Where were you when the action came down?

The words of Allan Jackson's hit country song "Where were you when," which asked people where they were when 9/11 happened, come to my mind every time I read another anti-Iraq war article: "Where were you people when 9/11 happened?" And I have more to ask you people:

• Where were you people when, right after 9/11, President Bush said we would take the war to every nation or group that engages in or supports terrorism against us or our allies (like Israel)? If you were there, why do you keep questioning what the main basis for this war is?
• Where were you people when Saddam used his WMDs against his own people and killed them by the thousands and rewarded suicide bombers against Israel with $25,000? Is that terrorism?
• Where were you when he tortured and killed thousands of his people with beatings, amputations, burnings, rapes, metal coffin prisons, shredders, mass executions, live burials, beheadings, acid baths, etc.? Saddam was the king of terrorists and greatest WMD since Hitler!
• Where were you when (before Bush) all the pro-Iraq war people — including the Clintons, Al Gore, the United Nations, Madeline Albright, Ted Kennedy, many Democratic senators — said Saddam needed to be removed because of his WMDs and nuclear threat? Why did you not protest Clinton's hundreds of missiles on Iraq? Why are you not asking where all those WMDs are now?
• Where were all you people so concerned about prisoner abuse when Nick Berg had his head slowly hacked off his body? WHERE WERE YOU THEN?

Water-guzzling planter medians were mistake

Regarding the June 8 story "Water supply still low":

The Board of Water Supply: "We're still looking at what five years of drought has done."

Question: Why were the water-guzzling planter medians on Lunalilo Home Road and other districts allowed? Certainly the communities were not quiet about their opposition, but they were overridden by our local city fathers. However, to ask citizens to conserve while city and state leaders do the opposite is par for Hawai'i politics.

How come the ACLU has so much power?

A headline in a recent Advertiser: "ACLU says state has failed to keep it advised of changes."

My questions have, for a long time, been: "Whence does the ACLU get its considerable power? Is it a quasi-governmental agency? Or does its power come from statements like "For months, the ACLU has been threatening litigation ... "? Is it an altruistic organization — or is it a bully?

Can somebody please help me understand?

Pothole repair a joke; repave our roads

I was extremely amused recently upon hearing politicians' comments regarding street conditions after the monsoon rains we had. They tried to give the impression that the rains were the cause of all the disrepair of O'ahu's roadways.

What a joke! I have noticed for years now how bad the road conditions are.

If you call the state or city pothole report line, you are asked for specific locations. I responded, "Go anywhere, drive down Kapi'olani Boulevard, Ke'eaumoku Street, Ala Moana Boulevard ... you name it, all of the streets are in terrible condition, including many parts of the H-1 Freeway!"

In speaking with the mayor's office recently, I was advised that the City Council has consistently raided the funds that are supposed to be going to road repair and spent the money elsewhere. Is this true? If so, it's an outrage. If we pay taxes that are supposed to go to road repair, then we should get good roads. Is this another shuffle with taxpayer money, robbing Peter to pay Paul? Where is the money going?

Fix our roads! And that doesn't mean pothole repair, it means repaving.

Anti-Semitism shown in Lingle trip dialogue

I have been following the "discussion" of Gov. Lingle's trip to Israel with great unease.

It is a reality that governors visit other countries, sometimes as the guests of those countries (and oh how people complain if they think their tax dollars have been spent). Such visits are multi-purpose and are always about the welfare of the particular governor's home state.

So the governor is Jewish and had the opportunity to connect with her heritage. So did John Kennedy when he visited Ireland, as did Gov. Cayetano in the Philippines. As do many of us, high in station or not.

It is appalling to find such vindictiveness and virulent anti-Semitism brought into the dialogue. There is a serious lack of education, which I find terrifying, on the subjects of Israel and Palestine, in great part due to the distorted reporting.

Traffic madness

I think by the time they finish widening the H-1 Freeway, another 3,000 cars will be added to the traffic mess. So where is the logic?

We are the ones who trashed beautiful 'aina

I headed out from the Wailua house lots on Kaua'i on my usual Saturday morning mountain-bike ride, riding through the Coconut Plantation, Waipouli flats, and along the old haul cane road to Crack 14. It was a perfect morning, the sun was rising over the ocean, fishermen and walkers were out. A "lucky we live Hawai'i" kind of day.

At Crack 14, I decided to head mauka and ride some of the familiar trails between Kuhio Highway and old Kealia Road.

When I arrived at the highway, my heart sank in my chest. There was a line of fence posts along the mauka side of Kuhio Highway heading toward Anahola. We were being fenced out of yet another part of our beautiful island. I was in shock. Why? Who was doing this?

The answer came to me: We, the kanaka, are at fault. Who trashed this beautiful 'aina by dumping our garbage, old vehicles, beer cans and bottles and dirty diapers on it? Tourists did not do it! It was we, the kanaka of Kaua'i.

What choice do we give a property owner when we do this to the 'aina? If we get injured on their property, we sue them, and juries made up of us award ridiculous sums of money to us for our stupidity. We expect them to clean up the garbage we have left on the 'aina.

What can we do about it? We can pass laws that protect the state and private property owners from such stupid lawsuits.

We can educate one another on how to respect the 'aina. Use it but do not abuse it.

We can elect public officials who believe as we do that our beloved 'aina should be protected for all the kanaka to enjoy. Each of us must take responsibility for our actions or inactions.

Register to vote, and vote this fall. Vote for people who are there for all the kanaka, not just a few. Who believe that our 'aina is precious and should be protected for the future generations.

Hui Malama isn't sole claimant

Recent publicity has questioned the present administration of Dr. William Brown as director of Bishop Museum, including the commentary published in the June 13 Advertiser ("Museum leadership must change"). While this particular piece raised a variety of points, the central issue of this current debate continues to be the artifacts from the Kawaihae Caves, which were loaned from Bishop Museum under the terms of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

In light of this ongoing discussion, it's crucial that additional information on this subject is made more generally known.

The artifacts and iwi kupuna (human bones) from Kawaihae that were once held in Bishop Museum were requested for repatriation by multiple claimants, one of which was Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei. It must be emphasized that all of the claimants in this case (originally four in number, and subsequently increased to 13) are of equal stature in this process, both legally and in every other manner. These other claimants are Hawaiian — individuals, families or organizations — just as are the members of Hui Malama.

The various claimants' feelings regarding the artifacts from the Kawaihae Caves differ, and some strongly believe that these objects should not have been placed back in the caves, and that they are not truly moepu (burial objects). As Hawaiians, their opinions must be respected.

And yet, when the artifacts were loaned to Hui Malama in 2000 — not repatriated, or permanently given — the members of this one claimant group immediately returned them to the caves and sealed the entrance. No consensus of the other claimants' desires was ever sought; Hui Malama's actions, in effect, denied that any of the others' wishes would ever be considered.

This organization and its supporters continue to state that they oppose any attempts to undo this act, even though it was not authorized by the terms of the law under which they received the objects.

With justification, then, some of those claimants who disagreed with this situation subsequently filed a complaint with the NAGPRA Review Committee. In 2003, this group (which examines the transactions connected with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act on a national basis) agreed that the Kawaihae Caves repatriation had been flawed and therefore needed to be reopened.

It has been on this basis that Bishop Museum, under Dr. Brown, has pursued the continuation of this case. In doing so, he is acknowledging (as he must) the wishes of the other Hawaiian claimants as well as the ruling of the NAGPRA Review Committee.

This process may go in directions that Hui Malama does not support. This organization is most definitely one of the legitimate participants, but Hui Malama, despite its prominent community position, cannot be the sole determinant of the eventual outcome.

The signers of the previously published article in The Advertiser are strong in their beliefs, and many are known and respected in their fields. But they represent a segment, not the entirety, of the Hawaiian community. Other views exist, and these are of equal sincerity and importance.

There are Hawaiians who believe that Dr. William Brown is acting properly and support his leadership of Bishop Museum.