Letters for Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Island History

column praised

 We have been vacationing on your beautiful garden island for the last two months, as we have done for the last several years.

 Each day, weather permitting, we start our day with breakfast on the lanai and a copy of The Garden Island. We have always enjoyed the local and world news.

This year in particular we have enjoyed Hank Soboleski’s Island History column. It has really given us a better feel for the island of Kauai.

Funny as it may seem, we also find the obituaries interesting, particularly reading about the old-timers who have spent their lives on the island. We always marvel at the changes that they must have seen in their lifetimes.

One other item that would be of interest to us would be a listing of the cruise ships that are in the harbor.

We are on the east coast in Kapa’a and see them arriving and departing each day, and that information would add to the enjoyment. Maybe you would consider adding this.

We look forward to our return next year and, who knows, we may see which ships are in port.

Alan and Margaret Griffith, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Downwind

Those of us downwind of you who burn whatever you burn, legal or not, we want to give a lung-felt appreciation for the irritations to our eyes, nose, throat and lungs. 

Also thanks for the upper respiratory illnesses and overall difficulty in breathing. Thanks a lot and breathe deeply the smoke of your fires. 

Mark Perry, Lihu‘e

Co-op without benefits

KIUC professes to be a co-op. I, as a member since 1991, do not believe that the members share any benefits.

 Not only do we have the highest rates in the country, but when a loved one dies, the estate can not get the Patronage Capital that relative contributed. I was told today that the Patronage Capital Account will be viewed in the fall.

I first filed last October after the June death of my mother and was put off. I was also informed that the board would decide how much money would be sent, not the amount she contributed since 2003.

Is this a co-op? If it is, I don’t want any part of it.

Dana R. Reid, Lihu‘e

Obama and the GOP

Mr. Hoeppner (Letters: Feb. 6) misses the point of my response to Mr. Thorp’s accusation of Republican “obstruction.” It was argued that Obama’s failure to fix the economy is because the GOP won’t allow it. Obviously the minority party is powerless to aid or block those efforts. That was the issue. The writer then refers to “illegal wars” and Bush’s bank bail-out. Those are separate matters not mentioned in the previous discussion.  

As to Hoeppner’s contention that bank deregulation “resulted in the financial collapse,” it only underscores the Left’s successful effort to shift the blame to the private sector for our current mess.

It was the Democrat’s Community Redevelopment Act that is the single greatest factor in that regard. Lenders could count on federal indictments for racism if they failed to grant mortgages to unqualified minority buyers. As these notes defaulted, the quasi-government banks Fannie and Freddie delayed the inevitable collapse.

Career Democrat Franklin Raines, who ran one of these “banks,” walked away with $90 million for six years of his dedicated “public service.”

In a truly deregulated industry, no lender would intentionally make these bad loans. And if they did, they’d be allowed to go broke. Witness Obama’s Detroit bailout: Essentially all of the United Auto Workers political payoffs go to Democrats, as does the majority of Wall Street money.  

As to Bush’s ill-advised bank bail-out, that amount is a tiny fraction of which Obama and his party have wasted. Mr. Hoeppner is right when he cites Washington contempt for the Constitution. The Dems are more culpable, but GOP “compromise” has only made things worse.

John Burns, Princeville

Hawaiian fable update

A long time ago, there lived a Hawaiian crab named Manini. He was big, strong and smart. He got his name because he gathered his food in a small manini area of the sea.

One day Manini got trapped by a crab fisherman. He ended up in a crab fisherman’s bucket. Manini watched as other crabs tried getting out of the bucket. As one of the crabs reached the top of the bucket, another crab would pull that crab down.

Finally, Manini spoke up. Manini told the crabs that there were ways to get out of the bucket. Manini got the crabs to remember how they got caught, learn to unite and learn.

Those that listened united, escaped and went home to their families, their ‘ohana. They educated their families. The fisherman left, and no more crabs were trapped. Now the crabs lived safe, healthy and happy lives because accurate knowledge is power, and research is the key to knowledge.

Do like Manini. Education by watching, thinking and doing your own research can lead to good things. By the way, Manini discovered that the crabs had been named “Hawaiian crabs” by the fisherman.

Roland Licona, Kapa‘a