Supreme Court changes needed
Our Founding Fathers did a pretty good job of putting together our democracy and its operational governing power with one exception — the Supreme Court.
First, no government official should have a lifetime appointment, period. This is ludicrous. I know some judges do too, but this is also wrong. They should have definite term limits.
The Supreme Court justices should have limited terms.
A second major error is that the Supreme Court should not be dominated by members of one of the major political parties. This can be done by making it mandatory that each party appoint an equal number of representatives.
Regarding the ruling on Roe vs. Wade, all this will do is affect people in low-income brackets and those of color. We all know the rich will still get abortions by legitimate medial providers, whereas the others will have to again rely on “butchers with coat-hanger procedures.”
I know this for a fact as there were two women of color who I knew before Roe vs. Wade. They both had “coat-hanger” abortions and where bleeding to death had not others intervened and obtained legitimate medical care for them. They both went on to lead productive lives and raise families.
We must change the Supreme Court. Can you imagine that Justice Thomas is considering making birth control illegal in this time when a major worldwide problem is overpopulation, and also relaxing gun control? It’s amazing. Where did the Republicans find him?
John Gordon, Princeville
Elections crucial concerning abortion
Upcoming elections are critical on every level. Hawai‘i could become a “Death Destination.” Past rulings show the overwhelming majority of current lawmakers consider the ending of life as a right.
Hawai‘i is one of only 10 states along with Washington D.C. that legalized physician-assisted suicide. Legislation hashing out details for nurses and physician assistants to write lethal prescriptions and allowing telemedical exams is pending. This could lead to “suicide tourism.”
Correcting the 1973 unconstitutional ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. State lawmakers will decide Hawai‘i’s abortion laws. Over half of the country already has laws with some abortion restrictions. With that in mind, Hawai‘i could become a desirable destination to end the life of an unborn child. Legalizing abortion, even up to full term, under the current administration, could happen.
Before voting, find out the candidate’s stance on these two issues. “Decide between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now choose life, that you and your descendants will live.” (Deuteronomy)
Michele Lincoln, Lahaina
Homeless need bathrooms, water
The letter from Carla Hart regarding lack of drinking water, lack of water for showers, no water to wash hands in the restrooms, is a sad commentary on our treatment of other human beings.
We saw during the pandemic that allowing the houseless to set up camp at some beach parks allowed them a place to be, complete with running water, showers and bathrooms. But it took away some areas that the public normally could use. Can we not find somewhere to allow them a camp with water and bathrooms?
They can establish their own basic rules and make sure they are followed to continue living there. There was a non-sanctioned camp on O‘ahu a few years ago like that. It was self run and working well until the county removed it for being illegal.
Now that our beaches are crammed full of visitors, we need to find other locations that can be used for homeless campgrounds with the basics of a bathroom and water. That isn’t going to involve a lot infrastructure, and it seems like it’s the least we can do. They have to be somewhere. Where do we want that to be?
Paulo Tambolo, Wailua Homesteads
Please enforce fireworks laws
Every 4th of July and New Years Eve, Kapahi gets inundated with illegal fireworks. I have stopped calling the police because they can’t seem to find the culprits. A deaf person could follow the shock waves. It would be nice to see how many citations were issued, how many pets went missing or how many vets with PTSD were terrorized. I have to give my dog a sedative and she still shakes every time they go off. The allotted time for legal fireworks is till 9 p.m., but up here they go off till 11 p.m. My simple request is that they enforce the laws.
Mark Whitson, Kapa‘a
John Gordon, our Founding Fathers did exceptionally well in presenting us, in 2022, a Constitution and with it our Constitutional Republic. The establishment of the Supreme Court was of brilliance and foresight. Even the means to amend the Constitution provided us the process, as a Constitutional Republic, to a make changes. Yes, abortion is not in the Constitution and now the States, where the decision must be made, is allowed by the decision of the Court. The Originalist on the Court are doing their jobs in conforming to their oath of office and the Court does not require any change. Yes, we are of different opinion, and in the United States it is allowed, done peacefully.
Ms Lincoln, we must always remember that science says, “Life begins at conception (fertilization) and ends in natural death.” Human life beginning at conception is an unborn child, as protected under Federal Law.
My professional opinion to all 3 caring individuals who took the time to write a letter to tgi….
Never gonna happen.
Politicians, police and homeless have the same mantra…
Don’t like it, leave…. we not going change.
Newbies will rename Kauai the GARBAGE island for what it is now.
John it is a bad look when for the longest time (like forever) no one in your party had any issue with how the Supreme Court was setup for lifetime appointments. No one was ever saying what is being said now to either strip lifetime appointments or to “pack” the SC as MR. Biden says. Only when outcomes go against your personal beliefs you all of a sudden take issue. Had the shoe been on the other foot where Republicans in the face of a majority liberal SC said to take away life time appt’s or pack the court you would have lambasted everyone as who knows what. Less than 3% (maybe less) of all abortions are for rape/incest or the things most of us jump on saying yes, that is totally a situation where abortion is warranted. What about the remaining 97%? Do you guys feel no irony when you pivot to “my body my choice” and then conveniently forget when that went out the window and is still out the window when it comes to mandatory vaccines? All of you speaking out of both sides of your mouths on abortion/vaccine have no business anymore in this conversation. Now that the my body my choice platform has lost all credibility what is left? Tear down the entire system they say. Founding Fathers were short sighted or stupid or heck even racist they say. Founding Fathers had more wisdom in a toenail that most commenting on the issue today. They made them lifetime appointments so they could issue rulings without the fear of having the controlling political party or ideology of the day influence them. You know like the rest of the sellout Politicians that exist today only to take your money, your time and then go enrich themselves at your expense. Before you all want to defend abortions so willingly do some homework on the place everyone goes to get them done, Planned Parenthood. Just google the founder Margaret Sanger. The whole concept was to take the undesirable population and trick them into not reproducing. In is the birthplace of Eugenics. You keep supporting death, the rest of us (which might just be the majority) will take life and we will see what values follow each. The keiki are watching.
hey Paulo just where will the homeless go after they cause thousands of dollars of damage to our parks? how about your back yard!
Hey Mark Whitson…. yes calling the police doesn’t work because in the new affordable housing track in Hanamulu it”s the police who live there that were the big promoters of the illegal fireworks show that took place July 4th.
So John Gordon, while regurgitating ignorant drivel about SCOTUS, pretends that he knows better than the founders what the court should look like? God help us from people like this. You know–the don’t like the outcome types that advocate for destroying the source of their angst rather than living by our founding principles.
His point that the court should have an equal number of members appointed from each political party is utter nonsense. First of all this would result in nothing but stalemates. And what about parties other than the two mainstream ones? Gordon in his erroneous dismissal of the founders purpose in having a court composed of an odd number of justices completely misses this somewhat fundamental consideration. Good one, John.
Another of his distortions that Justice Thomas has birth control in his sights is not supported by any rational evidence and is blatantly untrue…a lie.
Gordon also seems incapable of grasping the principle of states’ rights and that all the reversal of Roe did was properly return the authority to make law to the states where it belongs. Remember, John, it was the states that created the federal government and they retained the sovereign right to govern themselves. You might want to read the constitution and throw in the Federalist Papers while you’re at it.
As it stands now, your nonsense should be rejected by any rational thinking individuals.
RSW
Michele Lincoln, you apparently want all of us to live by your religious beliefs. Decisions between me and my doctor are none of your business, just as decisions between you and your doctor are none of mine. Don’t like abortions? Don’t get one! But also you’d better be calling your elected officials every day asking them to increase funding for maternity care, paid family leave, early childhood education, childcare, etc.