(Dis)respect for kupuna
While Governor Ige and Mayor Kawakami deserve some credit for keeping the coronavirus case low, some of their authoritarian actions have caused hardships for kupuna who are unable to comply with the requirements for online registration for vaccinations or travel requirements.
I have never had or wanted a so-called smartphone, but acquired one at significant expense after I was held up at the Lihu‘e Airport returning from a medically-necessary trip to Straub even though I had paper copies of both vaccinations and a negative test.
I hope that our politicians, who are younger and probably have a IT staff to manage their “techie” needs, would please consider the needs of the senior citizens, who have great difficulty mastering the new, mandatory systems.
Harold Nelson (76), Kapa‘a
Bias in reporting
On Friday (Feb. 19), The Garden Island ran an opinion price from the Los Angeles Times on the proposed $15-an-hour, federal-wage proposal. Now, I am not commenting directly on that issue, per say. I believe that this is a regional issue, and there are so many economic factors involved that a broad-brush approach is difficult.
What I did find interesting was the way the proposal was presented in the article. While the writer did allude to the proposal leading “some businesses to pare their payrolls,” they were quick to cite the specifics of the recent CBO study on the matter, including that it would lift 900,000 people out of poverty, which is a good thing. But what was glaring was what they didn’t cite — 1.4 million job losses and $54 billion in economic losses that was included in the study! If the media (ALL media on every side) would stop injecting their own bias into their reporting, report all the facts and let US, the readers, make our own decision, we would all be better for the experience.
Journalism is dead! It has been replaced with op-eds full of half-truths that are cherry-picked to fit a specific side’s opinion. It is time the media came to grips with the fact that we are all intelligent adults able to form our own opinions without their help!
Barry Dittler, Wailua
Thank you Barry Dittler for a point very well stated, government and media fear the trurth and the thinking individual. Remember what Jesus said. ” the truth will set you free”, as long as you accept it.
Patrick H Flores, wailua Houselots
How long can it possibly take to vaccinate the 75+ population on Kauai? Are there even 10,000 folks in that demographic? Other states are now on 60+ or even 50+ and doing a much better job than we are here. It’s as if there is no sense of urgency to vaccinate our population because we have a low Covid count. Let’s get moving; it’s not like we have to spend resources on testing or other tasks. I don’t get why we are moving so slowly; we have the supply of vaccine so what is the hang-up?
Great letter Barry… if we keep reminding media people of what you are saying, just maybe Mr. Hooser will stop trying to shove his liberal progressive crap down our throats every week!
It is incredibly easy not to read articles from authors you don’t like to see. Even easier to not post replies.
Amen to Dittler’s critique on what passes for news today. The new “buzzword” is “breaking news”, followed by an opinionated rehash of a two day old event. Not what our forefathers had in mind when freedom of the press was created. TV news is almost comical in its sensationalism.
“It is time the media came to grips with the fact that we are all intelligent adults able to form our own opinions without their help!”
We, in the US, are in the grips of a different pandemic than covid and that is the virus of misinformation. Witness the Qanon believers. When I watched the storming of the Capitol I just kept thinking they are all there because of a lie. A lie perpetrated by certain news orgs, and enemies of America inside and out, so I have to disagree in part with your quoted statement.
They ran an “opinion piece”. Opinions are not news, they are opinions. Everyone has an opinion, just like belly buttons and ass*****. If you want news, read the news not opinions.
I feel that HI should consider making the vaccine available for 70-74 rather than 65+ so the system doesn’t become overwhelmed.