WAR PROTEST

SOLDIERS SHOULD CONSULT CONSCIENCE

Ehren Watada is doing what every soldier in every war should do. Every human should consult his conscience before taking any action that may result in loss of life or otherwise harm to innocent people. Watada apparently sees that this is an unjust war and occupation of a country based on false information.

How much better the world would be if men stopped to consider right and wrong before they acted. With Watada, we finally have another soldier we can embrace as a hero.

Let's "Support Our Troops" (those who do the right thing).

OBLIGATIONS

REFUSAL TO SERVE IS SLAP IN FACE TO VETERANS

America is a wonderful country. We enjoy many freedoms, including freedom of speech.

Remember our fathers who 60-plus years ago fought and died to prove that they were worthy of being American citizens?

Your actions are clearly a slap in the face not only to them but to the veterans who fought in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

You took the officer's oath, which I quote in part: "I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."

What happened? I served in Vietnam and fulfilled my obligations.

COWARD

LT. WATADA'S ACTIONS ARE NOT COURAGEOUS

The refusal to execute the orders given to 1st Lt. Ehren Watada by his superior officers is a clear violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

He certainly should be charged initially with violation of Article 88 ("contempt toward officials"), Article 89 ("disrespect toward superior commissioned officer") and Article 133 ("conduct unbecoming an officer and gentlemen"), and I would also add Article 87 ("missing movement") since he did not deploy to Iraq.

While his father would like to claim that his son is displaying an act of courage, I wonder if the senior Watada made an effort to look up the meaning of the word, which means, "mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger or hardship." I am sure that he got the word confused with the word coward, "one who shows disgraceful fear or timidity."

Lt. Watada is now left with a difficult challenge; the Army has an easy one. Charge him, send him to a general court-martial, convict him and send him to Ft. Leavenworth where he will be known as Prisoner Watada. Upon his release, he will be presented a dishonorable discharge. He can spend the next 60 years of his life explaining that he wasn't the coward he is and how it was a great miscarriage of justice.

FARES

ALOHA AIR GIVEAWAY CLAIM IS HYPOCRITICAL

Listening to the Aloha Airlines spokesperson telling the people of Hawai'i that giving away the free tickets is Aloha's way of thanking the people for years of patronage is a joke.

Obviously the only reason for the fare giveaway is go! airlines entering the market.

Who can forget the sky-high interisland fares of last year? The local airlines held us hostage as they manipulated their flights, and we were all forced to pay unreasonable airfares.

Welcome, go! airlines. I am sure the people of Hawai'i are thrilled that you are here.

IRAQ'S SUNNIS

U.S. MUST PROTECT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

The June 7 Advertiser story of the extremist Muslim militias' defeat of the American-supported secular warlords in Mogadishu, Somalia, serves to emphasize the importance of religious freedom to democracy in any country in the world, including Iraq.

We cannot continue to depend on the so-called democratically elected Shiite majority government to fix what the Bush administration broke.

President Bush destroyed the only secular (nonreligious) government in the region, creating a power vacuum in which the insurgency is thriving.

Bush broke it; he has to fix it by guaranteeing the Sunnis true religious freedom and backing it up with enough troops to make it stick. The Sunnis are fighting for their lives. They know that if Bush leaves with the present Shiite majority in power, there will be a new genocide in Iraq like the one that is now brewing in Mogadishu.

As an 84-year-old FDR Democrat, I ask: Where the hell is my party's leadership in this mess? Is religious freedom in Iraq as a major element in a successful conclusion to the blunder of the century so much for us to ask?

I've written to our Hawai'i congregational delegation with no satisfactory response. My advice to Congress is: Forget about the borders and immigration, homeland security, FEMA, Social Security and same-sex marriage. Concentrate on the separation of church and state in Iraq (and America), and let's stop killing Americans and Iraqis, and bring our people home.

RETURN DRAMA

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: A BORING EDUCATION

The U.S. Department of Education Region X deputy secretary's representative writes that the No Child Left Behind Act is "reawakening our schools" (Letters to the Editor, May 29). He goes on to write that "few things are more frustrating than being told by an employer that you just don't have the skills they're looking for."

Unfortunately, the No Child Left Behind Act has turned out to be exactly what the name implies: an "act."

Real education is not only about teaching/conditioning for the test and learning rote skills. A parrot can learn that. It is about developing interesting personalities acculturated into our society with art and music and the ability to question authority, think out of the box and find meaningful and alternative answers to personal life and society's challenges.

Teachers who can survive five years of college in preparation for teaching cannot endure more than five years in a No Child Left Behind Act classroom. How can our students be expected to do it?

The problem with our present education system is clearly the Board of Education syndrome. A hefty percentage of the educational system participants are Bored of Education. As the dropout statistics reveal, teachers are even more BOE'd than the students.

Perhaps it's time to put some drama into the No Child Left Behind Act.

MASS TRANSIT

CITY SHOULD BAN ALL ON-STREET PARKING

While on his first-term "honeymoon," Mayor Hannemann has turned a deaf ear to mass transit approaches other than rail and a tax increase — a plan dusted off from some 15 years ago. He has focused solely on expanding capacity while neglecting a vital part of the problem — decreasing consumption of private transportation, or, simply put, reducing the ever-growing number of cars.

As a result, while rail may relieve some highway congestion, it will never reduce it below what might be considered a "tolerable" level by drivers.

The most effective way to lessen car dependency that I have heard of is to simply ban all on-street parking. In one stroke, this would (1) limit car ownership, (2) increase street space and (3) increase use of public transportation.

True, car dealerships, big construction firms, apartment residents and merchants might holler bloody murder. But this approach, if accepted, would force government to increase the efficiency of public buses and of the police. It would task households and businesses with individual solutions of how to pay the "price" of less congestion without actually paying government more taxes.

Private construction would be busy increasing car storage capacity for households and businesses, while some car sales people or gas retailers might find more profit elsewhere.

It's a giant step, but the alternatives are more highway gridlock and a bottomless hole for more and more tax dollars.

KALIHI

CUTTING BACK ON BUS SERVICE A BAD IDEA

The city Department of Transportation Services must have a special hatred for the people of Kalihi because it is cutting bus service to the area by discontinuing numerous bus stops there.

The department is ignoring the fact that the Kalihi-Palama area is the second largest populated area in the city and has a very large bus ridership. It is unconcerned that seniors, the handicapped and others will have to walk several blocks in order to find a bus stop.

HOSPICE, PALLIATIVE CARE

FAMILIES MUST CONFRONT THE END-OF-LIFE QUESTIONS

HMSA and Kaiser, as insurance plans, are doing innovative things to support the best choices for their members. Healthcare providers such as The Queen's Medical Center, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Kokua Kalihi Valley and the seven hospice programs throughout the state are working together and challenging each other to reach out further.

But there is one more conversation that still has to take place: Families must have the courage to ask important questions such as: "What does quality of life mean to you?" "How do you want to live the last months of your life?" "How can I help you to get the care you want?" Families can get help with this conversation from a hospice program or at the www.KokuaMau.org Web site.

These conversations can be made easier by learning about advance care planning and advance directives.

We know with great certainty that if hospice care begins in the last several months of life, versus the last seven days, families are more prepared, patients experience less distress and pain and people have the time and guidance to do what really matters: to say thank you, I love you and goodbye.

DOE APPROACH TO DISABLED STUDENTS' EDUCATION WRONG

I don't believe "core curriculum" has the same meaning for me as for some people.

I met with faculty at the University of Hawai'i over the past year and discovered how parents need to inform UH what our kids need, not the Department of Education or the teachers' union. There seems to be a statewide belief that "you can't tell the DOE what to do."

It seems as if the only way to get anything changed is to work with the Legislature, and Mr. Dave Rolf's work at the Legislature supporting a core curriculum has been tremendous.

The two areas I have supported the most during this past legislative session are sign language instruction (for those who hear) and developmental-age appropriate services (not chronological-age "educational" services only) for young children with development disabilities.

The DOE is stuck on an "individualized" education for each disabled child, meaning an appropriate education can only be served by DOE personnel. Parents are our children's first teachers, even our children with special needs.

I believe the DOE has interpreted the special-education law to mean "re-create the wheel, and as minimally as possible, for each individual child."

The disabled child's future is in the hands of one or two people creating his or her individualized education, or a judge who is more likely to listen to DOE experts anyway.

The DOE also spent district-level time and money to create from scratch a substandard and very subjective assessment specific to my son's speech and sign language, which gave the DOE the results it wanted: No sign language recommended. The world has so many curriculums and assessments that work and work well. The DOE was very resistant and refused to implement such a proven curriculum for children with disabilities.

At my older boys' private elementary school, the staff has spent the past five years developing their curriculum (a couple of subjects at a time) for continuity. (They even have a Hawaiian focus/history for the entire fourth grade.) Teachers are very different in their styles. But we know that a child in first grade will be ready for the writing expectations in second grade. My sixth-grader still struggles with writing because he did not have what my second boy had after the school's curriculum/continuum was developed (K-6) as a whole.

Did I assume right that this is what a core curriculum would offer?