Put a muffler on campaign rhetoric
It’s fun listening to all the Democratic candidates talk about free health care and free college for everyone, as they all try to capture the nomination for their party’s bid for president. I believe they all know they are blowing hot air out their behinds with that rhetoric, knowing darn well it will never happen — just knowing it makes for good sound bites.
I wish for once the candidates would talk about real issues that could actually be remedied and help everyone with their mental health and the country with the environment. it’s a simple concept, mufflers for all lawn mowers, weed whackers, chain saws, snowblowers and outdoor power equipment of high decibels.
Now, give me a candidate that’s willing to promise that and I am betting they would have a powerful platform and probably win.
In fact, give me a candidate that’s willing to put a muffler on asking for campaign contributions and you’ll really have a winner!
Here’s to your candidate and my candidate, may the best candidate be able to fill more than a high school gymnasium during a rally.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapaa
Eulogy for Black Pot
One of the wonders of moving from California to Kauai was not just the obvious beauty of the island but the special world of Black Pot Beach Park in Hanalei.
Last Friday evening was my first visit back since it reopened after the 2018 flooding and devastation.
The parking was ample. The port-a-potties were all perfectly lined up in a row, and the white plastic fencing was making sure not a single car could get closer than 300 feet to the beach. It all looked neat and orderly, like the highly regulated California beaches I left behind years ago.
I have been here long enough to remember Black Pot as it was before the storm. On any given evening you could find the locals and tourists engaged in the spirit of ohana. Fishermen would be proudly showing off their catch of the afternoon while preparing small camp fires that would cook their gifts from the sea. Any passerby inquisitive enough to ask “what’s cooking” would be invited to dine.
Cars and trucks would go to and fro with the young and old engaged with music from Bob Marley, to Iz to Bocelli. Passing by any tailgate or open trunk, there was laughter, a surfboard or three and a cool beverage.
Every visit you came away with at least a new acquaintance whom you would soon see again. It was like a Menehune “village” of old Hawaii that came to life each day but disappeared at midnight.
Now the “village” is gone. It wasn’t the storm that destroyed this village. It was because someone decided all this was to be no more.
The beach is now “environmentally” friendly but lacking of life and character. By comparison , it is sparsely used, the engaging fishermen, music and laughter is now gone, and those who stroll by are mostly silent.
They will never know what treasured ground this was only 16 months ago.
Dave Prew, Princeville
Speaking of mufflers, Kimo, I have a suggestion for you . . .
No, no, just kidding. In all seriousness — and I am sure that Mr. Oswald would agree with me — that is probably the BEST letter ever published in The Garden Island newspaper! It spoke to a pressing matter EVERY American citizen has to be concerned with — that being, of course, the very “real issue” of loud, obnoxious lawnmowers. Perhaps you should volunteer to head up a committee to look into it. It would certainly give you something to do with your free time . . .
Trump for Prison 2020. MAGA!
James Rosen ( you should not honor yourself with a Hawaiian name) :
Many, if not most, nearly all, developed countries in the world now offer free medical to their residents. Why not the US? Because the rich (both people and corporation, pharmaceutical companies and well off health practitioners) are unwilling to share the burden.
Free public college? Why not? I’d be happy to contribute part of my tax payments to create more opportunity to deserving students and to lower their student debts so that they can foresee a better future for themselves and their families.
I’d be willing to bet that you pay $0 in Federal taxes and yet you are likely on Medicare or Medicaid or some disability payments for your obvious mental condition. Maybe the machine noise is the cause of your problem. Yet you continue to support the blowhard-in-chief, the slimey New York huckster who has pulled the wool over the eyes of his ill-informed, Fox “News” watching base, who he strokes with fear and whose lives are becoming sadly worse, along with everyone else’s under his “leadership”.
If you want to deal with loud machines, talk to your local politicians. You will not see Trump talking about loud machines. He loves speaking in front of our loud presidential helicopter. He is in the pocket of monied interests that profit from more machines, and does not want to “burden” them with environmental conditions.
You want to put a muffler on asking for campaign contributions? Then get money out of politics, prohibit lobbying and corporate contributions, and create a method of public funding for fair elections, where candidates advance and are publically funded in their campaigns by showing greater petition support from registered voters as campaigns progress.
Get a grip, and support Bernie for President in 2020.
Dave, the simple fact is people don’t like change and progress….it is especially castigated on this island.
Haena has joined the 21st century. The “free for all” has been replaced with organization and safety. I can now walk the trail and enjoy Ke ee with less people, and not have to worry about being tagged by a car, or “parked in” by a monster truck.
So, fishermen can still show off. Locals can still try to talk to tourists. I can’t count the number of times kids were almost run over by inattentive drivers on the beach. The locals are still “hanging out”, blasting their music in the parking lot. It’s organized and safe.
All that money, and now we still have concrete, one lane bridges. That is the travesty. Progress is not a bad thing.
Mr. Prew, perhaps you could invite that Black Pot ohana to come visit in your Princeville community?
Only muffler we need on Kauai is one for James Rosen
Kauaiboy, cut him some slack. He came here knowing how to play the system – free Mahealona housing & care (maybe thats why he gave himself a hawaiian name). better than being cold or actually working in alaska. He knows some stuff – we all should be like him…..oh, we have a sense of pride that prevents that