Bicyclists help maintain roads

In response to Bob Dukat’s letter proposing all bicyclists be taxed $100 per year per bike to have the right to comment on how the state and counties should build their roads, I’m sure the bicycle community can take a joke as well as anybody ("Bicyclists don’t pay their way for roads," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 5).

We should be paying cyclists $100 per year to commute, or at least reimburse them the $15 license fee they already paid when they purchased the bike.

Consider the impact a 3,000-pound vehicle has on our roadways year in and year out. It’s not hard to understand why we have to re-surface our roads so often.

Compare this cost with the impact of a 30-pound bike and I think you’ll agree that cyclists are contributing to the maintenance of our roads. Every bicycle you see is potentially one less car.

Anybody who lives, works and pays taxes here has the right to comment on how the state and county should build their roads.

Jay Kim
Hawaii Kai

Voting important for our country

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," said President John Fitzgerald Kennedy — words that still inspire me after more than 50 years.

You can elect trustworthy representatives at the local, state and national levels, which will be very important in several closely contested primary election races. Electing trustworthy representatives will help restore our faith and trust in our political leadership and eventually restore the greatness of America.

I believe we should restore a government that represents the will of the people and not the special interest groups and vocal minorities. We should restore a government of the people, by the people and for the people that was created by our Founding Fathers more than 238 years ago.

Your vote is very important. This is what you can do for your country.

George Tsuchida
Mililani

No drumbeat for war these days

Regarding the ad for U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s candidacy in the Star-Advertiser: When U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka voted against going to war in Iraq in 2002, as the ad states, it truly was a courageous act because the drumbeat for war was loud and incessant.

There is no similar drumbeat now. The current war in Iraq is a civil war between rival sects of the Muslim religion and other disparate groups. I would venture to say that only a fool would support a U.S. involvement in the current chaotic conditions in Syria and Iraq. It requires no special courage to oppose such involvement.

Ed Sullam
Aina Haina

Candidates quiet on gay marriage

Where are Gov. Neil Abercrombie, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, state Sen. Clayton Hee and the rest of the same-sex marriage gang?

Not a peep from them about how they shoved the same sex-marriage deal down our throats.

Schatz should come out and say how he supported same-sex marriage because it’s good for his children.

I wonder why the subject is holding the whole gang back from coming out and touting how they supported the country by voting for the bill.

I’m so happy that I’m one voter who will vote in this election.

Alexander Atienza
Kakaako

Voters will be the real losers

Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui are applying for the top jobs in the state.

Just as interviews are required of most job applicants, debates offer voters the best opportunity to evaluate these candidates. Yet both men have dodged future debates.

The governor ducked out of several of the debates sponsored by AARP, where a discussion of his attempt to tax senior pensions would be like a stick in the eye. Tsutsui spent generously on TV spots to teach people to pronounce his name. But he avoids a free offer to have people learn more about the man behind the name.

The real losers are the voters. We’re left to form opinions about the candidates based on their TV ads.So far we know the governor looks right at home driving a cab and Shan’s last name is pronounced exactly as it’s spelled.

Chris Seymour
Hilo

Editorial on cop jumped the gun

Here we go again: Monday-morning quarterbacks want a review of police training procedures and ask if the punishment fits the crime in the police officer shooting in Waikiki ("Review training for HPD arrests," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Aug. 2, "Did punishment fit the crime?" Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 2).

The investigation is nowhere near completed, and the Star-Advertiser demands changes. If the officer hadn’t make the decision he did, and this suspect had driven off and killed some innocent bystander, what then? You would be demanding to know why.

What does it matter if we know the officer’s name — so nutjobs can find out where he lives and threaten him and his family?

It’s real easy to sit in your office and spend a few hours thinking about what happened that night. The officer involved had maybe a few seconds at most to make the decision, and now he has to live with it. Can’t you at least give him the benefit of the doubt until the investigation is completed? Shame on you.

Mo DeRego
Waipahu

Buddhist ideas being ignored

All Buddhists should condemn the killing of Muslims by Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

All Buddhists also should be aware the cause of this violence is the inability of Buddhists to compete economically with Muslims and Hindus and even less with Confucians and Christians.

Why so?My guess is it is because Buddhist ideas have not beenadequately instituted into the governance, laws,economy and education of Buddhist countries (Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia).

It will take a long time to attain these goals, but the time to begin is now. It is time for the politicians and Sanghas (communities of monks) of these countries to truly recognize that the Sutta Pitaka, the discourses of the Buddha, holds all the ideas necessary to produce a useful and peaceful society in every way, including an economically effective society.

Koji Takakuwa
Liliha

Military sonar hurting whales?

Regarding the article about two whales in distress off Kailua ("2 whales appear in distress off Kailua," Star-Advertiser, Newswatch, Aug. 1) and the death of a whale on Kauai two weeks ago: Can someone check with the RIMPAC exercises to see if they are using sonar testing?

There is a high and direct correlation with sonar and whales having their ear drums hurt or destroyed. The whales cannot hunt for food when this happens.

How can we have a whale sanctuary here in Hawaii when the whales are directly hurt by military sonar testing? Can’t this be stopped before more whales or dolphins are killed?

Milly Ring
Kaimuki