• Candidates thankful for forum • Just another proud ‘unfortunate’
Candidates thankful for forum
As candidates for the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative board, we are deeply appreciative of the great work by the Kaua‘i Community College student government for sponsoring the KIUC Candidate Forum Wednesday evening.
It was the only opportunity for the five candidates to come together to publicly discuss their positions on important issues like controlling electricity prices, moving off oil, the future of various forms of renewable energy, and openness in the operation of our community-owned utility. Unfortunately, the session was not filmed, so you had to be there.
We five candidates for three KIUC board seats are Carol Bain, Pat Gegen, Carol Medeiros, Allan Smith and Jan TenBruggencate. We thank all the organizers.
They include the officers of the Associated Students of the University of Hawai’i-Kaua’i Community College, led by President Nelson Batalion, and including officers Healani Akau, Jennifer Pasol, and Eileen Ricardo, senators Moksha McClure, Ian Ross, Diane Sater, Bethany Compton, Kainoa Matias, Nahoku Rabot, Kathrine Guerrero, Chanel Domenden, Skyler Workman, Bryson Bergonia, Ariel Lothlorien, advisor John Constantino and student life assistant Crystal Cruz. Others who helped include KCC Chancellor Helen Cox, political science professor Joyce Nakahara, and KCC officials Sheri Amimoto, Jimmy Trujillo and Patrick Watase. And we thank Apollo Kauai for its participation.
We particularly thank moderator Ron Wiley of KQNG, questioners Nathan Eagle of The Garden Island and Moksha McClure of KCC, and audience members who provided great questions.
We encourage residents to watch their mailboxes for KIUC board election ballots, which should begin arriving about March 7. Balloting can be done by mail, phone or Internet. Visit www.kiuc.coop for more information about the election and the candidates.
Jan TenBruggencate, Allan Smith, Carol Medeiros, Pat Gegen and Carol Bain, 2010 candidates, KIUC Board of Directors
Just another proud ‘unfortunate’
This letter is in response to Gordon Oswald’s Sunday letter entitled “Accept your fate.” While I believe the intent of Mr. Oswald’s letter is good and intended to move in the direction of a sane conversation about the charged issue of legal gay unions, I cannot let some of the comments pass without taking exception.
That homosexuality is “created by faulty DNA, an unfortunate childhood environment, or a conscious decision to embark on this journey at the expense of one’s posterity.” Are you kidding me? Homosexuality is observed scientifically and naturally in thousands of non-human species. Preach to frogs and horses about their “faulty DNA” or “unfortunately childhoods.” Healthy gay people don’t buy it.
Next, “because the preservation of society critically depends on procreation, and without it society/mankind would become extinct.”
What planet are you living on? We live on a tiny planet nearly choking from a population approaching 7 billion people, the bulk of whom go to bed hungry every night. Perhaps homosexuality naturally balances the gifts of an entire population without overpopulation.
Imagine society without gay artists, musicians, aerobic instructors, salespeople, clergy, etc. There is a “je ne sais quoi” to gay energy that anyone would be foolish to claim does not add value to the human drama.
Lastly, the recent bill that had enough public support to pass in the state Legislature but did not because of political pressure from the religious right was for “civil unions,” not for gay “marriage.” I am not sure where the supposed “stealing” of another precious, straight word from your “established” English language is occuring in this instance.
My partner and I want to enjoy insurance benefits, end-of-life-care-choice benefits, probate benefits, etc., which protect any couple choosing to be so legally-bound. In fact, many straight, older women choose civil union for the same reasons we would — that the important legal issues in life can be handled by the person you trust and care for the most, sexuality aside. As far as I am concerned, keep your word “marriage,” just let us care for each other and be protected financially and legally.
Opponents will tell you that civil union is just one more step toward gay marriage.
Right! This is the same type of thinking that would say that one sip of wine is the next step toward crack cocaine addiction. I don’t buy it and most intelligent people don’t either.
With nearly a 50 percent divorce rate, and adultery and pornography use at all-time highs, I wish that the people claiming marriage is so “sacred” would stop beating their pulpits and hiding behind opinions mocked up as truth and instead would just start to treat their marriages as sacred in their every day lives while leaving mine alone.
Till then, I am proud to live as one more, as you say, “unfortunate.”
Jason Blake, Kapa‘a
