• Some things better left unsaid • Circular logic • Do something about ethanol • Uglier by the day • Why defend Pflueger? Some things better left unsaid RE: “Arguing Ground Zero in Missouri” Jeanne, here’s one of the Wikipedia
• Some things better left unsaid
• Circular logic
• Do something about ethanol
• Uglier by the day
• Why defend Pflueger?
Some things better left unsaid
RE: “Arguing Ground Zero in Missouri”
Jeanne, here’s one of the Wikipedia online dictionary definitions of Ground Zero. “The term has often been associated with nuclear explosions, but is also used in relation to earthquakes, epidemics and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or destruction.”
The Fehrings have just suffered a huge loss. To them it IS Ground Zero! They have lost their home, their belongings, and most importantly their family and friends. Why can’t you just leave these people alone to grieve however they darn well please?! Certainly you must have better things to do in Missouri than continue to send your inaccurate babblings to our local newspaper.
Sometimes some things are better left unsaid!
Circular logic
Major premise: Commissioners who vote against Chief Lum are guilty of cronyism.
Minor premise: Commissioner Iannucci voted against Lum.
Conclusion: Commissioner Iannucci is guilty of cronyism.
File this away as nothing more than circular logic. Generally defined, it is the assumption / presumption of the very thing being argued.
Another example might be:
Major premise: People who vote in an election are evil.
Minor premise: People on Kaua’i vote in elections.
Conclusion: People on Kaua’i are evil.
This kind of reasoning precludes any meaningful discussion of an issue, as the facts become tertiary or even irrelevant. There is a strong disconnect if Mr. Buhk’s conclusion that Mr. Iannucci is guilty of cronyism is based on the major premise that any commissioner who votes against Chief Lum is guilty as such. It is logically possible that Mr. Buhk has a reason to make such a claim against Mr. Iannucci other than an assumption, but none was given.
Perhaps Mr. Iannucci (he doesn’t consider himself “reverend”, so he prefers “Tom” or “Pastor Tom”) is guilty of cronyism, but assuming it doesn’t prove it. Incidentally, this might be difficult to do, as he was born and raised in Long Island, served as a Marine at the U.S. Embassy during the war in Lebanon, moved to Kaua’i in the ’90s, never ran for an elected office and has often wanted to return to New York. He works often in the community with children against the drug epidemic facing our island, and gives free martial arts lessons. Who knows, maybe he is a citizen trying to serve his community.
Do something about ethanol
I read with interest a recent report of Hawaiiian Electric Co.’s plans to build a new generating plant on O’ahu to be fueled with ethanol. That one new 110-megawatt facility would have a greater capacity than all of the KIUC facilities combined.
Ethanol is a home-grown fuel. It can replace imported petroleum. The State of Hawaii has mandated that ethanol be blended into our gasoline. Just one problem … we don’t make any ethanol in Hawai’i — so we have to ship it across the Pacific Ocean.
On the Mainland, ethanol is being produced from corn. But there are more efficient ways to make ethanol from other plants — like sugar. O’ahu doesn’t grow sugar — but Kaua’i sure does — the history of Kaua’i IS sugar. Even greater efficiencies may be obtained from other plants like sorghum or switchgrass.
On Kaua’i, we are burdened by the highest gasoline and electric costs in the nation. Yet we have the ability to to literally grow our way out of these problems, to a very large extent.
We should be charging ahead at full speed to build an ethanol plant on Kaua’i. State and local government should be clamoring for it. Savvy investors like Bill Gates and Richard Branson are pouring tens of millions of dollars into ethanol.
Gay & Robinson, Alexander & Baldwin and Grove Farm/Lihue Plantation all have the ability to take existing or idle former sugar acreage and dedicate it to ethanol feedstock production. Yet on Kaua’i we do nothing but appoint study commissions, hold hearings, hire expensive consultants, and do nothing.
Maybe a better use for the land is to build more expensive housing which is affordable only to wealthy mainlanders? What do you think, Kauai?
Uglier by the day
Aloha. With regards to the letter “What happens when the coalition leaves Iraq,” the author writes the following “nor do I understand the logic of peace activism. In the end one whom is willing to use violence, terror and fear will prevail in the end … whether it be individuals or nations.”
I seem to recall a certain carpenter from Nazareth who may have been the exception. You see, it’s really more about hope and the desire to achieve something significant in one’s life. This is why I believe some choose the road to face ultimate violence with sincere love … I don’t really know since I am but a father and not an involved peace activist. I am logical enough to know that without hope and faith, there will be only chaos for our children …
To answer your first question as to what will happen when the military leaves Iraq? All hell will break loose and many logical individuals and I am sure some were peace activists, logically realized that the current situation in Iraq was going to be the outcome when the decision to go in the first place was made by those who “make the rules.”
God bless the USA and I will retain the hope that our nation can remove herself from continually being involved in this messy situation. Even minor logic shows that this thing is getting uglier by the day.
- Eduardo Valenciana
Lihu’e
Why defend Pflueger?
I am shocked at what former mayor of Kauai Joanne Yukimura, presently a Kauai County Council member, said in a Honolulu newspaper of March 26. She said that Jimmy Pflueger, a man she has known for years, means well. “I think a part of him wants to help, he didn’t always know the implications of his actions.”
Saying this about a man who has been convicted of 10 felony counts, is currently on probation, received the largest fine in state history for an environmental case and one of the largest criminal fines ever in U.S. history, and who has acted repeatedly, and continues to act, with disregard for the law and his fellow man, makes one wonder, doesn’t it?
Why would Yukimura say something like this?
Wake up and smell the roses Joanne.
