Akaka Bill will decide fate of ceded lands

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has recently attempted to give the impression that passage of the Akaka Bill would not lead to transfers of some or all of the ceded lands from the state to the new Hawaiian government, and that the state would not lose any tax revenue.

Here are two direct quotes from Congressman Neil Abercrombie, from Indian Country Today:

“;Those of us who wanted to see this issue resolved put in (introduced) the Akaka Bill to enable and encourage Hawaiians to organize themselves and come to the Interior Department to be recognized as a governing entity and take control of the land and money assets that now exist. We're talking about 2.2 million acres of land. And the capital residing with OHA is between $350 and $500 million, depending on the stock market, with an income stream from leases on ceded land and so on of tens of millions of dollars.”;

The Akaka Bill “;is a bill about control of assets. This is about land, this is about money ... we're talking about 2.2 million acres of land.”;

Clearly, the intention of Akaka Bill supporters is for some or all of the ceded lands to end up owned by the new Hawaiian government, thus reducing tax revenues available to fund state programs.

Media mischaracterize Palestinians fighters

Please know that I am tired of the repeated use of the terms “;Palestinian militant groups,”; “;militant Hamas,”; “;Palestinian terrorists.”; Did Hamas just use fighter jets, bombs and the world's fourth strongest military power to kill more than 1,000 men, women and children, mostly civilians, while they were sealed in with no place to go, plus destroy hospitals, schools, U.N. sanctuary buildings, private homes and places of worship? Who are the militants? Who are the terrorists? Let's have truthful, unbiased and unprejudicial reporting, please!

Fare war shows local airlines' desperation

Mokulele Air recently introduced a $28 fare into the market, promptly matched, or rather undercut, by Hawaiian Airlines and go! Whatever strategy there is behind this new low fare, it once again highlights the essence of competition.

Competition is good for the consumer; it keeps prices in check and improves the quality of the product. But I just hope that this new reduction is just a temporary fare cut and not a fare war. Because as we all know, in a fare war there are no winners, only survivors.

Is this $28 fare realistic? I don't think so. Is it sustainable? Most definitively not. The real way for an airline to compete should not be by throwing into the market those artificially low fares that smack more of an act of desperation than an intelligent marketing ploy.

They should compete with prices that are affordable, sustainable and with the innovation, quality and reliability of their service. That is to say, healthy competition without dumping prices.

The airlines should come to their senses and replace fare wars with fair wars. They can be competitive by implementing a rigorous cost control and offer the public clearer, comprehensible fare structures.

For some airlines, the fare-dumping strategy could backfire and they could get hurt with self-inflicted wounds.

As I said, in a fare war there are no winners, only survivors.

Make Obama's day of service permanent

Barack Obama has called for a day of service today to honor Martin Luther King's birthday with efforts such as cleaning up parks or working in a homeless shelter. Why must it be one day? The Peace Corps was established in 1961 to promote world peace and friendship. Can we have an Environ Corps in which high school and college graduates, senior citizens and unemployed people could be a team fighting for a better environment such as litter and waste pickup, planting trees to beautify areas, cleaning out the grafitti and recycling? Imua, Environ Corps!

Tiny parasite causes big trouble for victims

I read “;Parasite causes intense pain for Big Isle victims”; (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 5) with great interest. I contracted the identical parasite while on Kauai in March '08. I was in severe pain two weeks later. It was loosely diagnosed as shingles, although nothing showed up.

One week later I ended up in ER because I could not breathe. This was the beginning of a long and painful journey. It took three months to positively identify the angiostrongylus cantonensis parasite. They made a positive identification after multiple testings. Meanwhile, I was living in excruciating pain, heavily medicated and barely able to function due to the extreme pain caused by the parasite in the form of nerve damage. It feels like someone has removed the top layer of skin and the nerves are fully exposed to the air. The nerve pain is unbearable!

It has now been 10 months and the parasite damaged four of my nerves. I continue to be heavily medicated for pain management and also see infectious disease specialist Dr. Francis Pien, who has seen three cases a year of this parasite for the past 10 years and was one of the first to document it. He assures me all of his patients have recovered 100 percent. The range of recovery is one to three years. I'm encouraged because I can at least live moderately pain-free while the nerves are regenerating.