• Kaua‘i TV is distracting • End the madness • The wings of birds • The debt is dangerous Kaua‘i TV is distracting Watching TV on Kaua‘i can be problematic. My wife keeps wanting me to take her to Red
• Kaua‘i TV is distracting • End the madness • The wings of birds • The debt is dangerous
Kaua‘i TV is distracting
Watching TV on Kaua‘i can be problematic. My wife keeps wanting me to take her to Red Lobster or Olive Garden for dinner. To get there and back will cost $400 before I even get to eat. Oh, and if I have to listen to Poncho the Solar Guy one more time, well thank goodness for the mute button.
Perhaps I should become a gamer, like my grandson, who can stare at his Xbox for hours with no onslaught of ads. Or perhaps I should get a smart phone, and bury my face in it texting and talking and surfing.
We can get so distracted with our modern toys, so much so, that we fail to see that double rainbow over Wailua, or the cattle egrets following closely behind the lawnmower. Or the myriad of other magical sights and sounds that brought us here in the first place.
No, I think I’ll just stay with my current plan. Today golf, shave ice, nap, yard work, and after dinner, muting Poncho.
Rand Becker
Kapa‘a
End the madness
Our country is still in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the great depression. Millions of people are doing whatever it takes to find ways to make ends meet. There is no promising light at the end of their tunnels. All of my thoughts above came to me while I was watching a few minutes of the presidential inauguration. It seemed more like a red carpet Academy Awards presentation. The “elite government” living as if money is no problem. The inauguration cost in excess of $147,000,000 dollars to put on. The swearing in was $1.24 million.
Maybe the majority was spent on security, “parties” now and later, and can you just imagine how many Porta Potties the extravaganza needed. The federal government spent $49 million on the inaugural weekend. Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland have also requested an additional $75 million to help pay for their share of police, fire and medical services.
Then there is the “party bills” that amounted to another $45 million out of the pockets of the tax payer who is paying for this fiasco. It’s time to address this MADNESS. It’s time for our government to set an example to cut spending. Here is to a good start: Anytime we elect a president, he or she receives a presidential inauguration. Upon a re-election for four more years, it should be looked at as a continuance of the position and not require the need of another $150 million inauguration.
What’s wrong with a $1.24 million swearing in instead?
Steve Martin
Kapa‘a
The wings of birds
Even though I have never seen a bird or a plane fly without two wings in the general direction of forward; I will never-the-less point out to Mr. Bartolo (TGI Forum Jan. 21, “Anti-GMO people are communists”) that those who wish to maintain the vitality and viability of our natural resources and not squander them are by definition the conservatives and not the dreaded liberals. In this case that would be those who are hopeful that chemical warfare in our fields and pushing drugs to plants will save the Earth.
Perhaps Mr. Bartolo should consider Ben Franklin’s sanguine advice: “Better to keep one’s mouth shut and let others think you a fool; then open it and prove it”
At the very least I am glad you are aware of the root meaning of the words commune, communal and communism. Because you will understand what it means when you read the preamble to the U.S. Constitution that requires all of us to direct our efforts to the “Common Good.”
That’s right Mr. Bartolo, the United States has been technically a communist state since its inception; and all its laws and the very triangular framework of its structure is still completely admirably directed to seeing this common good realized and insured. After all there’s quite a bit of red in Old Glory.
While we have hardly ever fulfilled these goals and certainly there remain many opinions on how to affect such a happy state; there is a vast difference between opinions and lies. Opinions are meant to help and direct; lies are meant to distort and harm. It is a glaring lie that the companies that gave the world Agent Orange are now here to save it through chemical and biological agriculture.
It is a glaring lie that biologically altered foods are the same as the originals or that chemical farming that is now pumping Atrazine out of the Westside water table and giving our neighbors cancers has any thing to do with the common good.
Mr. Bartolo; its time to break out your tie-dyed rainbow T-shirt this next Fourth of July. You are already part of a commune thanks to the covenant that protects us. And the rest of us will thank you to stop attacking the people who promote our ideals.
Kelly Ball
Kapa‘a
The debt is dangerous
I seem to be the only person in my family that is even the slightest concerned about the U.S. debt. When I express my concerns, my family says, “Nobody else seems to be worried about it.”
If I understand the U.S. debt correctly, this means that the U.S. has borrowed 16 trillion dollars from other countries to pay our national bills. If this is correct, could you please comment on just how this situation is not more of a concern to our government and our citizens?
It seems as though Greece was the first country that started to “go bankrupt.” This seemed to have a negative effect on many countries in Europe. In order to keep Greece from going bankrupt, other countries gave Greece financial aid with certain conditions.
It goes without saying that neither Greece nor other European countries have near the warring capabilities of the U.S. I know that many of your readers are going to think this idea is something from “The Twilight Zone,” but isn’t it quite possible that the U.S. defense capabilities might just be the advantage that our country has for any country “to call in their loan from the U.S.?”
Asking everyone to think about it.
Timothy Bledsoe
North Augusta, S.C.
