FCC must be strong to buck media owners  

The Federal Communications Commission is poised to begin closing loopholes that broadcasters have used for years to evade common-sense media ownership rules.

The loopholes in question including joint sales arrangements and shared services agreements allow broadcasters to combine newsrooms, lay off reporters and air duplicate newscasts on multiple channels. As a result, one broadcaster with one editorial viewpoint in effect controls multiple stations.

Fewer reporters at fewer distinct outlets mean less original reporting.

Honolulu’s three local stations KGMB, KHNL and KFVE used sharing agreements to create the nation’s first news triopoly, which frequently carries identical newscasts across the dial.

Unsurprisingly, the FCC is under tremendous industry pressure to water down or even shelve these reasonable and warranted reforms. The FCC should stand strong on these proposals then take the next steps to give Americans the responsive, diverse and local media system they deserve.

Chris Conybeare
Media Council of Hawaii
Carmille Lim
Common Cause Hawaii
Michael Copps
Former FCC commissioner and special adviser to Common Cause

Labels could tell us which foods GMO-free

Instead of requiring the listing of GMO foods or contents on labels, why don’t we label non-GMO foods instead, such as organic foods?

This way, we also would create an industry or classification of foods that the anti-GMO population can support or purchase.

Alan Teraoka
Palolo Valley

Hawaii GOP needs to get back to basics

It is my hope that Pat Saiki can revive the Republican Party in Hawaii.

As a past district chair of the party, Iwatched it being destroyed by the Christian Coalition and the anti-abortion activists.

For the Republican Party to succeed, it needs to stick to the basic principles as outlined by the founding fathers of the conservative party. No one can deny the benefits of less government, lower taxes, support of business and a hand up instead of a hand out.

Independents and even moderate Democrats may realize the value of voting for Republican candidates, if the platform is not sabotaged by activists with a different agenda.

With the present leadership, we are one of the highest-taxed states in the nation. Hawaii voters need to wake up and say "Enough is enough"and vote for the conservative agenda.

Foster Hull
Lahaina

Watching cable news can twist your mind

Recently I read an article about "forgotten" presidential remarks and was struck by the far-sightedness demonstrated by George Washington: "When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly."

The 24-hour cable news networks practice this technique. On the far right, a story is created, twisted, repeated and finally accepted as fact. One of the most egregious examples was Fox News using the California food-stamp surfer eating lobster as an example of food assistance for the poor being a waste of government money.

More accurately, he illustrated a citizen parasite. Never mind that so many needy people and their children survive on food stamps.

President Barack Obama and Pope Francis spoke about helping the poor. Perhaps the self-righteous should stop watching cable news propaganda.

Jim Wolfe
Nuuanu

State workers should work on election day

If the state wants to save money, how about having all of our city and state employees work at the polling stations on election day instead of considering it a paid state holiday?

I don’t understand why the city and state workers have a day off during election day. There is no need to pay them for a holiday.

Instead, make them work the elections. This would include teachers. They could work the elections at their respective schools.

The unions and the state and city should make this change to their contracts.

Then we wouldn’t have to pay the volunteers for this work, and we wouldn’t have to worry whether we have enough volunteers because there are many state and city workers available to do this job.

Susan Matsudo
Ewa Beach

OHA could do better with Kakaako Makai

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs is trying to get an exception passed through the Legislature to build 40-story high-rise residential buildings on three of their newly acquired Kakaako Makai properties.

Current state law prohibits that kind of development.

Yes, high-rise residential buildings would give OHA the most return per square foot on its land. But what about responsible growth with vision?

Imagine Kakaako Makai like this:

A refurbished Fisherman’s Wharf building.The ground floor with open plate-lunch style dining and access to the wharf.The upper floor for upscale dining and dancing.

The dock area featuring dining and retail occupants on the ground floors with low-rise business offices above.

Free parking behind the business district, underground to make the land green.

Crown it with a Hawaiian Cultural Center.

We don’t need a high-rise Kong-a-lulu; we need responsible development.

John and Rita Shockley
Makakilo

PRP ads are simply slick propaganda

It was refreshing to see that Iam not the only person on Oahu to notice distortions in the Pacific Resource Partnership TV ad promot- ing development in Kakaako ("TV ad distorts Kakaako future,"Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 19).

The lack of visible high-rise buildings is one distortion; however, you may notice a lack of people and cars.

One might assume, with the rail station nearby, 20,000 new residents would be heading out to Kapolei for their morning commute.

"No cars needed." Really?

I was amused by the "preserving our open spaces" scene, implying it is either Kakaako or wait, is that Lualualei Valley? I am sure that live-fire "open space" will be preserved for years to come.

Kakaako may be a reasonable option for development. However slick, misleading propaganda should be seen for what it is. Balance is critical indeed.

Jonathan Busse
Waialae

Some homeless’ just bums and vagrants

I first moved to Waikiki in 1974.

The problems with street people have become absolutely outrageous and totally intolerable.

First off, these people are not "homeless." They are bums and vagrants suffering from a variety of mental, alcohol and drug issues. Their squalid squatting spots along the beach have made many of the benches, restrooms and bus stops unusable by the public.

A solutionto this problem is very simple: Pass a strong anti-vagrancy law for Waikiki and strictly enforce it with daily sweeps to arrest offenders and institutionalize those who need help. In this way, the bums will quickly come to understand that they are no longer welcome in Waikiki.

Thomas Woodrow
Waikiki

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

“Bird lovers counter feds on Hawaiian hawk’s status,” Star-Advertiser, March 24:
>> When they are restored to appropriate levels on all the islands, then we can talk about taking them off of the endangered species list.
>> If the io is absent on the other islands, it certainly should remain on the endangered list. Growing up on Kauai in the ’30s, I did not notice the io at all.
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“Law on flood coverage will allow higher rates to flow in,” Star-Advertiser, March 24:
>> All of the rich people (mostly GOP, I’m sure) who live along the beaches and howl for less government are now going to lambaste the government for abandoning the subsidy program. Oh, the irony of it all.
>> If you think that this will only affect mostly “rich people,” you are kidding yourself. Just like “hurricane insurance,” we will all get affected.
>> Sounds like a good idea to me. Why should I help pay someone’s insurance if they choose to live in a flood zone?
———
“Pono Choices panel is too secretive, critics allege,” Star-Advertiser, March 25:
>> A working group developing a curriculum is not “public officials.” They are educators developing lesson plans.
>> The choices they are teaching are not pono.
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“Ground broken on sewer project,” Star-Advertiser, March 25:
>> This is a basic city service and they throw a party. Get real and do your darn jobs.
>> Better double bless this project.
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“Police end fight over sex with prostitutes,” Star-Advertiser, March 26:
>> OK, that does it. I’m withdrawing my application to join HPD since I can’t have sex with prostitutes while on the job.
>> Prostitution will never go away. That’s why it’s the “oldest profession.” Even in countries where prostitutes can be sentenced to death, there is still prostitution. So rather than fight it, we should regulate and tax it. Same with marijuana.
>> I, for one, am sorry to see this hilarious story leave the headlines.
>> Why are the politicians not addressing transparency in reporting police disciplinary-action cases? Why did the department insist that its officers should have the right to have sex with prostitutes, when they know that the current disciplinary-action system doesn’t allow transparent review? Fix this problem before this issue is put to rest.
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 “Hula” name of STD app is insensitive, critics say,” Star-Advertiser, March 26:
>> The Hawaiian culture is not harmed and life will go on as normal. We live in a society of one-word catchphrases and as these types of uses go, I think it was pretty darn clever.
>> What ever word was picked would most likely offend someone, somewhere.
>> By itself, calling an app “hula” is not a big deal. Joking about someone getting “lei’d” by itself is not a big deal either. When you combine these together on what should be a serious topic, it is in poor taste and could be considered offensive. And it is not the sensibilities of the offender that is important — it is the sensibilities of those being offended.
>> It was not meant to be an insult to the Hawaiians and the culture, but I can see why it is.
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“New HCDA rules allow for tougher hearings,” Star-Advertiser, March 27:
>> The Hawaii Community Development Authority is wanting the community to feel as if the community’s input into a development has some merit before it goes ahead and approves any and all plans a developer wants anyway.
>> This is a good thing on several levels. It gives protest groups a formal and clear method to argue against a project. On the other hand, it makes the red-shirt, monku-monku crowd follow more formal procedures when complaining. Hopefully this will lead to more light and less heat and reduces the protesting by NIMBYs.
———
“Hawaii trip by Obamas cost nation $7.78M just for flights,” Star-Advertiser, March 27:
>> Only because it’s President Barack Obama, Judicial Watch is making it public that taxpayers money was used for his vacation. This is just plain old political tactics used by people to make the president look bad.
>> Obama comes to Hawaii where he has family and friends, and it’s beautiful here. If he wanted to spend vacation time somewhere else in the U.S., he could, but why should he go somewhere he really doesn’t want to be?
>> I don’t begrudge the president his trip. The increase of $3.7 million over the flight expenses that Judicial Watch reported for the 2012-2013 trip is what bothers me.