Letters to the Editor
Same-sex couples merit same rights as others
It seems that Howard D. Francis, "House trying to bypass voters over same sex" (Letters, March 9) still doesn't get it . The Legislature is trying to give same-sex couples their due as American citizens: full and equal rights and benefits guaranteed by the constitution. Our founding fathers did not stipulate "except homosexuals" in that document and the State of Hawai'i shouldn't either. So get this Francis, dahling: we're here, queer, and every bit as good as you. Get used to it.
Hans Anderson
Ad misrepresents teacher salary figures
Fair is fair — if the DOE teachers are at the 18th rank, UH would love to have our salaries at the 18th rank of universities nationwide. That we're on the bottom is shameful. And yesterday's ad in The Advertiser was shameful misrepresentation of some pretty fictitious numbers.
Linda B. Arthur, Ph.D.
Associate Professor/Curator, Textiles and Clothing Program, Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Special ed interests playing political game
Education writer Alice Keesing's article "Special ed may derail strike" (March 14) demonstrates Plato's dialogue argument method.
Sadly, plaintiff and state attorneys' scripted dialogue aims not at improving special needs children's outcomes but at negating collective bargaining efforts. Plaintiff attorneys might think that alliance will improve general education but this isn't so. Moreover, attorneys should focus on representing clients, not on applying special education edicts to other agendas.
It is fine for the state executive to engage political machinery, but if federal Judge David Ezra is sincere that politics should not play a role in the Felix Consent Decree, he should instruct attorneys to exercise discretion and limit their activities to the case before the court. So far, Ezra continues to permit these court officers to coordinate on political frontlines with the state executive.
The Legislature is correctly leaning to appropriate teacher compensation. Court actions regarding collective bargaining also should focus on improving teacher pay.
The 1999 teacher average salary was $40,416. After considering cost of living, $50,198 is required just to match the 1999 national average.
Steve Bowen
Schools should teach all forms of religion
I read with interest the article on the ACLU's involvement with a religious education issue at a Lihu'e elementary school. When I studied at Nanakuli High School, I took an Old Testament literature class. It never occurred to me that this was unusual until friends from Mainland schools pointed out that all manner of teaching is allowed in schools except religious education. My daughter's experience with Mainland public education convinced me that irreligion is without a doubt the most oppressive form of religious teaching, suppressing all instruction beside its own. Hawai'i should be proud of its heritage linking public education and the free exercise of religion, including the religion of the ACLU.
Ricardo Benitez, Nanakuli High School, 1976
Brier, Wash.
A socialist mindset bankrupting America
A few years ago, Republican candidate for president Alan Keyes spoke at a college university. I asked if he thought that liberalism is the road to socialism. He replied, "Liberalism is socialism."
But then he added the rather intriguing notion that socialism is not just an economic system but also a "state of mind." How true. Let's examine the American mindset that's been bankrupting the nation.
Today, many individuals would view cutting federal social programs by, say, $20 billion as "extremism" in the right-wing direction.
However, what if social spending were increased by $20 billion? Wouldn't that be seen as "extremism" in a left-wing direction? The answer is "no." It would be seen as "progressive." "Extremism" is defined only as an agenda that forces more self-responsibility on able-bodied citizens. Policies that mandate individualism are "divisive" and "threatening" while those that mandate collectivism are "inclusive" and "civil."
The era of big government is not over. But in asserting it is, President Bush has provided American voters an opportunity to kid themselves while continuing to indulge in helping to make more economic redistribution to law.
Many voters say Democrats, more than the Republicans, are "compassionate" and "understand my concerns" and that "they care about me." Such sentiments are moot unless they manifest themselves through government coercion and paternalism. The advocates of social engineering on the left would like us to believe that life is complex and demands the guidance (read: more government restrictions and subjection of moral superiors.)
In Hawai'i, the longevity of a tanked economy is exceeded only by that of genuflection at the altar of the Omnipotent State. What too many Americans want, especially in Hawai'i, is democratic socialism and a free market. They want "pragmatic" and "mainstream" politicians who pay lip service to fiscal discipline but yield to the electorate's appetite for increased domestic spending and nanny government. What the majority doesn't want is an "ideologue" who puts them on the spot by declaring that more government subsidies and services will mean more authoritarian control over them.
Socialism is not only a lie, but the epitome of selfishness.
William O. Peterson II
Mililani
