Staff keeping up with parks' usage

I am a frequent user of Ala Moana Park. I've played tennis, swam and picnicked there two to three times a week for the past five years and unlike a recent writer (”;Honolulu should clean up its parks”; Star-Bulletin, July 30) I have never seen the park “;unkempt.”; My experience has been the opposite. The park staff should be commended for the good job they do keeping the bathrooms clean and the grounds tidy at such a heavily used park.

The problem of the homeless using and maybe abusing the park should not rest with the park staff and police. It is society's problem—that means all of us.

McMackin is an embarrassment

UH football Coach Greg McMackin is under fire for saying the word “;f——”; three times in a press conference, and a TV news site shows almost half the people polled believe nothing should happen to him.

First, some defend him using the right to free speech. However, our right to free speech has always had limits, especially when safety is concerned, and any speech that targets a group helps to make the members of that group unsafe.

Second, some defend him saying he apologized right away. Yes, he should be commended for that. But have his defenders taken a moment and listened to the audio of his original comments? The guy was having a great time at the expense of homosexuals, most of whom are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. We won't even get into how any gay UH football player must now feel.

Moreover, Coach McMackin's original comments expose disorganized ideas and even grammatical errors. He knew he had a press conference and seemed ill-prepared. Shouldn't we expect more from a well-paid college coach?

'Birthers' should accept the truth

There is a growing legion of so called “;birthers”; fueled by a number of Republican congressmen and talk show pundits that is questioning President Barack Obama's citizenship.

It is a bizarre comical phenomenon particularly at a time when Obama has already been the president for seven months. The Republican Party is in such a pathetic state that it has to resort to anything that sticks to gain back some traction. As we have seen in the last eight years, it is dangerous for any one party to dominate but the Republican Party appears to have no idea how to make the long road back to restore balance in Congress.

This latest groping for answers to rejuvenate their party is embarrassing and shameful at best. It is amazing that congressmen and congresswomen are shamelessly playing to their constituents simply to get their votes. To my knowledge, Obama is the only president to be questioned about his citizenship when all this was put through the wash during the presidential elections. One has to conclude it is driven by racism because part of Obama's heritage is African-American.

This is just one of the many pot shots without any substance flung at Obama by the Republicans. Obama's birth certificate is a legal, factual document and can be easily checked out on the Internet. Yes, to all the doubters out there, Obama is a proud native born son of our state and that easily makes him a U.S. citizen. Any more questions?