Posted on: Thursday, March 17, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Kudos to those who choose to recycle

On Sunday, I stood at the UH law school parking lot waiting for the mobile HI 5 redemption center to open.

While in the line with my hanai daughter, I heard a young female college student say to someone something to the effect that, "Yeah, I'm here waiting just for a dollar." She had a small plastic grocery store bag with only a few cans. She probably didn't even have enough for a dollar.

I want to thank her and all those others who, even though it may be inconvenient to recycle, choose to recycle anyway. It is disappointing to read and see people in the news complain that standing in line and only receiving 5 of the 6 cents they paid extra is not worth their recycling efforts and won't come back again. Feel free to give your cans to someone else who will recycle them. Nobody seems to want a new landfill near his neighborhood.

Interestingly, fewer people are willing to reduce the need for new landfills by reducing their waste. Come on, people! Recycle not for yourselves, but for all of us.

Play the blame game but start driving right

Since people seem to want to place so much blame for our current traffic woes, I figured I would share my two cents with you.

Let's blame politicians for not budgeting enough money for road repairs and expansion and planning for mass transit earlier. Let's blame the road maintenance workers for not doing a good job keeping roads smooth. Let's blame car dealers for selling too many cars.

Let's blame all the Mainlanders for moving here and crowding our streets. Let's blame military personnel for not knowing how to wave "thank you." Let's blame all the foreigners for moving to Hawai'i and not following our driving laws.

Let's blame the police department for not keeping the roads safe and setting the example. Let's blame luxury car owners for thinking their money allows them to drive however they want. Let's blame street racers for driving recklessly. Let's blame old people for having slow reflexes.

We all have to share the roads, so at what point does it stop? If people just followed basic things like "left lane, fast lane; right lane, slow lane," one car length between you and the car in front of you for every 10 mph, not crossing solid lines, not parking in "no parking" zones, following the speed limit and thanking others if they let you in, the roads would be much safer. Respect that we all have to get somewhere and it's not gonna get better any time soon.

Drivers, pedestrians need to know laws

Regarding the March 11 article "New concern for safety on foot": If the current laws were followed and enforced, it would not be an issue. Drivers and pedestrians need training.

The media zeros in on cars, drivers and speed limits, yet a trip around the island will show that the pedestrians are in the wrong more often than drivers. Pedestrians cross through traffic, don't use crosswalks, or step into crosswalks believing a two-ton vehicle can stop in three feet.

In the mornings, when traffic is the greatest and visibility is the lowest and most drivers are concentrating on a long day ahead, many elderly forsake the sidewalks and take their morning constitutional in the roadway.

O'ahu now has some of the most unreasonable speed limits in the country (as can be seen on a drive around the island). Reducing speed limits will not change the way people drive or traffic flows. Traffic will move at the natural rhythm of the roadway and is affected by congestion, weather, visibility, time of day, etc. Changing the speed limit will not change the flow of traffic or make it any safer.

People and the media are addressing symptoms, not the root cause of the problems. Adding another law won't fix the problem.

Nonsmokers should receive the benefit

Regarding the new tax being recommended for cigarettes: That is a great idea, but the additional tax should be earmarked for a trust fund that would be used only to help insurance companies and hospitals cover the expenses of tobacco-related illnesses. This is not meant to give the insurance companies a windfall, but to encourage or require them to further reduce the insurance premiums for nonsmokers.

What's wrong with eating dogs, cats?

Regarding the March 5 article about the bill banning the sale of dogs and cats for food: I have thought about this matter a considerable amount of time. I have even talked to a few people who eat or have eaten dogs and cats or know people who have. I've come to this conclusion: If we can eat Thumper and Bambi, I see no reason why we cannot eat Fido and Garfield.

Although I would not be likely to do that, mostly because of lack of USDA inspection, I see nothing wrong with the practice. Just part of the melting pot we call Hawai'i.

However, at potlucks we should be warned.

We need to slow down

With the recent rash of pedestrian and other car accidents, we all need to be more careful and slow down. Why are so many in a rush to get somewhere? Maybe you should have left yesterday.

Indigenous people here are the Hawaiians

Chris Lee's Feb. 20 commentary on Hawai'i and filmmaking touched upon many points on how we as a state and island community can help ourselves in contributing to the film industry.

I agree with most of what he addressed, as I've kept abreast of the film industry using Australia's and New Zealand's film studios, infrastructure and incentives for major films as well as the wonderful gems coming out of these two multicultural island nations.

As someone of deeply rooted island heritage and Hawaiian ancestry, I have a keen interest in how all the TV shows and films about Hawai'i depict Hawai'i and its people. However, I noticed that Chris Lee kept using the word "indigenous" to describe Hawai'i filmmakers. To be indigenous in Hawai'i, one is Hawaiian. To be of indigenous ancestry, one is part-Hawaiian or hapa. I do not think he meant "ethnic Hawaiian" in his use of the word "indigenous."

Indigenous people in this world, like the Polynesian peoples, the Maori of New Zealand and the Hawaiians of Hawai'i, are the Ainu of Japan, Saami of Norway, Aborigine of Australia, Native Indians of the Americas, Rapa Nuians of Easter Island and the Celts of Scotland, to name just a few. You are only indigenous to Hawai'i if you are Hawaiian.

Hawai'i's local people are of all races, colors, ethnicities, looks, cultures and religions, and the indigenous people of Hawai'i are the Hawaiians, period.

ACLU would weaken our American society

Congratulations on your showing on March 9 that very persuasive cartoon depicting the ACLU angrily scolding a citizen for reading the Ten Commandments.

While the ACLU has defended many worthy civil causes, it has often acted to defend or excuse the most blatant terrorist activists. Its main goals today remain to weaken or destroy our religious expressions, our homeland defense efforts, the Boy Scouts, traditional marriage and concepts of decency, among many others, while promoting a transparent facade of patriotism.

Lingle administration is politicizing the Akaka bill

Lt. Gov. Aiona's comments on our joint effort to enact Native Hawaiian federal recognition (Letters, March 15) are most disturbing, not only because he doesn't understand either the facts or the process, but more directly because he appears to be joining with Gov. Lingle in a purposeful politicization of a crucial issue that we have all striven to keep strictly nonpartisan.

Federal recognition has been before the U.S. House since 2000. It has been co-introduced on a bipartisan basis, reported out of committee with bipartisan support, and passed by the House without partisan disagreement, all during a period of Republican majority.

In the 108th Congress (2003-04), the Lingle administration's undertaking was to assure that the White House remained at least neutral on federal recognition. This did not happen, as the White House at the last minute rejected recognition language for which the Hawai'i delegation had painfully gained both Republican and Democratic support.

It's crucial to passing federal recognition that this not be repeated and that Congress, during (not after) its deliberations, be clear that the measure has White House support, and we wrote Gov. Lingle to that effect. (See www.house.gov/ case or www.house.gov/ abercrombie.) Although we welcome her assistance with our congressional colleagues, considering the Lingle administration's stated relationship with the president, this is where the governor should and must focus.

This discussion needs to end here because we need to work together as a bipartisan team to move federal recognition through to passage in both the House and Senate. It would be a tragedy if this effort were pushed into the same partisan politics that have destroyed too many other worthy efforts in D.C.

We will do our job, and we look forward to the governor doing hers.

It's time to reform campaigns

In a political system flooded by a river of confusion, cynicism and hard-headed resistance, an idea is surfacing that could fundamentally change the way elections are conducted. It would improve public confidence in the system and ensure that politicians make decisions based on what is best for their constituents.

And the best news is that it is already working successfully in other places.

This reform is called voluntary full public financing, or Clean Elections. Here is how it works: Candidates volunteer to take no private funding and limit their spending in the coming election. After they are able to demonstrate sufficient community support through small qualifying contributions, they receive an allotment enabling them to run a viable race without having to beg any special-interest group for money. Once elected, they are answerable only to their constituents.

The American Association of Retired Persons believes the first viable state legislation to provide prescription drug relief was passed in Maine only after Clean Elections was implemented, and that's why AARP is making Clean Elections a priority in Hawai'i.

If true campaign finance reform is such a pressing need, then why is it so hard to make happen? We have to look beyond the easy answers we've been given in the past. Campaign finance reform is political heavy lifting because in the past too many politicians have found comfort in the status quo.

Do the math — increasingly expensive campaigns facing two- and four-year election cycles, compounded by the attention of officeholders who start thinking about raising cash for the next round even before they've served a day in office. Nature may abhor a vacuum, but you can be sure that special-interest groups will swoop in to fill it. Campaign pledges are exchanged for just a simple assurance that access to the powerful will be given when the real decisions are made.

Where is the average citizen in all this? Growing increasingly cynical about a system where an unmonied voice falls on the political hard of hearing. And that cynicism threatens a democracy's foundation. People don't vote, don't see their actions as making a difference, believe that the system is rigged against them.

Even hard-fought efforts can have unintended consequences. McCain-Feingold legislation saw honorable and reform-minded advocates become unwitting participants in making the situation worse, not better. So the system continues to wallow in mediocrity, disenfranchisement, suspicion, co-option and, inevitably, corruption.

It has been argued that money will always find a way around any reform. If we accept that reasoning, then we should give up on regulating polluters or the perpetrators of consumer fraud, too. After all, industry can always find a new way to skirt the law and con men can always invent a new scam.

The people of Hawai'i gave us their trust when they voted us into office. The fact is we're elected to solve problems, not pass them on to our children. Only a careless politician would see a resounding victory in a local election as a reason to stay comfortable, to move incrementally, or to slow the rate of positive change.

I believe people expect us to deliver far-reaching, constructive and manageable change. This is the most significant and bold reform that we could possibly deliver. And now is the time to do it.