Posted on: Monday, February 24, 2003
Letters to the Editor
Terrorists can take advantage of borders
If an estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants and large amounts of drugs are smuggled into the U.S. every year, why can't anthrax and terrorists be, too?
FBI Director Robert Mueller said the other day that we have several hundred Muslim militants operating within our borders. Meanwhile, our law enforcement agencies at all levels are absolutely overburdened.
If we continue to absorb an average of 1 million legal immigrants a year who need to be screened, how can we track down and deport all terrorists? Can we effectively protect our homeland by simply removing Saddam Hussein without deporting all illegal immigrants and imposing some sort of moratorium on legal immigration?
Please note that I have 10 years of experience helping people immigrate to the U.S. working for immigration law firms.
Yeh Ling-Ling
Bush being hypocritical in U.N. resolutions
I'm confused. In your lead story on a recent front page, you state that Mr. Bush bluntly challenged the U.N. Security Council to display its resolve and preserve its credibility. "The decision is this for the United Nations: When you say something, does it mean anything? You've got to decide. If you lay down a resolution, does it mean anything?"
But, on page A7, an article refers to the U.N. resolution on family planning. It states that a bill approved by Congress allows Bush to refuse to release $34 million allotted for U.N. family planning initiatives overseas if he rules once again — as he did last year — that the United Nations tolerates coerced abortions in China.
So, is Mr. Bush the only one who can pick and choose the resolutions he likes and not fund or support the ones he doesn't? Huh? And, if he feels so strongly about the U.N., why doesn't the United States pay the millions of dollars in back dues that have been owed for years and still remain unpaid?
Walter Mahr
Duct tape and plastic sheeting: what a farce
The U.S.A. must be the laughingstock of the world — "duct tape and sheets of plastic" to prevent the results of a dirty bomb attack! What's next — umbrellas to prevent nuclear fallout?
I sincerely hope this idiotic farce did not originate from an official paid out of the public purse, but I know I hope in vain.
Edward Reed
How to die should be a matter of choice
I was impressed by Yasmin Anwar's well-written piece on her father's death (Focus, Feb. 16). I want to thank her for being candid about her family and her own suffering as she had to deal with this issue.
How we are to die should be a matter of personal choice, and, since I am paraplegic, access and choice are important to me every day. They certainly will be just as, if not more, important to me as my time on this Earth draws to a close. Why should what little control I have worked so hard to achieve be so completely taken away from me as I face death?
It is not for me to deny a prolonged death to those who wish to follow their own religious beliefs, but neither is it for them to deny me a hastened death when "my spirit is barely flickering in the frail shell that once was my body."
I hope Hawai'i will soon show the way to the other states by being the first to follow Oregon. Hopefully, the citizens of this beautiful island state have spoken loudly enough in recent polls that legislators will have heard the voice of their own people over the din of negative campaigning and will vote to ensure this last, ultimate civil right.
Paul A. Spiers
'Death with dignity' foes misrepresent its aim
Much of the voiced opposition to a "death with dignity" bill here has misrepresented both the philosophy and the specifics of such legislation.
The bill "prohibits mercy killing, lethal injection and active euthanasia." Instead, it would allow a competent and terminally ill adult the right to request a prescription for medication to hasten death when all reasonable efforts to relieve pain and suffering have proved ineffective.
The Oregon experience, where assisted dying has been legal for more than five years, has identified no slippery slope of abuse of this law.
Typically, those who choose this option are at the very end of their lives. They do not want their few remaining days spent tethered to tubes and wires, often unable to eat, speak or go to the bathroom themselves. To palliate pain with extremely heavy drug dosage can reduce "life" to other physical miseries that are humiliating and degrading.
Death is inevitable. The ability of a terminally ill, mentally competent adult to make that decision is the ultimate civil liberty and should not be infringed upon by those who would not make that choice.
Robert A. Wilcox
Schools are progressing without new boards
Various measures have been introduced this legislative session that are aimed at changing the governance structure of Hawai'i's public school system. Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto has initiated changes that are being lauded as an effort to decentralize the Department of Education and to bring coordinated decision-making to the school complexes.
Hamamoto has also changed the department's operational policy to allow more schools to benefit from federal Title I funds. She has done this without additional boards of education.
Content and performance standards are in place, and evaluation instruments for these standards are being designed and implemented. Now we must support the efforts of schools to achieve the goals established.
State and school complex personnel are poised to provide leadership and assistance. This type of coordinated effort would not be possible with smaller, local school boards.
It is distressing when statements by some public officials lead others to believe that the woes of the department are the fault of our school-level administrators, and that the department has ample funds to cover new executive branch initiatives.
Our schools are in need. They are not broken.
Our schools need encouragement, resources and support — not a continuous barrage of disparaging statements.
Shannon Ajifu
Here, take some money out of my UH salary
I am a devoted UH Warrior football fan who thinks the hiring of June Jones was a flash of brilliance on the part of Hugh Yoshida and the UH athletics department.
While the new A.D. is out there beating the bushes for private funds to ensure a successful renegotiation of Jones' contract, I was wondering if there is a private account already set up within Koa Anuenue or some other group to which private individuals might send a check on an annual basis as their share toward his salary as a way of thanking him for returning to Hawai'i and wanting to stay here. He has certainly brought an exciting brand of football to the state — and look at his recruiting results over the past several years.
If just 1,000 to 1,500 diehard fans would kick in $400 to $500 per year, we would have half a million dollars toward his annual salary. Many of the successes in this state were based upon his, and I can't think of a more worthwhile investment than the retention of June Jones out here in Hawai'i until he decides to retire.
Incidentally, I am one of those relatively poorly compensated UH faculty members in the community college system who was on the picket lines two years ago in order to get a small pay raise after over a decade of near-trivial increases. Once again, just sign me as a devoted Warrior and June Jones fan.
John Shen
Why didn't DeSoto focus on the neglect?
I agree with former Councilman John DeSoto's criticism of The Honolulu Advertiser editorial staff over its lack of support for a tax credit for Ko Olina. Anybody with any brains could realize that this would bring needed investment and jobs to the people of Wai'anae.
However, I take issue with one DeSoto comment: "Having represented the Leeward Coast region on the City Council for 16 years, I have lived and breathed the neglect of the state and city." I find this comment baffling given the fact that DeSoto had 16 years on the City Council to do something about this neglect.
For 16 long years, he did nothing to rid us of the Waimanalo Gulch landfill, to alleviate our traffic problems or to improve our economy. If DeSoto really cared about doing something about these problems, why didn't he use his time in public office to solve any of these problems?
And now only a month after leaving office, he is blaming everybody but himself for our neglect. I just hope that our new councilman, Mike Gabbard, doesn't wait until he leaves office to realize that work needs to be done to make life better in Wai'anae.
Jose Perez
Moya Gray acted in public's interest
I read with grave consternation that Moya Gray, the noteworthy and highly regarded director of the Office of Information Practices, has lost her position.
Ms. Gray consistently demonstrated over a span of eight years her integrity in acting on behalf of the public interest, and many citizenshaveexperienced firsthand her commitment to open government. Sadly, this unfortunateactionnow casts an unwelcome shadow on the promising new administration. One would now hope that this does not portend a threat to other highly regarded public servants who function so successfully in the rarefied ranks of ethics and integrity.
Would we want to hear this crushing news about Marion Higa, our esteemed state auditor? Or Robert Watada, noteworthy champion of the Campaign Spending Commission? I think not.
Michelle Spalding Matson
Infestation in lake ignored until too late
I don't profess to be an expert in anything, but I'm interested in everything, particularly everything that swallows up my state tax dollars.
The infestation of Salvinia molesta in Lake Wilson is our latest crisis. It begs the questions: Why does crisis management seem to be the preferred management style in Hawai'i, the 11th hour the favorite hour of our politicians' day? It costs us dearly. Who was asleep at the switch on this one?
If you've got a computer and can find google.com, you will learn quickly that salvinia has been a well-documented menace throughout the world for many years. There are various documented and field-tested means of dealing with it before it reaches Lake Wilson proportions. And the Kawainui wetlands are right behind.
We don't have to reinvent the wheel; others have done the work for us. But our governmental "experts" had better start devoting more attention to salvinia — and quickly.
Gary Meyers
Let's have accounting on how funds were spent
Spending for the January special election recently disclosed that Ed Case spent $194,000, outspending each of his two closest opponents by a small amount. The top five contestants spent over $700,000 on this election.
In a state suffering economic hardships, where education funding is constantly cut, these five individuals can raise almost three-quarters of a million dollars. The state also spent over a million dollars to conduct the election.
The money spent in this special election was only a drop in the bucket compared to the primary and general elections. There we are talking about tens of millions of dollars.
The raising of the money is only half of the story. I, for one, would like to know where the money was spent. Why not an accounting of where this money went — was it to print media, TV, ad agencies, individuals? Where, where did it go?
T. Kroll
Most Hawaiians were opposed to annexation
It doesn't matter if some "prominent Hawaiians" favored annexation. What matters is that, as evidenced by the Ku'e petitions, the vast majority of Hawaiians opposed annexation.
There were politicians in Denmark who favored Nazi occupation. That doesn't mean that the Danish people welcomed the Nazis. It means that some politicians either believed they could live with Nazi occupation or they saw no alternative.
The debate about annexation should focus on the illegality of Congress acquiring territory. Congress has the power to admit states under Article 4, Section 2 of the Constitution. However, the acquisition of territory requires a treaty passed by two-thirds of the Senate and signed by the president. There is no treaty ceding Hawai'i to the United States.
The overthrow in 1893 was and is a violation of international law. The annexation of 1898 was and is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. For these reasons, the presence of the United States was and is an illegal occupation, and all the random fragments of diaries that Thurston Twigg-Smith may produce will not change that fact.
Nathan D. Miller
Executive director, Diversity Alliance for Sustainable America
Mililani
'Ewa Beach
Chairman-elect, board of directors, The Hemlock Society & Foundation
Kailua
Board of Education member
Wai'anae
Kailua
UNLV law school student
