• Collectivist ideologies stink
• GMOs and pollution as ‘social sin’
• Support organic food
• Visitor sees change
Collectivist ideologies stink
It seems that the “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is ‘ours’” mentality is alive and well among those who magically arrogate other people’s property rights for themselves. I challenge Carol Ann Davis-Briant (“Sad day,” Letters, March 12), or anyone else for that matter (bureaucrats and politicians welcome, too), to produce a property deed that includes any collective “us” as one of the legal owners of the Knudsen land and monkeypod trees thereon (or for any other private property while you’re at it).
“Our” trees? What a load of stinky.
The Kilauea cabal deserves equal contempt. Having secured their homes in paradise, they now assume the “Screw you Jack, I’ve got mine” attitude toward the Somers and others wishing to build in “our” view. Just how is it that they have become so special that they would deny others the same rights as they have exercised and now enjoy? Shallow and hypocritical come to mind when describing those who think that their property rights somehow transcend the boundaries of their own parcels and trump the rights of others.
And, speaking of hypocritical … many thanks to Robert McFadden for so artfully placing these phonies on the hot seat with his win-win proposition (“Win-win plan for Kilauea dilemma,” Letters, March 11). Of course, they’ll never take Mr. McFadden’s suggestions because people like Emery Noyes, Davis-Briant and the Kilauea crowd only hold strong convictions as long as someone else is forced to pay for them. After all, no demand is too extravagant when spending other people’s money.
The really sad day came, Davis-Briant, when property owners had to begin hiring lawyers and spending large sums of money to defend and retain rights that were theirs all along — rights secured with blood and struggle by many who have come before us. What a shame that millions have suffered and died fighting collectivist ideologies in foreign wars and conflicts only to have these same ideologies rot us from the inside, tragically at the hands of the very people for whom freedom was defended.
RS Weir
Kapa‘a
GMOs and pollution as ‘social sin’
My heart smiled and my spirit danced with the recent news release: Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican’s No. 2 man released to the press that forms of “social sin” include pollution and supporting companies who genetically modify plant genomes.
He stated, “The greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.” He told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, “There are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control.”
I thank and appreciate the archbishop’s wisdom and leadership. It would be wonderful if his warning reached out worldwide to help people understand the magnitude of the dangers to life on our planet earth. Chemical company workers whose experiments are so careless with our precious children, food and the life forms on Kaua‘i should listen with an open heart.
Diana LaBedz
Kekaha
Support organic foods
All through our life we are told to watch what we put into our body.
In response to “Council defers taro resolution,” on the front page March 13, who knows better than those who have been planting taro for generations?
Remember when DDT was the best thing to control weeds? Then way later they found it wasn’t good for human health. Will we find similar defects in GMO foods?
My question to council: Would you feed your healthy bodies these GMO tested foods?
For our bodies, let’s eat food without chemicals as much as possible. Eat organic foods.
Howard Tolbe
‘Ele‘ele
Visitor sees change
Enough is enough already. Development is out of control, especially in Po‘ipu and Koloa.
Too many houses being built, and the cutting down of the monkeypod trees is criminal.
I have been visiting Kaua‘i since 1997 and have seen the island change for the worse. I don’t go to Ke‘e Beach anymore (too much traffic), and I will probably avoid the “construction zone” of Po‘ipu/Koloa now.
There needs to be a moratorium on construction on empty land. Period.
Folks need to vote in a new County Council and attend meetings (which need to be moved to the early evening hours so working folks can attend) and pressure these elected officials to stand up to the greedy developers. And continue to do so.
Also, folks need to get slow-growth-minded people on the board of KIUC, which could add muscle to stopping runaway development.
As far as traffic, there needs to be an aggressive push for public transportation to all key locations (including the airport) so folks will use it and even find it more convenient.
In sum, all this over-development is not only destroying the environment but killing the tourism industry that the Garden Island depends upon. As Joni Mitchell sang, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
Gary Saylin
Davis, Calif.
