SENATE RACE

CASE MEETS WITH CONSTITUENTS REGULARLY

Mark Lum's letter saying Congressman Case's call for Sen. Akaka to debate is "nauseating" is way off the mark.

This is not about debating championships or stomach upset. We want to hear these men address the issues that face our nation and state. Honestly, we do not see or hear enough of Akaka to know where he stands and how he's doing.

Mr. Lum has had the opportunity to see and hear Ed Case, who for years has been going to the farthest reaches of his district to "talk story" and get a pulse of his constituents. He does it all the time on the Neighbor Islands, and I'm sure he has been doing the same in Kane'ohe, Mr. Lum's home.

Many of us on the Neighbor Islands will tell you we know Ed Case because he comes here and meets with all manner of people. Akaka limits himself to a narrow band.

SENATE RACE

ABILITY TO DEBATE CRITICAL FOR LAWMAKERS

In his letter on July 18 Mark Lum discounts Ed Case's challenge for a debate with Dan Akaka saying that he doesn't care how good they are as debaters, only where they stand on issues.

My take is that anyone can go to the Senate (or House, or state Legislature or City Council) and vote the way I think. What should distinguish a politician is the ability to convince his fellow lawmakers that our position is the best for all. It takes the art of debate to accomplish that.

Far from being unimportant, the ability to debate is the quintessential attribute of a successful legislator.

IRAQ WAR

WATADA ACTING IN HIS INTEREST, NOT FOR TROOPS

In his commentary, "Opposing war in Iraq my duty as an American" (June 18), 1st Lt. Ehren Watada espouses his rationale for not desiring to deploy to Iraq with the U.S. Army.

I actually feel sorry for this young man because at his court-martial, he will not face a "jury of his peers" but a board of hard-nosed senior officers with combat experience.

I also feel sorry for him because most, if not all, of the people who back him up have nothing to lose as compared to what he will lose.

His self-proclaimed patriotism is misled by his belief that he will save all military personnel by ending the war through his "act of bravery." What he is doing is clearly for his own self interest and not for the troops. He should well know he will not stop the war in Iraq and the only troop he is trying to save is himself.

His self-proclaimed leadership as an officer in the U.S. Army is misled by his erroneous following of the proclamations of Congressman Jack Murtha. He fails to understand that Jack Murtha, the politician, is not the same as Jack Murtha, the former Marine officer. One lesson Watada did not learn early on is that you can't be a good leader until you learn to be a good follower.

As a former military officer, I believe that the only debate the officers who sit on his court-martial will have is how many years he should serve in prison at Fort Leavenworth.

WEST O'AHU

RAIL, IMPROVING UH MAKE MORE SENSE

Gary Smith (July 16) has it backwards. Rail may be a good idea, given the nightmarish commute from that side of the island, but West O'ahu is a bad idea. Sure, a Leeward campus might marginally improve the commute for a while — until Castle and Cooke gets its 4,000 homes built. However, look at what we would actually end up with in a West O'ahu campus.

When I earned my degrees there in the '70s, the University of Hawai'i was a respected second-tier institution. This means that in the single most important national ranking of colleges and universities, it fell within a large group just below the very top institutions like Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley.

By selectively targeting and gutting UH Manoa in the late '90s, Gov. Cayetano dropped the UH to the third tier in the national ranking, where it keeps company with some highly marginal institutions. In doing so, he cheapened my degrees and the degrees of every UH alumnus, past and future.

It is painful to say, but we now have a third-rate university. Why would any reasonable person desire yet another third-rate institution on this small island? Leeward students and all the rest of us would be better served by an efficient rail system, better funding (or even a new campus) for Leeward Community College and a commitment to raising UH Manoa to its former level of excellence.

GOVERNMENT

OFFICIALS SHOULD ACT BEFORE COMMENTING

Mr. James Burke, chief of the Public Transit Division scolded Mr. Leffanta for complaining about late bus arrivals on routes A & B. Shouldn't he be figuring ways to have the buses arrive on time or tell the truth and change the schedule to reflect reality?

Mr. Eugene C. Lee, acting director of the Department of Design & Construction, said the bathrooms at the Natatorium were deemed usable in 2004. Well, Mr. Lee, why aren't they open?

Maybe these government officials should just do their jobs and keep the commentaries to themselves.

CONTEMPT OF COURT

RELIGIOUS SPEECH SHOULDN'T BE CENSORED

I am appreciative that Daniel Phillips of Kentucky took the time to write to express his dismay at Judge Border's decision to hold in contempt a man who thanked his Lord when he heard he was aquitted. This is a noteworthy item that should be revealed nationwide.

"Maybe Hawai'i needs a law to allow 'any person to express gratitude to one's deity upon discovering that he/she will not have to be incarcerated,'" Mr. Phillips said.

There is such a law applicable to all states and citizens, Mr. Phillips. It is called the First Amendment, which protects all speech including religious speech. Judge Border has the right to run his courtroom the way he sees fit, up to the point of denying one the right of freedom of expression.

What Judge Border did is being done on an alarmingly increasing basis these days — the censoring of religious speech. These instances need to be confronted and this intolerance stopped.

ENERGY

MAUI RESIDENTS GET KUDOS FOR WIND FARMS

Bravo to the residents of Maui for allowing wind farms to be built on your island. Not only are you helping preserve our fragile environment and curbing our dependence on oil, but you are also setting an example for our keiki to follow.

When the idea was explored on O'ahu, the outcry was so large you would have thought that burning crosses were being considered. The idea of building hundreds of tract homes that are users of energy and producers of waste does not raise even a portion of the same negativity as the building of a non-polluting energy source.

The Hawaiians of old would be proud of Maui's environment-friendly resource. The people of O'ahu should take note of Maui's example.

HOMELESS

PUT TRANSITION HOUSING IN ALL COMMUNITIES

I read with interest the arguments about living free on the beach. I also read with interest in your Sunday paper that there has been little response to finding people to work. Am I reading correctly?

If you are really homeless, why choose to live on the beach and not farther up on the mountain side, away from everybody else? The beach is for families to enjoy.

For those of you who are without work, go and apply for those job openings abundant in Hawai'i. Pay may not be much, but it is a start. With budget discipline, you can make it.

Has anyone noticed there are no homeless tents on the north, east or south shores? Why are they abundant on the west shore? Now they are talking about building transition houses on the west coast of the island. We have enough social problems in this area. Why not distribute to other areas as well?

CATALUNA COLUMN

ARTS EDUCATION ONE KEY TO HAPPY, PRODUCTIVE LIFE

Lee Cataluna vocalizes what most people are too afraid to say — that many homeless people are, in fact, responsible for their situation. However, many homeless simply did not get some primary major advantages in life that others did get.

Almost 18 years ago, I found myself in a similar dire situation as many homeless are today. Having departed from an abusive situation with no education or real job experience, plus a baby in tow, I spent countless nights on the couches of friends wondering what to do next. Over the next 18 years I started and finished college and worked incredibly hard and long hours to support us. I now find myself firmly planted in the middle class Cataluna speaks of. However, I had two major advantages: I came from a stable home and had many opportunities to develop my intellectual side as a child, such as the violin lessons at my public school for 10 years.

I simply chose not to go to college after high school, I chose to be in an abusive relationship and I chose to have a child as a single parent. Even after all the bad choices I made and my family's refusal to overly help me, the simple advantages of a stable home life coupled with opportunities for intellectual growth as a child were the factors that ultimately contributed to my success.

Many homeless today do not have the advantages I had. We should be proactively encouraging a stable home life for all our children, as well as promoting the arts, music and sports in our schools. These were the primary foundations that molded me into a capable and emotionally stable person, all of which led to my success as an adult.

Many of today's keiki are utterly deprived of these basic foundations. We can't control how families treat their children, but we can start re-emphasizing the arts in our classrooms. I attribute half of my success to the arts programs in the schools I attended as a child. In the second grade, our music director came to every class and played a tune, and asked who wanted to learn. It changed my life in a most positive and permanent way.

The arts are one major foundation that Hawai'i can focus on in order to provide our keiki with intellectual stimulation that lasts a lifetime, and ultimately lead to productive and happy lives.