SENATOR'S ATTITUDE DISAPPOINTING

I was disappointed in Sen. Sam Slom and the negative attitude about Islam Day in this past Sunday Advertiser.

When I was a young kid I thought having Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in December took away from the significance of Christmas but I grew up and realized that they don't take anything away from each other.

Additionally I don't feel Muslims in general deserve to be associated with the radical Muslim extremists who participated in the horrors of 9/11 just because of their religion.

Hitler regarded himself as doing the "Lord's" work and called himself a Christian, blessed by the Vatican at the time, but I would object to anyone comparing my Christian belief to what Hitler believed or did.

Greg Kemp | Kailua

KAMEHAMEHA

SCHOOL AN EXCELLENT INSTITUTION IN ISLES

With all the negative press about Kamehameha Schools, I felt compelled to stand up and say something. My son is a junior boarding student at Kapalama. While Kamehameha Schools certainly isn't a perfect school, they do get a whole lot of things right.

Kamehameha Schools has opened the door of opportunity for countless Native Hawaiians from all walks of life and is perpetuating the Hawaiian culture with a sense of authenticity to an otherwise highly commercialized culture.

With a student body of 3,300 and 500 boarding full time and parents hundreds of miles away it is nothing short of a challenging task. I have always been very impressed how capable and qualified the faculty and staff are. I hate to sit back and see a few isolated incidents tarnish the reputation of an otherwise outstanding institution. We will all learn from these events and become better prepared because of them.

By all measures Kamehameha Schools has provided countless students with an excellent education. Their efforts extend beyond the boundaries of their main campuses as they help fund charter schools statewide and have many programs operating in our public schools. With all of the challenges that our state's education system faces we are fortunate to have Kamehameha Schools part of our community.

Steve Chaikin | Kaunakakai, Moloka'i

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

IMPROVEMENTS VITAL TO THOSE REGISTERED

I was shocked by Dave Shapiro's mean-spirited column on the medical marijuana task force (Sept. 16).

There was no funding associated with the task force. While not a high state priority, it does show a governor thumbing her nose at legislators. Rather than "promoting its use," they are making a responsible effort to address problems with the nine-year-old program.

Improvements are vital to the almost 5,000 registered patients. Many are severely ill or disabled. For Mr. Shapiro to assert that most can grow their own pot or "acquire it on the market" is disingenuous and cruel. An elderly woman diagnosed with cancer who must start chemo the next week has neither the time nor expertise to grow her own. Sending her to the black market is unrealistic and risky. This lack of access is the main problem the task force was asked to address.

Losing funding for dialysis is indeed a serious concern and I hope that those of us without kidney disease could empathize.

It's unfortunate that Mr. Shapiro's experiment with medical marijuana didn't help him, but it's unfair of him to generalize his experience and dismiss that of many others who have obtained relief.

Pamela G. Lichty, MPH | President, Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i

HEALTH CARE

OFFICIALS MUST DELIVER PROGRESS

There's little argument that the current U.S. system of health care delivery is in need of improvement or reform. The debate is over the current proposal, whether it makes it better or worse. At the heart of the argument is a lack of trust in the motives and the ability of our elected officials to deliver on their promises.

There is a simple way to get off the debate and move forward. First, enact the parts that everybody agrees on — that waste and abuse in the current federal medical programs you claim you can identify and eliminate to help pay for new coverage. Second, get experts in the field to validate your numbers. Third, sign up for the program yourselves.

If our elected representatives truly want to see health care reform, there has to be some demonstration of their ability to deliver an improvement on the current system, bad as it may be — and so far it's all just talk and somebody else's money.

Steven Newell | Honolulu

WHY HASN'T FEDERAL PLAN EXPANDED?

Mr. Rick Lloyd, in his Sept. 17 letter, extols "none finer" about his federal health insurance plan (for 53 years and carried by all federal employees, including Congress). I am happy for him and the others who benefit. Although we have all heard about how good it is there have been no explanations, details or offer to cover nonfederal employees.

Why not? If the plan is so "fine," our leaders have forgotten "if it works, don't break it" and instead they are rewriting mumbo-jumbo for non-federal/congressional employees. Why?

With the federal plan already in place, good enough for our federal employees and Congress, and as Obama wants to have "fairness" for all Americans, why shouldn't their plan be offered to everyone qualified rather than create any new gargantuan and nonunderstandable plan which is causing the present chaos in our country?

I call on Mr. Lloyd, all federal employees and Congress to boldly stand up and demand the same great plan that they have for all Americans who deserve nothing less. But alas — where are they?

Diane D. Ackerson | Honolulu