Letters To The Editor
June 16, 2010 - MidWeek
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Del.icio.usBig Brother’s looking
Regarding Bob Jones’ column “Security Cams Don’t Hurt Privacy”:
Has he ever read George Orwell’s 1984? Seems to me with traffic cams, sidewalk cams, bus cams, parking lot cams, the age of “Big Brother” has indeed arrived.
And Mr. Jones, a liberal, is just fine with that.
It is one thing for a private business to have security cameras to guard against theft. It is something quite different when the government is spying on citizens.
I’m a law-abiding, taxpaying citizen, but the prying eyes of “Big Brother” are enough to make me wear dark glasses and a hat every time I go out. It may be time for a fake beard.
Gerald Shin
Honolulu
Profiling fails
Regarding Jerry Coffee’s column “Statistical Profiling Is Not Racial:”
I remember studying the New Jersey state troopers story in class at UH. One of the newspapers in the area (I think it was the Boston Herald) examined whether the profiling done by the troopers had 1) netted any significant drug arrests, and 2) had truly been done on the basis of “objective” profiling.
After more than a year of sifting through data, the paper found that no significant drug arrests were made, and that troopers were stopping cars for illogical/irrational reasons such as having a Grateful Dead sticker on their car, the driver looking “scruffy” or “suspicious.” Since the category of “suspicious” often meant being of a minority race, more minority drivers were stopped than were white drivers.
It didn’t take long for the drug dealers to figure out they could get their drugs transported with a white driver in a clean-looking car, so the unproductive state trooper interdiction program soon came to an end.
Which is why profiling doesn’t necessarily work.
Jackie Young,
Kaimuki
No Israeli decency
Patrick Buchanan’s column “Lift The Unconscionable Gaza Siege” is a thoughtful, truthful look at Israel’s actions toward unarmed humanitarians on ships carrying aid to the people of Gaza, who have been under siege for many years and denied food, water, housing, schools, medical supplies by an out-of-control Israeli government that has lost all sense of human decency. If one reads Israeli history, it is one of expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes/land. The massacre of whole villages, the building of obscene walls 25 feet high in Palestine, the building of illegal Jewish settlements on seized Palestinian land and, in 2009, a three-week invasion of Gaza, murdering men, women, children - these actions by Israel are appalling, as are Obama’s silence and Joe Biden’s stupid Zionist remarks. Were Americans ever decent people? The Palestinians have been amazingly nonviolent in response. But then Israel has the nuclear weapons, tanks, bulldozers, jets, helicopters, missiles, etc., funded in big part by America. Why? I urge voters to elect no one to public office who supports this continued stupidity that undermines any hope for a peaceful, caring world.
Patricia Blair
Kailua
Money motivates
Larry Price asks: “Does Money Motivate Workers?”
It sure works for me. I respect Mr. Price and his radio sidekick Michael W. Perry, and perhaps they are well-paid enough not to worry about money, but for me, I work because I have to support myself and my family. I’m guessing I’m speaking for a lot of people when I say money is my motivation.
Dannie Ferrera
Honolulu
Terrible toon
I was appalled at the “Strange Brew” cartoon by John Deering, showing what I assume is meant to be the hands of almighty God using a pool cue to send Planet Earth spinning.
A more accurate portrayal would be God holding Earth in his hands lovingly, beckoning one and all to seek his love and forgiveness.
Jesse Domingo
Waipahu
Uneven protection
Once again we watch the “Click it or Ticket” ad on TV. The officer says, “We’re going to save lives.” This is probably true, but this is an upside and downside law. People in autos have seat belts, but people riding in the back of pickup truck beds do not, so they are exempt from having their lives saved. A few weeks ago, a Kaimuki High School senior about to graduate flew out of the bed of a pickup and died. Just before that, another 13-year-old boy was killed as he was thrown from a pickup. In 2006, four women also died as they were thrown out of a pickup. Even school buses carrying our children are not required to install seat belts.
So who is going to save their lives? Not our useless lawmakers.
Eugene Cordero
Pearl City
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