Texting needs to be treated more harshly

Texting is an addiction that is already out of control and no doubt will get worse.

From my observations, texting is far worse than drinking and driving.

On Sunday, while driving from Moanalua to Hawaii Kai, I observed at least 12 drivers texting and being a hazard on the road: texters going below the speed limit and constantly braking with no cars in front of them; texters making dangerous lane changes and, of course, without turn signals because one hand is on the device.

Our government should make the punishment fit the crime with a one-year license suspension. There are too many violators who laugh and brag about getting caught and paying the $200-plus fine.

I recently had to stop on King Street with a green light because a girl was texting while crossing outside a crosswalk. She apparently didn’t know she was in the street until the horns honked. She laughed and continued.

Frank Young
Kakaako

Express Yourself

» Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime telephone number.

» Mail: Letters to the Editor
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210
Honolulu, HI 96813

» E-mail: letters@staradvertiser.com
» Fax: 529-4750
» Phone: 529-4831

Mayor should work on rail solutions, too

It is nothing more than a cruel hoax for the mayor to say that we are supposed to fight to make rail right (“Let’s fight to eliminate delays and cost increases in rail project,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Sept. 27).

The mayor’s plans for fighting all have to do with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation doing something, not the mayor doing anything. His column has five action items for HART but zero for the mayor and only one for the City Council (to vote to extend the general excise tax surcharge).

In 2012, then-mayoral candidate Caldwell said he was going to “build rail better.” Apparently that slogan was as hollow as his new “let’s fight” demand.

If the mayor really intends on making rail a reality, he is going to have to step into the fight, throw some punches and not just watch from the sidelines.

Garry P. Smith
Ewa Beach

Christians interpret Bible as it suits them

County clerk Kim Davis was sent to jail for refusing to obey the law and issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

This upset a Christian woman who quoted God as saying, “Marriage is between a man and a woman.”

I thought, to my staunch feminist self: Abraham, the father of us all, had two wives; Jacob, father of the 12 tribes of Israel, had two wives; and David murdered his loyal military servant to steal his wife, who gave birth to Solomon, who had more than a hundred wives.

God also said, through St. Paul, that gossiping is a sin, but I don’t see any Christians waving that flag.

Christians like these need to clean up their own houses first and they will not have time to even notice what the gays and lesbians they have excluded from their churches are doing.

Deborah Coleman
Wailuku

Thanks for putting homeless in spotlight

Several months ago, the media (TV and the Star-Advertiser) started to bring out the homeless problem in Hawaii.

It has applied a lot of pressure to the state and the city to deal with this problem. Only since then have the city and state started to seriously to build and find housing for these people.

I’m so grateful that the media have news on homeless almost daily, keeping pressure on the city and state to expedite finding places for these people to stay.

Herbert Ishida
Mililani

Honolulu, Hungary trample on humans

I never realized how depressingly similar are the governments of Hungary and the City and County of Honolulu.

Both are in the news for the brutalization of the most vulnerable and desperate people in their jurisdictions: in Hungary, migrants, and in Honolulu, the homeless.

Both governments ignore basic human decency and caring just to win votes: in Honolulu, the tourist industry and business, and in Hungary, anti-Muslim bigots.

In Honolulu, the government calls it “compassionate disruption” although there is no compassion, just disruption; in Hungary, the government calls it “protecting our Christian culture,” although surely there are no Christian values condemning those who are vulnerable or “different.”

Both governments have built fences to keep “undesirables” out: in Hungary, across entire borders, in Honolulu, along the entire length of a canal.

And both governments have trampled on the most basic value: “humanity over all.”

Joel Fischer
Waialae

It’s good to tip off homeless on sweeps

Kudos to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for a fair article on the homeless, clueing people on the street to where the next location of the confiscation of people’s property will take place (“Sweep stakes high,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 17).

That’s playing fair, unlike the City Council, though this may offend some of those who don’t want to think of, or treat, the homeless as people also.

David Foster
Waialae

Sign on base not religious enough

I suggest that the sign at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe be modified (“Religious base’s sign draws protest,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 26).

Replace the first word “God” with the following: “In God We Trust to,” followed by “bless the military, their families, and the civilians who work with them.”

Let the naysayers complain about the national motto, “In God We Trust,” which appears on all U.S. coinage.

Carry on, Marines. Semper Fidelis.

R. Spotswood Robertson
Kailua