No need for assault weapons
The recent mass murders of schoolchildren at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is appalling and shouldn’t take place in a civilized society. I challenge all gun owners to justify, in this public forum, why it’s OK to sell a weapon, like the AR-15, to non-military and non-law-enforcement citizens.
Michael Diamant, Koloa
Cartoon was not fair to Trump
Knowing how much The Garden Island revels in bashing/hating Trump, it came as no surprise to see the latest attack inMonday’s paper (Feb. 12) in the form of the “Trump Parade” political cartoon. Although despicable/deplorable were left out ofthe list of descriptors, the message was clear: Hate all things Trump.
I’m sure TGI and most of its liberal readers long for the good ole days of America hating, lead from behind, anti cop, antimilitary, anti business, divisive, race bating rhetoric of the past administration. Keep everyone down and filled with rage,dependent on an all powerful government who picks the winners and losers.
I realize that the recent Trump inspired tax cuts and pay bonus’s are simply “crumbs” that should be ignored. There are thosewho live on Kauai, and across the land, who appreciate any and all pay increases they get. Let’s not forget that not a singleDemocrat voted for these tax cuts or pay increases.
Fear not Kauai, the path to equality (equally poor) and social justice (socialism) is simply one election away, just vote for moreDemocrats. We too can have even bigger deficits, more corruption, more division. Yes, we too can have food shortages, toiletpaper shortages, state controlled media (already do), political prisons, etc. Look no further than that once prosperous countryof Venezuela, or Cuba, North Korea, etc. Bastions of liberty and freedom that they are (not really), portrayed so often by theleft as the role models we should emulate. I’ll take MAGA anytime.
OK, bring on the hate mail.
Bernard Verkaaik, Kapaa
HDF not fooling anyone
Terrific spin job by Amy Hennessey, as usual, in Wednesday’s TGI (Feb. 14). Read the Johns Hopkins letter about Hawaii DairyFarms’ dairy plan and find out their fears and concerns are not confined just to the largest herd size HDF is planning — andabout the devastating effects even a smaller operation would have on the Mahaulepu ecosystem.
The number 699 is a number that puts HDF one cow below CAFO status, which relieves HDF of bad optics and regulatoryhoops related to being an industrial waste factory.
Fact is, even they admit they will need a supplementary herd equal to at least half the 699 to have enough lactating cows tokeep 699 producing (now we’re up to 1,000-plus but they won’t say where they’ll put them). Here’s a quote from the Hopkinsletter: “Although Ulupono Initiative acknowledges that additional regulatory review, permitting and public input would berequired to expand the herd, some of the infrastructure required for an expansion is included in the current proposal andFEIS.”
Oops. Don’t be fooled. Pierre Omidyar is a man who knows economies of scale. If only he’d realize this is one plan that is outof scale with the site he’s picked — and that being a community “partner” might mean listening to the folks who actually livethere, and work, and breathe, and drink and bathe.
Steve Lauryn, Koloa
Why is it so hard for those on the Right to speak the truth? Have they, literally, lost their ability to reason intelligently?
Bernard Verkaaik’s letter begins with an outrageous lie about the “. . . divisive, race bating [sic] rhetoric of the past administration . . . .” Bernard has the audacity to claim, without a single shred of evidence, that the Obama administration engaged in such heinous activity.
Apparently, he’s forgotten what the Republican senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, said about his own precious president: “He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot. He doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
“I’ll take MAGA anytime.” Of course you will, Bernard. I would expect nothing less from people like you.
Thank you Bernard! Living in this Socialist haven of political nitwits is the only trying thing about living in Hawaii. I don’t understand why these Socialists can’t understand that President Trump is the best thing that’s happened to our country since Ronald Reagan! I’m beginning to think it all boils down to the age old battle between “good and evil”? The premier Socialist/Communist of humanity’s entire existence was, and still is, Satan. The story goes, he offers you the world and controls you by every means at his disposal. As long as it will make you dependent on him! Sounds like the Saul Alinsky form of “government” that was worshipped by Hussein Obama and his puppet masters the Clintons to me! Offer ’em free stuff, get their vote, then proceed to create great wealth for yourself while the peasants become dependent on your free stuff, aka. the actual workers who make it happen for everyone (Republicans)! Pathetic isn’t it!
TGI editor: Having been away from TGI for some time, I was delighted to see, upon my return, that you have started accepting comments in response to Letters again … and I was happy to see your statement that comments must be respectful and not contain personal attacks.
Thus I was disappointed when the very first comment I saw was from Gordon Oswald, up to his old venom, referring to those he disagrees with as “nitwits.”
Are you enforcing your own rules or not?
According to Saturday paper story if the FBI had done what they should have done chances were big that the shooting would never have happened. Remember it’s not law abiding “normal” citizens who are shooting people. You can’t make me believe that people who know these people don’t realize something is wrong with these people, and therefore those of you who have the hunch are just as guilty as those who commit the shootings.
Bernard… Excellent letter thank you for showing your respect here. We will laugh together at the hate mail.
Steve L. I just love the “fear Mongering” keep it up… How much did it cost to join Bridget’s lynching mob?
To Bernard Verkaaik,
You have failed to do your homework. If you had you would know that all of the biggest deficits this country has experienced have occurred under Republican administrations. Get it straight or don’t say it sir.
So Verkaaik, where in the neonazi propaganda is it documented that your opposition (antinazis mostly) holds up “Venezuela…Cuba, North Korea… as the role models we should emulate.” Maybe you can provide some examples where significant publications, with readerships from several factions and intellectual levels within modern progressive thought, have actually “portrayed” such nonsense.
Dear Trump supporter guy,
The cartoon was a joke, like your President. Don’t be such a snowflake.
Michael, the American “Culture” will not, and does not, change overnight. Gun owners will claim three things when talking about the need for semi-automatic weapons. Protection from the Government (as if we live in 1930s Germany), Hunting (which is a hobby for 99% of Americans……e.g. there is really no need to hunt as if we are living in the 1800s), and personal protection.
The first two are complete lame excuses for owning semi-automatic weapons. We have a 100% Volunteer military……..not conscripts. While somewhat formidable in theory, a couple thousand hillbillies with guns sounds good, but tactics and training = success or failure. Hunting with a semi automatic should not be allowed. Sure, there are the exceptions when you want to take out a pack of wolves or a bunch of wild pigs, but when the argument is “Are you willing to help prevent mass shootings for hunting?”, then I’d like to hear someone stand up in public and try to support “Hunting” as anything more than a hobby.
The Supreme Court conferred in 2008 that the Second Amendment included “Personal Protection”. I don’t know why you would need anything more than a shotgun at your house for “protection”. Pump action, limited range, and you don’t really have to aim……good for men and women.
We need mandatory, ongoing training if you own a weapon. You need to be evaluated each year or so for mental concerns, and we need to have easy home inspection of the weapons as a requirement to own one.
I get the argument to arm everyone. There needs to be another option. There are more guns than people in the USA. We can do better.
We are already numb to 40,000 people dying in auto accidents each year. No one bats an eye. We are becoming numb to the school shootings, and mass shootings in general.
The simple answer as to why it is okay to sell a weapon, like the AR-15, to non-military and non-law enforcement citizens is that the weapons are legal and constitutionally protected. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Had the school shooter instead intentionally driven a car into a crowd killing dozens would you call for a ban on cars? Thousands of people die from drunk driving each year yet no one seriously wants to ban cars because sane people know it’s not the car that was the cause of the harm, it was the driver. Guns have always been around; they are inanimate objects that don’t do a thing unless someone picks them up. There is no more basic freedom than the right to life, to protect one’s life from those that mean to do us harm. Usually those are fellow citizens but the intent of the Second Amendment was primarily to keep an overreaching tyrannical government from terrorizing its own citizenry. This might seem ridiculous in the good old USA but the fact is it’s happened all around the world all the way up to present time including in the liberal/socialist paradise of Venezuela. What is really appalling is the main cause of mass killings is known and yet it’s ignored. Every single one of them over the last 50 years was perpetrated by someone on psychotropic drugs. You know, the ones you see advertised on TV saying “Side effects may include thoughts of suicide or violent tendencies”. Problem is, there is so much money paid by pharmaceutical companies in both ad revenue in the media and lobbying congress that there’s not much chance of change unless the public demands it. Kids and other people need real help, not drugs. You can give any sane person who is not on drugs anything from an AR-15 to a hydrogen bomb and no one will get hurt. Give him drugs and all bets are off.
Stan,
The difference between a car or drugs and an AR-15 is the AR-15 is designed for a single purpose, to kill human beings. Not for target practice or for hunting, it’s a machine designed for killing. Why do you need to own such a device?
According to Time magazine, October 16, 2017, NIGHTMARE IN VEGAS, the population in America owns guns come to about 30% gun ownership. Any one can buy it off the shelf or private sale on the street, and down to age 16 years old. Legal. Policies in Hawai’i are not in favor of buying guns without registering the gun. Hawai’i and Illinois. There are about 265 million guns on stock. Gun owners in favor of gun control laws say they are for it because it is their right to liberty. NRA has a hold on pro policy control through the owners and that owning a gun serves them more freedom. 3% of the top owners of guns, own over half of the guns produced in America.
About 2 million people in America own about over 132 million guns produced collectively. That is about one for every person or household, up to the first 2 million people that can own a gun. It tapers off as the numbers reaches to two million, owners.
Wait a minute…you mean that letter from Mr. Verkaaik and the comment from Mr. Oswald were serious?
Steve Martin when you can show in your comments that you’ve put in as much time looking at the details of the proposed dairy, it’s potential economic and environmental and health impacts, the effects of similar operations in other communities (like the Ookala disaster on the Big Island, the countless other examples from Washington to Des Moines to Wisconsin and beyond), the reasons behind the inaction on the part of our elected officials (consider that Mr Kawakami, who endorsed the dairy sits on the Grove Farm Foundation Board) the hypocrisy and mis-information coming from HDF in their dealings with our community, in their failed FEIS—when and if you want to put in the time to explore these issues, well then maybe you can with some measure of credibility, take your thinly veiled ad hominem pot shots at the folks who’ve done such work. In the meantime you are welcome to join a serious discussion with those of us who live here, and hopefully advance the effort to enlighten all concerned parties on an issue that effects us all.