Kerry is better choice for our environment

Here is another reason to not vote for George Bush: Despite attempts to portray himself as a president who cares about clean air, clean water, wetlands and forests, the Bush administration has been systematically dismantling the environmental protections that have been put in place over the last 30 years.

John Kerry has a strong record for the environment. He supports full enforcement of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, supports reducing pollution and carbon emissions that lead to global warming and supports re-engaging with the international community to go beyond Kyoto. He has been a key player in recent fights against drilling in the Arctic refuge, and led the fight to increase fuel efficiency of cars.

The clear choice for the environment is John Kerry.

War cannot be won with/without a draft

Washington is trying to win in Iraq with high-tech weekend warriors and mercenaries. And it isn't working, exactly as Hawai'i's Gen. Eric Shinseki had predicted.

For us to prevail militarily in Iraq, we would need to make a commitment, the breadth of which — and pay a dollar and blood price — a majority of Americans are quite unprepared to support.

John Kerry says that George Bush will have to start up the draft, and Bush says he won't. But no matter who wins the election, the war is militarily unwinnable in Iraq without a draft and politically unwinnable in America with a draft.

Bush's leadership hasn't united us

On Tuesday, for the first time in history, the small, late-voting state of Hawai'i may actually determine the outcome of a presidential election. What a great opportunity not just to make news but to help unite the country.

Whoever is elected will face a nation even more deeply divided than in 2000, when George Bush pledged to be "a uniter, not a divider." Throughout his four years as president, Bush has acted on his assumption that those who oppose his policies, even if they are half the nation, are misguided, disloyal and worthy of his deaf ear. This is a great failure of leadership.

Let's do our best to elect someone who can be president of all the people. With Kerry there is hope, because he can still hear.

Kerry doesn't say how he'll get job done

In speeches, Sen. Kerry repeatedly refers to his plans. He urges us to visit his Web site, johnkerry.com, to learn more about them. Those of you with Internet access should visit and judge for yourselves. For others, let me make some observations. I printed out six of those plans so I could read them carefully. They are on vital issues ranging from national security to healthcare to the environment.

What a disappointment. Roughly half of each page is a philosophical discussion of what's wrong. The balance of each page consists of a few short paragraphs with bold headers saying what, if elected president, John Kerry will do. These amount to glib promises like "Create good-paying jobs," "Develop tomorrow's technology today" and "Cut your (healthcare) premiums," to name just a few.

While he does say what he wants to do, Kerry never says how he will do it.

Bainum's proposal for aquarium disturbing

I will vote for Mufi Hannemann on Nov. 2 and I urge everyone to do the same. Here's why:

About 10 or so years ago, when Duke Bainum was in the Legislature, he helped to spearhead a campaign to "Save the Fishes." On the surface, it appeared to be a genuine effort to help the Waikiki Aquarium improve and expand its facilities by building, among other things, a boat dock near the Natatorium. Rep. Bainum's office got the word out to schoolchildren throughout O'ahu to start a petition drive to support this bill, all in the guise of "saving Hawai'i's fish."

What was soon revealed was as disturbing as Little Red Riding Hood finding the wolf in her grandma's bed. The master plan for these so-called aquarium improvements included building a commercial boat dock for a then-still-struggling-to-get-established tourist submarine venture. Can you picture tour buses coming through a reconfigured Kaimana Beach parking area? Thankfully, the aquarium eventually received its much-deserved improvements but without the commercial strings attached.

Mufi deserves our vote and the opportunity to lead our great city.

Duke Bainum also qualifies as 'local'

There are many important issues facing the city, but it seems as if mayoral candidate Mufi Hannemann and his supporters feel it's more important to portray their opponent, Duke Bainum, as a non-local and an outsider (haole). It's a shame they took this road.

Recently, a Mufi supporter wrote a letter in The Honolulu Advertiser saying, "our local mayoral candidate," and another writer accused Bainum of starting the negative campaign, which is untrue. Mufi started it when he opened his campaign with his slogan "Our Home, Our Mayor" on all his posters, signs, banners, brochures and television and radio ads. He ran a television ad featuring children with local roots supporting Mufi as one of their own.

Some people say they will vote for Mufi because he is a "local" boy. In looking up the word "local" in Webster's Dictionary, I couldn't find anything that said one has to be born in a certain place to be a "local." The true definition for "local" is: "belonging to a particular place or serving the needs in a specific district." That qualifies Bainum, who has resided on this island for 25 years and served his constituents for many of those years.

Voters should weigh Rep. Schatz's intentions

It is unfortunate and disappointing that the County Clerk's Office dismissed our challenge to the residency of my opponent, state Rep. Brian Schatz.

Rather than looking at the basis of our complaint and the solid facts we provided, including an owner-occupant mortgage signed by Schatz promising to reside at that Saint Louis Heights property within 60 days, the office instead chose to treat it as any other residency case.

My campaign committee and I felt obliged to look into the concerns of my neighbors who believe Schatz is the owner-occupant of a house outside of Makiki. We felt that bringing our research to the attention of the election authorities was the right thing to do for Makiki. In a race where open and honest government is a campaign issue, it is only natural that we practice what we preach.

The law and state Constitution are clear. Even a Supreme Court case (Case v. Miller), which was reaffirmed by an attorney general's opinion, made it more apparent that it is not where one physically resides but rather where that individual intends to make his permanent, fixed residence that decides his residency.

The County Clerk's Office made its decision, and we must accept it for now. It is my hope that the residents of Makiki will see through the politics of the ruling and decide what they truly want for their community: someone who cares about our neighborhood enough to invest in it and make it their permanent, fixed residence, or someone who chose another neighborhood to be his home in the near future.

Ousting incumbent over religion wrong

Richard S. Miller ("Don't let faith dictate your vote," Oct. 24) may know constitutional law, but he is not a moralist. The issues he addressed are more than religious issues. They are issues that define the morality of a group of people and its society.

As one who has voted in every presidential election since 1952, I believe that a candidate's views on issues are important to me. I read and evaluate their replies to questionnaires on all issues, including moral ones. To vote someone out of office just because of his religious views is just what our Founding Fathers objected to.

If Mr. Miller wants President Bush out of office, that's his choice. But to use the moralistic issues as his reason to vote for John Kerry displays the purpose of his article.

Enough already with this election

I will be glad when this election season is over. Thank goodness for the baseball playoffs, which have helped us to get through all the negativity from both local and national races with some measure of sanity.

It is no longer an issue of working to make this country, state or city a better place, but is one of power and winning. No idea, no matter how good it may be, will go unopposed by the opposition party. I am afraid that as long as the United States follows this path, and there is no end in sight, it will be brought down in the next generation or two. Our only hope is our children and grandchildren's generations to bring some sense into this. Our generation, sad to say, has failed miserably.

As for me, I will vote against the candidates with the most negative ads and the most signs, which show they have no respect for the beauty of this state. It also shows it is no longer a passion but an obsession without any regard for good but only of power. They cannot be trusted.

Lingle very much in touch with state's current events

The letter by Dave Endo accusing the governor of leaving education and adolescent drug treatment challenges unattended last week ("Gov. Lingle should be home settling issues," Oct. 17) is simply ridiculous and indicates he is out of touch with current events.

Before leaving Oct. 12 on a late-night flight to the Mainland, Gov. Lingle released $560,000 to design and build an adolescent residential drug treatment facility on Kaua'i. That followed the release of about $10.7 million earlier in the year for substance abuse programs statewide.

As for education reform, the administration succeeded in making it the state's top issue during the 2004 legislative session, which led to some movement in the right direction, albeit baby steps. Even majority party legislators with a vested interest in the status quo were prodded into action, knowing this would be a major issue in the general election. Looking ahead to 2005, count on Gov. Lingle to come forward with additional far-reaching education initiatives.

Moreover, it was mean-spirited of Mr. Endo to suggest that the governor was not entitled to take three vacation days so she could attend the final presidential debate in Arizona, travel with fellow governors for two days on behalf of the president of the United States, as well as visit with the Hawai'i girls who are temporarily staying at a youth correctional facility in Utah.

Our state should be proud of the governor's close relationship with the White House and all the advantages that entails. Over the past 23 months, our state has realized tremendous benefits and resources from her close ties in D.C.

Finally, Gov. Lingle stays in close touch with her office and key staff each and every day, whether on the Mainland or a Neighbor Island, or representing the state at events on O'ahu.

Therefore, back to Mr. Endo's question. Yes, Gov. Lingle was on top of the key issues of the day even during a four-day Mainland trip.