From chemical and biological weapons tested in Hilo’s watershed, to the Red Hill fuel leaks on Oahu ending up in people’s drinking water, to a wide range of toxins in live-fire training at Pohakuloa, including depleted uranium oxide (DU oxide) dust particles blowing in the wind, contaminating people, plants and animals, and the air, water and land — Hawaii is a military sacrifice zone.

Authorities always act too little, too late. The military has been polluting for decades. It denied the dangers of Agent Orange. Groundwater around many bases where munitions and rockets are fired is polluted and causing cancer.

Hawaii’s U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono, and U.S. Reps. Ed Case and Kai Kahele have done little to nothing about toxins at Pohakuloa blowing in the wind for decades.

The military is Hawaii’s “golden calf” false god. It’s time to close the Red Hill fuel tanks. Don’t rebuild them anywhere. It’s time to stop bombing Pohakuloa, shut it down and clean it up. It’s time to demilitarize Hawaii and end the illegal U.S. occupation.

JIm Albertini

Kurtistown, Hawaii island

Keep Red Hill tanks, but improve maintenance

I was a junior at the University of Hawaii when hard-rock miners from California were drilling the fuel storage tanks at Red Hill. Since then, those tanks have faithfully served the military and the public.

They were built with the best engineering data available at the time, but who would have known the demands of the future, with close urbanization of the site?

To rebuild them now, with the current knowledge and future projections, would be foolish, time-consuming and very expensive. Whom would it please?

I think that the existing facility should remain just as it is, but with better maintenance and replacements only as absolutely necessary. Future demands for additional water should be denied, such as for housing and other features at the existing Aloha Stadium site.

Ted Green

Kaaawa

Navy should pay for new shaft or move tanks

Erwin Kawata of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply said a worst-case scenario requiring building a new water shaft could cost “hundred of millions of dollars” (“Worst-case scenario puts Oahu aquifer at risk,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 5). Such a good purpose to put the $10 billion per year that the Senate is quietly trying to add to the Pentagon’s budget, which is above the amount requested by the Pentagon.

If the Navy won’t pay for a new water shaft, it should use the money to move its fuel tanks.

Sandra Barker

Hawaii Kai

Justices follow their political ideologies

Are our U.S. Supreme Court justices’ decisions based on personal and political ideologies, or should they be based on the rule of law and our Constitution?

It seems the Republican-appointed justices are bent on rewarding their political affiliation and beliefs over the rule of law and Constitution.

Is this how it is supposed to work? If so, the Democratic Congress and president must enlarge the number of justices and place three liberal-minded attorneys on the court as soon as possible.

I am a Libra and stand by the blindfolded lady holding the scale of justice.

Gilbert Horita

Ala Moana

Thiessen misses point on abortion comparison

Marc Thiessen’s column on abortion rights deliberately missed the point with its emphasis on late-term abortion and manipulative comparisons to policies in China (“On abortion, high court can overturn decades of wrongs,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 3). He claimed that Mississippi is seeking a policy in line with other nations when, in fact, this case could completely undo a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

Thiessen claimed that liberal justices only argued “politics and process,” an irresponsible summary of a complex hearing. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed to the medical risk women can face with pregnancy, that the risks for poor women are higher and these women make up 75% of the population.

Thiessen concluded that the court can reverse the “wrong decisions” of prior cases, reverting to a position of neutrality, in which states decide abortion access. Thiessen knows perfectly well that 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion without Roe v. Wade in place.

Polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans support abortion rights. Leave Roe in place or pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. Keep these personal decisions in the hands of women and the trusted people in their lives.

Deborah Harada

Kaneohe

If seat belts required, why not bike helmets?

Having just spent part of a Sunday in the emergency room with a friend: Why is it Hawaii requires wearing seat belts in cars and fines violators, but does not require helmets for moped and motorcycle riders? There is a reason the unhelmeted are referred to as “organ donors.” This should be something easily and quickly fixed.

Lance Bateman

Kalihi Valley

Rittenhouse defended himself, broke no laws

I want to respond to Ernie Saxton’s letter (“Praise for Rittenhouse unwarranted, wrong,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 4).

Saxton is correct in that this is not a Second Amendment issue. It was a matter of defending oneself.

In the videos played during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, it was quite clear who the aggressors were and who was the victim. I find it extremely difficult to empathize with people who relentlessly pursue another with intent to harm.

It was quite apparent that Rittenhouse was not the pursuer. While one could argue that he made some poor decisions, he broke no laws.

Also, thinking that one could pass a law restricting certain munitions from children is a typical knee-jerk reaction ending up with more laws that can’t or won’t be enforced.

Lou Faulkner

Hawaii Kai

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