The city wants to eliminate rentals between 30 and 180 days (“Short-term rental bill gets first public hearing,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 2). There are many reasons to regulate and allow these.

Examples include: visiting family assisting after childbirth or with a sick relative; one- to two-month stays by temporary medical workers and remote workers; individuals who have just moved to Hawaii who need time to find a permanent home. Not everyone who visits can afford long-term hotel stays or wishes to stay in Waikiki.

There are many quasi-legal long-term rentals where homes have been cut up into multiple units. These have higher impact (noise and parking) on neighborhoods than 30-day rentals with the homeowner on site, providing parking.

The proposed changes appear to be a money grab by hotels. There is a mistaken belief that they will yield low-cost housing. Homeowners who rent for 30 days or longer would rather keep their property vacant than rent long-term.

Richard Wainscoat

Kailua

Men taking control of women’s bodies

“It’s my body.” I find it strange to see American women holding placards with this slogan to protest the government’s strong recommendation that all people get vaccinated — for their own safety and that of others. Yet those same women will not protest when various men tell them they must not be allowed to have an abortion under any circumstances.

No one has suggested that abortion be obligatory. However, a woman should legally have control of her own body. Currently, that is so — in very few places. Men are trying to eliminate those places, with the blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court. Do American women not understand the word “concubine”?

Thomas Luna

McCully

Republicans imposing tyrannical laws

We don’t need to worry about the Taliban in Afghanistan. They already are here. Start with the Republican government in Texas, go to the Republicans in Congress and in all the other red states. The Republican Party might as well come clean and officially change its name.

Kevin Wile

Kailua

Don’t make patients wait for medical aid in dying

I am writing to clarify some of the issues raised by Dr. Craig Nakatsuka with regard to state Department of Health recommendations to amend the Our Care, Our Choice Act (“Don’t rush medical aid in dying program,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 30).

I have served as attending physician for more than 100 patients who have requested medical aid in dying (MAID). The sad reality is that a third of my patients did not survive the 20-day waiting period. They asked for MAID but could not receive it in a timely manner.

The proposed amendments to the law would allow the attending and consulting physicians to waive the waiting period if in their clinical judgement they believe the patient will not survive 20 days. This humane change has already been adopted in Oregon and New Mexico. It is the right thing to do for Hawaii patients.

Charles F. Miller, M.D.

Director, Kaiser Hawaii Aid in Dying Program

Replace unvaccinated government workers

I am so tired of tyranny of the minority (“More than 600 Honolulu County workers remain unvaccinated as deadline passes,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 24). These Honolulu County as well as unvaccinated Hawaii state workers should put their money where their mouths are. They are free to choose to retire, resign or be terminated if they will not comply with science-based government mandates.

The county and state could hold virtual job fairs and these good union jobs will quickly be filled. And when the delta variant finds you, the unvaccinated, please stay home and consume your hydroxychloroquine and your ivermectin. Leave our hospital beds available for those who are ill through no fault of their own.

Gail Ishikawa

Wahiawa

Getting vaccinated protects everyone

In response to those who believe it is their right to choose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, I would agree if it was only to protect the individual not taking the vaccine.

Unfortunately, it is not. It protects those unable to get the vaccine and future generations as well. Smallpox was eradicated because people took the vaccine, so we don’t have that deadly disease plaguing us anymore.

We already have mandatory vaccinations to go to school in Hawaii. Why must people be so selfish and not get the vaccine? The Pfizer vaccine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s time for this generation to get it, to protect those under 12 who cannot get it and for future generations.

Terrence Ching

Wilhelmina Rise

Leaving Afghanistan was not a mistake

The scenes in Afghanistan have reminded some on the fall of Saigon in 1975. While President Joe Biden and his advisers can be faulted for an incompetently executed withdrawal, the decision to leave Afghanistan was not a mistake.

After 20 years of war, more than 2,000 U.S. service members killed and nearly $1 trillion of taxpayer money wasted, it was time for this war to end. Afghanistan was lost the moment the mission there changed from a “search and destroy” mission against those who attacked us on 9/11, to a mission of “regime change” and “nation building.” When will we learn?

Mark Saxon

Kahului

Trump cut deal with Taliban, not Biden

Recently I saw a man with a sign claiming President Joe Biden voters has blood on his hands, an apparent reference to the recent tragedy in Afghanistan. But it was Donald Trump, not Biden, who in February 2020 cut a deal with the Taliban to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, and then did nothing in the year he had left in office to secure a smooth withdrawal. And it was ISIS, not Biden voters, who killed Americans and Afghans in the waning days of the pullout.

Those who seek to politicize the tragedy should be ashamed.

Wray Jose

Manoa

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