ROD TAM

VERBAL STUMBLE WAS EXCEPTION, NOT PATTERN

Vulgarity is rampant; profanity is commonplace; lewdness guarantees box office — and not a single eyebrow is raised.

But let a slip of the tongue, with no malice intended, rub up against the sensitivity prone and the "word posse" is in hot pursuit, driven by unrelenting vengeance.

Strangely, in the same news week that bore witness to the magnanimity of the truly aggrieved who offered public forgiveness for acts of murder, there is no letup on the vendetta against someone who momentarily misspoke.

Good manners dictate that we take care to avoid offending anyone, but don't good manners also dictate that we give the benefit of the doubt to the perceived offender when apology was readily forthcoming and the verbal stumble can be seen as an exception rather than a pattern of behavior?

ANTI-POVERTY EFFORT

LEGISLATORS NEEDLESSLY IMPOSED BUDGET CUTS

Rep. John Mizuno's June 4 letter ("Government must be cautious in spending") is the latest attempt by Democratic legislators to escape criticism after they needlessly and uncompassionately slashed spending for anti-poverty programs.

These legislators took $28.2 million in federal funding from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and confined it to a bloated reserve account. So instead of using this money to help people escape or avoid poverty, these federal dollars will sit idle.

By imposing harsh budget cuts, Mizuno would have us believe that the Legislature has suddenly morphed into a prudent money manager. To bolster that shaky argument, he accused state Human Services Director Lillian Koller of misinforming the public about our TANF reserve.

The truth is, Hawai'i has the nation's fourth-largest percentage of TANF funds in reserve. We spent about $29.6 million on cash assistance payments (welfare checks) last year, and our reserve contained four times that amount.

If Mizuno wants to be a smart money manager, he should allow federal dollars to support programs that connect parents with employment, reduce drug abuse and teen pregnancies, and help students succeed in school. For every dollar we spend on these services today, we will save countless dollars and heartaches in the future.

MENTAL HEALTH CENTER

HALE NA'AU PONO SHOULD BE SUPPORTED

I have just read (Advertiser, June 12) that the state is cutting off funding for services provided by Hale Na'au Pono, the largest provider of community health services on the Wai'anae Coast.

It is stated that the agency will lose $1.5 million to $2 million, or about 40 percent of its total budget with cuts beginning in the coming weeks.

Something is seriously wrong when a grass-roots, community-based, culturally responsive and utilized community mental health center is facing essential program closures due to an unfathomable logic that threatens this important and effective organization.

The Wai'anae Community Mental Health Center should be supported, celebrated and certainly not undermined by the State of Hawai'i.

"Minority" populations for many reasons, including cultural incompatibility, have historically underutilized mental health services. When a model is developed that is truly community supported, the state finds reasons to withdraw its support.

This decision and its probable consequences are just unacceptable. This essential institution must be supported.

ENERGY

MOTORISTS CAN SAVE ON GAS BY DRIVING SLOWER

No matter how high gasoline prices get, drivers will continue to go above the posted speed limit, mainly on our freeways.

The faster you drive, the faster the gasoline burns. I always keep my freeway speed at 50 to 55 mph, while many other drivers are going 10 to 15 mph above the posted speed limit.

Also, for those of you who smoke cigarettes and own a car, how about giving up those cancer sticks and put that money into your gas tank instead.

Gasoline is more of a precious commodity these days than cigarettes.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

POLICE SHOULD TARGET EXCESSIVE SPEEDING

First, I do support wearing seat belts. Anyone not using them is playing Russian roulette with their lives.

But it appears that the effort to get people to wear seat belts is directed specifically at passenger vehicles. It is frustrating watching passengers sit in the back of pickup trucks without any restraints. Are they safer than those in an enclosed vehicle?

We are exposed to public service announcements pertaining to the Click it or Ticket campaign. But I believe that the same effort should be used toward excessive speeding.

Seat belts save lives. Speeding kills, yet we do very little through public service announcements to warn the public of what will happen should they be stopped by our local authorities. We are aware of the penalty for not using seat belts, why not for speeding?

Speeding is much more a problem than not wearing a seat belt. More concentrated efforts should be utilized to get drivers to slow down.

Finally, the other day I was turning off a main street when a police car was stopping at the traffic light. The driver's window was down and I observed that the driver was not wearing his seat belt. It doesn't lend much credibility to the seat-belt program if those enforcing the program are not abiding by it.

ELECTIONS

COMMON CAUSE BACKS PUBLIC FUNDING BILL

Common Cause supports HB 661, Comprehensive Public Funding of Hawai'i County Council Elections.

We support clean elections-style publicly funded elections because we believe this is a system that ultimately produces a healthier democratic process.

Currently, candidates for public office in Hawai'i can receive partial public funding for their campaigns. A closer look at this system, however, shows that public funding from this program accounts for a trivial fraction of the total amount these candidates raise and spend.

Candidates for public office in Hawai'i raised $9.9 million during the 2006 election, of which $16,838 or 0.2 percent was public funding.

One goal of publicly funded elections is greater competition. Incumbents can now use their relationships with the private interests who fund their campaigns to effectively build a wall of money around themselves. The best incumbent-protection system available is the one Hawai'i already has — the ability of incumbents to dramatically outspend the vast majority of their opponents. Public funding lowers the barriers to entry for potential candidates and gives them enough resources to run a legitimate campaign.

Courts around the country — including the U.S. Supreme Court — have consistently upheld voluntary public financing systems. Indeed, voluntary public financing of campaigns is the only constitutional means of achieving candidate spending limits — something more than 80 percent of the public supports.

Voluntary public funding actually promotes speech by encouraging more candidates to run and giving voters more choice at the polls.

THEBUS

FARES BY DISTANCE MAY PUT RIDERS BACK IN CARS

I couldn't agree more regarding fares based on distance (June 10 letter, "Bus fares should be by distance to be fair").

Reminds me of the old HRT days, when we had to pay extra for crossing zones.

But the cost of ridership may put passengers back into their cars.

ISLAND TRADITION

SKIP MAINLAND STUDY, WEAR SLIPPERS PROUDLY

Your Honolulu Advertiser June 12 front page article by Dan Nakaso piqued my soul pertinaciously as I'm obstinately opinionated on wearing slippers/flip flops all the time!

What's life in Hawai'i without use of these casual footwear and Hawaiian T-shirts?

During my Waipahu country boyhood days, I walked barefoot and I survived admirably!

I always enjoyed wearing slippers/flip flops and will continue in this Island tradition despite Mainland Alabama studies that they are stressful.

I feel that I would be more stressed out if I wore shoes instead of slippers/flip flops.

Let's karate chop the slippers/flip flops study and biased conclusion thereof and therein!