• Aspartame resolution needs support • Drugs at Kapa‘a High • Enhance your immune system • Think outside of the box • Ferry not fit for Kaua‘i Aspartame resolution needs support My profoundest thanks to Hawai‘i Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland
• Aspartame resolution needs support
• Drugs at Kapa‘a High
• Enhance your immune system
• Think outside of the box
• Ferry not fit for Kaua‘i
Aspartame resolution needs support
My profoundest thanks to Hawai‘i Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland for sponsoring a Senate resolution asking the new FDA commissioner to rescind approval for the neurotoxic artificial sweetener aspartame, and to the cosponsors thus far, Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, Sen. Kalani English and Sen. Mike Gabbard.
Hawai‘i is fortunate to have legislators who care about consumer protection and who can also easily see through and dismiss the reassuring misrepresentations of the corporate lobbyists who, as they did with Thalidomide, Cyclamates, Asbestos, and Vioxx, will go on telling everyone that aspartame is safe, despite common knowledge that it is metabolized as methanol and formaldehyde, plus two unessential neurotoxic amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid.
Hawai‘i is afflicted with high incidence of diabetes and epilepsy; this resolution is a step in the right direction, away from using such harmful artificial sweeteners.
These senators deserve your readers’ commendation, plus the cosponsorship of state senators from your island, like Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser. The time is right for such a resolution, with a new spirit of reform and repair in Washington.
• Stephen Fox, Santa Fe, NM
Drugs at Kapa‘a High
I recently met with an official of Kapa‘a High School and mentioned that marijuana seemed to be a problem on campus.
The official agreed that the problem was real and that it was out of control; the potheads hide out in the nearby woods and puff away whenever they like.
I suggest that Gov. Lingle send the state police to the school with dope-sniffing dogs to end this unlawful activity. Apparently, our police dogs are too busy.
Am I the only one who thinks the state owes our children a duty to keep public schools free of drugs? Our children are required by law to attend school, right? So, in essence, the state requires our children, under penalty of law, to be exposed to drugs on a daily basis.
Hey, politicians! Schools should be no-drug zones.
• John Wyatt, Kapa‘a
Enhance your immune system
Twice last summer Grand Master Hong and the Qi Center in Lihu‘e offered free treatments, exercises, a lecture, herbal teas, and even soup samples to generally enhance the immune system, with a specific focus on allergies and asthma.
I had the privilege of being a “tea and soup server” and met so many wonderful healing “aunties” full of loving energy who want the best for the attendees.
Today, from 6 to 8 p.m., Grand Master Hong returns to do it again. I highly recommend that anyone, especially keiki and kupuna, take advantage of this great opportunity.
Our constant rain might produce extra molds and mildew. This event would help. Master Hong is researching the results, and Lynn Muramoto, the Qi Center director has provided me with three testimonials.
I offer one from a woman in Koloa: “I used to have asthma for five years. The change of weather also affected me and I’d end up with bronchitis every year too. My chest was heavy, I had a hard time breathing, and I did not have enough air to breathe. I had to use an inhaler for five years. Since I came to my first asthma event last year, I haven’t used it at all. I felt a big difference and I feel that I am more healthy. I didn’t get sick this year at all or start wheezing. Before, I’d be wheezing from clogged bronchial tubes. I do the exercises we learned every week and that really helped with my breathing. It just helped and it just made everything much better.
In addition, I used to have sinus problems for 10 years and used an inhaler for it too. Now, it doesn’t bother me at all. I can take care of it myself by having it drain on it’s own. It is very amazing. I know definitely it had to be the exercises we learned and the herbal patches that opened my respiratory system up. I don’t have words to say. I am very thankful to Master Hong and the Qi Center. This has been very helpful and I am very pleased.”
• Annaleah Atkinson, Kapa’a
Think outside of the box
Reading about KCC’s community gardening program spearheaded by Glenn Hontz is heartwarming evidence that the “seeds are being planted” to raise consciousness that we here on Kaua‘i can and should seriously consider what we can do to become self-sufficient when it gets down to providing our food sources.
While farming enterprises and gardening projects may be two different and separate approaches, the inherent fundamentals are there to become pro-actively self-sufficient with respect to agricultural endeavors.
Along those lines, perhaps it is time to consider just as seriously how to package our products for longevity purposes.
Can we dehydrate some of our fruits and vegetables for future consumption? Should we consider bringing back our canneries? What about the possibility of considering some of our organically grown products for cosmetic or pharmaceutical purposes that can be manufactured, marketed and distributed? By golly, bottled water from Kaua‘i is already available.
By thinking outside of the box, we might fare quite well above and beyond the parameters of the visitors industry.
• Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
Ferry not fit for Kaua‘i
I wish to complete Mr. Tolbe’s letter published Dec. 15. If the stupidferry were here today, career thieves from O‘ahu could casually rob Mr. Tolbe’s home with ease and care and carry all the loot back to O‘ahu on the ferry.
Pedophiles could take a Kaua‘i child, drug them and hide them on their vehicle and steal them to O‘ahu. Professional armed robbers could easily hold up a bank and/or liquor store and get away cleanly. Rude and foul-talking motorist from the other islands could curse at us for going so slow because Kaua‘i drivers obey the 50 mph speed limit.
KPD could be overwhelmed by the problems of traffic and crime. A smart drug dealer could easily bring his drugs first to Kaua‘i, then smuggle them aboard the stupidferry to O‘ahu without worry of any security checks on this side of the Pacific.
Gee, I haven’t even mentioned one single issue dealing with the environment.
No, Mr. Tolbe, the only thing keeping you from seeing your relatives during the holidays is your decision not to dig a bit deeper into your pocket for a ticket on a system that secures the safety and tranquility of our beloved island.
• Eduardo Valenciana, Lihu‘e
