I usually agree with Native Hawaiian causes. Not so with Mauna Kea.
The navigators of early Hawaii were the cream of the crop among Hawaiian scientific thinkers. They used the most advanced tools available in their pursuits and accomplished remarkable things.
We’ve all seen their navigational skills duplicated. Were these Hawaiian scientists alive today, they would be the Ph.D. astronomers working on Mauna Kea. As scientists, they would insist on sophisticated tools and, therefore, would celebrate the coming of the new telescope.
Further, I suspect that they would believe that the additional layer of importance provided to the mountain by this advanced tool would make Mauna Kea more sacred, not less.
The descendants of those early Hawaiian scientists, those folks protesting today, should enthusiastically endorse the telescope and should revel in the educational opportunities it provides to all.
That’s what their ancestors would have done.
Bob Liljestrand
Tantalus
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Teach math using practical exercises
Parents of preschoolers and elementary students could help improve their children’s chances for success in learning math by showing them how math is used (“Isle students’ science scores rise as English, math stay flat,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 20).
One way is to work with them using coins, e.g., counting of pennies using “add” and “subtract” terms. Then follow with nickels, dimes, quarters and and half-dollars (one at a time) to learn multiplication and division.
When a child understands math through practical exercise, learning math in the classroom will be much easier and teaching much more successful.
Bill Punini Prescott
Nanakuli
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Trump is divisive; he needs to leave
Can you believe our 45th president?
If you look up the word “divisive” in the dictionary, you could find there is no definition, only a photo of Donald Trump.
Now he is wreaking havoc with the relationship that Americans have with the NFL, telling us we shouldn’t enjoy the game because some of the players disagree with him.
In the beginning he lied about our 44th president, saying that Barack Obama, the last president elected with the majority of the electoral vote as well as the popular vote, wasn’t born here. When he had to admit the truth, he blamed Hillary Clinton for his lie.
He has questioned the integrity of our Judiciary, our election process, our free press — all pillars of our democracy. Without them we have no democracy.
This guy has got to go.
Come on, Bob “Three Sticks” Mueller. Hurry up.
Jim Howard
Manoa
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Schatz tweets are politically divisive
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz’s “tweet” outreach has been active lately.
He’s praised football players for “getting political” and obviously wants to enlist the NFL and its players in the “resistance” movement that seeks to borrow the glory of the French anti-Nazi guerrillas.
Seriously, I think most sports fans would disagree. Highly paid athletes are free, as we all are, to protest and join demonstrations on their own time. But while on the field of sport, engaged in the noble nonpolitical strife we all love to watch, they protest at the risk of losing the very thing sport provides: human conflict free of political and racial overtones.
Sports is what unifies us, not divides us. Schatz shouldn’t support these divisive displays of confused “resistance” with his tweets.
Boyd Ready
Haleiwa
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People have a right to protest fearlessly
The supreme irony of this exchange is that Donald Trump was trying to build a hotel in Russia while running for president (“Trump, athletes face off over ‘disrespect’ for flag,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 24). And then he lied about it.
He has never been in the military and he supports dictators like Recep Erdogan in Turkey and Vladimir Putin in Russia. So how is he a big super-patriot?
People have a right to protest. What makes this country great is you can criticize it and not be put in front of a firing squad. You can also criticize the president, and it does not mean you do not respect the office. Also, I’ve noticed people are writing and saying, “Oh, don’t make Trump mad, he might retaliate against Hawaii.” This attitude is just what Trump wants — fear. Fear you can’t criticize, fear of retaliation. This is a first step toward a dictatorship.
Judith Pettibone
Makiki
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Ah Mow-Santos a players’ coach
The letter, “Wahine coach needs better dress code” (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 23), made some great points on perception.
I had the same question: Why couldn’t the coach at least put on a polo shirt? Then I looked at my daughter — who is an athlete and dresses as such — and I wonder, is the world judging her just as harshly?
Robyn Ah Mow-Santos is a local wahine and an athlete at heart. Are we not putting labels on people, saying they should not be themselves but conform to society?
Ah Mow-Santos is a players’ coach, one who stands on the sideline all game long. Perhaps we should ask ourselves how we can embrace New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wearing sweatshirts on the sideline, but not Robyn. Perhaps we have to look at ourselves and say that Ah Mow-Santos is who she is, and should be celebrated and supported as such.
James Martinez
Nuuanu
