Religious extremists have hijacked GOP

Jonah Kaauwai, cited in Cynthia Oi’s column ("Religion should not qualify …" Star-Advertiser, Sept. 2), is an example of the Religiopublicans who hijacked the Republican Party and abandoned its Goldwater/Jeffersonian conservative ideals.

They turned the definition of conservatism on its head to mean promotion of religion in government, to enforce religious beliefs about when life begins, teaching religious doctrine as science in our schools and creating faith-based initiatives, which are a religious assessment defined and rejected by James Madison’s 1785 "Memorial and Remonstration Against Religious Assessments."

I, for one, hope the Religiopublican movement has run its course and that the Red Dog Republicans (fiscally conservative, pro smaller-government, religiously neutral, mindful of the importance of separation of church and state) will return the Republican Party to its legitimate conservative values and rid itself of the likes of Mr. Kaauwai.

If Target is redundant, then so is Whole Foods

Mollie Foti’s arguments against having a Target store for Kailua ("Kailua doesn’t need a Target," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 3) could be used as well to target Whole Foods since Safeway, Times, Foodland and Don Quijote are already here.

Why no similar protest? Could it be that Target doesn’t fit the image of "Carmel by the Sea" envisioned by our bed-and-breakfast folk but Whole Foods does?

Apo entitled to pursue new job, but still …

Honolulu City Councilman Todd Apo, like everyone, is entitled to seek advancement. However, we would hope that he would show some consideration to the community by resigning early enough to allow election of his replacement at the general election rather than by special election at extra cost.

It is easy to surmise that he has timed his resignation for his personal benefit — no loss of income between jobs. He is the chairman of the City Council, so it’s probably too much to expect the passage of any law to require an officeholder who resigns for personal reasons or to seek another job to pay for the cost of a special election.

Open bidding unlikely if Caldwell is mayor

Your editors’ endorsement of Kirk Caldwell for mayor suggests that his guidance is needed to keep long-term projects like rail "from morphing into special-interest bonanzas that bankrupt the rest of us."

Are you not aware that the administration’s avoidance of an open competition among all qualified rail technologies will benefit only a steel wheel-on-steel rail supplier?

Articles published in recent years prove that special interests have already been quite busy on rail. One steel wheels supplier contributed directly to former Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s campaign and a number of contracts have been awarded to contributors who publicly backed the steel wheels "solution."

Rail desperately needs an open competition, but I doubt that will take place under Mr. Caldwell.

Coach McMackin should wear maile lei

Football is a game of strategy and physical strength. However, I also believe in lucky plays and lucky catches. That’s why I believe that the University of Hawaii football coach Greg McMackin should be wearing the full traditional maile lei around his neck like former coaches June Jones, Bob Wagner and Dick Tomey used to.

Will someone please lei coach McMackin with a full traditional maile lei rather than that thin stringy one he wore this past week against USC? It may bring good luck to our Warriors and maybe turn this season around.