Letters To The Editor
October 26, 2011 - MidWeek
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Del.icio.usSinking ship?
It seems that the esteamed (sic) Gov. Abercrombie has passed that fork in his path of life where you either go right or go wrong (pun intended). When so many start abandoning ship with little or no notice, there must be an underlying reason. All are quick with their “I want to spend more time with my family” explanation. But it’s beyond a coincidence when it happens once, twice, thrice and more. The fatuitous mimeographed explanation coming from the administration only stokes the curiosity about what really is going on.
Abercrombie certainly has had his not-so-Kodak moments with the public more often than is becoming of the chief executive of the state of Hawaii. Specifically, his personal tiffs with the nurses and teachers stand out because these are professions that usually garner a lot of respect and admiration. I let the one with the Pro Bowl pass because, despite a lack of understanding of the ramifications of alienating a multibillion-dollar corporation called the NFL, he basically was right.
Should Abercrombie scale to the top of Mount Kaala to seek the meaning of life? If he’s not a one-term governor, he’s certainly acting like one by alienating those who supported his electoral bid.
Royle Kaneshige
Waialua
ONE for the poor
America should be proud. We have helped to fight the spread of AIDS from mother to child, provided lifesaving vaccines to children and helped to teach farmers advanced agriculture techniques to help feed their families and entire communities.
When Americans pledge to help those less fortunate, we are making a firm commitment to their future. This is America at our best keeping our commitments and helping people help themselves. Even in these difficult economic times, it is vital that we continue to champion for the world’s poor and ask Congress to protect the tiny fraction of the federal budget less than 1 percent that is helping to save and improve millions of lives in the world’s poorest places.
As ONE member, I am thankful for Senator Inouye’s support of lifesaving programs helping those living on less than $1.25 a day in Africa and throughout the developing world to pull themselves out of poverty. Thanks to him, the Senate allocated more funding for these proven, cost-effective programs and I ask that he continue to fight for his fellow leaders in Congress to adopt this version of the budget bill in 2012.
It is up to our leaders to show good stewardship of our tax dollars and make good choices choices that don’t hurt the most vulnerable people around the world.
Patrick Gartside
Hawaii Kai
Bravo, Bob
A big mahalo to Bob Jones for the original story on the Diamond Head scammers/peddlers, and the follow-up on the Attorney General’s office getting involved only because of Bob. Bravo, and keep up the good work.
Dennis Souza
Maki
PSA testing
As long-term prostate cancer survivors who had PSA-based biopsies that discovered our cancers, the chance this saved our lives is small.
We do know the toxic side effects from our treatments lowered our quality of life.
Remember: 1) Elevated PSA can be caused by prostate infection, enlargement or cancer. PSA is not cancer specific. 2) PSAbased biopsies find cancer only 25 percent of the time; 75 percent of biopsied men have unnecessary anxiety and chance of bleeding, infection and urinary problems. 3) Most prostate cancers are not lethal. With or without treatment, most diagnosed men will die with, not from, prostate cancer. 4) All treated men are at risk of severe toxic side effects caused by treatments.
We recommend: 1) Do not participate in a community PSA screening event that offers no individual counseling. 2) Men between 40 and 75, have a discussion with your doctor if you have high-risk factors associated with having prostate cancer. Your doctor can explain your individual risk category. 3) After understanding what having a PSA test can lead to, you, under your doctor’s guidance, decide to test or not to test. 4) Only for men who are at high risk may the benefits of PSA testing outweigh the harms.
We urge men to have this discussion with their doctor!
David Derris, D.D.S.
Malcom J. Slakter, Ph.D.
Honolulu
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