Hooray for Gov. David Ige for exposing the back-room dealers who are supporting U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (“Ige calls rival’s fundraiser ‘a very concerning event’,” Star-Advertiser, April 15).
As I see it, Ige is a quiet leader, not some confused indecisive desperado trying to hang onto his position. Did Ige promise to air-condition schools for our children? Ask the kids and their parents if Ige is indecisive. Has Ige stood up against the outlandish antics of President Donald Trump’s administration? Has he made moves to help homeless people as humans, not as trash to be swept out of sight? Has he done the right thing supporting the University of Hawaii Cancer Center? The Thirty Meter Telescope?
What has Hanabusa done besides work the Legislature with deals and promises to garner support from the dark doors of committee politicians and union bosses? The choice in the upcoming election is clear — open government for the people or special-interest politics from “gut and replace” lawmakers. Let’s make the right choice.
John Shockley
Makakilo
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Micah Pi’s story inspires athlete
I was strongly moved with Paul Honda’s inspiring story on Micah Pi of Mid-Pacific Institute (“Player’s fight with cancer inspires Owls,” Star-Advertiser, April 10).
As an athlete myself, I believe in the power of one’s love for the game. It is clear to see the amount of faith that Pi has in the game of baseball, along with the overwhelming support of his loved ones.
Being a young athlete in Hawaii, I have always felt the sense of pride in the name that I wear on the back of my jersey. The article brought joy into my life, knowing that this is a place I call my home. I am proud to be from a small island where the sports teams we are part of provide valuable lessons and opportunities to turn young athletes into young men and women of the future. I pray that more schools around the island will take this heartwarming story and use it to motivate their own athletes.
Rhyenne Filisi
Waipahu
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Coverage of Syria lacks integrity
Have you no integrity?
In Iraq and Libya, the major U.S. media enthusiastically echoed flimsy State Department pretexts for regime change, while utterly failing to communicate dissenting voices. Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction and Muammar Gaddafi was not preparing to massacre Libyans in Benghazi.
And on the eve of the attack on Syria, the Star-Advertiser published a dishonest piece (“Stop Syria’s normalization of chemical-weapons use,” April 11), and again does not bother to balance skewed coverage with dissenting voices, of which there are many.
The Star-Advertiser’s inflammatory headline on April 14 (“Allies attack: The U.S., Britain and France launch airstrikes targeting chemical weapons facilities”), leaves no doubt that those facilities exist, even before results are known from the investigation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
I have the impression I am reading a U.S. version of Pravda.
Jan Becket
Manoa
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Trump’s swamp keeps growing
I suppose liberals and conservatives can disagree about President Donald Trump’s accomplishments. But the last sentence of Ted Kanemori’s letter, claiming Trump is draining the swamp, is utterly laughable (“Trump using shrewd tactics,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 11).
See Mike Flynn, Tom Price, Scott Pruitt, Ben Carson and Ryan Zinke, among others. Also, Trump is feathering his own nest and that of his relatives at taxpayer expense. Rather than draining the swamp, Trump is threatening to suck us all into it.
Jim Keefe
Waikiki
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Living in parks the real problem
I’ve been attending dog obedience classes at Crane Community Park for more than 10 years. Crane is on the list for restroom closure from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. (“City locking 25 parks at night to deter vandalism,” Star-Advertiser, April 13).
The last couple of years, the unused field house there has been surrounded by a homeless encampment.
Does anyone else see a sanitation problem? People living in parks is the problem, not open restrooms. Until someone gets serious about the problem, we will just keep throwing tax dollars at non-solutions.
Marjorie Goodloe
Hawaii Kai
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Hilo needs help with wild pigs
There will be a stamp celebrating wild pigs in Hawaii (“DLNR stamp winners feature wild turkey, boar,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, April 12). Wild pigs do major damage to yards in Hilo. And neither the Hawaii County government nor the state Department of Land and Natural Resources will do a darned thing to eradicate them from Hilo Town. So give us Hiloans the stamp money to build fences.
William King
Hilo
