• Walking School Bus a smart idea • Sanctions at the wrong place • Why dog food? • Time for Inouye, Akaka to retire? • Unions make Hawai‘i better? Walking School Bus a smart idea Kudos to Bev Brody and
• Walking School Bus a smart idea • Sanctions at the wrong place • Why dog food? • Time for Inouye, Akaka to retire? • Unions make Hawai‘i better?
Walking School Bus a smart idea
Kudos to Bev Brody and others who created and backed the recent “Walking School Bus” program in Kapa‘a.
I live in Lihu‘e across from the middle school and witness the traffic congestion around our neighborhood twice daily during the week. This is unnecessary and very dangerous for the children.
Adopting the “Walking School Bus” program is a very intelligent solution to the problem(s). If something like this isn’t implemented soon, another traffic snarl will only get worse, thus adding to the frustration (and speed traps) we all experience while driving around out beautiful island.
Robert Lund, Lihu‘e
Sanctions at the wrong place
Either the U.S. imposes sanctions and embargoes unilaterally or through the U.N. on other countries; their success rate is very low — only 13 percent.
Both the justification and the success are questionable. Justification is based mostly on presumptions and on the desire to change the system of the target countries to the liking of the American ruling class. Sanctions mostly hurt the working class and the poor of the target countries, because the wealthy and those in power still can live happily by our freezing a few million dollars from their billion dollar portfolio.
As a result the Americans will suffer the consequences, because the popularity of the United Sates in the eyes of the population of the affected country might completely disappear and may even turn into total distrust of Americans. Not to mention that there is no benefit from such sanctions and embargoes for the average American citizen. There has never been any.
Just an example, look at the sanctions and embargoes against Cuba. They did not work. Cuba exists and makes achievements in education, health care, etc., whether the American politicians like it or not. So, politically the decade-long sanctions completely backfired. It also prevented Americans to go there to visit relatives, friends or just to enjoy the beautiful beaches of Cuba. Embargoes and sanctions against other nations often had the same results.
I have a suggestion for the sanctions-savvy American politicians. Freeze the assets of BP immediately, since it was BP whose failure caused and is still causing a national disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Use the frozen assets to fix the problem, and don’t wait for BP to tackle it. There are companies who can do it better and faster. In addition, use the frozen assets for a speedy and effective environmental cleanup, plus for compensating the people and businesses that lost their livelihood and suffered damages due to the oil spill. I guarantee that this sanction will have a lot of benefit for the average American and for the environment.
János Keoni Samu, Kalaheo
Why dog food?
If dog is man’s best friend why do we feed them dog food?
They say a dog’s sense of smell is 200 times greater than that of man, therefore food must just be orgasmic to dogs.
I garbage-pick at the local Chinese restaurant for my dog. She acts as if I were Donald Trump giving her a diamond necklace every time I pick that dumpster for her.
I am not a dog, but for those people that feed their dogs dog food, why?
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Time for Inouye, Akaka to retire?
Senator Akaka is 85 and has been in office since 1990. Senator Inouye is also 85 and in office since 1963.
They were in office while the banksters deconstructed our financial protections. They were in office while the oil companies polluted our oceans. They were in office when our military was sent on two needless wars that have made the banksters even richer. They were in office as our jobs were shipped overseas. They were in office while our country committed war crimes.
The world has changed since WWII. Maybe it is time for them to retire and let someone who isn’t so willing to compromise with criminals represent our state.
John Zwiebel, Kalaheo
Unions make Hawai‘i better?
With reference to Mr. Boranian’s May 18 letter, “Unions make Hawai‘i Better,” I quote from the ending of his final paragraph: “… Hawai‘i is a far better place because of the influence of the ILWU on sugar and pineapple cultivation”.
Mr. Boranian, where are Kaua‘i’s plantations today?
Joe Stoddard, Wailua Homesteads
