Country's division is fated to be permanent

Nobody wants a divided country, but for all the appeals to unity from both sides, it must be realized that division is inevitable.

From a conservative Christian beginning, this country has flourished into a successful and affluent society by world standards. One of the hallmarks of a Christian position is obedience to God as defined by Scripture. This belief is not, however, the law of the land, and was never intended to be.

The other side of Christian obedience is allegiance to other gods and to self. Due to the black-and-white positions of Christianity, Islam and secularism (a true faith), division is a natural part of all our belief systems and is thus irreconcilable. The most we can hope for is graciously allowing one another to share the same benefits and securities of our shared society. In America, this is called freedom.

The political majority within any society will always impress their ideology upon the whole of society. The question is of course their degree of benevolence. Checks and balances within our government are there to mitigate extremism. Beliefs that embrace what are considered offensive extremes by the controlling group, be they on homosexuality, abortion, another religion or the Book of Romans, will always be contentious.

Multiculturalism introduces both delight and division to a society. Division is permanent. Graciousness withheld is always war.

What's the procedure for the handicapped?

Don Bultman's Nov. 2 letter is exactly how I feel regarding this so-called bottle bill. I live in an apartment, with truly no room to store bottles for months. So I will be left with no choice but to continue to throw all of my containers into the rubbish.

Also, as I am in a wheelchair, please tell me how to redeem them. Even if I had the storage area, I am certainly not going to take a Handi-Van weekly to a designated area for them. So I lose my deposit — not right, not fair. I will have no choice but to accept it.

This bottle bill is not making me a happy camper.

Loud cars, speeding must be addressed

Mahalo to L. Tom for a great letter about modified cars (Nov. 1). It is so true that the state is unable or unwilling to enforce existing laws.

Let's hope that with the election over, political rhetoric will be ended and we can get back to some really important issues. Complaints about loud cars and speeding may not grab headlines compared to war and other catastrophes, but peace can begin right here at home. Think about it.

Cars modified for high speed barrel along residential streets designed decades ago and not meant for today's excessive speeders (or modified/mufflerless cars), racing by only feet from residential front doors, creating hazards and extremely annoying noise. Shouldn't people be able to sleep peacefully in the wee hours without cars or motorcycles nearly breaking the sound barrier only a few yards from their ears?

Furthermore, cars that race or speed on the freeways probably didn't start at the on-ramps. If drivers who speed nearly twice the posted limit in residential areas were arrested, fined or ticketed (both for the speeding and for the illegal modifications/exhaust) before they get on the freeway, lives might be saved and our resident streets could be safer and quieter. Cars and trucks speeding 50 mph down a residential street may even be a greater hazard than those going 80-90 mph on the freeway, and should be easier to catch.

Harris' comment on foster care insulting

I was astounded at the remarks Mayor Harris made comparing turning over the city to the next elected mayor with "turning over your child to a foster parent." Mr. Harris needs to be enlightened about foster care.

A child is placed in foster care because the birth parent was unable to provide a safe family home. Hawai'i has 2,400 children in foster care at any given time. Hawai'i has over 2,000 foster parents licensed to care for them, and Harris just offended each and every one of them.

If I look at this politically, instead of as a child advocate, I can see that perhaps Harris meant his city child is being turned over to a foster parent because he failed to provide. But in either case, he owes the foster parents of Hawai'i an apology.

Let stock market sinners pay way out

Based on what I have observed, the probability of serving jail time for impropriety in the stock market is inversely proportional to the dollar value of the theft. Sending Martha Stewart to prison was a dumb idea.

First, it placed the honest folks who work for her businesses in jeopardy because of the loss of revenue. Second, she was probably reacting to the suggestions of her financial advisers. Last, we need to look at how we treat those who gain wealth by cheating the system. The bigger the theft, the more lawyers profit from the loss of revenue to the federal government and the less time the real culprits spend in prison.

The cost of keeping these people in prison is significant and does not affect their ill-gotten wealth. So, why not let them pay for their time financially with the funds used for those who need financial assistance?

'GMO contamination' claim unsubstantiated

Melanie Bondera's Oct. 25 letter about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and organic agriculture was more interesting for what was left out than for what was said. She claims high levels of "GMO contamination" showed up in tests that her organization had done on fruit but doesn't say that the fruit was supplied by others and that she does not know the exact source. This poor sampling procedure makes the results almost impossible to interpret.

Bondera also did not mention that Holly Givens of the Organic Trade Association has acknowledged that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program does not exclude the presence of GMO materials in food. The unintended presence of GMOs doesn't mean that a product cannot be certified organic if reasonable measures were taken to prevent such presence.

In addition, Bondera fails to mention that conventional papaya growers have put procedures in place to ensure that fruit can be shipped to Japan. These procedures are well known and are similar to those used for many years by seed companies that sell certified seed.

Successful coexistence of GMO crops with conventional and organic crops is taking place all over the world.

Turnabout is fair play

How about switching the salaries of Dave Shoji and June Jones?