Seeger’s music a big hammer

Pete Seeger was a politically active troubadour of the first order ("Folk singer championed many causes," Star-Advertiser, Jan. 28).

The sad news of his passing comes shortly after this year’s Grammy awards, a wasteland of discordant, anti-social, misanthropic, coarse, apolitical, soul-scarring music. Some would disagree and cite examples of Grammy-winning songs extolling positive values. Love is a common theme. So is friendship. There are more but they stop at touchy-feely emotions. Death, booze, sex and melancholy score far higher.

No one lamented unjust wars, subpar wages, the cost of health care, tea-party mentality, neocon hubris, anti-women policies, Citizens United, the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act, etc.

In stark contrast, Seeger’s banjo was a mighty pro-civil rights hammer. His heart was an anti-war drum. His voice was a siren calling all of us to be politically aware and to get involved.

Jay Henderson
Waikiki

Shut off Capitol air conditioning

I suggest that the air conditioning in the Capitol building be kept off until such time as all of the schools are allowed to use air conditioning whenever the school deems it necessary.

I worked in the Capitol for years and it was kept so cold that we all wore jackets. Those in the basement were so cold they actually had room heaters. This is not a way to save energy.

By the way, are there photovoltaic panels on the schools or the Capitol?

Gretchen Gould
Kaneohe

Give homeless rights they need

Rather than shelve House Bill 1889, Hawaii’s homeless person’s bill of rights, as you suggest, it urgently needs to be heard and enacted ("‘Bill of Rights’ for homeless a distraction," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Jan. 26). It is practically identical to legislation recently passed in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Illinois.

But don’t the homeless already have the protection of the First Amendment (peaceable assembly), Fourth Amendment (protection from unreasonable search and seizure), Fifth Amendment (guarantee of due process), Fourteenth Amendment (equal justice under law), and King Kamehameha’s Law of the Splintered Paddle (state Constitution Article IX, Section 10)?

Officially, yes. But the city routinely violates these basic civil rights in their persecution of the most impoverished and powerless among us.

A bill of rights would allow the homeless to press for the legal protections they are currently denied, the civil rights that must protect all of us to protect any of us.

H. Doug Matsuoka
Makiki

Build housing for the poor first

Oahu is currently breeding condominium towers in Kakaako, converted condo-tels in Waikiki and single-family homes to be built on re-zoned prime agricultural land.

Meanwhile, the state of Utah has reduced homelessness by nearly 80 percent. They are using the "housing first" model that’s been discussed in Honolulu for more than a decade. Utah found it cost-effective to be proactive, rather than reactive, and provide each homeless person and family with an apartment and a social worker.

I challenge the state, the city and the Hawaii Community Development Authority to cease all development until we can implement a serious housing-first program. It is shameful that we are building homes for people who don’t even live in Hawaii instead of helping our own people.

I am confident that not a single potential resident of any of these developments will end up homeless if they are not built.

Nancy Aleck
Manoa

Street ‘parklets’ block bicyclists

When I was recently in Los Altos, Calif., I heard residents complaining that their new "parklets" have made bicycling along those same streets too dangerous.

Laura M. Fink
Makiki

Sowell should apply facts, too

I rarely agree with Thomas Sowell, but I try to read his column every week to better understand what people on the conservative side of the political spectrum are thinking.

In his latest piece ("Facts don’t deter liberals from repeating same myths," Star-Advertiser, Jan. 25), I couldn’t agree more with his thesis that facts should trump rhetoric, and even brilliant people can often be ignorant of history, leading them to support policies that have failed before.

My problem with Sowell is that he reserves his criticism for just liberals, when it is clearly and unmistakably a problem of policymakers on both sides of the political spectrum.Did the lead-up to the second Iraq War not resemble Vietnam with its half-truths and fake "evidence"?Did the loose monetary conditions which led to the Great Recession not bring back memories of the Great Depression?

The bottom line is that it is up to all citizens to recognize when politicians and pundits on both sides are trying to manipulate public opinion with shoddy "facts" and unsupported claims.

John Cheever
Kalani Iki

State has surplus — of problems

It always amazes me that in an election year we can have a career politician like Gov. Neil Abercrombie run around touting a so-called budget surplus. I would like to bring a small dose of reality to the governor: For years Hawaii state government has been stealing from the employee retirement system, which has contributed to an unfunded liability of approximately $27 billion; our roads are in deplorable, Third-World condition; our prison system is so overcrowded we export prisoners; most of our public schools have no air conditioning and are in need of major repairs; the list can go on.

Until some of this massive debt is paid down and our crumbling infrastructure is improved, the governor should stop using "fuzzy math" in an attempt to distract from his pathetic record and lack of real accomplishment.

Robert Thurston
Kahuku

Fireworks ban hurts families

Our previous tradition was to spend New Year’s Eve at our relatives’ house in St. Louis Heights, using sparklers, paperless firecrackers and other fireworks with the kids leading up to midnight.At midnight we would watch the turn of the new year and wish each other a happy new year.

Now that most fireworks are banned, we didn’t get together to celebrate the arrival of 2014.We didn’t want to fight the thousands attending the aerial fireworks show or the big parties and we didn’t want to hang around the house twiddling our thumbs waiting for midnight.Many of us turned in before midnight.New Year’s Eve turned out to be just another night for us.

Oh well, maybe it’s for the best.The kids are grown and starting to do their own things.The family thing is overrated anyway, right?

Stan Sano
Makiki