CEDED LANDS

CLOUDED TITLE COMES FROM ILLEGAL OVERTHROW

Indeed the Apology Resolution did not create a "claim" by Native Hawaiians to the ceded lands, but by acknowledging that the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was illegal, and that the United States was complicit in the illegal overthrow, the Apology Resolution verifies that there is a cloud in the title to Hawai'i's ceded lands.

The state of Hawai'i does not hold clear title to the ceded lands, because it did not obtain clear title from the Republic of Hawai'i. The Republic of Hawai'i did not obtain clear title, because the oligarchy of the republic illegally overthrew the kingdom. Illegally overthrown, as in it was not valid. Not supported by the populace. Wrong.

Just as two wrongs don't make a right, the thieves of the Republic of Hawai'i could not transfer clear title to the United States of America.

LINGLE'S ASSERTION 'SLAP IN FACE' TO OHA

Gov. Lingle's assertion that Hawaiians only have a "moral" claim to the ceded lands, and not a legal one, is preposterous.

The governor knows that the state has been financed on the backs of Hawaiians since its inception. To take a position now that we do not have a legal claim to ceded lands is a slap in the face for all of us who have supported her for the past six years.

OHA has done nothing but open our hearts, and wallets, to her administration. We've guaranteed loans for her Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to the tune of $33 million, which should have been part of her budget, and spent countless millions subsidizing her Department of Education, which has done so poorly educating our children. Where would her administration be without OHA money and Hawaiian land subsidies?

You would think that after six years of lobbying Congress to get the Akaka bill passed she would know better, or were her actions and words just a political ploy? Can Hawaiians, or anyone, trust what she says in the future?

ELECTRIC CARS

LET OIL COMPANIES BAIL OUT AUTOMAKERS

It is exciting to see Hawai'i is looking forward to the "new technology" of electric cars. We are finally waking up to green technologies as positive industries to help Hawai'i decrease our dependency on oil.

We are very fortunate to have so many options that can help our economy regain itself through alternative energies.

However, if anyone saw the movie "Who Killed The Electric Car?" he or she would realize how ironic it is that the big automakers are crying for taxpayers' money to pull them out of their hole.

Electric cars were driven around California years ago, when "someone" all of a sudden decided to "recall" them and had them destroyed. The movie makes you wonder who was behind the "recall," and what was threatened by the popularity of energy-efficient vehicles?

Could it have been the oil companies and the automakers that would lose profits with these cars rather than the SUVs and Hummers being made? I urge everyone to rent this movie and then write Congress to say, "Have the oil companies bail out the big automakers — or they should only be helped if they produce electric and other energy-efficient vehicles."

The oil companies are the only ones with any money these days, anyway.

BEACH EROSION

KAILUA BEACH WALL SHOULD BE REMOVED

The other day, I drove down to Kailua Beach and parked by the boat ramp. The sand is trying to come back but the man-made wall is blocking the natural flow of the ocean and the sand from returning.

Ever since I saw that the re-bar and hollow-tile wall (installed years ago to curb sand erosion) was uncovered, I would drive down every week, to see what was happening.

Not only is the eyesore dangerous, but it is preventing the sand from returning. Take it out before someone gets hurt and sues the state or county. Let Mother Nature do her magic.

I've lived in Kailua since 1954 and the only things that have screwed up our shoreline are man-made structures erected after that!

SHINSEKI

THREE REASONS FOR HAWAI'I TO BE PROUD

The state of Hawai'i now has three reasons to be proud. The first is Barack Obama, born and for 14 of his first 18 years on Earth raised among us. Hawai'i's natural sense of diversity helped make him the world citizen he is today.

The second is Hawai'i's own Eric Shinseki, chosen to be Obama's Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Twice-wounded four-star Gen. Eric Shinseki publicly told the truth to power before the disastrously ill-planned Iraq invasion and found himself out of a job.

The third reason we have to be proud is that Obama is the kind of man who, totally unlike Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their ilk, actually wants to hear the truth. And he picked Eric Shinseki because he knows Shinseki will tell him, and the American public, the truth.

RAIL

START CONSTRUCTION DOWNTOWN, NOT 'EWA

Council member Charles Djou is correct — the common-sense way to build the rail is to start where it will be used the most and relieve traffic right away. That way is not starting on the 'Ewa side but to start Downtown.

As I grew up in Washington, D.C., the Metro was built in the city first and moved its way to the suburbs as time went by. They are still adding tracks farther and farther outside the city.

This common-sense approach ensures it will be used right away! Come on, Mufi, what are you thinking?