PRESIDENT

ABOUT TIME SOMEONE REINED IN EARMARKS

Great State of the Union speech, President Bush, you really scored some points with us Americans.

It is about time someone reined in this uncontrollable earmark spending. No wonder Sens. Daniel Inouye and Dan Akaka were upset about this, for they depend upon earmarks to get their re-election coffers filled from those persons they direct the earmarks to.

If we have to balance our budgets at home, it is about time that Sens. Inouye and Akaka learn to balance their budgets in Congress. They do not know more than the American people. Stop spending our money.

It's time to kick these two overpaid senators out of office and get some humble people in there again.

HISTORY WILL SHOW BUSH WAS GREAT LEADER

After watching the State of the Union address, I felt extremely proud to be an American living in this decade and was firmly persuaded that I had made the right decision in 2004 to vote for President Bush.

Though the administration has made many mistakes over the past seven years, President Bush has shown considerable resolve in keeping our country safe from terrorism.

Though I don't agree with the justifications for the war in Iraq, I do admire the fact that President Bush is working hard to establish a lasting democracy there.

When all is said and done, I believe that history will record President George W. Bush, flaws aside, as one of the greatest leaders of our time.

ELECTIONS

NEW IDEAS NEEDED, VOTE OUT INCUMBENTS

I agree wholeheartedly with John Kim's statement in his Feb. 4 letter: "Wake up, Hawai'i! Let's get our leaders to make the changes, or let's get new leaders!"

The people of Hawai'i need to realize that the same people we have been electing for years are not doing what they promised to do. In the words of Donald Trump, it is time for us to say to the incumbents: "You're fired!"

Vote out all incumbents. We need new faces, new ideas and real change.

These politicians have become too comfortable with their power and expect to be re-elected time after time. Enough already, we need to return the power back to who it belongs to. And that is us, the people.

Maybe the politicians will start performing like their jobs depended on it. If not, then vote them out. Vote someone in who will get the job done. That's the power of the people. Not the politicians.

PUBLIC FINANCING CAN HELP ALTER SYSTEM

The terrible mistakes of Iraq and the economy may be helped by electing a different president and Congress, but how can we prevent such policy disasters from recurring? Put another way, how can we elect politicians without special-interest campaign donations?

The publicly financed elections movement would be a good start.

Briefly, the way it works is that if enough voters make a $5 contribution to your campaign, and you agree to "run clean," government pays the remainder of your campaign expenses up to an average of campaign costs in the last election. Maine and Vermont now have such legislation, and Hawai'i keeps trying.

The voter-owned elections movement benefits business as well as individuals.

Consider: In Texas, oil rules (pollution, global warming, war). In Washington and Oregon, timber interests rule (destruction of forests and wildlife). In Hawai'i, the tourist and real estate industries rule (narrow economic base, inflated housing prices).

In nearly every state of the union, a nominally capitalist economy is actually a corporate welfare economy as big old industries get the breaks in law and taxes while small new industries struggle. Capitalism is a great system, but it breaks down in times like ours when voters have no real input.

LEGISLATURE

STATE NEEDS TO BETTER FUND DRUG TREATMENT

Again, the reactionary response to the recent tragedies is sad. Rep. Josh Green's response is to mandate 60 days clean and sober for parents to get their children back, and drug treatment.

This makes a very faulty assumption. Drug-treatment programs are woefully underfunded and neglected by the state.

Treatment costs money. Just mandating parents to receive treatment does not make it so. Put your money where your mouth is.

DEROGATORY TERM

HIGHER STANDARD IS NEEDED IN HEADLINES

I take exception to your Jan. 28 headline "Spears reportedly seeing a shrink."

If she had surgery, would you print "Spears seeing a quack?"

Shrink is a derogatory name for psychiatrists, derived from "headshrinker."

Because of people's fear of the stigma of mental illness, they denigrate those physicians who care for them, e.g. "Psychiatrists are crazier than their patients," or "You're the sanest psychiatrist I know," ad nauseum.

I expect Hollywood detectives to keep using the term because it's cynical and thus cool, but can't we expect our newspapers to rise to a higher and more professional standard?