Company profits not shared fairly

Is this CEO welfare or privilege ("Top isle CEOs get 28% boost in compensation," Star-Advertiser, April 21)?

Think about it: The people at the top received a 28 percent boost in compensation while already receiving millions, while the middle- and lower-level managers and workers fight for 2 percent or 3 percent — and are lucky if they are successful.

Without lower-level managers and workers, these corporations would not even make a profit. Why don’t these corporations share their prosperity with their workers?

Kenneth L. Barker
Hawaii Kai

Headlines reveal irony about pay

Two recent headlines, only a day apart, speak more eloquently to the disparities in our society than any editorial or op-ed piece: "Top isle CEOs get 28% boost in compensation," and "Minimum wage increase in limbo."

Michael Bornemann
Hawaii Kai

Rail opponents look backward

A recent article reported yet another legal motion filed by the anti-rail advocates on Oahu ("Rail opponents pursue accelerated court hearing," Star-Advertiser, April 20).

While our system of government allows due process, I am growing frustrated with the tactics of this backward-looking minority. When does due process become undue delay?

Each lawsuit puts off construction further, adds to the cost and delays the long-sought relief for many of us who traverse H-1 every day.

The voters on Oahu have clearly stated their support for rail, the opponents have had their say again and again in court, and now, with construction ready to resume, they again hope to undo the will of the people.

Enough already. Let’s move Oahu forward into the 21st century.

Richard Paquette
Kapolei

Politicians focus on short term

In exposing the counterproductive outcome of the U.S. government’s subsidies to promote home ownership, Froma Harrop has fingered just a single example of what’s wrong with federal economic planning ("Government needs to stop pushing homeownership," Star-Advertiser, April 20).

The larger picture proves that nearly all government economic policy is aimed at short-term growth — with resultant harm to the long-term sustainability of both macro- and micro-economies, not to mention our ecological integrity. Government does an excellent job of digging holes, but is very poor at improving the economy over the long haul.

As renowned climate scienceenvironmentalist Bill McKibben says, "When you’re in a hole, the first rule of holes is, stop digging."

I would tell officials to stop pushing more and startpushing better. Spread opportunity across communities by advancing education. Any economic subsidies must increase ecological sustainability — for example, by decreasinguse of fossil fuels.

We can’t dig our way out, but we can build stairs.

Ritxard Weigel
Salt Lake

Smokers need designated area

A bill that bans smoking on several public beaches and parks on Oahu was signed recently by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

It’s true that our environment will be more sanitary. However, what happens to smokers? Go cold-turkey? Attend rehab for a couple of months? Invest in e-cigarettes? This nicotine embargo is akin to saying those who are overweight and obese can’t attend the beach, or only local people are allowed.

Ludicrous.

A tolerable solution would be to create a smoking area that isn’t directly on the beach or park. With this, smokers wouldn’t be blowing smoke into people’s faces. Moreover, cigarette butts could be thrown away properly in designated receptacles. If people were caught littering, they could be fined. As a result, smokers wouldn’t have to fight through the storm of addiction and their rights wouldn’t be usurped.

Alex Linares
Aiea

Gun proposal not about safety

Charles Balcher suggested that knowing which antisocial students live in households with firearms would make schools safer ("Report gun owners to school officials," Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 2).

Really? How so? Do we frisk and metal-detect them before they enter their schools? How about whenever they leave their homes? It’s only fair we protect everyone else in society they could potentially harm.

And what if their home is firearms-free? Does that mean their co-students are safe? Ask the hypothetical dozen or more kids a crazed knife-wielding student could fatally wound before someone successfully disarms them.

No, we won’t worry about that, because it’s not about protecting children — it’s about politics. It’s about the progressive, liberal propaganda that has infected America with an irrational fear and contempt for inanimate objects, their owners, and the Second Amendment that protects them.

Paul Rizzo
Olaa, Hawaii island

HCDA wasting cash on building

It’s unfortunate that we have a state agency, the Hawaii Community Development Authority, that has nothing better to do than waste taxpayer money on the Royal Brewery building ("State will pay $6M to fix Royal Brewery building," Star-Advertiser, April 11).

First, the state paid $2.5 million for a renovation in 1996 that left the building uninhabitable. Then, the state got $1 million back in 2011 through a legal settlement that left $1.5 million unaccounted for, as the building is still uninhabitable. Why, one might ask, did the state accept such a settlement?

The state should have forced the contractor to redo the work or make darn sure that it never get a government contract again. Now HCDA wants to sink another $6 million into this pile of junk. Get real. The state should put this $6 million into our state roads, especially along Kamehameha Highway in Aiea.

James L. Robinson
Aiea

What Monsanto does is not pono

Monsanto says it is being trashed in Hawaii and denies claims and accusations made against it, and that anger vented against them is not pono.

What is not pono is the Monsanto rider attached to the congressional spending bill giving GMO (genetically modified organism) plantings immunity from the courts.

Anger is breaking out everywhere Monsanto operates, not just in Hawaii, but around the world, as consumers and family farmers realize that GMO seeds are to sell toxic poisons, and Monsanto’s goal is to patent the world’s seeds.

Monsanto spends millions to defeat labeling of GMO food.This is not pono. If GMO seeds are so safe, why not label the food made from them?Salt, sugar, fat, monosodium glutamate, food coloring and preservatives are on labels. Doctors are advising patients to avoid GMO foods, but without labeling, there is no way to determine what’s safe for them to eat.

Merle Inouye
Hilo