State Senate should censure Brian Kanno

Some readers have sent letters supporting Sen. Brian Kanno for his past actions. It's good that he has done some worthwhile things in the past, but none of that is pertinent to the ongoing discussion, which is, "Did he abuse the power of his office?"

When this story first broke, Sen. Kanno stated that he was performing constituent service, but it turns out the party involved was not his constituent. Most legislators would have pointed the individual to the numerous government agencies we have to deal with such problems.  

Why would Sen. Kanno expend so much effort for this individual? So far, we know that he attempted to get him reimbursed for travel by direct contact, was the impetus for nonbinding resolutions in both chambers, and finally recommended him for a position with another legislator as an aide. Not bad constituent service for someone who didn't reside in his senatorial district.

If everything reported in the newspapers is correct, then it would seem that the Ethics Commission should get involved. And the sooner the better.

And the Senate should censure him and remove him as chair of the Labor Committee. He has brought ridicule upon the Legislature for even considering his resolutions.

Gov. Lingle will be running for re-election

It's unclear whether Robert Rees was intentionally trying to mislead the public or just looking to create headlines when he made the unsubstantiated claim that Gov. Lingle will run for Congress (Island Voices, April 17).

The governor has made it clear for months that she intends to run for another term. She confirmed that as recently as April 13 when reporters again asked her if a recurring rumor about her running for Congress was true.

"I will be running for re-election as governor in 2006," the governor told reporters. "I've never received a call from any official at the national level — Republican, Democrat, Green or anybody else — asking me to run for anything. They know that I intend to seek re-election as governor," she added, as was printed in the papers.

That should put an end to the claim by Rees that she has "engaged an exploratory committee to evaluate her chances" of running for Congress.

Rees and others continue to perpetuate this rumor because they want to muddy the waters in a desperate attempt to purposefully confuse the public.

Gov. Lingle and Lt. Gov. Aiona, on the other hand, are focused on accomplishing the goals and objectives of the administration. They will again ask for the public's confidence when they seek a second four-year term in 2006.

Diversity requires multicultural approach

I am writing to discuss the importance of multicultural education in our schools. According to Paul Gorski, multicultural education is a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques and addresses current shortcomings, failings and discriminatory practices in education.

In today's classrooms, you can expect diversity. To maximize successful learning, we need to understand each individual student and we must be sensitive to the cultural, community and family values that can have an impact on a student's educational experience. Different types of diversity exist within classroom settings. It is important to recognize and celebrate each one.

The best way to deal with diversity is to accept it and provide the best experience possible to all students. I hope this has given insight and thought about the importance of multicultural education in our schools.

Consumption claims for China exaggerated

Your April 4 story about the "Asian juggernaut" contains some gross misinformation about China as spouted by Chicago business consultant John Mautner.

You quoted Mautner as saying that China is "consuming about half of the world's oil and half of the world's steel and concrete." He was way, way off.

Speaking at the largest industrial trade show in North America, he thereby contributed irresponsibly to the widespread China-bashing that is going on in America these days.

The facts about oil consumption are that the whole world in 2004 consumed 81 million barrels of crude oil per day, of which China consumed about 6 million barrels (under 8 percent), while the United States consumed 20 million barrels, more than three times as much as China.

The imbalance in oil consumption by these two countries makes for an even greater disparity when we look at oil consumption per person. Since China's population is four times as big as the U.S. population, this means that per capita, the Chinese consume only 1/12th as much oil as we Americans.

It's true that China's economy has been growing at an astounding pace for more than 20 years, and at some point down the road will be bigger than the U.S. economy, but it has a long way to go before draining the world's resources and contributing to global warming as much as the United States is doing. And even then, Americans per person will still be hogging much more than the average Chinese.

So as not to overload this letter with dry statistics, I won't go into Mautner's nonsense about China's consumption of steel and concrete.

Senate Republicans mustn't end filibuster

Our government was created to protect all U.S. citizens from decisions that could benefit only a select few. Now, our precious checks and balances system is endangered by a few politicians who are threatening to use the "nuclear option" in just a few days to eliminate the filibuster and force approval of their judges of choice.

This is a serious situation because the filibuster allows debate over these controversial nominees. If they are forced in with the "nuclear option," they will remain in the judicial system for a very long time, and they can negatively affect the laws that govern our workers' rights and environmental acts.

I encourage everyone to call or write your senators now to let them know that we will not stand for this childish behavior, that these Republicans need to follow the rules. They were voted in to protect our rights, and this is the time to stand up for us.

Police get no help from state, its coffers

The Honolulu Police Department will not be stepping up the enforcement of state traffic laws anytime soon. One main obstacle to police officers enforcing traffic laws is that counties do not get any of the revenue generated from the fines assessed by the courts for these violations. The money goes to the state.

Until such time that the state shares the revenue with the already budget-strapped counties, the police departments cannot tie up their officers in court, often paying them overtime for their testimony.

Year after year, this issue has been brought up at the Legislature, but it has always been dismissed by the greedy politicians who don't seem to care about the safety of their constituents on the roadways of Hawai'i.

Governor should speak out on DeLay

Dean Avi Soifer's April 11 commentary put Rep. Tom DeLay and his followers in place. One wonders why we have not heard from our governor on this subject.

Hawai'i should be outraged at the hypocrisy both in the legislative and executive branches at the federal level. That is why it would be fair for the governor to pronounce her position not only on the substantive matters, but the political acts of unconscionable and despicable politicians in both parties who attack the only analytical branch of our government in this matter.

Cap is needed soon against price spiral

What is going on with the gasoline prices in Hawai'i? They are getting out of control. With gas prices going up every few days, Hawai'i needs a price cap real soon.

Gov. Linda Lingle says a gas cap will not work, but we all know where her loyalty is — with big oil companies. If we want to see relief at the pump anytime soon, a gas cap is the only way. The gas cap needs to be a limit on how high prices can get — and not how our government officials proposed earlier.

If Hawai'i does not see a gas cap, we could see prices go as high as $4 a gallon by this time next year. And you know what that means for the big oil companies — big bucks.

Akaka bill passage would not create racial divisions

Kudos to The Advertiser for being fair and balanced. The full-page printing of the Akaka bill and its pros and cons gives hope to the rank and file of Hawai'i's citizenry that ultimately we are responsible for making decisions that affect our lives.

We are amazed, however, by some of the letters to your paper on Native Hawaiian federal recognition (Akaka bill). Some are written predicting racial division, others are preoccupied with who is for and who is against the Akaka bill in an attempt to position themselves to being on the winning side, and others out of a desire for a separate country, free of any ties to the United States.

Federal recognition isn't some surreptitious federal policy that just showed up five years ago with the first introduction of the Akaka bill. It is the result of two centuries of experience learned by the United States, that policies preceding federal recognition of native peoples were criminally destructive to cultures, living human beings and the very preservation of this planet (malama 'aina) espoused by these native cultures.

Every American has a responsibility to protect our native people.

The Akaka bill has nothing to do with poll numbers. The Akaka bill has nothing to do with independence. And finally, Native Hawaiian federal recognition does not create racial divisions. There are 560-plus native governments that co-exist in dozens of states around the country today. To suggest racial unrest is the result of this policy is both blatant ignorance and intellectual dishonesty at best.

And for those who advocate for independence from the United States, the Akaka bill does not stand in your way. A lot of other things do.

Federal recognition of Hawai'i's native people is long overdue. Let's do it and get on with the work of celebrating Hawaiian culture, restoring cultural sites, promoting our Hawaiian language and practicing Hawaiian land values of malama 'aina that have served these Islands for hundreds of years.

Lingle's remarks on public pay increase are divisive

Gov. Lingle's remarks in reaction to the HGEA binding arbitration were not only hurtful to thousands of state employees, but quite misleading in terms of the impact of the award.

The governor accused the award of taking "almost every single penny of the state's revenue increases and using it for collective bargaining increases." With all due respect, that is absurd logic. Collective bargaining is a fixed cost that should be anticipated and budgeted for in any financial plan.

The administration anticipated but did not budget for any collective bargaining increases in its original submittal. I hope this was an oversight and not a calculated move to purposefully blame the pay raises for the governor's inability to get initiatives passed through the Legislature. Regardless, the state's revenue increases and the collective bargaining increases are both part of the state's overall $9 billion budget, and to say that one specifically eradicates the other is not true.

At the beginning of the legislative session, Gov. Lingle made a lot of brownie points by promising tax cuts. We felt all along that it was too early to determine whether tax relief was possible until we saw the March projections by the Council on Revenues as well as the results of the collective bargaining agreements. We might not have won points back in January, but at least we were up-front with the people.

We should know within the next two weeks whether tax relief is possible. As we go into the last few weeks of the legislative session, I believe we will be able to afford the needed services for our citizens, including restoring funding that the governor took out of her budget for education and "ice" programs. Our fiscal goal has always been to maintain quality of life for our people and to better prepare for the future.

I felt very bad for state employees when the governor said, "We won't have the money we should to help those of our citizens who do not work for the state of Hawai'i." To place guilt on state employees for this fiscal situation is inappropriate and divisive. Now is not the time for pettiness and blame.

It is the time for our leaders to roll up our sleeves and sharpen our pencils in order to present a fair and balanced budget for the people of Hawai'i.