $200 million, which means that each student will have a dollar value of $8,000. If this makes sense so far I will continue this discussion in the next letter.