Alarmists doom U.S. economy

Cap on carbon or “;cap and trade”; will bring us to economic ruin by taxing every use of energy. Many government jobs will be created to police our use of energy. Few jobs will be created in the private sector; practical green alternatives to fossil fuels are nonexistent.

Businesses will be burdened by higher energy costs and repressive carbon compliance laws. A cap accelerates volatility in energy costs by increasing our dependency on foreign fossil fuels, as no viable substitutes exist.

No sound scientific evidence has been presented to the American public on the effect of man-driven carbon emissions on the global climate. The climate alarmists use the same flawed computer model to predict cataclysmic warming now as used to sound the alarm of the coming of the Ice Age in the 1970s. The fact: There is no scientific proof that man-made carbon emissions have any long-term detrimental impact on climate change.

Without sound scientific fact, our nation should not embark on a program that will be so costly to our economic prosperity and liberty.

Leave tobacco funds alone

I want to voice my concerns about the possibility of the state Legislature cutting tobacco prevention funding from 12.5 percent to 2 percent with SB 292. Through working in tobacco prevention since 2000, I have watched youth tobacco use rates drop by more than 40 percent. This is the result of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control made possible by Hawaii Tobacco Trust Fund dollars. In order to maintain these low tobacco use rates, we must NOT cut back on the current funds committed to tobacco control.

Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Washington, D.C., estimates that the tobacco industry is spending approximately $42.2 million each year on tobacco marketing in Hawaii alone. Proposed cuts to the trust fund open the door for the tobacco industry to target our youth in an attempt to addict a new generation to their deadly product.

Currently Hawaii spends $336 million annually on health care costs directly caused by smoking. Additionally, Hawaii has a productivity loss of $320 million due to smoking. Cuts to tobacco control funding will ultimately result in increases to these high costs. The best investment for Hawaii in this difficult economic time is to keep funding intact for tobacco prevention.

Tax squatters, not visitors

Why penalize and deter the life blood of Hawaii's economy with further hotel room taxes?

Many other factors are already discouraging tourists from vacationing here.

Meanwhile, the state continues to provide free oceanfront sleeping quarters, food and, showers (which they spurn) to our growing population of blood-sucking, able-bodied intransient homeless.

Let's call on the Legislature to pass a tax on squatter tents and sidewalk cardboard beds instead. Stop penalizing visitors and rewarding leeches.

Torture issue is not clear-cut

It is easy to take a stand against torture, but let's assume that your child has been kidnapped and buried alive by some deranged individual. He (or she) is quickly apprehended but refuses to say where the child is buried.

Indications are that the child has enough air to survive for another hour or two. Do you start chopping off one finger at a time until the kidnapper tells where the child is buried or do you continue pleading with him, which in all likelihood means slow and certain death for your child?

This example is not a terrorist situation, but the principle is the same. Clearly, it is not a black-and- white situation, unless you can say in this case that you would definitely oppose torturing the kidnapper, which, in effect, means you opt for torturing your child for another hour or two.

Immigration hurts Hawaiians

Allowing more immigrants to settle in Hawaii is part of the colonial strategy of the United States to legitimatize American enterprise and to conceal its colonial and imperialistic origins.

To allow more immigrant settlers to Hawaii from Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, the USA, Philippines, etc., is devastating to the Hawaiian culture, highly advanced cosmogony, the Kumulipo, and Hawaii's fragile ecological environment, limited natural resources, and indigenous Hawaiian species.

The international tourist industry and the U.S. military are no different than the fanatical Christian Spanish conquistadors who exploited the first peoples of the world. They force the native people into a homeless, poverty stricken lifestyle and totally destroy their natural resources, sacred sites, religion and culture.

Most immigrant settlers come from a predatory society. They only cause more obstacles for Hawaiians' struggle for independence from the USA.

I am Hawaiian kanaka maoli and my perspective is neither liberal nor conservative.