U.S. wars biggest waste of our money

The article by Emily Goff gives 10 examples of what she considers wasteful spending by the federal government in recent years ("10 ways the federal government has wasted your money," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 26).

Her examples range from $7 million on down to several hundred thousand dollars.

In the end, she concedes that "these waste examples may seem like chump change."

While itemizing chump change, Goff totally ignores the financial costs of America’s two longest war in its history, namely in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Iraq, the cost to the U.S. has totaled more than $800 billion, including the $12 billion in neatly packaged blocks of $100 bills that were flown into Iraq in 21 separate flights of C-130 military cargo planes in 2004. All of these $12 billion have disappeared.

More important, a strong case can be made that both of these wars were completely unnecessary, and that all of the financial and human costs of these wars were a grotesque waste.

Oliver Lee
Aina Haina

Let voters decide on gay marriage

In proposing legislation to legalize same-gender marriage, the governor is to be congratulated for recognizing "a constitutional right to refuse to perform gay marriages" ("Religious exemption expanded," Star-Advertiser, Aug 29).

But that does not justify calling a special legislative session.

Whether traditional marriage is to be fundamentally redefined to placate homosexuals should not be left to elected representatives, most of whom are constantly on the prowl for campaign cash, ready to sell their vote to the highest bidder. It should not be left to law professors who agonize over a "situation in which two constitutional rights pull in (opposite) directions …"

Instead, the issue should be presented on the 2014 ballot as a question to be resolved by those most affected: the people.

Thomas E. Stuart
Kapaau, Hawaii island

Inouye would not like plan for center

The juxtaposition of stories about the facility to be built to honor the late U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye and that of increases in tuition should give pause to those who would build this memorial.

I believe the senator himself would be embarrassed to realize that this project will take a pound of flesh out of many future students who can ill afford that debt. It also sets an unfortunate precedent for how we honor political figures.

Concerns about building costs have been raised, but no one seems to have factored what any accountant knows: Maintenance, furnishings, staffing (including pension costs), utility costs and eventual replacement are part of the true total cost. Taxpayers and students would be saddled with those.

The late senator would be truly honored by having the funds raised used to establish scholarships in his name, and having relevant documents placed in the existing government documents section of the University of Hawaii’s Hamilton Graduate Library.

Jean Manly
Hawaii Kai

Try to give others benefit of doubt

Since it is no more possible to disregard another person’s race than it is their sex, size, shape or age, racial profiling is here to stay. Difficulties arise depending upon how one processes the information.

The best advice I’ve heard in a long time came via a recent radio news broadcast. Given that a lifetime of experience with people of other races colors our view, the commentator compared the situation to driving a car that pulls to one side or the other because the front end is out of alignment.

Just like the driver must compensate behind the wheel to stay on the road and avoid accidents, so an attitude adjustment is called for, the better to give one another the benefit of the doubt to make it more likely, as Rodney King hoped, that we might be able to "all just get along."

Bill Brundage
Kurtistown, Hawaii island

9 mm firearms are excessive force

Do police officers need to carry 9 mm Glock firearms?

I could kill a 2,000-pound bull with one of those. A .22 semi-auto fired with surgical precision at parts of the anatomy that do not have any major organs or arteries would stop any man.

An unarmed young GI was killed recently in Waikiki, and there have been multiple incidents of men with only a knife or a pipe in their hand who have been shot dead. The use of a 9 mm in and of itself constitutes excessive force.

I was a military policeman in the Army and carried a .45 semi-auto, and I thank God I never had to use that thing.

Paul Gundlach
Honolulu

Homeless here get too much coddling

Get used to it. Our parks and other sites will be Hawaii’s slums.

This letter is not about families who are down on their luck. It is about those who demand to live on our sidewalks and parks because they won’t live in the housing provided.

Consider:

» Hawaii is known for its street people advocates. Newcomers feel welcome and know Hawaii will give them better treatment and better weather than anywhere on the mainland.

» Approximately one-third of the homeless are veterans. This demographic belongs to the DOD and VA. The burden should be theirs, not ours. The military occupies 25 percent of Oahu so has plenty of space for its vets.

» Meals are provided, so they can spend their money on drugs and alcohol instead of food.

» We have laws against putting bulky items out, except for the night before the scheduled pickup. Tents, signs and chairs, including those at Thomas Square, are bulky items, and the owners should follow the same rules and fines as the rest of us. If the homeless sites have immunity, can we also dump our bulky items 24/7 at Thomas Square or other homeless park sites, too?

Caroll Han
Punchbowl