Crime victims treated poorly
A victims’ constitutional amendment is the only way that victims will have rights equal to those of defendants (“Bill would put victims’ rights in state Constitution,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 5).
Our family was thrown into the complex criminal justice system when our son was killed in a crash involving a six-time DUI arrestee. I was left on my own to navigate this unfamiliar system to seek justice for our family.
I felt resistance at every step, even when inquiring about the status of the investigation. The traffic investigation report took nearly a year, and the prosecutor’s final decision was not to press charges. No accountability, no justice.
Hawaii is one of 18 states without a constitutional amendment to protect rights for victims of crimes. The Aloha State falls short by forcing victims to be revictimized by a criminal justice system without equal, enforceable rights.
I disagree with the Star-Advertiser position that rights can be ensured without having an amendment (“Do better at helping crime victims,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, Feb. 19).
Theresa Paulette
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Kailua
Drivers in Hawaii have aloha spirit
Because mid-morning is relatively congestion-free in Honolulu, I figured it would be a good time to run some errands. But the second I got on Ala Wai Boulevard, cars were barely moving in any of the three lanes.
Despite the delay, the aloha spirit was still alive and well. Not one driver honked his horn, no one switched lanes without first using a turn signal, no one anxiously got out of the car to see why traffic was so stalled. From what I could see from the cars around me, no one scowled or beat upon the steering wheel; there was no road rage; no middle fingers raised.
On the contrary: It felt as if a huge hand hovered over the traffic, with thumb and pinky finger wiggling the hang-loose sign of greeting.
I’d love to drive in another American city of equal population density that displays such civility.
Stan Satz
Manoa
Make auto firms tell air bag data
It boggles the mind that auto companies have refused to say which vehicles use the Takata air bag inflator (“Push for total recall of Takata airbags intensifies,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 18).
Exactly where would several of these big companies be today if American taxpayers had not saved them through a bailout, $10 billion of which was never paid back?
Our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has given Takata until the end of 2018 to solve this problem. The U.S. government needs to take action by filing a lawsuit demanding that auto companies provide this information immediately. It would be gross negligence to do otherwise.
James Robinson
Aiea
Make lotteries friendlier to poor
I agree with Linda Carlson that a lottery would mostly affect poor folks (“Lotteries affect poor folks most,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 19).
However, what if we made the lottery with multiple prizes of $10,000 to $20,000? Perhaps 200 or more prizes each week?
Can you imagine a poor person getting $20,000 in his or her pocket? They could at least do something with that — buy a car, pay off a debt or go on a vacation.
Poor people always get hurt, but there would be no “pie in the sky” reach that these multimillion-dollar lotteries always bring on.
Brian Moore
Waikiki
Major disasters loom in future
It took almost 200,000 years for our species to reach a population of 2 billion less than 100 years ago. Soon there will be 8 billion of us consuming the Earth’s resources. Even the most conservative estimates project a human population of 10 billion before this century is over.
Meanwhile, climate- change deniers will do what they can to delay attempts to reverse the negative effects that our increasing population has had in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, and destroying oxygen-producing trees, plants and plankton.
In the meantime, our coral reefs are dying and our sea levels rising as the world’s icecaps melt.
Hawaii cannot avoid these consequences unless our leaders take immediate action to ameliorate these potential disasters.
The big question is whether they will even try before it’s too late.
Robert Griffon
Moiliili
Living cultures must look ahead
I’m not a Native Hawaiian and I know for many that means I lack standing in the debate about the Thirty Meter Telescope.
But the vehemence of the opposition to the telescope baffles me. The motivation for the project is not greed or exploitation; it is a quest to explore the frontiers of the universe. What could be grander, more sacred, than that?
A living culture has to look forward, not just backward, and the quest for scientific knowledge should have just as much relevance to Hawaiian culture as any other.
It is a tribute to the specialness of Mauna Kea that it is judged the best place in the entire world to build a window on the universe.
How I would frame the issue is to ask if a telescope on this sacred mountain is “pono,” and I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be.
David Kemble
Kailua
False intelligence led to many dying
Columnist Byron York reported that during the American war in Iraq, 4,495 American soldiers died and 32,223 were wounded. (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 18).
York also quoted former President George W. Bush, writing in his memoir, “The reality was that I had sent American troops into combat based in large part on intelligence that proved false.”
This false intelligence was vouched for by Bush’s Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in his dramatic address to the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5, 2003, in which he asserted ,“There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons.”
The fact was that Hussein had no such weapons. On Sept. 13, 2004, Powell testified in a Senate committee it was unlikely that any stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction would be found.
But the war had begun and lasted until 2011 regardless of its fictitious rationale.
Oliver Lee
Makiki
Feral cats just trying to survive
Senate Bill 2450 would ban the feeding of feral cats on public lands in Oahu.
Those who support this bill call the cats an “invasive species” and claim that they are unattractive to look at.
Let me remind those people that cats cannot tell the difference between a native bird and a pigeon. They are merely trying to survive in an environment into which their past owners dropped them.
Would it not be beneficial then for people to feed them?
Many are determined to proclaim that feral cats are the issue. However, the issue is their owners, people who refuse to take responsibility and drop their animals in parking lots when they become too old and less cute.
The majority of these cats have been domesticated and, if they were not fed, would starve due to their inability to hunt.
Catherine Middleton
Kahala Kua
39 responses to “Crime victims treated poorly”
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IRT: Brian, it doesn’t matter what we taxpayers think about lotteries, if the Boyd Gambling lobbyists don’t want it—our legislators don’t want it. Money talks, simple as that!
Yep….we have the most mediocre politicians money has bought
But Hawaii sovereignty wants it.
Yup, how many times I go to eat at the Cal and see a political figure from Hawaii, countless!
I saw City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi in the Bellagio Las Vegas casino two years ago walking around with a cup of joe and a big smile.
you go girl!
IRT “Feral cats just trying to survive” So are most creatures on this planet. Eating rats and mice is a big plus. Domesticated animals can [and do] show emotion and bond with humans providing a number of psychological benefits to people. But/and they also create problems in the areas where they habituate in numbers. Not the least of which is their fesses the odor of which is quite pronounced. Plus as they age it is always tough to watch their health go down as the fleas and flies move in for the kill. It is a problem. They are an invasive species and now they have been credited with passing on deadly bacteria to monk seals. Limiting the number probably makes the most sense.
I agree, they are no better than rodents.
Yup, how many times I go to eat at the Cal and see a political figure from Hawaii, countless!
Sorry, can’t figure how this got here!
Where better but just below a post referring to rodents?
Yup, how many times I go to eat at the Cal and see feral cats there. Countless.
I see feral cats like the children of irresponsible parents. It’s not their fault and they will do what they can to survive. I adopted two feral cats (when kittens) and they turned out to be good pets.
David Kemble, eloquently stated. Thumbs up!
Problem with making lottery prizes more accessible is that more of those who should not be spending their money on lottery tickets (i.e., the poor) will probably end up spending MORE of their money trying to win one of those “easy” prizes. The increased number of prizes will have an enticement effect which will end up as a net negative for the low-income players.
It is great to see another letter from Oliver Lee. Oliver has generally been correct in his view and this letter is no exception. It is a shame that people like Oliver and Scott Ritter were ignored while the war hawks were worshiped. Wake up and just say no to anyone pushing for war.
Are you a professional point misser? Oliver Lee’s letter was sadly missing it’s last sentence, the point of writing it. That there were no WMDs in Iraq is known to every 6th grader. Here’s the sentence Lee meant to write, “And President ChimpyHitlerMacHaliburton lied about WMD to get us into that war because Saddam was mean to his daddy.”
There you go, the brainless, unproven, oft repeated rancid lie purveyed by those of your political class who are now so shocked that the political opposition to our neo-radical president is equally ferocious. Meanwhile, the truth has taken all this time to penetrate the left wing media via famed Watergate reporter, Bob Woodward. What is that truth? That Bush did not lie about WMD. However, no matter the facts, the liberal/progressive mob will continue to stagger down the street, Walking Dead-like, chanting “Bush lied, thousands died” (and your response to this post will no doubt prove me right.)
Not a lie. It’s a fact. They manipulated intelligence.
Do you know/read nothing? Please produce facts to back up your statement.
Winston is ignoring phase two. He even lied about what it said. But NO ONE considers Winston honest.
“That Bush did not lie about WMD.”
Actually, we don’t know this. Nixon was proved to have lied because we have recordings of him. We don’t have the same for Bush.
What we do know is that the intelligence was deliberately cherry picked, all evidence to the contrary was disregarded, and analysts were told by their superiors to fit the narrative that was fed to the President. So we do know for a fact that at the intelligence collection agency level, there was poor data collection procedures. So SOMEONE was deliberately trying to create a story that would promote an invasion. Was that Bush? Was that Cheney? Was that Rumsfeld? We don’t know, but we do know that the intelligence agencies were directed to fit the narrative the same way that Young Earth Creationists start with their answer and then go looking for evidence that fits their answer.
And it is frightening that you care more about scoring points than caring about the 4,000 dead and 32,000 injured and their families.
But no one ever said you cared about anyone but yourself.
You do realize that Saddam had over 1 year to ship all the WMDs to Syria, Jordan, etc. DoD had pictures of convoys leaving the known storage sites. Upon inspections of the known sites (which were empty), specialized detection equipment alarmed and proved WMDs had been present. You guys forget Saddam used gas on Iraq and the Kurds. Gas is classified as a WMD.
I’ll boil your comment down for you. You don’t know– your theme. The best investigative reporter in the business and no friend of Republicans, Bob Woodward, has concluded, in public and in print, that Bush did not lie about Iraq’s WMD programs in Iraq. Gen. Powell did not lie. Also, under the category of stuff you don’t know is the long and very human history of bungled intelligence assessments, confirmation bias, and outright human error. You evidently also don’t know remember the CIA’s waffling/underestimates regarding the fall of the Soviet Union, the state of Iraq’s nuke program (much more advanced) before the Gulf War, and the agency’s waffling about the Iranian nuclear program (much further developed than expected). You people are just about as self aware and knowledgeable as those, during WWII, accused FDR of “knowing” that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor, yet doing nothing about it. History is replete with examples of decisions based on faulty intelligence, but of course you know nothing of this.
You also forget that the Clinton administration had concluded essentially the same thing as did Bush regarding Iraqi WMD programs. You further forget that there were TWO Senate Select Committee investigations into this matter, one chaired by Democrats, which found none of your conclusions to be the case. Further you forget that multiple national intelligence agencies and Saddam’s own military believed that he had restarted their WMD programs, that Joe Wilson’s NYT OpEd was a fabrication which he recanted during sworn Congressional testimony.
And finally, the you-don’t-care-about-the-injured-troops slur, yet another sad, illogical fabrication. One can care about the troops AND the truth at the same time. I seriously doubt you do either.
Interesting that you conclude Winston cares more about scoring points than casualties when he said nothing of the sort. I know you have a running feud with W but your conclusions place you in the same low regard as you ascribe to those you disagree with.
cwo4usn, you mean trucks we never found, found no drivers, had no storage facilities, found no one with knowledge of such facilities, and no evidence of such a program?
want to tell me how Saddam shipped stuff he never had the facilities to make or store, and has no one who worked in such facilities?
You won’t answer those.
Sigh, Winston, did you even bother to read what I wrote?
Just because Woodward conclude that does not mean he knows Bush did not lie. Like I said, we’d need actual recorded evidence. So you saying Bush didn’t lie is just as valid as people saying Bush did lie. Until someone can actually provide recordings of such discussions with Bush, we will never know if he was being fed lies he was being told the truth, or if he knew himself that what he was saying is wrong. But you don’t read what I write, you just make **** up because it’s easier.
You are also ignoring how numerous analysts who worked on the Iraqi invasion evidence who publicly stated that they were pressured to ignore all evidence that did not support an invasion. Also, you are flat out lying as Phase Two of the investigation did in fact find what you claimed never happened: Pressure by the administration on analysts to toe the line. And I don’t care what Clinton did. He didn’t spend $2 trillion and get 4,000 people killed to make Iran the regional power house.
And you don’t give a **** about anyone but yourself. Both your first response and second response is trashing people who brought up things you didn’t like rather then admitting there was huge problems in how the administration went about the invasion. You generically throw away the problems as if they meant nothing. Just like how you value the lives of those who serve.
You care only about yourself.
lee1957, read Winston’s post.
His ONLY goal is to trash people who bring up how the Bush Administration screwed up.
He says nothing about how those mistakes cost 4,000 families their loved ones.
Winston would throw away the lives of every service member if he could be right.
“Just because Woodward conclude that does not mean he knows Bush did not lie.”
Interesting logic which amounts to this– Neither do we know that space aliens didn’t occupy Bush’s body and prompt his actions. We don’t know that Dick Cheney didn’t receive $1billion dollars directly from Haliburton.
The best investigative journalists in the business looked and found no evidence Bush lied about WMD. Until there’s evidence otherwise, that is the most probable, rational conclusion (foreign concepts to you).
Now, you probably are assuming that this position amounts to an apology for Bush’s actions. That would be more illogic on your part. Never said the war was not a massive mistake. Without a WMD program, the risk was too great. I’ll go on to say that Obama compounded that mistake by not using every effort to preserve the gains of the surge. One mistake followed by another, get it?
As to the democrat half of the Senate Select committee investigation, what a shock, a group of partisans drags in witnesses to buttress their allegations against Bush, oh my, what has the world come to??!! Here’s the fact you still can’t acknowledge. That partisan group STILL couldn’t pin a lie on Bush, Powell, or anyone else.
It’s funny how worked up choyd gets over someone’s posted opinions. The veins in his forehead are probably bulging and his glasses get all steamed up while he’s screaming that Winston is wrong and he is right.
Oliver Lee has some good points. He looks at things from a different perspective. Do I agree with those perspectives, mostly no. But I do agree with this one.
James Robinson, the airbag company does not want to admit that the airbags are of faulty design and inherently dangerous and potentially deadly. As long as the cost of settlements and damages to victims is far less than the cost of total recall, there will not be any voluntary recall. The reality is that the low (?) incidence of airbag fatalities is probably due to the low actuarial probability of car accidents overall which is the main consideration of insurance companies. The car companies don’t want to alarm drivers since what people don’t know won’t hurt them. I was greatly relieved after my Honda airbags were swapped out after recall. During the weeks between the recall notice and the repair, I had no front seat passengers and I was driving on edge, feeling I was driving a time bomb.
But you won’t need a car any more after you become a daily rail passenger. In about 20 years…
Yes, you can ride from Pearl ridge to AlaMoana and back.
Kinda like the monorail at Pearlridge…Uptown to Downtown and back.
Free pre-school education for needy kids.
Free pre school for all!
There is already free pre-school for needy kids. And it’s not free. Taxpayers foot the bill.
I am from the Greatest Generation and do you know how we got there? We played and played and worked with out parents until we were six and THEN started First Grade. Never a dropout because we were not bored with school. I could go on, but that’s the point!!
Yup!
The pre-school industry would hate your guts if they were all swept away and President Trump said to start with Fiirst Grade…….how’s those tight shoes feel now?