By

POSTED: Friday, May 28, 2010

Let's get off oil and stop spilling

Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer, when many Americans take to the roads for travel and vacations. This Memorial Day, we should strive to start working on solutions here that can end our oil addiction.

We are seeing one of the most devastating consequences of this oil addiction in the Gulf of Mexico as the BP disaster worsens every day. If we remain dependent on oil, it leaves us open to spills that destroy our local economies and environment.

Improving fuel economy standards for all vehicles, electrifying vehicles of all types, investing in rail for freight and commuting, creating livable communities where transit, walking and biking are important—these are all real and oil-free choices.

It's time to call on President Barack Obama to create a solid plan for ending our country's dependence on oil and moving us toward a clean-energy economy.

 

               

     

 

 

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Maui police need to emulate Andy

Help me understand why the Maui police would arrest a person for DUI and then release her just a few hours later while still apparently intoxicated to repeat her crime and endanger the public (”;Woman has 2 DUI arrests within hours,”; Star-Bulletin, May 27).

The Maui Police Department needs to watch some old Andy Griffith reruns when town drunk Otis was put in a jail cell overnight to sober up before being released back into society the next day.

Come on, Maui P.D. You need to Andy-up and learn some protocol from Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, N.C.

You have less sense than Deputy Barney Fife.

 

 

Farm vandalism was barbaric

As our Hawaii summer looms bright, it is not “;bright”; to read about the vandalism at two Mililani papaya farms, resulting in thousands of dollars in destruction.

Hopefully, the papaya bandits will be caught and justice served regarding this wasteful, vandalistic barbarism to a vital agricultural crop here in Hawaii. Papaya is considered a “;top five fruit,”; ahead of oranges, apples and bananas. May the force be with Honolulu police in solving this crime.

 

 

Maui's majority not being served

The article, “;Plan to divert water on Maui criticized”; (Star-Bulletin, May 27), misses the point.

Long before “;I've got mine environmentalists”; erected today's “;don't build anything”; political gauntlet, a visionary company and brave miners with shovels and dynamite built catch fields and tunneled through the mountains to capture the rain that environmentalists now squabble over.

And billions more gallons are still running off the mountains with tons of soil to smother the coral, awaiting capture .

So stop squabbling. A good hard-rock mining company could bore three more tunnels as fast as local contractors could build three more catch fields, and a good amusement company could design a way to make a world-class thrill ride through the mountains on tunnel barges, i.e. high-tech versions of the ones that keep today's tunnels clean.

Isn't it time the government began serving Maui's people, instead of pandering to a set of skillfully squeaky wheels proselytizing for the “;the sky is falling, retreat to caves”; set? Seriously, who but someone with a God-complex would arrogantly presume their birth defines Earth's perfect climate that mere mortals should sacrifice all to preserve unchanged forever?

 

 

Democrats hurt by arrogance

Notwithstanding the political mood of the voters, the tribal instinct of the Hawaii Democratic Party in the recent congressional race was to self-destruct — and an unbelievable arrogance.

Part of this suicidal tendency could be traced to U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, whose dislike of Ed Case seems to have blurred his normal good judgment.

Adding to the situation was Charles Djou's articulate and well-financed campaign.

It was very clear that if the congressional seat was to be retained by Democrats, backing one candidate would have been successful. We now have a post-mortem by the Democrats crying they will be united and focused for the “;real”; election in November.

Is this a lesson learned not to take Hawaii voters for granted? We shall see in the months ahead.