Posted on: Friday, August 29, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Playing favorites when it comes to race

If Kamehameha's discriminatory admissions policy were truly necessary due to the socio-economic status of Native Hawaiians, the school's admission criteria would be focused on need, not on superior academic achievement.

Using the logic of the school's trustees, many other disadvantaged minority groups could set up schools composed of students of one race. Where is the NAACP, ACLU and the other supposed "civil rights" groups when you need them? Obviously they play favorites when it comes to race as well.

Admissions policy should be revamped

The selectivity of Kamehameha's admissions policy is in direct conflict with the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The lottery system should be reinstated and the blood quantum level should be raised.

It is obvious that Hawaiian youth lose the opportunity to attend Kamehameha to other youth who are essentially non-Hawaiians. The quantum should be raised to, say, one-sixteenth or one-eighth. The selectivity should be removed and a lottery reinstated to ensure that the most disenfranchised Hawaiian families get the opportunity that Pauahi intended them to have.

Also, I would ask all to refrain from using the civil rights struggles of African Americans, the blood and the tears, to justify further divorcing kanaka maoli from what is rightfully theirs, according to American law and the law of right and wrong (pono). As an African American, this is particularly offensive to me, especially when this backward logic has already been used successfully to further divorce kanaka maoli from ceded lands.

It is dangerous to allow a school to have a race-based admissions policy, but the result of admitting young Brayden Mohica-Cummings is to end the fragile situation of allowing Kamehameha to have such a policy for noble purposes. The alternative is to make it more difficult for the most disenfranchised Native Hawaiian families to benefit from the estate, and to further steal from the Hawaiian largess.

Pressure continues despite illogical plan

Having seen many "buy-ins" in the city government since Mayor Fasi's ill-fated bus adventure in the l970s, I am shuddering over the Bus Rapid Transit plan now being pushed.

Despite well-recognized, competent people providing analyses proving the "disbenefit" (University of Hawai'i professor Panos Prevedouros) of the proposal to Honolulu, pressure to start the illogical project continues. Even the use of the word "rapid" in the title does not compute in the overall city requirement when critical available lanes in the Waikiki-downtown corridor will be eliminated.

Hopefully, enough pressure will be generated to counterbalance the effect of nonbid contracts.

Moderate positions are being slandered

I guess it's a sign of how far to the right politics have been skewed in the last few years that Greg Sheindlin ("One issue does not make Case a moderate," Aug. 22) could label as "far left" such utterly moderate positions as opposing the Iraq War and supporting the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty.

I don't know about the rest of you folks, but I am sick and tired of the constant slander and abuse from the right that's directed toward anyone who has the nerve to dissent from the George Bush party line.

I am sick of being called "unpatriotic" because I don't support a misguided war. I am tired of being labeled a left-wing nut because I believe the world should do something about global warming.

We must refuse to let people like Mr. Sheindlin redefine our beliefs as "extreme" simply because he doesn't agree with them. Political discourse in this country has already been damaged enough.

Health renegades could endanger you

Watch out, Hawai'i, here comes LifeFest Maui. The featured speakers are not health experts as advertised, but health renegades who deceive and endanger the public.

For example, Deeppak Chopra has made millions claiming his mind-body medicine allows us to live forever. Aging is a cultural artifact, he claims. In Chapter 7 of his "Return of the Rishi," he claims he and other meditators can levitate and fly.

Another speaker, Julian Whittaker, claims that M.D.s are motivated by money to conceal miracle cures — mostly massive doses of supplements — for deadly diseases from their patients. Many of his recommendations are potentially lethal. For example, zinc intake less than he prescribes has been shown to promote various cancers and to suppress the immune system.

Macrobiotics master Michio Kushi likewise claims to have the key to miracle medicine. In his "Macrobiotic Home Remedies," he prescribes roasted cockroaches for colds and headaches, and baked human hair for gonorrhea and jaundice. At this event, he is charging $800 for a one-hour consultation.

This is not a legitimate conference with open discussions and debates. It is a cultish indoctrination orgy where no presentations or dissent by rational medical experts will be allowed.

With so many legitimate attractions here, it is a disgrace that taxpayer money ($75,000) is being spent by the state and the county to involve us in this business.

Water, money wasted on Diamond Head park

Every day, in the news, the city reports there is not enough money to do the things that should be done.

Also, it is reported that our water usage is up and we must conserve. Our city streets are full of potholes, and the patches have potholes. The new period street lighting in Waikiki has been finished for some time, but still some of those light standards do not have the decorative base installed.

Now I see that Kuilei Cliffs Beach Park, at 3451 Diamond Head Road, is having sprinklers installed. This park was built, costing several hundred thousand dollars, a number of years ago, with a path to the beach, automatic sprinklers, two water fountains, four showers, over 50 palm trees and other plantings. Except for the path, all of these improvements have been vandalized over several years after being completed. Only three of the four showers and one of two water fountains remain; none of the plants and much of the sprinkler system is gone.

Be aware of water

Recently, friends from Tahiti visited Hawai'i. They noticed that our mountains are so brown compared to their lush green ones. I told them that we have been rainless for, like, five years (waveless, too). They were trippin' out. Anyway, I just wanted to say maybe all of us can just be extremely conscientious when using water. After all, the Earth is two-thirds water and so are our bodies. It's an awareness thing, that's all.

Jones brought pride to Hawai'i football

June Jones deserves every cent. In a time when Hawai'i is so divided on different issues, he brings us together and brings pride to Hawai'i football.

Yes, professors are important, but when was the last time they brought the masses together in a common goal? Why is his pay such an issue deserving front-page coverage along with Americans losing their lives in combat?

Just think back to Fred vonAppen, and it will no longer be an issue. How quickly we forget.

What a way to start off the UH football season

It looks as if the UH football season is getting off to a great start. Of course, this is beginning to appear to be a pattern when it involves anything to do with Coach June.

As a member of Koa Anuenue, I received a bumper sticker that said "June Would Throw"! Well, coach, since your boy Timmy seems to have failed Basket Weaving 101, I guess you will be suiting up for the BIG game this coming Saturday against that high-powered team Appalachian State.

Now, you can be sure that I will be there right behind the team as I am every game watching. Why, I might be able to sneak in my new phone that shows pictures for my family on the Mainland. Just in case this big game doesn't make it on Fox Sports West.

More reaction on the O'ahu bus strike

Bus drivers should be happy to have jobs

I'll bet there are at least a couple of dozen folks in this town who are kicking themselves for not pushing the rail transit concept more.

The sad truth here is that Mayor Harris is right. There is no money to be had here. This city is tapped out.

I am self-employed, and after 9-11, my business trickled down to almost nothing. And a lot of others like me are struggling just to pay next month's phone bill. If this strike goes on for more than a couple of months, it will most certainly put the final nail in the coffin of my business.

In these trying times, you should all be happy to even have jobs.

Bus drivers deserve every penny they make

As a school-bus driver, I support the strike. These men and women put their lives on the line daily and still provide transportation islandwide, nationally recognized.

I feel sad that they had to do it and leave their customers hanging, but if they don't stand up for their rights, who will? They deserve every penny that they make, and the public should have a heart. It's not easy putting up with the things people do on the bus.

Come on, people, support the strike. After all, we're the ones who benefit from the drivers' services.

Increased bus fare would still be a deal

I think $31 a month for a bus pass is great. Even if it is raised to $50, it's still a deal.

Think about how much it is to own a car. You have monthly payments, gas, insurance and parking. When you add it up, it comes out to more than $600 a month. I've owned a vehicle my whole life. I don't think a monthly payment of $30 or $40 for someone to drive you where you want to go is bad.

Maybe this strike will be good; it might show us riders how much we appreciate the bus.

Many taxpayers also ride the bus

Mayor Harris said this about raising the bus fares: "The taxpayers and the people buying gasoline and paying gasoline tax are paying over 70 percent right now. ... Right now the costs are not fairly allocated."

Please wake up and smell the taxes, mayor; many taxpayers ride the bus, too. We ride it because it is better than paying for parking, fighting traffic and the cost of operating a vehicle. Also, we are helping to reduce congestion on the roadways.

You owe the bus riders a big "thank you," not a slap in the face, as if we are all non-taxpayers mooching off the system.

Strike's bright lining

As residents of Waikiki, living on the 12th floor above Ala Moana Boulevard, my wife and I have found at least one thing to appreciate about the current bus drivers' strike: The daily traffic noise has been appreciably diminished in the absence of the steady stream of buses that are usually roaring by.

Raise city gasoline tax

You don't get cars off the road and increase bus ridership by increasing bus fares. You do it by decreasing the price of the bus pass and increasing the gas tax by 5 cents a gallon and exempting TheBus from gas taxes. It's painfully obvious we need Frank Fasi in the mayor's office.