UNPATRIOTIC

AKAKA BILL IS NO CURE FOR HAWAI'I'S PROBLEMS

I am against the Akaka bill and am glad to see it was shut down by the Senate.

I wish that those who see it as a miracle pill would realize that it won't cure Hawai'i's problems.

Failure to assimilate in a society is not the fault of too little access to more "hand me downs" that the Akaka bill would have protected, such as Kamehameha Schools. It is the lack of responsibility for your own life. Stop being dependent on a political system, and overcome any adversity.

If you are a supporter who sees the bill as a sovereign beginning, I think you are being very unpatriotic. If the Akaka bill did pass and a sovereign political system did become reality, what would you say if a bill arose to that government declaring each of the Islands with its own government separate of the new one because they had their own sovereignty before King Kamehameha "unfairly" conquered them? How far do you wanna take it? It's ridiculous.

AKAKA BILL

WHY UNRAVEL HAWAI'I'S WELL-WOVEN FABRIC?

The recent open letter from the governor, our senators and OHA made a good point about the fabric of American society in a larger context. It is not the point of a good weaver-of-fabric, but it is one that is learning.

As the main continent was being settled and as the Colonies became America, we wove our society's fabric from largely European threads, and even these were not easy. Often, we kept newer threads of society at the edge, and only after much struggle did they become an integral part of the fabric.

Throughout the first part of our history, we kept other threads specifically at the margins, almost their own cloth — African-Americans, Native Americans and, to an extent, Asian-Americans.

Our painful Civil War and later civil rights struggles have finally begun to weave African-Americans and Asian-Americans well into the fabric, but still largely at the margin is the Native Americans on set-aside reservations.

In Hawai'i, we've all been smarter. The fabric, as the governor's letter pointed out, is colorful and well woven, although a look at Hawaiian history will show it has also had it's rougher days with various immigrant groups, but still a better story than the country's as a whole.

This is why I find it amazing that the governor, our senators and OHA would want to take the thread that is the Native Hawaiian part of our fabric and fish out its varying pieces to pull to the side of the fabric and treat it differently. Is the lost federal funding that critical that it warrants such a drastic change to our state's well-woven fabric?

IRAQ WAR

LIEUTENANT SHOULD DEPLOY TO FIND TRUTH

1st Lt. Ehren Watada said he's researched the Iraq war and concluded that America is fighting an immoral and illegal war.

Here is my problem: Someone who's never been there lacks the credibility to make that statement. Apparently, Lt. Watada based his conclusions on news media reporting. (When was the last time you heard about a school reopened or new hospital clinic built in Iraq? It happens all the time, but the media only report bad news.)

Listen here, Lieutenant: You should deploy, then see if you have the same opinion when you return from Iraq.

Regardless of opinion toward Washington's Iraq policies, remember that self-sacrificing American service members work hard and risk their lives to help Iraqis secure a future for their country — hopefully, a democratic and peaceful future. That is what we are doing in Iraq. Bottom line.

I've been there and lost friends. But I owe it to the American people to go again if I am called. It's called duty.

As a soldier and especially as an officer, Lt. Watada's actions are disgraceful and insulting to all who have served.

LT. WATADA

ONE'S CONSCIENCE OUGHT TO BE DECISIVE

Obedience to legitimate authority is and should be an important value in the military. However, obedience to authority is not the only value in the world, or in the military, and for good reason. More fundamentally, even members of the military do not have an obligation to obey illegitimate orders.

Like many other Americans, 1st Lt. Ehren Watada believes the war in Iraq is illegitimate because it was founded on deception and because its current prosecution is both "illegal and immoral." The military system of justice may decide the legal merits of that belief. If it does, I hope Watada prevails (but I fear he will not).

Yet no matter what military courts or other legal institutions rule, larger questions than law are central. In particular, is the war in Iraq moral and just? And should military orders to continue the war and occupation trump an individual officer's sincerely held beliefs to the contrary?

Robert Arakaki, the president of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans group, asks, "Who determines what is legal or illegal? (Watada) or our government?" His own view is unequivocal: It should not be Watada.

But the law question obscures the central question of who determines right and wrong. With respect to this question, there is a long and venerable tradition of insisting that individual conscience ought to be decisive.

FACE THE TRUTH

WHAT LT. WATADA IS DOING IS PRAISEWORTHY

1st Lt. Ehren Watada deserves our utmost respect and gratitude for serving our country with his conscience and refusing to participate in an "illegal" and "immoral" war; he has served the country with honor.

It is plainly wrong to think that the highest service one can give to one's country is to serve blindly with one's body, even if it means giving one's life. To serve without conscience, as a mere weapon of war, is really to forsake what is highest and most human within us and does not really serve but betrays a democracy.

If we surrender our conscience and do whatever our government tells us to do without question, then we are going down the same dark road the Germans once took.

If one really faces up to the truth about this war then it is hard to escape the conclusion that the killing of a few hundred thousand innocent civilians in Iraq is an atrocity that dwarfs what took place on our shores.

The war on Iraq has brought nothing but shame and dishonor upon this nation. I salute Lt. Watada for his courage in serving his country with his conscience. If only there were more like him!

CONSCIENCE

RESPECT FOR THE LAW

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

SAVE LIVES

UNDERAGE DRINKING HOTLINE CRITICAL

As someone who has been closely involved in the ongoing effort to curb the dangerous use of drugs and alcohol among our youth, I strongly disagree with Lee Cataluna's characterization that the establishment of a hotline designed to prevent underage drinking and report on those furnishing alcohol to minors is a "superfluous ... no-make-difference government initiative" (June 4, "Hotline needs fast response").

Ms. Cataluna complains that the Underage Drinking Hotline does not allow citizens to report a violation that is already in progress. Had she attended the news conference explaining this worthy program or asked the hotline partners, the Honolulu Liquor Commission or the Honolulu Police Department, she would have known that the hotline does not replace the official 911 crime-reporting process.

Rather, it is another strategy employed by the Hawai'i Drug Control and Underage Drinking Plan to curb the tragic consequences of underage drinking.

Simply put, if this hotline can prevent even one family from suffering the heartache of losing a child in a senseless drunk-driving accident, it will be worth it. I think Ms. Cataluna would agree with that.

Each time I read about another fatal accident caused by illegal underage drinking, I am reminded that many of these senseless tragedies can be avoided if we as a community take a more proactive approach.

In January 2005, the Lingle-Aiona administration released the Hawai'i Drug Control and Underage Drinking Plan, the framework for the state to move forward with a coordinated and comprehensive approach to address illicit drug use and underage drinking. One of the three identified strategies of the plan is "to prevent illicit drug use and underage drinking before it starts."

Alcohol is by far the No. 1 drug of choice for Hawai'i teens. It is an entry-level drug that often leads to abuse of other illegal substances such as marijuana or crystal methamphetamine. Underage drinking has also been associated with poor academic performance, violence, suicide, risky sexual activities, victimization, other problem behaviors and death.

Moreover, even if it never leads to the abuse of other illegal drugs, underage alcohol use, in and of itself, places our entire community at risk. Did you know that underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all other illegal drugs combined? Did you know that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 20? Did you know that in 2001, underage drinking cost the citizens of Hawai'i $182 million?

To make matters worse, approximately 35 percent of Hawai'i students report they first drank alcohol (more than a few sips) before age 13. Additionally, one-third of Hawai'i 10th-graders report having been drunk at least once, and 72 percent of them say that alcohol is fairly easy to get.

Clearly, underage drinking must be addressed. It can no longer be viewed as a minor infraction or a simple "rite of passage" for our teens. By condoning underage drinking, we as a society are perpetuating this destructive cycle.

Drinking hotline
Call the hotline — 523-4194 — to report underage drinking and help keep our kids safe and alcohol-free.

RESOURCES, INFRASTRUCTURE

WHEN WILL WE WAKE UP TO OUR GROWING PROBLEMS?

Hawaiian Electric Co. says it struggles with insufficient generators to supply an increasingly demanding population.

Roadways are grossly insufficient to handle vehicle traffic (and getting worse).

Emergency services (police, fire, medical) are unable to keep up with growth in terms of needed manpower, equipment and facilities.

Water tables are lowering, and residents are asked to voluntarily conserve (with threats of required conservation).

Sewer systems are overloaded and in need of major repairs or upgrades after years of neglect.

Schools are overcrowded and continue to be faced with teacher shortages.

Availability of medical facilities (numbers of doctors, nurses, equipment, space) is becoming critical.

Government is turning to increased taxes to repair or upgrade items needed attention years ago (with little hope of catching up).

There are continued approvals for development and construction of new housing, hotels, etc., apparently with no regard to population and tourism growth and disregard of negative impact on the environment and the further overtaxing of already-overtaxed infrastructure and resources. There are approvals for additional hotel rooms when many existing hotel rooms are being converted into condos.

There is something drastically wrong with this picture; yet, this is a picture of O'ahu.

When is it going to begin to improve? When are planners and government going to finally realize that this is an island state that cannot expand or annex and that additional growth means only sacrifice and reduction in the quality of life for the average citizen?

It is time we put our house in order before building a bigger house.