• Property needed for ‘government to government’ • More to story of Bergdahl exchange • Pesticides are what we should fear • Cat did indeed kill a shearwater Property needed for ‘government to government’ I remain confused about “government to government” relations similar to native
• Property needed for ‘government to government’ • More to story of Bergdahl exchange • Pesticides are what we should fear • Cat did indeed kill a shearwater
Property needed for ‘government to government’
I remain confused about “government to government” relations similar to native American tribes. Having spent time in Arizona, I observed the differences between tribal land and the rest of the state. Reservations are physical places with different laws for everybody. I was surprised to note, the Indian casino bars and restaurants allowed smoking unlike the state.
I also patronized a shopping center that was leased from the Pima tribe. The sales tax and liquor laws were tribal, not state. My point is without physical property, I fail to see the connection.
Suzanne Woodruff
Kapaa
More to story of Bergdahl exchange
Walter Lewis has it wrong regarding the Bergdahl prisoner exchange, by repeating a lie John McCain first told. Of the five, three were political officials in the Taliban government until 2001 — the former Interior Minister (Khairkhwa), a provincial governor (Noori), and the deputy chief of intelligence (Wasiq). These were government officials, not members of “the five biggest murderers in world history” as McCain claimed in 2012. The fourth was a senior Taliban commander (Wazi). The fifth, however, coordinated with al Qaeda in a small provincial cell in Khost Province. Of the five, he is dangerous because of that Qaeda connection.
(McCain also lied when he claimed he didn’t know Bergdahl was being traded for five Taliban — he knew, as evidenced by his 2012 quote. This has been in the works since 2011, something he would know given his Senate committee assignments.) Let’s be clear here — the Taliban didn’t fly into the WTC towers, didn’t engage in combat with the U.S. until the latter’s entry into Afghanistan. These men have despicable pasts for their roles governing Afghanistan, but the Taliban has not struck at the U.S. outside their tribal areas in AfPak. It is highly inappropriate to conflate their threat with that of a-l Qaeda or ISIL or any other group. Doing so to throw a cheap shot at Obama is beneath contempt — much like McCain’s perfidy.
Barry Christianson
Sebastopol, Calif.
Pesticides are what we should fear
Every day I read the letters section and follow the battle involving Westside seed companies, GMO, pesticides, lawsuits, ordinances, etc.
Should we not be separating pesticides from GMO? One friend pointed out that Darwin’s “natural selection” is a form of GMO.
Isn’t it the pesticides that we should fear? If the seed companies (how about “Big Seed” like “Big Pharma”) experimented with GMO and did not flood us with dangerous chemicals like atrazine and many others, might that be a solution to moving past this confusing issue?
Just sayin.’
Tom Rice
Princeville
Cat did indeed kill a shearwater
This is about the feral cat story. I have been a camper all the time for the past five years and stay for weeks at Napali for five years staying close to the aina.
I have no camera with night vision but always have my Yukon-NV’s ( best night vision goggles). I see at night time and I saw the same thing on the newspaper video link about shearwater this week! It was the same one nest but all I saw was one cat. I read it was two cats so maybe I have missed one. It was the first time I saw such a thing! The cat went into the nest and took the bird away so I guess it was going to eat it. Usually cats are curious and pass the nest up no problem. For five years, I have seen many dogs at night or day go in to the burrows — kill many shearwater birds but not take away. They just leave them. I seen lots of rats at night time sneak into nest and eat the eggs and if nests have young birds, they eat them right there. But it was the first time I ever seen a cat do something like that!
Yes, I see a cat, maybe even two cats did kill and take the shearwater bird, so it did happen. Hope this helps story.
Aukai Maupuana
Anahola
