Letters to the Editor

Conservative agenda nothing to get upset at

Calm down, Mr. Rees! All we conservatives want are lower taxes and for the government to stop telling us what tree we can sit under.

We believe in free markets — the right of people to make money, own property, and use their money and property as they see fit. Like President Kennedy, we believe that "a rising tide floats everybody's boat," and the best way to fight poverty is to maintain a healthy and growing economy.

We believe in a "colorblind" society with equal opportunity for all. We share Dr. Martin Luther King's vision of a land where people are judged by the "content of their character" rather than the color of their skin.

We believe in limited government. When government must act, we prefer action "close to home" by state and local government. We believe that laws should be made by elected representatives rather than appointed judges.

We believe that government should protect citizens by arresting and punishing criminals. Unlike libertarians, and like most Americans, we believe that serious vices such as drug abuse, pornography and prostitution should be against the law.

Conservatives celebrate an America where freedom has created the wealthiest, most innovative and most ethnically diverse society in the history of humankind.

Rees has it all wrong about conservatism

Your June 29 commentary by Robert Rees, "Hawai'i conservatives: Right thinking," was once again nothing but a liberal trashing conservatives under the quite obvious guise of writing an article about conservatism.

Writing with words the man on the street and I would have trouble understanding (have you read it?), he wasted our time both for the content, which is highly elitist, and the way it was written so as to eliminate the man on the street from the conversation. It did nothing to explain anything about conservatives or conservatism but quoted people whom few conservatives care about, ala old textbook. The article is, of course, nothing but his own personal and biased liberal opinion.

The "Right thinking" article contained not one word about real grass-roots conservatives because he doesn't know anything about them. My very good friend, the man from Manila who has kept our yard looking so beautiful for years, is as strong a conservative as I am, and my friend the bug man who fights our termites and roaches for us is a solid conservative Republican and fan of Linda Lingle, and yet Mr. Rees has never had anyone like either of them on his program that I have ever seen, nor does he understand that people like these exist and are the real conservatives who are multiplying and not just the people on his shows and in his many quotations.

In spite of what Mr. Rees says, the great difference between a liberal and a conservative is the fact that the conservative will almost always stand up and proudly say, I am a conservative, as I do. A liberal will rarely do so.

Interisland travel no picnic anymore

Anyone who has flown on Aloha or Hawaiian airlines interisland lately has probably noticed some unwelcome changes. Expect to pay around $200 for a round-trip ticket, to start with. That is, of course, if you can even get a flight, considering the number of flights available has been cut dramatically.

Remember the days when you could change your flight reservations as often as you needed, hop on an earlier flight if you got to the airport a little bit early, or bring on a bag that was a little larger or heavier than usual?

Well, no more. Expect heavy fines from now on.

It seems Aloha and Hawaiian have decided to adopt more Mainland-style business practices. What a disappointment, what a shame.

This certainly does not seem like the way to entice local customers and improve business. Hawai'i's people deserve better.

My family used to travel off-island all the time, often for a last-minute getaway. Unfortunately, I do not think we will be traveling to the Neighbor Islands any time soon.

Anyone interested in going into the ferry boat business?

Where were naysayers when there was work?

Lately there's been a lot of hand-wringing about the city's vision teams. All it takes is one front-page article about a couple of vision projects ("New signs of costly times," June 15) and the naysayers come to strut.

As a vision participant, I'd like to ask the complainers where they were when their neighbors were meeting each month to discuss how they wanted their community to look in 10, 20, 30 years. Where were they when they debated over several months? Where were they when the ideas were presented to the broader community? Just as I guessed: They were home in front of the TV, too busy to come to a community meeting.

Vision teams have been meeting for four years. There are dozens of projects already completed and others on the way. These projects represent the wishes of people who took the time to come to the meetings to talk about their neighborhoods. They are taxpayers, too. Why shouldn't they be able to decide how to spend their own money?

I'm tired of complainers. Why don't we support the people who get in there and roll up their sleeves and work hard to make things better? They are making my and your city a better place.

Legislators' forum leaves most of us out

How clever of Democratic legislators to call a public forum on Monday at 1:30 p.m. when the majority of the people whose money they want to spend are hard at work and not free to testify. If they really wanted to hear from the public, they would schedule hearings in our communities at a time when working families can be present.

How disingenuous, too, for these legislators to point a finger at Gov. Lingle when it is their relentless pandering to special-interest groups — all in the name of re-election — that has created the financial hardship that exists today in Hawai'i.

The state cannot spend money it does not have. That's not spin, as Sen. Espero says, that's reality. Congratulations to Gov. Lingle for letting the public know the truth.

I hope viewers are not fooled when they watch the evening news tomorrow. All they will see is a well-scripted Senate play whose actors will be all of the usual suspects.

Enforcement lacking on handicap parking

Just exactly who is responsible for handicap parking? Is it a city function? Who establishes, administers and enforces the program?

It's a much-needed program for those who can walk but a limited distance even with a cane, walker or crutches or who have to switch off to a wheelchair after parking. But, since shopping centers and malls usually designate parking spaces near to center, they have become prime targets for other shoppers who care little for the handicapped.

Who polices the parking? What do you do when you notice that one or more of the blue-painted parking stalls are occupied by cars without the legal blue parking tag? It seems rather stupid to have the blue parking spaces all over the island but nobody to police them and protect the rights of the handicapped — or are they real rights?