ACCOUNTABILITY

SHAME ON CITY COUNCIL OVER THE SUNSHINE LAW

If any change is required in the Sunshine Law, it is to make the law applicable to the state Legislature.

The purpose of the Sunshine Law is to make government boards and commissions, including the county councils, accountable to the electorate. That can only be done with open meetings, no back-room deals, no private communications. Without the Sunshine Law, government cannot be trusted.

If council members find it difficult to operate in a manner that makes them truly accountable to the people, they should find another line of work and let those who will be responsive and accountable to the people take their place.

The council's action is a slap in the face at the people who elected them and who pay their wages. Shame on the council for even considering such a travesty. Kudos to Councilmen Nestor Garcia and Charles Djou, who did the right thing and voted against the resolution.

OIL OLIGOPOLIES

LOWER GAS PRICES FROM CAP LAW ARE WONDERFUL

Isn't it wonderful to see the price of gas come down immediately after it comes down on the Mainland? For how many years were we taken advantage of by the oil oligopolies of this state, which would not lower our prices until months (and sometimes years) after gas prices were reduced on the Mainland?

Funny how the oil companies didn't have a problem with mirroring Mainland gas prices when they were going up, but now complain loudly when they have to reduce them accordingly because of the gas-cap law.

GAS CAP

LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES IN PLAY

"Pumps tapped dry" (Oct. 19): a classic case of "unintended consequences"?

Politicians seem to be particularly susceptible to falling victim to the phenomenon known as the Law of Unintended Consequences. A corollary to that law is the paradigm of "No good deed goes unpunished."

In their zeal to create fair gasoline prices for Hawai'i's citizens, well-intentioned legislators created the gas-cap law. What the legislators didn't understand, or remember from their high school physics class, is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

In the case of the gas-cap law, legislators created a situation wherein car owners hoard gasoline when they know the price will rise, and they avoid buying when they know, in advance, that the price will fall.

This well-intentioned attempt to control gasoline prices has created a huge problem for the refineries, the truckers and barge operators that take fuel to gasoline stations and even bigger headaches for gas station owners.

Another case of unintended consequences was an attempt to conserve water by reducing the capacity of our toilet tanks from six gallons to five gallons or by placing a brick in the tank. Instead of saving water, we found that one flush didn't always do the trick; we needed to flush twice — thereby using 10 gallons of water instead of six.

Legislators need to rethink the gas-cap law. Maybe it's time to flush it.

SCHOOL SCORES

EXPLANATION IS DUE

A Page 1 story on Oct. 19 reported on the dismal and declining test scores of Hawai'i's public school students. Yet on page A17, you publish a letter from Roger Takabayashi, president of HSTA, claiming an entirely different set of circumstances.

Could somebody be lying? Your readers are due some sort of explanation (rationalization?).

'CAT IS DEAD'

DRAMA WAS WORTH 'WHOOPING' ABOUT

Unlike your theater critic's so-so call on The Actors' Group's "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead," I give it "two whoops." I whooped as the lights went dark for intermission and I whooped at the curtain call. And I'm hard to please and haven't "whooped" in ages.

Although the stage is small, I was transported to a fully realized, if not perfect, world. The thief shared a joint (not a deux machina but real homegrown) with the reluctant out-of-work actor Jimmy and their world expanded a little more into ours. If all thieves smoked blunts instead of rocks, how safer a place "reality" would be. I even expected Jimmy's Aunt Clare to show up, though she is only spoken to on the phone.

Throw in quaint but gothic aquariums in the TAG restroom and a Hagrid-like stage manager named Francis Tuifao and you have yourself the ultimate play-going experience. I dare others to attend and refrain from "whooping" — after all, we all need to do some "whooping" once in a while, especially these days.

ROSA PARKS

STANDING UP IN HONOR OF LADY WHO SAT DOWN

"Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats," the bus driver said. But one woman refused to give up her seat.

For this small act of protest, Rosa Parks is rightly remembered as a giant of the civil rights movement in America. Her legacy lives on and has inspired people everywhere to speak out against injustice.

Laws and traditions of inequality, such as those that kept blacks at the back of the bus in 1955 or that today prevent same-sex couples from enjoying the equal benefits of marriage, simply have no place in America.

I am grateful for Rosa Parks. She sat down. In her memory, I will stand up.

MICHELLE WIE

JOURNALIST SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN UP IMMEDIATELY

As always, there are people out there looking for fame and glory at the expense of other people's misfortune. It is ironic how a journalist who is so concerned about the rules and ethics of the game waits till it is too late before blowing the whistle.

Even if he was wrong about his interpretation of the rules, he should have at the very least said something immediately.

But then again, that shows the insensitivity of Sports Illustrated toward a 16-year-old who made an error in judgment. I have protested by canceling my subscription to SI, which I have had for more than 30 years.

GIVING BACK

BRYAN CLAY SHOWS US WHY HE'S WORLD CLASS

The world's top decathlete, Bryan Clay, has proven himself to be the best, on and off the track ("For world champ Bryan Clay, love of sport trumps money," Oct. 22). World-class decathlete, track-and-field coach at his alma mater and founder of the Bryan Clay Foundation will be his legacy.

Clay is one of a few athletes willing to share their knowledge in their sport and to give back to the local communities. Ashley Lelie, Benny Agbayani and A.C. Carter are examples of successful players who are willing to donate their time and resources to nurture the next generation of athletes from Hawai'i.

ELECTED TO LEAD

MAYOR SHOULDN'T MAKE EXCUSES ON RECYCLING

In a recent television interview about recycling, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said that he had to play the hand he was dealt, a lousy hand in his estimation. The mayor can't get off the hook that easily, because when elected, he became the dealer. The dealer decides the game to be played, and in politics the game is leadership.

The curbside recycling program is an opportunity for Hannemann to demonstrate leadership and stop making excuses about why it can't get done. And that also applies to the pitiful Kawai Nui Marsh fiasco.

CONGRESSMAN BLOUNT OVERTHROW REPORT WAS AUTHENTIC

Henry Koplin (Letters, Sept. 15) claims that Sen. Morgan's Report of 1894 shows the United States government "had no hand in the overthrow of the queen" and that Congressman Blount's report had "just opinion and a great deal of misinformation."

Some readers may wonder what he is talking about. Following the queen's surrender of control to the U.S. government on Jan. 17, 1893, pending resolution of her protest against the actions of U.S. Minister John L. Stevens and U.S. naval forces, Democratic President Grover Cleveland sent James H. Blount, former Democratic representative from Georgia, under secret orders to Honolulu to investigate.

Blount, successfully concealing his own opinions, conducted an informal investigation over several months, talking to a wide range of people involved in the events leading up to the queen's surrender. He submitted with his report over 1,200 pages of documents. His report persuaded the U.S. secretary of state, attorney general and President Cleveland — the latter favoring annexation at the time — to conclude that the U.S. agents acted contrary to international law and led the president to engage in a secret attempt to restore the queen to her rightful authority.

This action by the president, when it subsequently became known, enraged Sen. John Tyler Morgan, Democrat from Alabama, who had long pursued the goal of annexing not only Hawai'i, but Cuba and the Philippines as well (note that this was before the Spanish-American War broke out). After hearings conducted by Sen. Morgan over about a month exclusively in Washington, D.C., limited to witnesses favorable to annexation, many of them supplied by the haole provisional government in Hawai'i, Sen. Morgan submitted a report, which only he signed in its entirety. The four Republican and four Democratic senators had separate opinions.

Given these facts, as recorded by historians William A. Russ Jr., Thomas J. Osborne and Joseph A. Fry, it is hard to imagine that Sen. Morgan could have discovered a truth that escaped everyone else, or that he was more objective than Mr. Blount. Indeed, historians have unanimously agreed with the facts as described by Blount.

EXECUTIVE PAY, PERKS

CORPORATE AMERICA MUST SHARE IN BANKRUPTCY FALLOUT

So, Aloha Airlines now threatens to nullify employees' contracts if they don't accept even more deep cuts and losses. This is the trend in corporate America today, and it is frightening.

The boys at the top cite huge losses and global competition as their rationale to decimate workers' livelihoods, yet, somehow, manage to find millions upon millions to secure their own pensions, benefits, bonuses and salaries (Delphi being the latest and most blatant example).

Their rationale? They are "key employees" and need to be paid handsomely as an incentive to stick around. In other words, they make the company succeed; the loyal employee is an incidental and a liability. Employers lay the blame squarely on the labor force and conveniently ignore their own horrendous business decisions and top-level excesses.

When a company is in bankruptcy, no one deserves bonuses and perks. This is bad business, offensive to the ones who have given their years to the company, and idiotic fiscal sense. The top execs say they, too, must take cuts to "share the pain" (makes for good PR), yet find insidious ways to give the money right back to themselves.

When companies bleed money, cuts need to be across the board, and equitably. In Japan, there are legal limits to the amount top executives can make over the average worker, as well as accountability for performance, and they take it very seriously. In this country, we reward poor performance and praise mediocrity. Just look at any Forbes list of top-paid, worst-performing CEOs, and have an airsick bag handy.

As more U.S. companies follow this trend of wiping out the worker livelihood by slashing pay, benefits, and pension and outsourcing jobs overseas, eventually this society will pay the price. We will see the loss of the middle class and the rise of a plutocracy, and if that doesn't scare us into fighting to protect our jobs and the health of this country, I don't know what will.