•Public dunking stool • Give me a break • Who’s calling who a hypocrite? • That was some party Public dunking stool I was on the Big Island last month and read an interesting article concerning their County Council and
•Public dunking stool
• Give me a break
• Who’s calling who a hypocrite?
• That was some party
Public dunking stool
I was on the Big Island last month and read an interesting article concerning their County Council and abuses of the “sunshine law.” I thought I’d pass then on.
This was in the July 12 edition of the Tribune Herald. The headline was “Stephens Media sues county over Sunshine Law.” It seems that certain council members meet privately to reorganize committee chairmanships. Sound familiar?
The suit claims this is in direct violation of the “Sunshine Law.” The attorney for Stephens Media, which publishes the West Hawai‘i newspaper, made this statement:
“Our complaint seeks to ensure the county complies with the law and that its members are not allowed to conduct themselves above the law.”
How refreshing! Kaua‘i’s council and the county are a runaway train. They care not for the wishes of the voters and it’s time someone stepped up to the plate and reigned them in.
Where’s the public dunking stool when you need one? Where have all the cowboys gone?
John Humphrey, Hanalei
Give me a break
Before Mr. Dennis Chaquette breaks his arm by patting himself on the back for being a liberal (“Liberals vs. conservatives,” Letters, July 22) he needs to be aware that good guys and bad guys are found in all political persuasions.
However in his book “Who Really Cares?” Arthur Brooks’ research points out that that conservative Americans give 30 percent more money to charities than liberal Americans and that religious people give four times as much money to charity than secular Americans.
Why? One idea the author presents is that conservatives and traditional Americans tend to be Christian and the basic command of Jesus was to help the poor.
Secular progressives generally tend to be non-religious and look to government to be a driving force in redistributing income (someone else’s). Sound familiar? In other words, progressives are also interested in helping the poor but by taxing others.
Why did the Romans kill Jesus? Not because he was a liberal but because of the power he had over the people. He was a threat to the Roman Empire.
Dennis goes on to ask: “Were Stalin, Hitler, and Mao liberals?” According to my sources, the party names of these leaders suggest that they were: the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and China’s Communist Party respectively.
Dennis needs to do a little more traveling. I lived in Holland over a period of 20 years with frequent assignments outside the country. When Ronald Reagan was elected, my neighbor offered her opinion that Americans didn’t know how to vote.
He was only an actor, she complained. I reminded her that he had been a successful two-term governor of California and President of the Screen Actor’s Guild, both facts of which she was not aware. The response? Silence.
Later a relative of ours told us that he was certain that once Bush was elected America would again be at war because Republicans always start wars. We asked him if he knew of the political affiliation of Woodrow Wilson (WWI), Franklin Roosevelt (WWII), Harry Truman (the Korean War), and John F. Kennedy (the Vietnam Conflict). I found the Europeans to be about as misinformed as Mr. Chaquette.
Polls conducted recently would suggest that Americans in general are moderate to conservative and Europeans recently in parliamentary elections made a sharp turn to the right. See what happens in the next U.S. election, Dennis.
Ada Koene, Koloa
Who’s calling who a hypocrite?
In response to Noelle Barnes’ “Vacation rental hypocrisy” (Letters, July 16), the people who should be shamed are those that have and continue to operate vacation rentals illegally.
The people who spoke out at the Planning Commission are not against vacation rentals. They are against vacation rentals that operate without the proper permits or were awarded permits by the county without meeting the requirements of the TVR ordinance. To quote Ms. Barnes, “you know who you are.”
In the interest of full disclosure, I live in California and own a long-term single-family rental in Princeville. Ms. Barnes’ failure to disclose the location of the vacation rentals she is associated with makes her statements both hypocritical and intellectually dishonest.
Tyler Parks, Newport Beach, Calif.
That was some party
Ho Uncle Willie K and all the other musicians burned up the hot nights of summer. Mahalo to everyone who put energy into the Sunset Ho‘olaule‘a on the South side, it was great!
Lots of dancing and laughter is what I could see happening all around. The food was ono, plenty of ice cream for your sweet tooth. Lucky we live Kaua‘i!
Todd Anderson, Lihu‘e
