• Torture keeps us safe • Secrecy is not justice • Not all lawsuits are frivolous • Driving on Kaua‘i is stressful • Behavior more telling than drug test Torture keeps us safe Gene Lyons’ pathological hatred for all things
• Torture keeps us safe
• Secrecy is not justice
• Not all lawsuits are frivolous
• Driving on Kaua‘i is stressful
• Behavior more telling than drug test
Torture keeps us safe
Gene Lyons’ pathological hatred for all things Bush/Cheney makes Keith Olbermann look sensible. (“Torture: A coward’s idea of toughness,” Forum, Jan. 8)
Well… maybe not, but his obsession with waterboarding begs the question: What does he think has kept us safe since Sept. 11?
Lyons maintains waterboarding is torture and then says torture doesn’t work. It was precisely the application of waterboarding to the Sept. 11 mastermind that produces vital intelligence which quashed more terrorist attacks thereby saving American lives.
Would Lyons feel better about himself, having lost loved ones to terror, if his anti-waterboarding campaign had been successful? It’s worth mentioning CIA field operatives and certain members of the military are subjected to this technique for purposes of familiarization.
It can in no way be compared to the animalistic treatment terrorists have applied to captured GIs, e.g. the gouging out of eyes, severing genitals and using blow torches on bare flesh. If Lyons expressed any outrage over that, I missed it.
The Muslims who have taken up arms against us were not conscripted. They chose this path of their own free will, for a dark primitive and violent purpose.
Getting useful and timely intelligence out of these fanatics requires often harsh measures — more than merely taking away their prayer mats or even forcing them to read a Gene Lyons editorial.
• John Lyons, Princeville
Secrecy is not justice
I filed a complaint against a Realtor with the Regulated Industries Complaint Office. My complaint was turned down in secret. RICO’s director said, “It is neither RICO’s intent, nor practice, to conduct its investigation in secret.” That is not what occurred in my case.
The Realtor and his friend’s testimonies were given with a promise of confidentiality, i.e. secrecy.
A secret hearing was held without me, the plaintiff, in attendance to examine the “secret” testimonies, which I later discovered contained some truths, some half-truths and some lies.
Only one member of RICO’s advisory committee ruled on the “secret” evidence — no dissenting opinions.
Then, RICO’s lawyer invoked “secrecy” by not informing me of the Office of Information Practices and the Ombudsman Office. When I later asked her why, she replied, “We assume the public will be satisfied with our decision.” I asked her, “How could you possibly make such an arrogant assumption?” She gave no reply.
I asked her, “May I see the testimonies of the Realtor upon which this ‘innocent’ decision was based?” She replied, “No, they are all confidential.” That is when I learned of RICO’s practice of keeping the records secret.
Is this American justice? How many hundreds and hundreds of legitimate complaints have been denied with this “cloak of secrecy?”
President-elect Barack Obama is ridding Washington, D.C., of secrecy, so can we, here in his home state of Hawai‘i, do anything less?
By the way, it was the Office of Information Practices that compelled, with a simple request, RICO’s lawyer to release the testimonies to me, proving that the law used by RICO to deny testimonies to a plaintiff is nothing but a “rope of sand” easily challenged and then blown away.
• Bruce Cunningham, Kapa‘a
Not all lawsuits are frivolous
Washington Post columnist George Will unfortunately relied on inaccurate anecdotes in his latest column (“Litigation Nation”) to malign trial attorneys and the civil justice system. The real facts and data contradict his every assertion.
The Constitution ensures that all people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system, even when taking on the most powerful corporations. Will insists that all lawsuits are “frivolous.”
Try telling that to someone when their insurance company refuses to pay a just claim when they are injured by a drug the manufacturer knew was dangerous, or a family loses their life savings by an unscrupulous banker.
In reality, the number of civil filings has been decreasing for over a decade; and trial attorneys, who must pay for all expenses up-front out of their own pockets, have no incentive to file a “frivolous” claim when they know a jury would not rule in their favor.
But that doesn’t stop Will from paddling propaganda that tries to insist that litigation is out of control. Will’s propaganda solely benefits big corporations that don’t want to be held accountable for their negligence, and serves to the detriment of everyday Americans whose only recourse is the court of law.
• Wayne Parsons, Honolulu
Driving on Kaua‘i is stressful
I have lived in two countries, many states and Kaua‘i is the tailgating capital of the world.
I am not a full-time driver. Periodically, I drive friends’ cars here and there. I was taught for every 10 mph to give one-car length distance, so at 50 mph there should be at least a five-car distance between vehicles.
Every time I venture out to drive I can see with detail in my rear view mirror people’s birthmarks on their faces at speeds of 40 to 50 mph. I am always sticking my hand out with the sign language of thumb and forefinger spread open to give me more space. Nobody seems to acknowledge this since they are so wrapped up in their narcissistic acts of cell phone conversation, texting and eating.
I feel tailgating is a Freudian thing. People who tailgate suffer what Sigmund Freud termed a certain type of envy. Hopefully, these people can get over their envy and help create safer roads by giving us a little space.
• James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Behavior more telling than drug test
Howard Tolbe again misses the point. While he may enjoy sharing his bodily fluids there are others of us who consider random drug testing unwarranted and un-American.
If drug use among teachers is such a pressing problem why must their urine be microscopically examined for drugs? If there is a drug problem among teachers, surely there would be also be a corresponding on-job indication of intoxication or other behavioral problems.
• Allan Erickson, Eugene, Ore.
