HAKA

WAC'S REQUEST BOTH RACIST AND INSULTING

I find it incredibly insulting that the WAC has asked the Warriors to stop dancing their ha'a (haka). If the other football teams are intimidated, then maybe they should take up something less threatening, such as needlepoint or crochet.

The ha'a is a Polynesian tradition that dates back more than 1,000 years. Not only Aotearoa had it, but so did Hawai'i, Samoa and Tonga.

No one complains when Notre Dame starts its games with its marching band entering the field behind huge burly lads dressed in kilts and marching as if off to battle, or when the West Virginia Mountaineers are led by their mascot that fires a rifle in the air, not only at the entrance of the football team, but after each Mountaineer score.

Or how about USC? Not only does it have someone dressed as a Trojan warrior, but he is charging onto the field on a horse.

Because no other school is penalized in its pre-game traditions, I believe that the WAC's reaction and consequent penalty assessed to the Warriors are tantamount to racism.

Maybe it is time that Hawai'i left the WAC, and joined another conference whose football teams are not so intimidated.

SUPERFERRY

HAWAI'I PROTESTS WITH NO THOUGHT TO FUTURE

We need to look to our neighbors in the Pacific to see how an interisland ferry system can benefit residents and tourism.

Look at Tahiti, where ferries run each hour and are decades older than our new ferry here. As a scuba diver, I can tell you that there is no shortage of whales or sea life in Tahiti. In fact, their reefs and fish populations are more abundant than ours. Seattle and Hong Kong also run effcient ferry systems.

Just as we protested the fixed-rail system back in the 1980s when the federal government was willing to pay 80 percent of the cost, and we protested geothermal energy while our Maori friends in New Zealand fought for theirs, Hawai'i again is protesting without knowledge or forethought for our future.

If people want a protest, let's start with overfishing in Hawaiian waters, then move on to the large cruise ships, which do not practice the stringent waste procedures as outlined by the Superferry. Too many cars? Let's protest the waste of our state and federal transportation dollars.

Wake up Hawai'i! This is a chance to expand our island life.

OPPONENTS ON KAUA'I ARE BEING HYPOCRITICAL

Kaua'i Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura and other Kaua'i politcos are really grandstanding by trying to keep the Hawaii Superferry from doing business on Kaua'i.

They say that they want to keep Kaua'i Kaua'i with slow, progressive and positive growth.

They are hypocritical — they approved all those multi-million- dollar gated communities, where one lot was being sold for $1.4 million.

Kaua'i is fast becoming known as a place only for the rich and famous, and a lot of locals are being forced to move. Who can afford to pay the property taxes if you live around these high-priced developments?

The Hawaii Superferry doesn't have a more negative impact on the 'aina or environment than the hundreds of tourists and locals who come to Kaua'i daily via airplanes or the massive cruise ships that make their weekly visits.

In fact, the cars that come on the Superferry go back to their point of origin. This seems to be an issue of the tail (the vocal minority) wagging the dog (the silent majority).

LET FERRY RUN WHILE ASSESSMENT IS DONE

If what Hawaii Superferry needs is an environmental assessment, what better way to accomplish that than letting it start service now and see what the impact is in, say, six months?

Consider this a probational period. The assessment report then will show not potential harms or benefits but actual records of impact to the environment. If six months is not enough, then let's have a plan that will require review every year, like a license.

There are many ways we can move forward with the Hawaii Superferry.

What I am afraid of is that people are using the environmental assessment to stop it. That is not fair to all those who wanted it and were looking forward to visiting the other islands with their own vehicles.

Yes, there could have been more done before the Superferry set sail and the fiasco at Kaua'i harbor, such as a good public relations campaign. But what is being played out in courts is just shameful.

EDUCATION

HARD DATA LACKING IN DOE'S SEPT. 12 REPORT

Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto addresses "shareholders" as the recipients of the Department of Education report inserted in the Sept. 12 Advertiser.

It contains a lot of fluff, as do typical reports to shareholders by corporations. But no matter how poorly a particular corporation may be doing, its report always includes hard data that can be used to assess how well it has performed. Unfortunately, that is not true of the DOE report.

The DOE report does not contain any data that can be used to assess how well the school system is educating our children.

It is curious that the superintendent says, "We can offer a body of evidence showing positive results in nearly every corner of Hawai'i's public school system." I could not find even a bit of such evidence in the report.

So I went to the DOE's Web site to look for hard data, and this is what I found: