Letters for Saturday, February 9, 2008

• Very different futures for America

• Ignorance isn’t bliss

• Support biotechnology

• Deposit conundrum

Very different futures for America

Regardless of who the presidential candidates are in either party, there will be two very different views of America’s future for voters to choose in November.

Let’s just look at five of the key issues:

Republican’s View

• Win in Iraq

• Lower taxes

• Market-driven healthcare

• Secure borders

• Terrorism is war

Democrat’s View

• Surrender in Iraq

• Higher taxes

• Government-run healthcare

• Open borders

• Terrorism is a crime

I encourage everyone to register and vote.

The stark contrast and the stakes for our country, Hawai‘i and the world have never been greater.

Willes Lee

Chairman, Hawai‘i Republican Party

Ignorance isn’t bliss

This is in response to “Where are the savings for the rate payer?” from Hans Hellriegel, Kapa‘a, in the Letters section on Feb. 7.

First, it is obvious that Hans did not attend Green Energy Hawai‘i’s information session at the Koloa Community Association meeting last October, or he would understand how the operation of burning albizia trees would work, instead of assuming he knows. He would know that the trees will be chipped before they are delivered to the facility, thereby decreasing the need for huge numbers of trucks. This is just one example of what was discussed at the meeting.

Hans also asked why we couldn’t burn the “tires and garbage in the Kekaha landfill.” Has he ever seen a tire fire in his life? The thick black smoke and the smell that comes from burning tires are definitely not environmentally safe.

Finally I’d like to point out that there is another purpose of seeking out alternatives to oil besides reducing our cost — it is reducing our dependence on other countries to supply our energy needs. Besides, the longer we continue to use oil, the more it is going to go up. Other countries suck us in with lower prices, we become complacent and then they can jack the prices up to whatever they want — then we’re in real trouble. Besides, the more alternatives we seek out, the more options people will have, the more they will opt for them, and the better and more practical (and probably less expensive) it will become. Exxon-Mobil made $40 billion net profit last year. Do we all really want to continue making the oil business richer, while we continue to damage our environment? I know I don’t.

Betsy Rivers

Lihu‘e

Support biotechnology

We should not be wasting our legislators time by submitting moratoriums or bills banning GMO (transgenic) research. A few legislators continue to introduce negative bills against the progression of biotechnology. Here we are again pitting farmers against farmers.

Instead, positive bills for the advancement of biotechnology of a specific crop, whether it be biotech, conventional, or organic, should be supported by all in a unified voice. Sen. Russell Kokubun, Sen. Jill Tokuda, and Rep. Clif Tsuji have always took a positive position in their introduction of bills.

Agencies, legislators, and specialty groups are sometimes pressed to “pick sides” among biotech, conventional and organic production. I do believe all three production systems are critical to the economic viability and sustainability of Hawai‘i. I believe that attention should now be focused on how farmers opposed to the technology and those in favor of it can step back from the controversy and successfully produce and market their crops as they see fit.

Loren Mochida

General manager, Tropical Hawaiian Products, Big Island

Deposit conundrum

Recycling has gone backwards since I was a child in the 1960s. Nowadays we pay a deposit on every bottle and can but are limited to special recycling outlets to take them.

In the 1960s I remember buying a soda pop at the local ma-and-pa quick stop and when I finished I returned it for my 2 cents to the same place I purchased it. Supermarkets, quick stops, ma-and-pa stores and discount stores, everyone refunded bottles.

The state of Hawai‘i is the winner since it collects the deposit. However, the majority of cans and bottles are not returned thus giving the state thousands of dollars in deposits collected but never refunded.

It is my belief that whoever sells the bottle and can and collects the deposit should also be the one who can refund your deposit. In this way more items will be recycled and more of our monies will be returned, enabling a recycler to go back to the store only prompts the consumer to make another purchase. A win-win for the economy and environment.

James ‘Kimo’ Rosen

Kapa‘a