Letters to the Editor
Economic development shunned on Moloka'i
No one can deny Moloka'i is economically depressed, and the main reason is a small minority, skilled at the photo-op, who consistently oppose any attempt at economic opportunity and job creation.
These "usual suspects" inflame local residents with ludicrous fear-mongering intimations that Moloka'i is being targeted as the next Waikiki or Ka'anapali.
They want to keep Moloka'i barefoot and pregnant because they know jobs and higher living standards will threaten the loans and grants they currently leech off for their own economic well-being. Economic opportunity on Moloka'i will kill off their golden goose.
The "cruise ship experiment" is just their latest target. The "usual suspects" aren't concerned with lack of restroom facilities or damage from a ship anchored outside the reef; they're worried that occasional cruise ship visits might actually work to alleviate some of the rampant poverty here and therefore reduce their support and access to grants.
Cruise ships may not be an answer for Moloka'i. But we won't know until we try. The "usual suspects" are determined not to allow that chance.
Jon Sobstad
Kaunakakai, Moloka'i
'Price of paradise' should be included
Your recent article on the "Top 10 hot button issues" was quite all-encompassing. But I believe you omitted the "price of paradise," which is something we all have to deal with daily.
The price of paradise is artificially high because of certain laws that foster a noncompetitive environment. Chief among these is the Jones Act, which makes moving freight to Hawai'i about triple what it should be.
Next would be the oil companies, which reap disproportional profits from the residents of this state.
The newest bugaboo is the law that enabled local air carriers to consult with each other regarding routes and schedules. This has already resulted in reduced service. I would imagine increased rates are just over the horizon.
Perhaps your list should include the above, which would make it "Top 11 hot button issues." Of course, if our lawmakers could deal with my issues, then some of your issues might go away.
Bill Nelson
Hale'iwa
Traffic problems must be fixed systematically
George Kauka's idea in his Dec. 23 letter on building more roads as a solution to daily traffic is a short-term fix at best.
There is no easy solution to increasing roadways without creating a number of negative side-effects: water pollution, increased carbon emissions and noise pollution, reduction in real estate values and an overall decline in visual aesthetics (sunsets, beaches, forests, etc.). All the reasons we love Hawai'i.
Why we have constant traffic is a matter of "proportion." We are living on an island. Buildings have maximum occupancy ratings established for a number of reasons, the main ones being safety and health. So should islands. If Hawai'i doesn't establish maximum car and person limits soon, there will be severe ramifications.
For large cities like New York City, adequate public transportation is no laughing matter. A well-planned transportation system can make all the difference in how citizens use the city. Below are a few suggestions, new and old:
- Raise the driving age to 18 and require senior citizens to take annual driving tests.
- Limit the amount of cars per household.
- Raise the price of parking.
- Reduce the average drivers' mental dependency on the car through education.
- Build a rail system for long-distance travel, using buses for short-distance transportation within each community.
This may sound crazy, but imagine a day where we could remove roads. Plus, I would hate for our Islands to be known as the largest, most remote parking lot in the world.
Josh Lake
Editorial was wrong on tax-cut proposal
As usual, another anti-Bush editorial, on Dec. 31, from The Advertiser. Big deal, this time blasting tax cuts.
Again, as usual, The Advertiser is dead wrong on the issue. In citing the achievement of the budget surplus, The Advertiser is clueless as to how it was accomplished. It was accomplished via your beloved Bill Clinton raising taxes and both the president and Congress agreeing to rein in spending. Funny how that equation works, isn't it? Take in more money plus spend less equals budget surplus.
Now, with the national economy in something akin to recession, economists typically prescribe a couple of ways government can "prime the pump." One, government can try to spend its way out of a recession or, two, it can cut taxes in hope that consumers will spend what is, after all, "their" money.
While I'm no fan of runaway, pork-barrel government spending, tax cuts have proven to increase — yes, increase — government tax revenues. It happened when John F. Kennedy cut taxes, and it happened when Ronald Reagan cut taxes.
I suppose it would be too much for The Advertiser to recognize that taxpayers — rich and poor alike — in actuality really don't work for the government, and that if budget surpluses are as important as you make them sound, then government ought to seriously curb its free-spending ways.
James Ko
Individual differences should be encouraged
As a Mililani High School band parent and retired public school educator, I totally agree with Kelli Miura's Dec. 27 letter regarding the school band program. The points that were made have much merit, and people should be aware of this.
Our high schools depend on the intermediate and middle schools to provide students with the basics in music and to develop interest in participating in band. When it comes to parent involvement and support in our high schools, there is no other program that comes close to that of band parents. Normally as students grow older and move up the grades, parents become less involved with school.
With marching band programs, students learn more than making music and movements. With up to 200 or more students involved, the opportunities to learn discipline, teamwork, respect, commitment and responsibility are great, as stated by Miura. A lot of hard work is involved in getting students to excel individually, as small groups and as one large group.
Friendships also result among students within the school as well as with students from other schools. Music brings people together.
Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned by our public school system from the band program. Instead of viewing and making every student the same, as sometimes implied and measured by the new standards mandate, individual differences in interest and capabilities should be valued and accommodated in our public schools. Providing opportunities in all areas are important in meeting the needs of all children.
After all, public schools are not like a cookie factory that produces only one kind of cookie.
Ron Kubota
Mililani
With sovereignty would come gambling
In a state united against gambling, why don't the news media connect the dots of Linda Lingle's path to achieve it?
Sovereignty is among her highest priorities, but sovereignty means exemption from state laws and taxes, and that means freedom to bring gambling to Hawai'i.
After all, she didn't hesitate before taking money from the university's budget to pay Randy Roth to act as her personal aide, and to make his first priority the pursuit of sovereignty for a wealthy few. (At least where I grew up, a family of four whose share of an educational trust exceeds a quarter of a million dollars, as it does with the Kamehameha Schools, was considered wealthy.)
I see how during her tenure new tourists would use the state's existing hotels and services and give her more tax revenues to spend — at least until the new sovereign power base builds its own tax-exempt hotels using tax-free gambling revenue.
Even former Gov. Ben Cayetano saw the money in gambling, but he was honest and direct, and he sought the gambling revenue for all of the state's citizens, not as Linda Lingle is about to do: burden the other 90 percent of the state's citizens with all the evils of gambling, but giving them none of the revenue.
May I ask the media to ask Linda about this?
George L. Berish
State Democratic Party doesn't reflect diversity
In a Dec. 26 commentary, Lorraine H. Akiba, chairwoman of the Hawai'i Democratic Party, lambastes all Republicans because of a few ignorant comments made by one individual at a colleague's 100th birthday party.
Akiba states: "The Republicans need to learn a lesson from Hawai'i, where the Democratic Party has fought for years to uphold the belief that every American — no matter what race, creed or religion — is truly created equal and to promote true diversity in our state." Sounds good, Lorraine.
But Hawai'i's Plantation Democratic Party has never reflected the ethnic diversity that is Hawai'i. Since 1954, Asians, Japanese in particular, have been over-represented in all aspects of Hawai'i's state government and in businesses that do business with the government, while Hawaiians, Caucasians and Filipinos have been under-represented.
A cursory glance at the state Legislature, state government employees, the DOE and businesses that do work for the state will not find the 30 percent of Hawai'i that is Caucasian, the 20 percent that is part-Hawaiian or the 20 percent that is Filipino, according to recent Census figures.
Elections of Hawai'i's past include numerous examples of racial demagoguery. Phrases such as "It's our Hawai'i," "Local values," "Local people," "Our people" and "People from the Mainland" have been used in subtle but intentional ways by Plantation Democrats against Republicans in an effort to drive an us-vs.-them ethnic wedge between Hawai'i's people in an effort to gain and retain economic and political power.
Kamuela Kea
Fremont, Calif.
Felons were given chance at survival
Regarding Jeremy Leval's Jan. 2 letter about incarceration: He states that felons must be given a chance to learn skills needed to survive in a capitalistic society — or else they will return to a life of crime.
They are given this opportunity. It's called high school.
Everyone is given this chance, and it works for the vast majority of society. It's one of the reasons we pay taxes.
Some people simply do not want to operate within the rules of our society — no matter how many opportunities they are given.
Pat Kelly
Families are the ones leaving child behind
I believe that the No Child Left Behind Act sets schools up to "fail."
This act requires that schools meet three out of four measures: reading, math, attendance and a school-selected measure. Some schools meet all but the attendance measure and are labeled "failures" when attendance is mostly in the control of the family and not the school. Parents who do not value education or are having all kinds of social problems may not be diligent about sending their children to school every day.
The federal education law attempts to improve education by addressing the "symptom" instead of the "cause." Basically, schools are a reflection of their communities. The so-called "poverty" communities have a myriad of social problems, and yet the schools are expected to raise the test scores of these children.
Public schools do their best to educate all the children who come through their doors — be they immigrants, abused, neglected, learning-disabled, gifted, talented or apathetic. If children are abused by alcoholic or drugged parents, how can they concentrate on math and history? If children are absent from school to go on vacation, do housework and babysit, how can schools improve their attendance levels? How can these children score high in the SAT if they are struggling just to survive?
If families are dysfunctional, how can they support their child's education? If SAT scores are low in poverty communities, the schools should not be blamed. How will labeling schools as failures help the children?
Schools and teachers in poverty communities have historically been knocking their heads against the wall trying to raise test scores, a mission like trying to treat cancer by improving your MRI test. You cannot treat cancer simply by trying to improve your MRI or CAT scan, just as you cannot help dysfunctional families by improving their children's SAT scores.
How will cutting off educational funds to these schools help the children? More social and family resources are needed for poverty communities. By helping the families to succeed in life, you can help the children succeed in school.
Laraine Yasui
