LEGISLATURE

SUPPORT URGED FOR BILLS TO FIGHT KIDNEY DISEASE

There are so many problems that need to be addressed during this session of the Legislature. All are compelling, but none as worrisome as chronic kidney disease.

In testimony given to the House Health and Human Services Committees, it was stated that more than 100,000 Hawai'i residents have chronic kidney disease. The more startling testimony was that another 100,000 or so have the propensity to contract it. That's almost 20 percent of our state.

This is a frightening statistic, given that the end stages of this disease are death, a lifetime of dialysis treatments or a kidney transplant.

Help is needed now. The state needs to support St. Francis Healthcare System's public/private partnership program that will work to stabilize and slow down the progression of this disease.

Please support SB 2537 and HB 2913. Legislators, we need your kokua.

HAWAIIANS

OHA COMPROMISING ITS INTEGRITY OVER DEAL

OHA seems willing to compromise its integrity, morality and lack of historical memory by complicitly joining the Republic of Hawai'i in continuing dealings involving the illegal conversion of stolen Hawaiian kingdom national lands (the so-called "ceded" lands) in settlement of a dispute with the state over money owed.

While, on its face, the settlement appears to return "Hawaiian" lands to "Hawaiians," the political reality (by international law) is that it doesn't.

It all reduces to the illegal "taking" of the lands of national Hawaiians (descendants and heirs of subjects of the Hawaiian kingdom, the holder of absolute title) by the Republic of Hawai'i (with no title) in the illegal overthrow of 1893 that were allegedly "ceded" to the United States by the so-called annexation that never took place (resolutions cannot annex foreign lands) and using them to pay the financial debts of the state to American-Hawaiians.

OHA's willingness to accept the "stolen" lands in settlement is about as far from being pono as possible.

This is a hewa (an abomination)!

PUNAHOU

DOES OBAMA KNOW REAL HAWAI'I CULTURE?

Why did so many Punahou alums feel the need to defend Barack Obama's attendance at Punahou?

Does it need defending? Obama's credentials to run for the presidency speak for themselves.

However, Obama's remarks of "knowing" the Hawaiian people and "knowing" their culture are suspect at best, considering his "knowledge" on those two areas was acquired at the "'aina" bordered by Punahou and Wilder streets.

The real Hawaiian culture does not reside at Punahou and Wilder.

It does, however, live and thrive on Kalaniana'ole in Waimanalo, on Farrington Highway in Wai'anae, on Kamehameha Highway in Punalu'u and Ka'a'awa, along Puowaina in Papakolea, all locations where blooded Hawaiians live.

I venture to say that Obama may have spent as much as 2 percent of his life in these Islands in these places.

The Hawaiians he "knows" are those who call themselves Hawaiian just for being born and raised here, just as a person born and raised in Dallas, Texas, calls himself a Texan, an accident of birth and nothing to do with anything else.

PROPOSED BAN

POLICE PUSHING THEIR OWN ANTIGUN AGENDA

Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa and Honolulu Police Maj. Gregory Lefcourt are pushing their own antigun agenda by telling scary stories about .50-caliber rifles. Shoot down airplanes? Vaporize animals? It's shameful, because they know better.

Our troops use these rifles to engage the enemy at a safer long distance. John Browning, a civilian, designed the cartridge. The rifles are designed and built by civilians. Thousands of .50-caliber competition and sport shooters are a de facto research group, using their resources to make the guns more accurate and dependable. Their efforts are used to improve the ammunition and rifles to help our troops, all without government help. The .50-caliber shooters are a dedicated bunch, as the rifles can cost more than $6,000 and a cheap cartridge costs almost $5.

Criminals don't use the .50-caliber rifles as it's hard to conceal a 55-pound, 6-foot-long rifle in even the baggiest of pants. In the long run, a ban can only hurt the survivability chances of the young men and women who serve to protect us, and won't reduce crime.

Infringing on the rights of honest people is damaging, not beneficial.

CONCERT HALL

CITY URGED TO MAKE BALCONY ACCESSIBLE

Did you know that there are only 22 accessible seats at the Blaisdell Concert Hall? Sad, but true.

The Hawai'i Disability Rights Center would like to make a suggestion to the City and County of Honolulu: install an elevator to the balcony level at Blaisdell Concert Hall and provide more accessible seating.

HDRC has received several complaints from persons with disabilities who desire accessible seating on the balcony level. According to an Americans with Disabilities Act Barrier Identification Report (Sept. 11, 2001), of the 2,158 maximum seats available, only 22 are required to be accessible and only on the concert hall level.

The city Department of Enterprise Services says there are no plans to make the balcony accessible. Although the concert hall may be in compliance, we believe the city should make the balcony accessible.

It's the right thing to do. Honolulu's premier concert venue should have accessible seating on both levels.

DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS

DELEGATES SHOULDN'T GO AGAINST WILL OF PEOPLE

I was shocked and dismayed to read the quote from Hawai'i Senate President Colleen Hanabusa in The Advertiser stating that "there is still a chance that Hawai'i's superdelegates will break for Clinton at the national convention and give her a larger share of the state's delegates."

While this is true theoretically, going against the overwhelming will of a historically large turnout of voters is not the way for superdelegates who are elected officials to keep their office. And going against the will of the people is not the way for the Democratic Party in Hawai'i to continue to get this high level of support from so many newly energized voters.

Surely, our state's Democratic Party leaders have more sense than this. It is never a good idea in a democracy to so flagrantly subvert the will of the people.

VERIFICATION

AUTO INSURANCE LAW NEEDS MORE TEETH

Senate Bill 1259 deserves the support of every responsible citizen in this state and their elected representatives.

The bill would require that the agency in charge of automobile registration receive verification from an authorized auto insurer that a vehicle registered in Hawai'i has automobile insurance.

The bill also requires that when that insurance is canceled, the insurer notify the agency, and if there is no notice from another company of replacement insurance the director immediately issue a notice of revocation of the registration, requiring the owner to turn in the registration and license plates. If the owner does not do so, then the various authorities will be notified and can seize the plates and registration. Also, if they are not turned in within 30 days, the owner's driver's license is suspended.

The purpose of this provision is to get uninsured cars off the road. Far too many of us have been in accidents where the other owner does not have insurance or has a fake insurance card. The current estimates are that from 15 to 20 percent of cars on the road are uninsured, and that may be low.

Everybody is supposed to have insurance, and those of us who are law-abiding carry the burden imposed by all of those who do not. Fair is fair. All this bill does is put some teeth into the law, which requires that insurance.

CIVIC PRIDE

HONOLULU'S APPEARANCE IS TRULY DISMAYING

The appearance of our fair city is truly dismaying. Discarded mattresses, broken furniture and old appliances are permanent fixtures along main streets.

Tall weeds grow in cracked sidewalks, and our roads are a national disgrace.

Have the city fathers no sense of civic pride? Auwe!

HAWAI'I'S BEAUTY

MAKAPU'U POINT SUNRISE NOW OFFICIALLY OFF-LIMITS

One of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring nature experiences on O'ahu is to climb Makapu'u Point to watch the sunrise.

The sun comes up just over Moloka'i, and on rare, very clear days, one can see Haleakela on Maui for a few minutes before the ever-present mist swallows it up. This is an amazing sight, rivaled only by watching the sun rise over the Big Island peaks from Haleakala on Maui. There are so many places along the Makapu'u ridge to watch, that most visitors can find a secluded spot to do so in privacy.

Leave it to the state to destroy this unique experience with a gate.

The parking lot was a nice addition — a couple of years ago we had to park on the street to walk up. But, the parking lot came with a gate that does not open until 7 a.m. (sometimes I have seen it open earlier, but you can't count on it).

OK, so you still have to park on the street — but wait! The state has taken care of this, too. There are now "no parking" signs all along the street.

Sunrise on Makapu'u, our little Haleakala sunrise, is now officially closed.

Can't someone find the resources to open the gate 30 minutes before sunrise each morning to give back a small, wonderous part of Hawai'i's beauty to its citizens?