Letters to the Editor – 4/9/14
Trades change too
Mahalos for Chad Pata’s cover story on climate change, featuring the PICCC collective – this is of course a vital issue for everyone. But I wish the story would have included at least a paragraph on the recently completed 37-year UH study on the long-term trend of diminishing number of days per year of trade winds, and corresponding increase in the number of days of south flow, bringing us more vog to sit over Maui and Oahu. It is definitely an aspect of “What Climate Change Means to Hawaii.”
Ken Cohen
Honolulu
A team effort
The cover story “What Climate Change Means to Hawaii” is a really accessible article that I hope will spur more people to get involved in planning for the future.
There is one error that needs to be corrected, though. The Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) is the umbrella organization for our respective organizations. While the PICCC does have 30 member organizations, the PIRCA involved many more in addition to the PICCC, Pacific RISA, PaCIS, Climate Science Center, and others. I know the acronyms can be very confusing but we would appreciate a correction. Again, thanks for profiling this important issue!
Deanna Spooner, Coordinator
Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative
Seal the deal
Dan Boylan’s article “Potholes, Sewer and Name Dropping” also shows politicians continue to spend without much sense.
All over the country, the standard is to seal cracks on pavement to prevent water infiltration that causes potholes.
Preventive sealing extends “pavement life” by at least five years. It saves money and provides a smoother ride than reactive pothole patching.
Is anyone tired of riding on our bumpy roads littered with patched and un-patched potholes?
Look for sealed cracks next time you’re standing by the street. I’ve not found one after seven years here!
Dan Ong, Retired Pavement Engineer
Honolulu
Anti-Hawaiian
I was quite surprised at Bob Jones’ anti-sovereignty column. For him to say “this ongoing discussion about Hawaiian sovereignty has gotten hilarious” is insensitive and rude to Hawaiian people. I do not believe Mr. Jones understands the history of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, or the fact that a false history continues to be taught in the schools.
Even the statue of President William McKinley in front of McKinley High School is false. He holds a Treaty of Annexation in his hand, which was never done. Historical records show that thousands of Hawaiians, by signature on petitions, did not want to be annexed, yet they got annexed. The petitions got buried in the Library of Congress and were not discovered until the late 1990s. Hawaiians have since learned the true history of what happened and how corrupt the United States was in support of the overthrow of a peaceful queen who was later imprisoned in her own palace.
Then the process began to Americanize Hawaiians while working to destroy their culture, to include their language and their dance. Hawaiians have seen the destruction of their aina by greedy politicians and business corporations. Now that they know and understand their history, their intent is to save the aina, which continues to be occupied by the United States, and to have more involvement in their own destiny. After all, it is their land.
I admire and respect the Hawaiians for stepping up and fighting for what is right and just.
Dora S. Johnson
Honolulu
Reality, context
Patrick Buchanan (“Hillary, Hitler and Cold War II”) has again distinguished himself as a patriotic American who has an unequalled worldview. His “From the Right” analysis of the fraught Ukraine morass is typically grounded in reality and historical context. He beats the pants off the crazed neoconservatives who have hijacked the innermost workings of our legislative and executive branches and most of the compliant media.
Mr. Buchanan understands that American “exceptionalism” is a dangerous concept that has led to imperial hubris, vast expenditures of our tax dollars and human lives (“theirs,” mostly, but also too many of our own cannon-fodder military troops), belligerent provocation and over-reach beyond any concept envisioned by our nation’s founders.
Robert H. Stiver
Pearl City
Sorry, Coach
I love Perry and Price on the radio in the morning, as I love “The Coach,” Larry Price. But I must respectfully disagree with his MidWeek column on a labor union for college football players.
Unions form to prevent unfair labor practices against workers. Student-athletes are employees. They get paid via a scholarship. If they get hurt, however, their scholarships and thus ability to attend university can be terminated. This makes them “at will” employees. As “student-athletes,” they are not entitled to workers compensation. They have no grievance process. If practice interferes with class, guess which one wins? Student-athletes need the right to collectively bargain.
Joseph T. Bussen
Kailua
Send your letters to dchapman@midweek.com.
