SUPERFERRY

WHY AREN'T PROTESTERS CONCERNED BY WASPS?

Does anyone else find it curious that all the so-called environmentalists boycotting the Superferry because they fear foreign species have been silent with the recent Christmas tree wasps?

If they were genuinely concerned with the transportation of new species to the Islands it would only make sense that they would be on the docks protesting Matson — demanding the ships to be halted until court-ordered impact studies were done. Why the silence?

The majority of anti-Superferry activists do not care about the environment. Their concern is with squelching progress and protecting existing transportation monopolies.

The Christmas tree silence is deafening proof of their real motives.

FERRY WOULD HELP HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

An interisland superferry would benefit families with handicapped children to see specialty physicians in Honolulu. As a pediatric ophthalmologist, I see many patients with eye problems from the Neighbor Islands. Many of these same children have multiple handicaps, making it difficult for their parents to take them to see specialists that are not available in Hawai'i except in Honolulu. Being able to drive onto a transportation ferry and drive off with the handicapped patients would be a great boon to these dedicated caregivers.

WINNING OR LOSING

STRANGE TIME WARPS AROUND IRAQ WAR

Sometimes I see the news and think maybe Captain Kirk from Star Trek was right. There are strange time warps that allow parallel universes to collide and interact.

Observe the Iraq war: Casualties, down. Sectarian violence, down. Terror bombing, down. Civilian deaths, down. Al-Qaida influence, down. Grass-roots reconciliation, up. Economic activity, up.

Progress seems undeniable. But wait, here comes a parallel universe, the only explanation for our congressional leadership's attempt to defund the war.

In their parallel reality, there is no progress in Iraq, despite the numbers. We aren't fighting al-Qaida, even as we kill them by the score. Iraq is enmeshed in civil war, even though sectarian warfare has abated. In one universe, Iraq will magically self-heal if we simply withdraw, while, in the other, a failure portends enormous global risks. We have lost the war in one universe, while we seem to be winning in the other.

A final TV metaphor. It seems a Wile E. Coyote moment is upon us. The coyote chases the roadrunner beyond the canyon rim and remains suspended in space until the moment he realizes he is standing on nothing.

That is where congressional Democrats are right now, suspended in space, willfully oblivious of fact and determined to snatch defeat, no matter the cost to vital national interests from the jaws of victory.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

AIRPORT'S WIKI WIKI BUSES ARE DISGRACEFUL

I have to agree with Jonathan Carr's Nov. 21 letter on the airport Wiki Wiki buses.

As an extensive traveler to Southeast Asia for business and a Hawai'i resident for more than 17 years, I cringe on the first impression that I receive when returning home.

People are lined up and forced to cram into these dirty, gas-fume-filled buses.

I have heard the drivers and guides yell at tourists and locals alike to cram more inside.

After an eight- to 10-hour flight, one would like some aloha spirit.

The Wiki Wiki is a shame, and if it was the first time I visited Hawai'i and spent all that money to get here, I wouldn't want to come back.

First impressions are everything, and the Wiki Wiki is disgraceful.

HD SERVICE

NO KGMB SHOWS FOR THIS TELEVISION VIEWER

I and most others here who have HD service agree with Michael Dwyer's Nov. 23 letter, "Blame CBS affiliate in HD transmission flap."

No more KGMB for me. It's a no-brainer, Leno in widescreen high def or Letterman in letterbox analog. Duh!

AKAKA BILL

GRASSROOT INSTITUTE WANTS OPEN DISCUSSION

Oswald Stender wrote (Letters, Nov. 13) attacking the Grassroot Institute of Hawai'i (GRIH) in response to a letter from Tom Macdonald, who wrote without consultation with GRIH.

Stender mentions "push" polls, identified by questions that push respondents in a desired direction. All OHA polls on the Akaka bill are push polls in the sense that they imply there will be only good results for Hawai'i and the nation.

The GRIH poll implied the possibility of major negative impact and obvious racial discrimination. The Akaka bill creates an empty Native Hawaiian governing entity to be filled with people, land and laws via government negotiation. Nature abhors a vacuum. It takes no great mental leap to see that a host of unplanned and unintended consequences would ensue. After all, people, land, power and money are at stake. We've seen it before.

The goal of GRIH is to foster public education and debate on the Akaka bill and other issues. Our experience is that the more a subject is discussed, the more knowledgeable all citizens become, to the betterment of all.

How does Stender know that it is a "big lie" that the Akaka bill will lead to secession? The language in the bill could lead anywhere. A solution would be to add a few specifics to the bill itself, an action consistently rejected by proponents. The idea of a blank check apparently appeals to them.

How does that look to you?

NO POSITION ON AKAKA BILL WAS WISE POSITION

I congratulate the Hawaii State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission for a wise decision to refrain from sending a resolution for or against the Akaka bill to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

It is right. The Civil Rights Commission is not the place to rule on this matter. It is an issue of indigenous rights and redress.

The committee can now put its focus where it belongs — instances of housing, employment and education discrimination that have actually occurred as opposed to the imagined civil rights discrimination that opponents erroneously claim could occur if the bill passes. Although it has been shown over and over again that no civil rights losses will be incurred by the non-natives in Hawai'i if the Akaka bill passes, Mr. Burgess still beats the dead horse because it furthers his racist-based agenda.

The bill became an issue to the Civil Rights Commission because Republicans in Congress are desperate to overturn the affirmative action laws before the Bush administration ends, as they promised when elected to office.

They seized upon the Akaka bill as a means to an end. Sadly, a tiny minority of our local residents aided their cause at the expense of Native Hawaiians.

The Civil Rights Commission has had a noble mission based on the blood, tears, sweat and ultimate sacrifice of many during our history. I salute the members of our committee who held steadfast to those beliefs.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

DRIVERS, PEDESTRIANS HAVE MANY BAD HABITS

On a recent trip to Downtown, I understood why Honolulu has the one of the highest mortality rates for pedestrian accidents in the country.

As a driver, I saw pedestrians: