Hawaii voters made the right choices

I fear that Cliff Coleman is suffering from post-election depression when he says that all the wrong people won in Washington and Hawaii ("Best candidates failed to prevail," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Nov. 11).

But a little soul-searching would help. Had Linda Lingle and Charles Djou won, they would have been greeted by Grover Norquist and the Republican leadershipinsisting they sign the "no taxes" pledgethat Norquist is using in apolitical blackmail scheme unprecedented in Washington. Some 236 Republicans have already signed this document. So despite their rhetoric that they would work for the people of Hawaii(which I’m sure was genuine), they would also have been subjected to tremendous pressure to oppose the president on every key issue, which is not what we would have wanted them to do.

Hawaii’s people are smarter than you think. That’s why Tulsi Gabbard, Mazie Hirono and Colleen Hanabusa will be in Washington attending to the people’s business.

Patrick Myatt
Hawaii Kai

LNG is cleanest of all fossil fuels

Natural gas now produces about one-third of our nation’s electric energy.

Five years ago coal produced one-half of our electricity. Today, coal’s share is down to about one-third. As a result, U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases have been reduced by 400 to 500 million tons per year or about twice the total effect of the carbon dioxide emission reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol for the rest of the world.

New horizontal drilling techniques have opened up the huge reserves of natural gas in our nation’s shale deposits. As a result, the price of natural gas in the U.S. is now equivalent to about $22 a barrel of fuel oil.

By comparison, Hawaiian Electric has been paying more than $130 per barrel for low-sulfur residual fuel oil.

Hopefully we can install a facility at Campbell Industrial Park to receive LNG on Oahu from Alaska or California and permit HECO to fuel its existing generating units on the cleanest of all fossil fuels at about half the cost of the heavy and extremely expensive black fuel oil that HECO is now burning on Oahu.

Alan S. Lloyd
Kailua

Political ads should offer educated views

I am a 16-year-old student at Kosasa Academy, a "future constituent," learning about government and the elections.

Why are there so many negative advertisements targeting candidates, distorting the facts on their issues, record and agenda?

Constituents seek the newspaper, television and radio to get informed. I do believe in the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and the press, but for the voters, why can’t there be advertisements talking about what the candidates can do, what they have accomplished and what they intend to do if elected?

There needs to be changes to the election process, giving the voters more positive educational advertisements to assist them in making their decisions on who they will be voting for.

Courtney S. Nakamura
Honolulu

Chow not cutting it as a head coach

There is no doubt that sloppy and uninspired play by many of the University of Hawaii Warriors has contributed to the dismal record this season.

However, I think that all the hype about head Coach Norm Chow coming to UH with a very distinguished career record and with the expectation of miracles, was a mistake.He came in with the idea that a new broom sweeps clean and, in the process, made some glaring mistakes.

Changing a successful run-and-shoot offense, doing away with the players’ names on their shirts and, in the last game, inserting the word IMUA on everyone’s uniform was completely inane, and confusing to both commentators and fans.

I think that Chow has had a brilliant career as coordinator and assistant coach, but he is out of his depth as head coach.

Bryan Geoffrey
Kaneohe

Use Concert Hall more for local arts

Ballet Hawaii’s superb "Nutcracker" last weekend at Blaisdell Concert Hall was a beautiful, welcome relief after the never-ending political campaigns.

Artistic Director Pamela Taylor-Tongg’s ability to bring together world-class professional dancers and her many students is truly remarkable. The sets and costumes were, as usual, of a very high quality, making for tremendously satisfying performances, as evidenced by the standing ovation curtain calls.

I hope that Mayor-elect Kirk Caldwell’s incoming city administration will ensure that local arts organizations receive priority consideration for use of the hall so that "Nutcracker," for one, can be performed in December, closer to Christmas, as it should be.

Robert S. Sandla
Hawaii Kai

Windmills better than sea level rise

I’m chagrined to read repeated letters decrying the North Shore windmills.

Are the windmills as permanent as the 3-foot sea level rise Hawaii must prepare for within a few decades? Or can they help that from becoming a permanent 6-foot sea level rise, which, in my opinion, is very likely?

Norway has already developed floating windmills survivable in the North Sea, so perhaps a future permutation for Hawaii’s windmills will be anchored offshore. And are all the dams in the Pacific Northwest permanent? If so, someone should tell the Northwest, which is busy dismantling many of them to improve salmon runs.

Phil Brewbaker
Ala Moana