Posted on: Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Rotting rec center needs a plaque, too

Would someone in the Harris administration please tell us where to order the "memorial plaques"? We would like to install one on the termite-eaten, water-rotted, broken-down community recreation center at the Ala Wai Community Park.

The plaque would serve to remind our senior citizens using the center who was responsible for the 10 years of neglect and the administration's failure to protect and preserve one of our state's historically significant public assets.

Mayor Harris claimed there was no money in the budget to complete even basic emergency repairs of the wind-damaged roof. Instead, the administration chose to let the building literally fall down around our citizens' shoulders.

I wonder how many brass plaques it would take to fix the leaks in the Ala Wai center's roof? We need a plaque to identify the people responsible for creating another "Natatorium" on the mauka side of the Ala Wai Canal. We need to hold them accountable for their failures.

Bush's 'generosity' made us look bad

It was sad indeed that President Bush waited four days before offering to help the millions of earthquake and tsunami victims in the first place, and that his first "token" gift was a paltry $15 million — less than the cost of his upcoming inauguration parties and gala balls.

And it did not make us Americans look good that his pledge was the lowest per capita of all countries that had offered help. The U.S.A. looked like a Third World country, a banana republic, and perception does matter.

It was even more shameful that he then had to be embarrassed into increasing that amount, and that the $350 million pledge still kept us at the bottom of the list — $1.18 per American. That is not the reputation America has enjoyed in the pre-Bush era. Japan's promise of $500 million represents more than $4 per person in that country, and it was not at the top of the per capita list of the more generous industrialized nations. The Japanese should be proud.

Perhaps, if Bush had not increased our national debt and deficit to record highs, we could have given more.

Perhaps if the reconstruction contracts in the dozen South Asian countries could be turned over to Halliburton, Harken, Carlyle, Bechtel, Enron, Chevron, the House of Bush/House of Saud and other politically correct entities, we could divert some of the war billions to peaceful uses.

Bottle recycling is big boon to the 'aina

To all who have had a part in drafting, supporting and implementing the bottle bill in Hawai'i: Mahalo! One of the best things about this bill is that it will considerably reduce the amount of plastics that we deliver into the ocean.

The odd advent of virtually indestructible plastic as the material of choice for disposable containers is obvious. Only about 20 percent of all containers get recycled with the current drop-off program. Anyone can see the plastic beverage containers in the landscape, especially in the gutters that lead directly to the ocean. And anyone can see the litter on the beaches that results, not to mention the documented tons of floating plastics in the open ocean.

The 80 percent recycling rate anticipated with the new redemption fee program (based on the experience of other states with a bottle bill) will constitute a significant benefit for all of us who care about the 'aina.

One glaring oversight

While watching the television commercial about motor vehicle seat belts, something about "Click It or Ticket" and how the police will enforce it, I wondered why all the young people all over the island ride around in the back of pickup trucks, waiting for disaster to happen. Just a few years ago back in Oregon, four young men died when their truck turned over as they were returning from the beach.

Worldviews battling for the souls of people

Rev. Mike Young wonders, why all the fuss about creationism (Letters, Dec. 19)? The answer is that two worldviews are battling for the souls of people.

Evolution is not "the theory with the evidence," but rather the theory with thousands of assumptions based on scanty pieces of data interpreted to favor evolution but a long way from proving the assumptions to be facts.

The fossil record does not show evolving life forms but rather the sudden appearance of completely and fully developed forms. Life forms, living or dead, show variation (small changes) but not evolution (changing into a completely different life form). Finches remain finches, dogs remain dogs, trilobites remain trilobites. These facts support creation of life forms with the potential for variation to adjust to changing environmental conditions; they do not support the evolution of life forms.

Evolution can never be the "way God did it" because evolution is grossly inconsistent with God's character. Millions of years of trial-and-error to get a life form to exist and reproduce successfully ascribes cruelty, inefficiency and lack of knowledge to God. Having death before sin makes God a liar, since He has said "the wages of sin is death."

In the end, one accepts by faith what God, or man, has said about the creation of the universe and life forms. One either accepts by faith what God has said about sin and the need for a savior or does not. The worldview chosen by individuals determines their destiny.

It's the low wages, not the menial work

President Bush keeps telling us that the reason the United States needs Mexican workers is that they will do jobs that "Americans won't do." He doesn't seem to be aware of what an insult this is, not just to Mexicans, but Americans as well.

The president evidently believes that Americans think they are "too good" to do certain kinds of work. I can only speak for myself, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, and I'd rather pick beans in a field than count beans in an office any day.

If Americans avoid certain kinds of work, I'll bet it has less to do with the kind of work it is than with the fact that such jobs pay such miserable wages. That's the real insult, a disgraceful injustice, no matter what the country of one's national origin.

I could respect those who shy away from the hands-on physical labor, which is the sine qua non of the well-being of all nations, more if they, in turn, would accord the workers who do such work the honor and respect they deserve by paying them a decent wage.

When President Bush famously asked for the nation's understanding and sympathy in the recent presidential debates for all the "hard work" he was doing in the White House, millions of workers with aching muscles and sweaty brows thought it was hilarious.

File for car damage

I would like to pass on to Mr. Arnold Bitner (Letters, Monday) how to get that $768.28 back for the pothole damage to his car. My husband also had his $1,200 custom Porsche wheel severely damaged by a pothole on our "fine" Honolulu roads. He went to the City & County of Honolulu Web site and got the correct filing forms. We should be receiving a check for our damage any day now. Maybe if enough people send their damage report forms in, the city will start taking us seriously.

Hard-working musicians deserve a better review

We of the musicians' union do not represent the musicians of the Royal Hawaiian Band in its contract with the City & County of Honolulu (as city employees, they are represented by HGEA). However, as proud citizens of our city, and on behalf of all professional musicians who seek justice and fairness, we have to speak out against Lee Cataluna's attack on the band and its hard-working musicians.

If the purpose of Cataluna's column was to criticize frivolous spending by Mayor Harris, she misses the mark and misleads her readers by including the band in her expose. The Royal Hawaiian Band, far from being some mayoral boondoggle, was founded over a century-and-a-half ago by King Kamehameha III. It exists by virtue of the City Charter, which is an instrument of the people of Honolulu. By supporting the band through their charter, Honolulu's residents recognize that it is government's job to both support culture and the arts and to fix potholes and remove abandoned cars.

This is something that the people of Honolulu should take pride in.

The Royal Hawaiian Band is not the same as a coffee-table book or a brass plaque. Like our public parks and transit system, it is a vital part of our civic life, and its contributions to all segments of society make it far from frivolous.

But if she is concerned about the city's spending habits, it makes absolutely no sense for her to attack the band's musicians for simply standing up for themselves. She seems almost offended by the fact that these artists not only get paid for being musicians, but also want to protect themselves through collective action. We disagree: We believe that musicians who work for others deserve the same rights and protections as other workers. Just because their work requires creativity and artistry does not mean that musicians do not deserve to live and work in dignity.

Ms. Cataluna, these musicians do not "get to be" full-time musicians. They work hard, and get paid for it. It is we, the residents of Honolulu, who get to enjoy the fruits of their labor thanks to our city's support of culture and the arts in Honolulu. We should take pride in that fact, and work to ensure that no one — artist, laborer or office worker — has to suffer because of the nature of her or his work. As a playwright, you should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with your fellow artists as they try to improve their lives, not trying to tear them down like a crab in a bucket.

Research article unresearched

The Dec. 23 article "Big bucks, little bang for UH research" by Sean Hao was a huge disservice to the dedicated researchers of the University of Hawai'i.

The article was another missed opportunity for The Advertiser to do a useful piece of work, lay out the issues and educate its readers. UH needs much better media coverage than this. It is no wonder that Hawai'i taxpayers badmouth UH as being fraught with problems, certainly all of our own making.

Several issues regarding commercialization of UH research (much of which has no commercial potential) should have at least been mentioned in the Advertiser article. These include:

• UH employees are bound by the state ethics code, which severely restricts state employee relationships with the private sector. In general, this is highly desirable, but it is a very strong constraint on entrepreneurial university faculty. Faculty at some other state universities seem to be able to set up companies that bring their research discoveries to the market in a way that benefits their state's economic development without putting them in jeopardy of losing their university employment.

• UH does not have a modern policy on proprietary research, which is essential for UH-private partnerships that are critical for bringing UH research to commercial development. Entrepreneurial faculty researchers who pursue such relationships are operating without an adequate policy safety net. The University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly contract does not protect them beyond one day of consulting activity per week.

• Significant resources are required for patenting intellectual property, licensing and commercial development of research results. If the private sector is not willing to, or not able to (see first two items above), support UH faculty in such activity, then the state is the only recourse. Unfortunately, the UH budget has been inexorably eroded, and support for the teaching, research and service missions of the university are too often pitted against each other. Workforce development and economic development mandates have, historically, forced some unreasonably rapid changes in programs at UH, with associated budget stresses. This is severely exacerbated by special-interest forces outside the university (often aided by freelancing individuals within UH) that have historically redirected portions of the UH budget to lower priority activities.

• If UH were truly autonomous, some of the issues raised above could be addressed more easily.

• The Research Corp. of the University of Hawai'i (RCUH) could and should play a major role in addressing the resolution of some of these issues. That will require close coordination between the UH Board of Regents and the RCUH board of directors (presently facilitated by membership in common). It will also take a commitment by the regents to a course of action that has RCUH playing a more vital role in the university's research enterprise.

• When high-technology research and development is discussed in Hawai'i, the UH research enterprise is usually ignored, yet it is the largest high-tech organization (and along with RCUH, the largest high-tech employer) in the state. This is an important information gap that good journalism is supposed to address. How many legislators who vote on the UH budget are aware of this? Of course, they will almost certainly remember your Advertiser headline regarding UH research.