• Roses are red • Spay/neuter law needed • Truth matters • Why call in police? Roses are red Roses are red, violets are blue, I like to start the day with The Garden Island news. Roses are red, violets
• Roses are red •
Spay/neuter law needed • Truth matters
• Why call in police?
Roses are red
Roses are red, violets are blue, I like to start the day with The Garden Island news.
Roses are red, violets are blue, Valentine’s Day can bring on the blues, so why not celebrate Valentines day sometime in May or the very next day — the day after everything goes on sale.
Restaurants are not as crowded, service will be less stressed and the menus may actually feature specials at reduced prices.
V.D. (Valentine’s Day) is a holiday that stresses romance. Many couples go out for dinner, have a few cocktails and try to romance the evening away. Roses are more expensive than any other day. Heart shaped chocolate candies can cost an arm and a leg. Jewelry is also marked up for this special day.
Therefore remember: Roses are red, violets are blue, if you’re down on your luck, this is how to get more bang for your buck.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Spay/neuter law needed
When you teach children to be kind to animals, you help them learn compassion, which will build their character and reduce violence in our community.
Until then, how often do we on Kaua‘i see dogs and cats abandoned in empty fields and parking lots, kittens thrust in sacks and thrown from moving cars, cats and dogs poisoned, beaten or starved?
There are people who let their animals breed unchecked. Only neglect and disease keep their pets’ numbers from increasing as quickly as they otherwise would. There are people who refuse to spay their cats because their cat has a “right” to reproduce — even though these people know there are no homes for the kittens. Until these people learn compassion, what about mandatory spay/neuter law for our cats and dogs? I know not every owner will comply, just like not everyone who drives has auto insurance.
But a well-crafted law would let our Humane Society step in when someone lets their pets breed without stopping.
If you don’t like homeless cats in your yard, if you are upset about stray dogs, if the number of unwanted pets killed on Kaua‘i upsets you, if or if you are just tired of seeing them treated as disposable goods or rubbish, please join me in asking our county council to consider an ordinance to prevent the birth of unwanted pets.
Margaret Sueoka, Kapa‘a
Truth matters
I have no interest in engaging in political philosophy debates. I care about people and life. But when assertions are made that are so blatantly misrepresentations of actual reality, I have to say something.
A writer in a recent letter said, in response to my critique about the Republicans ‘ obstructionism to proposals to help the middle class “obviously the minority party is powerless to block these efforts.” The reality is that the Republicans have a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. They have used that majority to vote down proposals passed in the Senate, and frequently they do not even allow such measures to come up for a vote.
It’s just as bad in the U.S. Senate. While they are a minority, Republicans have employed the filibuster to an unprecedented degree. They have effectively destroyed majority rule. That is obstructionism in action.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own set of facts. This distortion of reality becomes life-threatening when it touches upon matters of global survival. Naomi Klein makes this clear in a recent article in The Nation (Nov. 28, 2011) when she states that climate change is “the greatest example of market failure we have ever seen.” She adds, “In the rocky future that we have already made inevitable, an unshakable belief in the equal rights of all people, and a capacity for deep compassion, will be the only things standing between humanity and barbarism.” The path of compassion benefits all beings. Say yes to life.
David Thorp, Koloa
Why call in police?
A perfect metaphor happened at the Kaua‘i County Council meeting regarding KIUC. Somehow, the power company was able to have the county place eight armed police officers outside the meeting to protect themselves from a small handful of informed citizens raising respectful, relevant questions regarding their upcoming forced installation of smart meters — the youngest of which was 45 years old. And we aren’t moving towards having a police state to protect the large companies from the citizens?
Why wasn’t this included in The Garden Island story? How often is this police placement standard at a county council meeting? Why is KIUC not revealing their bound commitment over these smart meters? They signed into this process before they thought to ask the membership. Now they can’t get out of the deal, so they are bullying the membership. There are more responsible and respectful methods to garner responsible energy behavior than to force it. The $5 million co-investment would have been an energy-cost win-win were it to have been invested in solar water heaters, for example.
The child-like advertising campaign is an insult to the intelligence of those who have bothered to become informed about the origins of this initiative. We aren’t having an honest discussion on the merits of smart meters, nor comparing them to other possible better investments.
Felicia Cowden, Kilauea
