Lingle TV channel not really new idea

Richard Borreca must have missed the hilarious spoof on the Colbert Report, which aired on Comedy Central Thursday night ("Lingle TV channel has pros puzzled, but it’s bold," Star-Advertiser, On Politics, June 15).

Both Stephen Colbert and Borreca highlight that there is so much PAC money available that politicians are running out of available airtime to inundate us with their TV commercials.

However Borreca concludes that Lingle’s "television channel appears to be an actual new idea." Colbert rightly points out that it is not such a novel idea for a politician to have a cable channel, when President Barack Obama has MSNBC and Mitt Romney has Fox News.

Jim Wolfe
Nuuanu

Report Kawamoto to peers in Japan

The way to stop the Genshiro Kawamoto real estate blight is to make him embarrassed by what he is doing to our Hawaii community. This can only be done by publishing the story of his destructive actions in the Japanese media.He will then be scrutinized by his fellow Japanese investors, who for years have been polishing their good-citizen image through out the world.

Bob Stengle
Aina Haina

Economics articles were disappointing

Reading the back-to-back commentaries by Dick Polman and Polina Vlasenko was truly discouraging ("Strategy of sabotage," "Economic rebound weaker without consumers tapping their credit," Star-Advertiser, June 13).

Economics should be respected as a science and the types of falsehoods circulated by these two should be jumped on whenever intelligent people see them.

Polman argues for President Barack Obama’s jobs bill by assuming that anyone who opposes this turkey must want to do so solely to embarrass the president.The purpose of economic activity is the creation of value, not the creation of work.Federal make-work programs do not lead to economic recovery. If they did, the Great Depression would have been cured by the Works Progress Administration.

Vlasenko argues that the path to prosperity is to spend money on things you don’t need and go into debt to pay for them. Ridiculous!Too much government spending and interference in the marketplace are the cause of our economic ills.

Tracy Ryan
Makiki

Raise rates a bit to add more buses

Shame on them!

TheBus system’s managers are not considering bus riders; they are only thinking about the system itself.

A small rate increase would have taken care of TheBus’ problem and probably put more buses on the street and more drivers to work.

Jack Telaneus
Honolulu

Child abuse case is sobering reminder

The alleged child sexual abuse case involving Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky underscores the sobering reality that some adults use their position of authority and trust to sexually victimize the children they serve. This case is an important reminder for parents and others to take steps to protect children from sexual abuse.

One important step adults can take is to make sure the organization or program serving their children has policies and practices in place to reduce the risk of sexual victimization. (Visit www.stopitnow.org/parent_questions_school_policy.)

Also critical to keeping children safe from sexual harm is educating them about personal safety. When a parent or caregiver educates children about appropriate and inappropriate touching, children are much more likely to identify an unsafe situation should it occur and to ask for help. Our Center’s Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Toolkit at www.satchawaii.org provides tips on how to talk to your child or teen about personal safety.

Christine Trecker
Manager of community education, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center

Development critics already have theirs

Letters denigrating the state Land Use Commission’s decisions and the resulting profiteering by developers reek of hypocrisy.

One letter writer herself lives in a development, Waipio Gentry, that supposedly took away prime agricultural land ("Powerful people still control the land," Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 14).

Developers Gentry Homes, D.R. Horton and Castle & Cooke have been building quality homes locally for decades. To classify them as greedy special-interest groups is not fair or true.

The difference between developers and anti-developers is developers want to build homes for those who don’t have one and anti-developers already have theirs.

Orson Moon
Aiea

Keep white bins until not needed

Another step backward is planned by our city officials, led by our sometimes-absentee mayor.

Removing the white bins from schools will leave people like me with nowhere to recycle. It also will eliminate or cut back programs at schools that are funded by this income.

The city has already funded the white-bin program for another year. Why not use it for its intended purpose until the curbside recycling program is island-wide?

Lani Johnson
Salt Lake