Letters To The Editor
January 21, 2009 - MidWeek
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Del.icio.usThank you, sir
The letter from retired Army Col. Glenn Takemoto, “Shinseki was right,” is one of the finest I have ever read. As a guy who “was there,” both in the Pentagon and leading troops in Iraq, he is far more qualified to speak on this subject than most people. His firsthand observation that Gen. Eric Shinseki’s firing sent a message to members of the U.S. military that voicing opinions other than those coming from Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld says all you need to know about Bush and his administration.
Thank you for speaking up, sir, and for your service to our country.
Dennis Alvarez
Honolulu
Double denial
I see that Jerry Coffee is in as much denial about what George Bush has done to our country as Bush is. Mr. Coffee’s column “The Good Things Bush Did For Us” totally ignores all the negativity that has happened on Bush’s watch, because of his actions and in some cases his failure to act: turning a budget surplus into a huge deficit that future generations will be paying off for many years, an economy on the verge of collapse, helping the rich at the expense of the middle class, an unnecessary war in Iraq that has done grave damage to both America’s reputation in the world and to our military, killing thousands and displacing millions while emboldening our enemies, and creating enemies where there were none.
Bush should do the honorable thing and end his own life. I have a couple of samurai swords I’d be happy to donate toward that effort.
Then again, Bush is so incompetent, he’d probably screw that up, too.
James Watanabe
Honolulu
Ban the bombs
This past New Year’s Eve was the worst in my 60-plus years in Honolulu. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not a “Bah Humbug!” kind of guy when it comes to fireworks. I grew up using fireworks, and I love to see people chasing off evil spirits with their many traditions and rituals.
What I do not like is inconsiderate individuals who set off commercial bombs that wreak havoc for dogs, cats and heaven knows what other animals. My poor dog suffered from 7 p.m. New Year’s Eve until 1:20 a.m. New Year’s Day. I gave her prescription tranquilizers from the veterinarian to calm her down and even that didn’t work.
HPD says they cannot do anything because they have to witness the violation in order to do something about it. Well, duh! Come up the street with your blue light on and of course they’re going to see the police car and immediately stop until the cop drives off. Here’s a hint: If you really want to catch someone, then send some plainclothes officers and stake out these violators. Start citing people or arresting them. This will send a message that they can’t get away with it.
It’s gotten out of hand when my bed shakes whenever an aerial bomb goes off every minute, or my neighbor’s family pictures fall off the walls, or another neighbor’s dog doesn’t calm down until two days later. I’m sure there are a lot more horror stories out there from irritated citizens.
HPD Chief Correa, legislators, anyone, can you hear me or have you gone deaf from the illegal, commercial aerial bombs?
Robert Silva
Kahala
Not a real tradition
Russel Matsuo’s letter “Fireworks are fun” sounded like a kid popping his first firecracker. I don’t think it is fun when you see children and adults going into the emergency rooms with burns or other serious injuries from fireworks. I don’t think it’s funny when firemen have to get to brush fires and risk their lives because of fireworks. I didn’t think it was funny when a few years ago an elderly woman in Palolo was burned alive by illegal fireworks when it burned her house down.
Mr. Matsuo says they are an Island tradition, but fireworks are not a Hawaiian tradition. The real Hawaiians never had fireworks. It was brought here by the Asians. Jade Moon’s column on this subject was absolutely right on the “Kini Popo.” A complete ban is needed. Our Legislature should start to show how caring they are for the people. Ban all fireworks now!
Eugene Cordero
Pearl City
Send Bush to Iraq
Thanks to Rick Hamada for his column “A Trip Every American Should Take,” regarding his family’s Washington, D.C., visit. What I’d like to see is “A Trip Every Iraq War Advocate Should Take To Iraq,” for the neocons and the young kids who will be saddled with the trillions of our tax dollars for years to come, along with the sufferings of thousands of our wounded or deceased Iraq war veterans and their families. Meanwhile the Bush neocons retire to Dubai to count their ill-gotten war profits! Maybe we should mandate Bush and his administration permanently retire in Iraq to keep tabs on the “democracy” they created. They could volunteer to go on night infantry patrol or pick up week-old battle remains on the Baghdad streets.
Chester Lau,
Korean War veteran
Honolulu
Phoenix rail lesson
Phoenix just opened a new 20-mile light-rail system, built for $1.4 billion.
Why does our government project $5.3 billion for our 20-mile system? Are the Phoenicians that much smarter than us to elect a government that provides them with the same length system for almost $4 billion less? Wow!
What could we taxpayers do with $4 billion in our own pockets? Think about it. Perhaps for the billion-dollar required sewage upgrade, to “keep Honolulu from bankruptcy” as Mayor Mufi so ominously declared, and still have a few billion left?
Gerhard C. Hamm
Waialae Iki
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