Hunt feral deer to provide meat

Venison is a high-quality source of protein.

Do slaughterhouses provide a more humane way to bring meat to the table?

Do animal factories provide a better life for animals than the forests of Hawaii? Why do we not give deer meat to needy Hawaii residents? Or sell it to generate revenue?

Cost should be minimal. There is no shortage of volunteer hunters in these islands.

Why use precious fuel to operate animal farms and ship meat to the islands when we have a surplus right here?

A 2006 report by the Livestock, Environment and Development Initiative states the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation in the world.

Peter Krainer
Kaneohe

Was China trip a useless junket?

On a recent tour to China, we asked what the Chinese thought about Hawaii as a tourist site.

Our tour guide said that it costs a Chinese applicant for a U.S. visitor’s visa $400 to apply for an interview for the visa. The applicant had to travel to a given location for the interview, and then there was no guarantee the visa would be issued.

If this is true, there are not many average prospective tourists for Hawaii from China. And if this is widely known, our ex-governor and company pulled a fast one on the taxpayers with their junket to China to drum up interest in Hawaii as a vacation destination.

Ronald Wong
Honolulu

Obama doesn’t like criticism

I was shocked, shocked to read that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spent a portion of her time countering unfavorable media reports.

Jim Titcomb
Kailua

Burns warned about tourism

The comments of Richard Lim, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, before local economists brings to mind the stern admonition of then-Gov. John A. Burns at a White House economic conference, where he said that "Hawaii is not a tourism state" ("Future of tourism called into question," Star-Advertiser, June 3).

Further emphasis was provided a few weeks later on a cab ride to Kaanapali, Maui, for the Canada Cup tourney featuring Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, when Burns informed the driver that science, technology and knowledge innovation were his children’s future.

Shelley Mark
Director, state Department of Planning and Economic Development, 1962-1974

APEC board not diverse enough

Here we have an opportunity to show the world how inclusive Hawaii is and yet of the 24 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Hawaii host committee, all but four of them are men.

So I assume the world will assume that Hawaii is only inclusive toward men, and that women, who make up more than half of the population and own the majority of small businesses and are therefore a huge hiring force, are not worth having on its male committee.

What a disappointing message the APEC committee is sending to the world, and what a disappointing message this is for the women of Hawaii and their daughters.

Sally Squires
Honolulu

Republicans flip on Pro Bowl

Republicans say they were against taxpayer-funded bailouts of Wall Street banks and the automobile industry and demonize Democrats for throwing taxpayer dollars to corporate special interests. Republicans assert that they support a free market where government isn’t supposed to meddle or pick favorites in private business.

Republicans mock President Barack Obama for calling state spending “investment.”

But when Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he was against giving $4 million in taxpayer money to the NFL Pro Bowl to prioritize taking care of local children, the “no bailout, free market” Republicans suddenly cried bloody murder that Abercrombie would dare to withhold state funds from a multi-billion dollar football industry.

It seems to me from the tirade of Republicans over the Pro Bowl that they are not genuinely interested in limited government or free markets but are instead interested in playing people against each other for political gain. Our keiki and our state deserve an apology and deserve better.

Danny de Gracia II
Waipahu