DJOU HYPOCRITICAL ON GAY RIGHTS ISSUES

Councilman Charles Djou has called for the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, but is against equal marriage rights for the LGBT community.

Basically Djou thinks that members of the LGBT community are capable and worthy of fighting and dying under the banner of the United State's flag for everyone's freedom, justice and equality except our own community. That is just hypocritical and completely un-American.

GOVERNOR'S RACE

ONLY AIONA PUBLICLY SAYS NO TO GET RAISE

Why does it seem like getting straight answers from some politicians is like pulling teeth?

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann recently said he would like to "open the books" to get a clear picture of where the state is financially and if any tax increase is needed to close Hawai'i's budget shortfall.

My question for the mayor is, what's stopping you? As a candidate for governor you should be speaking with policy analysts and reviewing the state Council of Revenues estimates, which are used by the governor and lawmakers when drafting the budget.

Unfortunately, neither Democratic candidate for governor will commit to whether or not they believe a tax increase is needed and how it would affect the state economy.

James "Duke" Aiona is the only candidate who believes raising the general excise tax would force many working families and small businesses into financial hardship and has advocated for implementing common sense, responsible savings to close the budget shortfall.

Unlike some candidates, my position on who should be our next governor is crystal clear.

CARTOON

RIDICULING BIDEN WAS NOT FUNNY

I am not sure who selects the cartoons for your editorial pages, but it is wrong for the paper to ridicule our vice president even further after Israel's Netanyahu just made the U.S. government and its citizens look like a bunch of pushovers (Advertiser, March 15). Why bring Iran into this debacle? What is its role in this messy behavior?

Iran has never meddled in our national politics or told the U.S. Congress how to vote — Iran does not receive billions of dollars in aid. Israel is well-equipped with nuclear weapons and has warned it would use them. Iran has none as of today. These are facts known around the globe, and your cartoon does nothing but support our home-grown war hawks.

To choose a cartoon like this — with the Iranian not- yet-built and nonexistent nuclear weapon held over Vice President Biden's head is similar to supporting Bush's historic and bloody chase to uncover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The media failed the U.S. citizens then, and do not seem to care now. Indeed, this is not funny.

KEEP IT QUIET

LOUD NOISES IN CITY ARE HEALTH HAZARD

Honolulu is a noisy city.

In some neighborhoods, noise starts very early in the morning, seven days a week, with trash pickups, and continues throughout the day as motorcycles, leaf blowers, boom radios, loud car mufflers, construction equipment and inconsiderate neighbors expose citizens to unhealthy noise.

It seems as if the city and state do not care to protect citizens from this health hazard. The Legislature recently gutted a bill that protected citizens from noisy, unhealthy leaf blowers. State regulations that could have protected citizens from early trash pick up noise were repealed. Violations of city regulations that do occur are not cited.

Lawmakers who live in single-family homes may not hear and understand the extent of the problem, especially from early trash pick up. But residents of densely populated condominium communities are all too familiar with crashing dumpsters at 4 or 5 a.m. on Saturdays and holidays.

Citizens are helpless and pleading for relief. But their pleas fall on deaf ears. The city and state have a responsibility to protect citizen's well being.

New, enforceable noise regulations must be enacted and existing regulations must be enforced.

RAIL TRANSIT

NO MORE DELAYS; IT'S TIME TO START PROJECT

Gov. Linda Lingle conducting a financial analysis of the Honolulu rail project is a waste of time, and more importantly, a complete waste of taxpayer money.

The FTA already hired independent experts to review the financial aspect of the project. The FTA's study, called the Jacobs- Oversight Report, gave the project high marks, stated its cost estimates accurate and reasonable, and concluded that the project is ready to move forward.

The year before that, Booz Allen & Hamilton, an audit and accounting firm, similarly provided the project favorable results.

The Hawaii Business Roundtable, made up of our state's top business leaders, conducted its own study, and concluded that the rail's financial plan was sound. Last month, Don Horner, First Hawaiian Bank board chairman and a member of the Roundtable, stated that the rail financial plan is even stronger now, with a greater federal financial contribution, conservative revenue projections and a solid contingency fund.

No more studies. No more delays. What are we waiting for? As Horner stated, the time to build rail is now.

NEW MEDIA

SHAPIRO, OTHERS JUST CAUGHT IN THE PAST

It's clear David Shapiro and many of our critics are stuck in the past, trapped in the so-called glory days of news. It's a time long gone from both television and print.

Your comfort appears to come from dwelling on the negative impact of economic events beyond our control. That's much easier than highlighting the many positive, promising ideas that have since surfaced, many at the Newsmorphosis 2.0 event — like the very creative and necessary business transaction that saved one or even two Hawai'i television stations. And the social media explosion that's offering profound new reach for all of us. Or a new model of online news, as highlighted by the Peer News project.

To say our thinking is small is a gross error on your part and exposes your false assumption. Our only means of survival is to think bigger than ever. Bob Sevey and his gang didn't have to worry about a budget. We do. His "formidable" team had no problem filling nine hours of news each week and spending months researching in-depth reports. But try producing 40-plus hours of fresh content per week in a state that tends to move slowly.

It's not as easy as it once was. But there's certainly hope. Unless you just want to be critical.