• Leaders have lost their way • Dismayed by stereotyping paranoia • Get up, stand up Leaders have lost their way With the executive branch, the Senate and the Congress log-jammed by the stubbornness of Tea Party members of Congress,
• Leaders have lost their way • Dismayed by stereotyping paranoia • Get up, stand up
Leaders have lost their way
With the executive branch, the Senate and the Congress log-jammed by the stubbornness of Tea Party members of Congress, it may be left up to voters in the mid-term elections to restore some sense of normalcy needed to move this government forward to benefit all Americans.
Right now, it seems many members of the legislative body are more concerned about their jobs and prestige than the urgent actions needed to prevent pain and uncertainty in a country that many economists claim is on the mend.
It is my opinion that these leaders have lost their way; they have failed to recognize the urgency to put country first. This type of attitude in parts of the legislative body of America stifles a country that once worked together.
Alfred Waddell
West Dennis, Mass.
Dismayed by stereotyping paranoia
Wow. I just read the letter by Sheila Heathcote titled “Percentage Problem.” Sheila, your logic is one of the most twisted antigun views I’ve ever read. How in the world are you coming to the conclusion that the majority of firearm owners are crazies or criminals if they’re not in the 7 percent who hunt? Sounds like stereotyping paranoia has crept up on you if you ask me.
I held an NRA small arms trainer certification some years ago and taught many Kaua‘i residents about proper gun handling and ethics. I stressed how serious pointing a loaded gun at another human being is whether you’re justified or not. Once that trigger is pulled your life has just changed forever … whether you were justified or not!
Gun control issues are highly emotional issues and I for one do not believe there is any one single answer to violence involving firearms. There will always be evil in the world as long as there is free will among human beings and maybe someday that will change but I know I won’t see it in my lifetime.
It does seem apparent to me that the youths of today are greatly influenced by the mega-doses of violence in various forms of multimedia and what seems like the runaway phenomenon of “going out with a bang” by taking as many victims as possible just to leave your mark on society. Sad.
I do not believe military style weapons need to be outlawed but stronger laws and more effective enforcement of existing laws on procurement is needed. Stiffer penalties are also needed for those who choose to commit violent crimes with firearms. Bad guys do not bother to obtain permits to buy guns; only law abiding citizens do.
Clear-headed collaboration between the government, lawmakers and its citizens will bring about the most effective and meaningful changes, in my opinion.
But for Sheila Heathcote to generalize and paint me or any other firearm collector as a crazy or criminal for not being in the 7 percent is insulting at the least and ignorant at best.
Stephen Shioi
Kapa‘a
Get up, stand up
Fascism is the merging of the state and corporate interests and power. Anyone who is observing national and global political trends should be at least concerned. I encountered a troubling example of this when I cast my vote here this year.
I was informed by ignorant but well-meaning poll workers that I could not cast a write-in vote for president and that they didn’t even know whether the machine would spit out the entire ballot or not unless acquiesced to voting for one of the approved of corporate (mostly Republican and Democratic) candidates. I couldn’t believe that nobody else had yet objected.
Not being a swing state, of course our votes here in Hawai‘i don’t actually count. Whenever this is the case, I prefer to cast a “statement” vote. This year I, being a big proponent of campaign finance reform, hoped to vote for Buddy Roemer even though he had long since quit the race.
In the past I have voted for Bud Green and once I even voted for Hugh Bagley — the annex Mexico candidate. As an American citizen, I should be capable of voting for Micky freakin Mouse for president if I want to.
Don’t get me wrong here, I am altogether down the whole “island time” thing. Those who know me would say I invented the concept personally. However, in my five years here I have observed a certain submissiveness within the local culture regarding these types of concerns. I think that this is reflective of trends in the mainstream, Mainland American culture as a whole.
Our younger generation (40-year-olds?) seems particularly clueless and over-pacficied by video games and the like. Unless we become more assertive in protecting our ever-dwindling human rights as a society, our decent and vulnerable citizens will continue to get steamrolled.
Someday soon, it may be too late to fight back and all could be lost. It is our kuleana and greater debt owned to every segment of society who has paid a price for us to participate in American society, from the slaves to the pioneers to the internment camps of WWII, and so on down the line that we protect that which was won at such a cost. Any society that is not based upon liberty of its citizens is ultimately doomed.
Brent McWilliams
Lihu‘e
