Letter to the Editor – 9/25/13
High on Takai
As one of Dan Boylan’s 11 regular readers, I congratulate him for his excellent Sept. 11 MidWeek column on state Rep. Mark Takai.
I first met Mark when I was a member of the Pearl City High School PTSA Board and he was the student government president, an honor roll student and a medal-winning swimmer. He has been a terrific state representative and I wish him well in his try for the Hawaii District 1 Congressional seat.
John Priolo
Pearl City
Off GMO fence
I’ve been on the fence about GMOs, but two references in Kenneth J. Valentine’s letter “GMO politics” make me highly suspicious of GMO companies. One, GMO companies spent $36 million in California fighting a bill that would have forced them to label all GMO foods as such. Two, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, which I always thought was to act as a citizens’ watchdog, is the former Monsanto VP and chief lobbyist – a classic case of the fox sleeping in the chicken coop.
Tom Lee
Honolulu
Warmongers
In his column “Congress: Take Back War Powers,” Patrick Buchanan demonstrates again that he is jour- nalism’s finest traditional-conservative geopolitical analyst. Still, even Mr. Buchanan gives the 800-pound gorilla in our midst a free pass. Longing for Washington “leaders who will stand resolutely against Obama’s war (on Syria) and take back the war powers the Founding Fathers gave us,” Mr. Buchanan inadvertently (or not) discloses the real problem. By citing the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham, Israel’s Netanyahu, Boehner, Cantor, Kristol and Pipes as pitching war on Syria to get to their gold-ring prize – Iran – Mr. Buchanan outs a gaggle of Zionist warmongers. They, mouthpieces for Israel and our domestic Zionist lobby, seek to co-opt the Constitution and the War Powers Act (and, indeed, our very ability to fashion a U.S.-centric foreign policy focused on our vital national-security interests) via endless manipulations engendered by the USrael “entangling alliance.” It is that existential problem that U.S. patriots (leaders and the people) must come to recognize, confront, disentangle and, in the process, “Take Back America.”
Robert H. Stiver
Pearl City
Beautiful Hawaii
Thanks to Don Chapman for his Kauai-Oahu “stay-cation” column. It’s good to be reminded of the splendors of Hawaii we too often take for granted.
Beth Morioka
Honolulu
Send your letters to MidWeek Letters to dchapman@midweek.com.
