We need love, not government

As we are assaulted by government intervention in our daily lives, it begs the question: How much government is too much?

Intense physical screening at the airports, eavesdropping on telephone conversations, scrutinizing financial transactions, etc., all require more government employees and bloated government budgets. This at the expense of private sector job growth and increased violations of privacy rights.

Political fear-mongering and self-preservation has led to a war in nearly every aspect of our lives: War on Terror, War on Drugs, War on Poverty, War on Obesity, War on the Rich, War on the Middle Class …. War on anything is like throwing fuel on a fire.

What we need is less government and more love in the world.

U.S. should have ‘cap and trade’

The cap and trade bill in Congress benefits both business and the general population. The cost for levying carbon emissions will drive companies to find less polluting means of production. Producers who stay under the limit can sell their allowances to other producers. Cap and trade will reduce air pollution and global warming while companies that stay under the limit will be rewarded with some extra money. What kind of world will we live in with producers emitting excessive amounts of greenhouse gasses and our planet slowly deteriorating?

We are buying, eating too much

When did Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after become "Fat Tuesday"?

It seems we overindulge on food on Thursday and overindulge with our spending on Friday. Put these two together and you pretty much have all the indicators of Fat Tuesday.

Perhaps we can rename Thanksgiving to Fat Thursday and Black Friday to Fat Friday.

Honolulu among safest U.S. cities

It didn’t take me more than five minutes to find that a new CQ Press study rated Honolulu as the second-safest in the nation among cities with a population of 500,000 or more, but your paper has yet to get around to reporting that. The only story that did appear ("Most dangerous U.S. city is St. Louis," Star-Advertiser, Nov. 22) concentrated on the high-crime cities and the safest-city reference was to those with a population of more than 75,000.

With the new "Hawaii Five-O" showing the nation shootouts on our streets, maybe it’s worth mentioning the true picture.

Kaena Point fence is a waste

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has approved a predator fence at Kaena Point to surround the bird sanctuary and protect the nesting birds from predators. It is currently being built.

If you get a chance, go out and take a look at what is being done. It is a total eyesore to a very wild and natural resource. The spectacular views of Kaena Point will be totally blocked by this predator fence, which stretches from the west side of the island to the north side. The predators will be able to access the birds at low tide, as the fence appears to stop at the high-tide mark. In a couple years, as this metal fence is exposed to extreme weather and winter surf, we will end up with a rusting heap of metal that will have to be dealt with, wasting taxpayer dollars.

Auwe. First the Superferry and now this. When will the state start making wise fiscal decisions and really protect its natural resources?