Posted on: Monday, October 7, 2002
Letters to the Editor
The same old faces would seek Mink seat
I don't know whether to be amused or horrified at the Democratic Party attempting to wrest control of the mantra of change from Linda Lingle and the Republicans. Mazie Hirono would have us believe that the Democrats really stand for change this time.
Rather than dismiss the absurdity of this statement outright, I decided instead to peruse the candidates that the Democrats are considering putting up for Patsy Mink's vacant seat, should a special election become necessary. Among the names being bandied about are Mufi Hannemann, Malama Solomon, Matt Matsunaga and even Mazie Hirono herself should she lose the gubernatorial race against Linda Lingle.
Party for change? Hardly. All I see are the same faces who have been in and out of power for the past several years, finding any means and any office to keep their hands on the control panel of state government. Not a fresh face among them.
If elected, the Democrats will plod along as usual, and the state will continue to stagnate because the same people and special interests will still have a stranglehold of influence.
If the voters of Hawai'i really want change, they should vote Republican. Or Libertarian. Or Natural Law. In short, anyone but the same party that has clung to absolute power in this state for longer than many of us have been alive.
I find this flagrantly transparent Democratic Party facelift to be intensely offensive. But even more frustrating is the sadness I feel when I realize that with the latest polls, Hawai'i's voters may be stupid enough to let themselves be deceived yet again.
David Flack
Special election is cheap by any count
It's terribly sad and more than a little shameful that a handful of our cynical neighbors mock those of us who choose to participate in the democratic process.
Let me see if I have this straight: If we divide the $2 million the special election would cost by the 1.2 million residents of Hawai'i, it comes out to $1.67 each. At a time when America is spending billions of dollars allegedly protecting democracy, I should be willing to spend a buck and change celebrating it.
On Nov. 5, I think I'll skip my Big Gulp and vote for Patsy Mink, not because I wish to pay tribute to a heroic leader, nor as homage to the Democratic leadership, but rather because it's my right. And it's the only hope we have that Hawai'i can continue to enjoy the enlightened and compassionate representation we've known these past years.
I urge all of those who intended to vote for Patsy Mink to do so in the general election, and I urge these self-serving cynics to relish democracy, not deride it.
Jim Slagel
Patsy fought to the last for betterment of women
Before her memory slips away too quickly from our daily lives, I'd like to add a few last words of gratitude for the legacy that Patsy Mink leaves behind.
Her voice and influence stemmed from a woman's and a mother's perspective, something that needs to be a present force in our male-dominated world. Along with her landmark Title IX legislation for U.S. women's rights was her recent legislation as a co-sponsor of HR 3342, which calls for full participation of women in programs for economic development, education, health and politics in Afghanistan. In an area that has become a breeding ground for terrorism, it is the influence of enlightened women that can stem that tide and solve the problem at its painful source. It is a fact that cultures that suppress the full enfranchisement of women are far less organized and affluent, productive and peaceful than cultures in which women are able to contribute. It should come as no surprise that a woman who spent her life supporting women's rights and decrying war would continue the fight on a global scale. She was a trailblazer anda role model.
And to those of us who share her world vision, hers was a voice that shouted audibly louder and more passionate than those around her on the House floor to ears that may have belonged to less inspired minds. But her voice was my voice, and she shall be missed. Susan Aragaki
Action of political opponents disgusting
I am really upset and angry about the political opponents of Patsy Mink, a champion of the people.
When her condition went from bad to worse, these campaign-mongers were basically telling her to get out of the way. How disgusting.
If they were on their own deathbed, would they want the work of a lifetime to be sloughed aside due to an unfortunate illness? They knew she might not make it, yet they could not wait to trample her under.
Patsy, thank you for everything you have done for me and all the others who benefited from your knowledge, experience, strength and hope. In my heart, my vote is yours.
Deborah Anne Deeney
Change must come with purpose, direction
So far in this year's gubernatorial race, the political buzzword is "change." Unfortunately, change in itself is not always good. Just ask the University of Hawai'i when it hired Fred vonAppen as head football coach.
We need change with a purpose, change with direction, change for the better and change with vision. So far, all we have heard is loose change. Negative campaigning, slick booklets containing numbers that Einstein couldn't add up and huge promises for everyone with no one having to sacrifice are not change, but more of the same we hear every election year.
Maybe we do need change, but so far it appears we are getting more of the same.
Roy Kamisato
Praise be to Kahle for separation fight
Thank the gods and goddesses (or complete lack thereof) for moral warriors like Mitch Kahle.
Being willing to take on the misguided ire of every Christian with a holier-than-thou sense of entitlement to dominate state matters is brave and deserves praise.
America was started as a place intended to be free of religious persecution. So where do these Christian cultists get off insinuating their "god" into places "it" simply does not belong?
I say high time for these changes and high praise for Kahle and all who uphold the righteous and total separation of church and state.
Kit Grant
Some RNs have advanced degrees
I enjoyed your article in the Sept. 29 job section about healthcare careers, "Growing needs, new opportunities." The descriptions you gave of each of the different healthcare careers were accurate with the exception of the registered nurses.
Yes, they do provide specialized and skilled patient care and oversee care provided by licensed practical nurses, nurse's aides and technicians; however, not all registered nurses are two-year-degree nurses. There are many out there with four-year bachelor's degrees and advanced college degrees as well.
Many senior management positions, teaching, consultation and specialist positions require advanced degrees. I will have a four-year B.S.N. eventually.
George Alba
Now's the chance for critics to be counted
Teachers really have it good, don't they? They work nine months a year and get all of the holidays. They start work at 7:45 a.m. and end at 3 p.m., and their starting pay is comparable to other jobs, too.
To those who criticized the teachers when we went on strike and believe that teachers are overpaid or have it easy, now is your chance. Hawai'i will face a teacher shortage in a few years; that's enough time for you to get your degree and fill those "overpaid" teaching positions that you believe to be so easy.
Think nothing of the after-school, evening and weekend hours you will spend planning your lessons and then grading the 150 or more papers. Don't let the challenging work conditions stop you either; after all, keeping the attention of 30 or more teenage students focused on a lesson in a hot room can't be that hard, can it?
If you think teaching is so easy and that we are paid so well, why aren't you a teacher? Now is your chance.
A. Takeshita
Don't be fooled by terrorist stereotypes
You correctly pointed out in a Sept. 22 editorial that we should not be fooled into thinking that every anti-American terrorist will look like a "Middle Easterner." However, you swap one stereotype for another by assuming all terrorists will be Muslims.
One of the bloodiest days of terrorism in the U.S., prior to 9/11, was executed by our own Timothy McVeigh. Furthermore, African Americans and others have long been subject to terrorism at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, which is neither foreign nor Muslim.
Lunatic fringe groups abound in many Mainland states. Who is to say that the next terrorist will not be a WASP (for example), acting on his own or in collusion with foreign interests?
We know that many home-grown extremists exist and, like McVeigh, have no aloha for our people, system of government or human life. Such people have a vested interest in promoting fear, violence and instability.
There is an old saying that we fight the last war instead of looking ahead to how the next one will unfold. Another attack may have a better chance at success if we are chasing obvious stereotypes. To quote baseball great Willie Keeler, terrorists may succeed and "hit 'em where they ain't" while we position our fielders for last year's war.
Our best chance at overcoming terrorism is to preserve our core values rather than deciding on whom to fear or hate. No nation, however powerful, is completely safe from attack. Our nation, dedicated to our founding ideals, cannot be overcome.
Khalil J. Spencer
First-rate education? Pay for it
In your Sept. 26 Island Voices column, Rep. Galen Fox decried the low standing of Hawai'i's high school seniors on the recently released 2002 College Board SAT I scores of verbal and quantitative aptitude. In making his pitch for concluding from the SAT I results that Hawai'i's public school system is "broken" and disregarding The Advertiser's quite proper cautions, Mr. Fox has ignored several pertinent facts:
• He blatantly ignored the College Board's own disclaimer that the SAT I is not a proper measure of statewide school achievement. The SAT I is intended as a predictor of first-year college performance, not as a measure of school achievement. As such, it is more a measure of aptitude (like IQ) than of specific content learning.
• For the very reasons that students taking the test are a self-selected sample and that different proportions of students take the SAT in different states, the state means are not valid for comparing state education systems.
• Mr. Fox ignores measures related to the quality of schools on which Hawai'i also ranks dead last among the states. These are: the proportion of its total state and local revenues that the state devotes to public education and the proportion of its gross state product that it uses for the support of its public schools. Quality costs, and you can't get to a first-rate public school system with 50th-rate support. Many of Fox's colleagues in the Legislature acknowledge this by putting up thousands of dollars per year of their own money to send their children to private schools.
Tuition at one of the better private schools here is almost $12,000, and that pays only about two-thirds the actual cost. However, Fox and his legislative colleagues think that a little over half that amount is adequate for the education of other people's children in public schools.Their hypocrisy is so loud, one can't hear their excuses. We won't have a first-rate system of public schools in Hawai'i until the governor and Legislature support public schools where it counts: in the budget. Until then, the kinds of reforms they propose, all concerning control of schools, will have little or no effect on school quality except to depress morale. It costs real money to provide a first-rate education, and Hawai'i doesn't provide the support it takes to have a good system, let alone a first-rate one. Perhaps Fox and his colleagues in the Legislature ought to elevate our schools' funding to at least second-rate status before they complain further about what their investment is achieving.
Thomas G. Gans
Foster Village
Kane'ohe
Kalaheo High School
Los Alamos, N.M.
