John Kerry straddled fence on every issue

To all the people who voted for John Kerry because they disagreed with the Iraq war, let me ask you a question: What exactly was Kerry's plan for Iraq? What was his position on any issue, for that matter?

During the debates, Kerry campaigned on getting more allies to contribute to the war, lessening America's burden in Iraq. Yet Kerry also criticized President Bush, saying we don't have enough troops. So did he want more troops or fewer troops? Can you honestly say?

Kerry said he would never give any foreign nation veto power over our national security interests but said if we act, we must "pass the global test." Can you say with absolute certainty what Kerry meant by "global test"? Kerry sure didn't.

Kerry said in the first debate, "America didn't need a tax cut during a time of war when we have a deficit." Then in the second debate he said, "I want to give 98 percent of America a tax cut."

Kerry was for the Patriot Act but against "the way" it was implemented.

He was for disarming Saddam Hussein but against "the way we disarmed him."

He was for No Child Left Behind but against the amount it's being funded.

He was personally against partial-birth abortion and gay marriage, citing his Catholic values, but voted the other way.

He bashed Bush's Social Security plan but gave none of his own.

John Kerry straddled the fence on every issue. That's fine if you're a senator, but not if you want to lead this country and the Free World.

Letter on Rainbow papaya was mistaken

The topic of genetic engineering is of great interest to many members of our community. As an agricultural biotechnology educator at the University of Hawai'i, I would like to comment on the Oct. 21 letter from Maris Abelson.

It is not true that the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources conducts research predominantly in the field of genetic engineering (GE). Only six of more than 220 projects currently under way at CTAHR are GE-related. CTAHR believes that biotechnology is just one of many agricultural tools.

As we try to help our farmers solve problems, we use conventional breeding techniques, integrated pest management, organic production methods and genetic engineering. We strongly believe that conventional agriculture and biotechnology can coexist and that all approaches will play an important role in helping Hawai'i farmers in the future.

Abelson also suggests that GE papaya will "contaminate indigenous varieties" in Hawai'i, but Hawai'i has no native papaya. The threat to Hawai'i's papayas came not from GE papaya, but from the papaya ringspot virus. If virus-resistant GE papaya had not been introduced in Hawai'i, the industry would have collapsed under disease pressure.

Last, with regard to the issue of labeling genetically engineered papaya, it must be clarified that CTAHR is not responsible for labeling GE products. If the nutritional value of GE papaya had differed from other papayas, labeling would have been applied by the FDA, but no such difference was found. Furthermore, over seven years of testing were required by three federal bodies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency before the Rainbow papaya was declared safe.

Warriors need better defensive coordinator

What happened to the old Rainbow football team, whose defense was its greatest strength? In the past, the Rainbows would hold very good teams to very low scores and would have an incredible goal-line defense. Of course, those past teams did not have a great scoring offense, but in the majority of the games, doesn't the defense win games?

Now the Warriors have a great offense (except for the Boise State game), but the defense gets run over in the June Jones era (past and present) even when the Warriors win. UH really needs to find that old defensive coordinator who held opponents to very few points and a sports trainer to help them stretch properly or have after-game massages so that there will be less injury.

Help! We are in desperate need of a good defensive coordinator.

Many of our teachers go beyond the call

Congratulations to Ms. Winona Oato for winning the DOE Teacher of the Year award. As one of her former students, I appreciate not only her work inside the classroom but also time she spent outside of class to help us. She even held study sessions on weekends to give us additional assistance. As a result, I did well on both the advanced placement calculus exam and in an advanced calculus course I took in college.

Ms. Oato is one of many teachers I had at Kailua High who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us learn, including Derek Minakami, my former physics teacher and 2001 state Teacher of the Year. They helped me become what I am today — a third-year medical student at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. I would like to thank them, for I believe that quality education is possible in public school if students have teachers who are equally as dedicated.

Having spoken with alumni of other public high schools, I know there are other teachers who help their students strive for excellence. Please continue to keep up the good work.

'Failing' is not a part of the No Child law

Treena Shapiro's excellent article examining the No Child Left Behind law and its practice in Hawai'i helps identify some key challenges posed by the federal law (" 'Failing' hardly means it's bad," Oct. 24).

However, "failing" is not the correct rating. Not a single school in the country will be labeled "failing" by the No Child Left Behind law. In fact, the term "failing" does not even appear in the law. Citing this nonexistent label places some "meanness" into the law where there is none. The "failing" label has also been incorrectly applied in political rhetoric to undermine the positive aspects of the law.

No Child Left Behind means accountability in education. States set their own standards and measures of progress. Through assessments, areas in which schools need to improve are identified (i.e., if reading scores do not reach the state's standard, the school knows it needs to improve its reading program). The stringent requirements also require the state to identify several subpopulations to assess and to make adequate yearly progress. Most important, when a school identifies an area it needs to improve, the law provides extra help and resources to schools and new options for parents to help get the job done.

No Child Left Behind empowers parents with unprecedented information and options to ensure that their child gets the best education we can provide. We can no longer allow our children to progress unchallenged each year through our schools when they have not demonstrated the ability to read or compute at grade level.

In summary, you are correct that making adequate yearly progress in 36 of 37 criteria is not failing. However, it does mean that we need improvement in one of 37 criteria. Let's focus and leave none of these children behind.

Becoming substitute teacher a nightmare

The Department of Education needs to learn the power of "yes." I actually want to be a substitute teacher.

It didn't bother me that the schools didn't have the course materials or the applications, and neither was I bothered by the inconsistencies between offices. Once I passed the exit exam with a 92 percent and went to the central office to get fingerprinted, it has been one gas-guzzling, time-consuming, authority-lacking, policy-enforcing thing after another.

On the application, I affirmed receiving a DUI in 2000. The DOE does not value honesty because then the background-check guy in the central office had to meet with me — and he wouldn't do it over the telephone. First he wanted a letter from the 28-day rehab I attended. (It was voluntary, and what does that prove anyway?) Then he wanted three letters of recommendations in 10 days.

I have encountered teachers who yell, use name-calling and smoke pot. I have a B.A., was accepted into two O'ahu nursing schools, am honest, don't drink and am even CPR-certified. It would be easier for me to go on welfare than to be a substitute in the central district.

Do more than whine about the bottle bill

Instead of just complaining about how poorly the bottle bill is being implemented, please do something about it.

One solution to get us through this crisis seems quite clear to me. Don't buy products that come in those bottles. We are talking mostly about soda anyway.

Besides, our overweight population could do without soda for a few months.

And then there is bottled water, which is generally just a matter of taste. Hardcore bottled-water drinkers could buy a few gallon-sized bottles and then refill them from the machines.

Consumers have the ultimate power, which is to not buy products. Try it and see how quickly things can change.

Strangers came to the rescue in Manoa

In the recent flooding in Manoa, Bette and Harold Wataoka had the misfortune to suffer considerable damage to their home. In the aftermath of this event, they had the good fortune to experience an outpouring of help from many people, especially young adults and girls and boys, whom they did not know. These were beautiful people who just came to aid them in their time of great need.

One woman walked by on her crutch and offered her help when there were only five of us to tackle a truly herculean task. She asked if she could bring her friends over to help, and came almost immediately with their tools ready to work. It was truly impressive.

I later asked one of the young people there who the young lady was who recruited them. He told me that it was Nadine Nishioka and that is her style.

Obviously, we were floored because here was a person busy with her life who took the time to help people she did not know. And what a fantastic group of young people! I believe all of us who are in the "very senior citizen" category should feel glad that the future of Hawai'i is in good hands with representatives like these.

I am only a relative of the couple who experienced this bad luck but I want very much to thank all of these people who gave of themselves on a Sunday to help others.

On behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Wataoka, I thank all of you so very much. May good fortune be your future.

Coveting Kamehameha would deny intended

With so many schools available, this struggle to get non-Hawaiians into the Kamehameha Schools smacks of simply wanting something because you can't have it.

For every non-Hawaiian child who gets in, one Hawaiian child, for whom the schools were intended, gets left out. Where is the aloha?

I distinctly recall reading in the newspapers in the early '60s about a newcomer to the Islands preparing to sue because her son was denied entry to Kamehameha Schools, but dropped the case when advised that the Kamehameha Schools in Hawai'i for Hawaiian children are the Hawai'i equivalent of the Indian schools on the Mainland for Indian children.