Excessive speeding must be addressed

I was shocked to learn that in order for a license to be revoked, a driver must drive at least 90 mph. The number does not make sense. This is outrageous!

Perhaps anything over 10 mph over the speed limit would be more realistic because I've observed that almost everyone drives above the speed limit. We (the normal commuters) sometimes run over the limit by 5 or 10 mph. Even with that, the drive on the road can be potentially dangerous.

You'd think that common sense would override the Legislature to come up with a plan to cut down on speeders. Make life simpler for all. Put into action what will work for our commuters. Keep our drivers safe, and work with what we already have out there with our speed signs. When the HPD does ticket drivers who go 10 mph over the speed limit, second thoughts could enter the drivers' minds to slow down a bit in the future.

U.S. should declare Israel a terrorist state

Rabbi Avi Magid's spinning for Israel is understandable.

It's people like him who scream "no more walled ghettos," as was done to the Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Yet the Jews are building walled ghettos around the Palestinian people.

It is American tax dollars for the Israeli army that are killing unarmed Palestinian men, women and children.

The American people need to wake up and force our government to declare Israel a terrorist state and cut off all money and weapons to Israel.

Lasting Reagan legacy

Recently we saw the tribute of a grateful nation to a great president, Ronald Reagan. Whenever I pass the section of the Berlin Wall on the campus of Honolulu Community College, I will always be reminded of his memorable admonition to Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." It is a reminder of not only our president but our responsibility to tear down the artificial barriers to peace and democracy for all peoples.

Commercial fishermen also using circle hook

Having just read the June 16 article "Seal needs more surgery to remove fish hook," I feel that Dr. Bob Braun may be misinformed, as his statement that the hook was a recreational-type circle hook is misleading.

Dr. Braun may not be aware that the commercial fishing industry here in Hawai'i has also been using these types of hooks and similar shaped hooks for at least 80 years. More recently, the industry has been encouraged by environmental groups to use them because they increase the survival rate of unintended catch.

These hooks typically hook fish in the jaw and not the gut due to their circular shape.

Outside of Hawai'i, however, the circle hook is not largely recognized as a commercial hook and is known only as a "new" and "innovative" piece of tackle that conservationists and anglers alike are promoting for sportfishing catch-and-release practices.

While an unfortunate occurrence, it is important to emphasize that the instances of fish or other animals getting hooked in the stomach with a circle hook are very infrequent, as noted by Dr. Braun. Compared to the multitude of other man-made hazards seals and protected marine life face, like marine debris and human interaction, the odds of being hooked by a recreational fisherman's circle hook are very low.

Piece trashing Bush on North Korea lacks substance

In his June 13 commentary on President Bush's allegedly disastrous miscalculations on North Korea's nuclear bomb program, Dave Polhemus, the only member (thus far) of The Advertiser editorial team to admit in print that he is a "bleeding-heart liberal," continues supporting Clintonian U.S. State Department delusions that we can reason with and negotiate successfully with the irrational tyrants that run countries like North Korea and Iran.

As Ronald Reagan proved so conclusively in destroying the evil empire of the Soviets, these people only understand strength and force.

Contrary to Polhemus' assertion that Bush "abrogated" the nuclear freeze agreement with North Korea, it was North Korea that abrogated the agreement by cheating with a secret program to continue to develop nuclear weapons that they agreed to forgo in exchange for Western aid.

The Clintonistas in the State Department winked at North Korea's cheating, in effect "kicking the can down the road" and leaving the mess for his successor to deal with. Bush had the guts to stand up and tell the North Koreans that their cheating was unacceptable and that our aid would stop.

Polhemus also disapproves of the Bush/Rumsfeld move to relocate some of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea from their current suicidal function as a "tripwire" at the DMZ, to a more southerly location, where they might survive to counterattack any North Korean invasion. It's hard for me to understand how a bleeding-heart liberal can be opposed to a move that changes the status of our boys from that of cannon-fodder to a fighting force with a chance for surviving an attack. I wonder if he would like his sons or grandsons to be sacrificed as part of this "tripwire" that has such great "symbolic value"?

And Polhemus, referring to undocumented "senior Chinese" sources, manufactures out of whole cloth a possible new "spectacular CIA intelligence failure." That wishful thinking is worthy of The New York Times.

Finally, he seems sorely troubled that Washington's position on the whole North Korean matter has become "inscrutable," just like the North Korean positions usually are. Perhaps he might consider the possibility that keeping an untrustworthy member of the axis of evil off balance might have some strategic value.

More letters on Dobelle firing

What goes around will come around

The majority of the moral, principled, fair, decent and just people we have met in our lives believe in some form of "karma" (in lieu of "retribution") in business and/or personal dealings.

The die has been cast for the UH regents and all of those connected with this latest episode. The polarization has begun. This cabal will eventually have to face the consequences, and they will be dire.

Dr. Dobelle will wind up just fine. His brilliant academic track record speaks for itself.

The big losers are the university and the state of Hawai'i.

Dobelle has every right to sue regents

If Evan Dobelle were an employee at any company, his firing and the way it was handled would've been a violation of company policy, and he has every right to sue the Board of Regents for the unprofessional and unethical manner in which it handled his termination.

Regent Patricia Lee, as an intelligent attorney, should know that Mr. Dobelle has the right to sue for compensation for the many damages done.

Even if Mr. Dobelle deserved to be terminated, the way it was handled was wrong. He should also not regret supporting a candidate whom in his heart he believed could make a difference in our great state. Everyone has a right to vote for whom they believe can do the job.

Many students didn't like Dobelle's style

As a current University of Hawai'i student, I am surprised to see so many people backing former president Evan Dobelle. I did not care for his style, and neither did many of my peers.

For example, I remember vaguely a time when a KITV4 newscaster asked Dobelle why he doesn't get one of the students to design the controversial school logo rather than pay a Mainlander tons of money, and Dobelle replied with something along the lines of, "Why don't we get one of our journalism students to replace your job?" I feel this type of attitude is totally uncalled for and extremely unprofessional.

I read a lot about the change that took place during his years in office, and believe me, I'm all for change; however, I cannot recall one change that I benefited from.

Regents obviously followed Lingle cue

It is so obvious to everyone where the regents' loyalty lies; after all, who appointed six of the regents? Linda Lingle. After President Dobelle endorsed Mazie Hirono for governor, let us guess who was upset. Upset enough not to meet with him in two years, accept on two occasions.

For the regents to fire him and not show publicly the "cause" — get ready, taxpayers, to open your pockets. When President Dobelle takes this to court, he will undoubtedly get his $2 million plus punitive damages.

I strongly believe that President Dobelle, with his incredible résumé, was shafted, and as a voter and mother of a UH graduate, I sincerely apologize on behalf of my family for the pain you are now having to endure. Best of luck to you, sir, wherever you go.

As for the regents, I have nothing to say to you except "shame on you."

UH president serves faculty and students

For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be an alumnus of the UH system.

Dr. Dobelle's termination was handled poorly and without any sense of dignity or aloha.

I also fear that the repercussions of this event will severely hamper an attempt to find a suitable replacement in the future. Who will want to work for a board that will not show any respect to its president?

The board should remember that the president serves the faculty and students, and not the board. Dr. Dobelle was the best president in years and will be sorely missed by both faculty and students.

Dobelle's only crime: wearing shoes in house

My wife and I recently renovated our kitchen. It seems to me that the hiring of Evan Dobelle was a little like that. Our community decided our university needed a major renovation. The logic seemed to be, if we need to renovate, we might as well go top-of-the-line.

The problem is, when you go with a top-of-the-line designer, sometimes you have to go with top-of-the-line tastes and attitudes. But if you want your house to look like the picture in the magazine, at some point you've got to go for it.

So UH goes ahead with the renovation and pretty soon we get shell-shocked at how much everything costs and how big a leap of faith we have to take with our designer's vision.

We hold our breath, write the checks and watch as our comfortable old house gets demolished. Somehow I think the university could deal with that.

It seems as if what the regents couldn't deal with is that every day they had to endure the fact that their top-of-the-line East Coast designer kept wearing his shoes in the house. The money was hard, the changes were hard, but the shoes — talk about culture clash.