OBAMA'S POLICY JUST WHAT WE NEED

The last president did nothing regarding auto fuel efficiency during his eight years in office. It is about time we had a president who is concerned about the nation's future instead of just that of the oil companies. I support President Obama's energy policy.

Forrest Furman | Hale'iwa

HOMELESS SHELTER

RIVER STREET SITE NOT GOOD ONE FOR PROJECT

I'm a downtown resident writing about the River Street homeless project.

As impressed as I was with the "housing first" approach for the homeless, I strongly oppose the River Street location.

The scale of the project is architecturally monstrous. Putting a high rise on that site will destroy the context of the neighborhood.

It is culturally insensitive to historical and present uses of the area with temples, schools, Foster Gardens and tourists. It will be an aesthetic blight that will take a low-scale area and anchor it with a massive structure having no historical or cultural context.

Also, placing a large number of people with serious social problems in one dense place creates a potential for a domination of that area by those very social problems.

Instead of trying to continue the revitalization of Chinatown as spearheaded by the Weed and Seed program and the Arts District, it is a step backward.

It's admirable to be pro-active in dealing with this gut-wrenching problem, but Chinatown is already doing its part.

I strongly encourage the use of an alternate site so that Weed and Seed and "housing first" do not conflict to the detriment of us all.

Harry Palmer | Honolulu

OBSERVING BELIEFS

A DAY TO APPRECIATE OUR VERY EXISTENCE

There are so many holidays honoring various belief systems, all of which serve to polarize humanity to some degree or another. Whether atheist, agnostic or religious, everyone either defends or imposes their ideologies and beliefs to some extent. Our beliefs create interesting and diverse perceptions of reality, but unfortunately many also lead to mental and physical violence.

Amidst all the division and drama, it seems most of us have forgotten the universal foundation which we all share. I am speaking of simple, childlike awe and wonder about the mere fact that we even exist at all. Nearly 7 billion people exist on earth, and no one's conceptualizations change the indescribable truth of that which just is. If we would all just stop, be still, and let go of our belief structures for one harmonious moment in time, perhaps our remembrance and awareness of this ineffable common reality would permeate our planet with a new consciousness.

We all deserve freedom of belief as well as freedom from belief, so I suggest we consider an "International Existence Day" in gratitude of this miracle which is simply "beyond belief."

Bruce Lee | Honolulu

ANIMAL ABUSE

IT'S TIME LAWMAKERS STEP UP, CRACK DOWN

I was so angry watching the news the other day about the woman who beat to death a peacock. For her to be on TV and act like she did nothing wrong was unbelievable. No one has the right to kill a defenseless animal for any reason. She blamed it on everything except herself.

I read the article about the man punching a dog on a street corner, and shame on the witness who saw it to do nothing. You could have called the police. These animals cannot speak for themselves. Think of all the animals that spend their whole life being tortured and hurt because no one will step forward.

Enough is enough, it is about time for lawmakers to step up and make the punishment for animal abuse and murders a felony. Please, report animal abuse when you see it. I look forward to hearing what happens to the peacock killer. Maybe working in an animal shelter for a few months might knock some sense into the woman.

Mark Kalmus | Kurtistown, Hawai'i

BAD DRIVING

SLOWPOKES NEED TO KEEP TO RIGHT LANE

Not knowing the rules of the road is bad enough, but even worse is not complying with rules. A major cause of our traffic moving so slowly here is drivers who drive slowly in any lane they wish rather than in the far right lane. Seems many of them drive Kalaniana'ole Highway between Kahala Mall and Hawai'i Kai!

Rather than enforcing this rule, we stupidly build multi-million-dollar roads and the upcoming light rail system. These slow drivers genuinely don't know that they're backing traffic up behind them. As they drive, they're in their own little snail's-pace world and don't know (and don't care too, perhaps) that they're irritating lots of other drivers.

Some slow drivers might respond that they're driving at the speed limit, so they're entitled to drive in any lane they wish. Not so — they should drive in the far right lane in such a circumstance. If existing rules don't require this, let's pass a new rule, give it a lot of publicity, and, guaranteed, our traffic will move much faster without spending many millions of bucks plus cost overruns.

Nearly all traffic court judges will dismiss speeding tickets, and get a little irritated, for driving no faster than 10 mph above the posted speed limit.

Alan Matsuda | Hawai'i Kai