Te’o deserved Heisman Trophy

How can it be? Manti Te’o losing the Heisman Trophy?

What more does a player have to do? Not only is he incredibly talented but he has the heart of a champion. To overcome personal loss and tragedy in his life, yet put his feelings and heart aside and give it all on the field, is what I thought the Heisman exemplified. Twice we’ve been ignored and been given second-best in this race.

Unfortunately, Hawaii is still in the hands of those who stole this beautiful land away from its people.

At least the people spoke and our guy, Hawaii-born President Barack Obama, won his second term. If only the people would speak out now about this terrible wrong.

Well, Manti, go get an awesome contract and keep living your incredible heart both on the field and off. You are a champion and no fohget dat, bro!

Debi Austin
Waikiki

U.N. treaty would have aided disabled

Shame on the 38 Republican senators who voted against ratifying the U.N. treaty for disability rights. How heartless!

Those hyper-partisan Republicans hate everything that has to do with the U.N. so they choose to score points with their base by voting against a treaty that would be a godsend for disabled persons around the world.

Lunsford Phillips
Kailua

Must schools ban all Christian things?

The cancellation of the Moanalua High School Orchestra’s fundraiser brings up some other questions: Should the music program not teach music that has a Christian background, like most Christmas music or other things, like Gregorian chants? Or gospel hymns? Or pieces from composers like Handel or J.S. Bach or anything that’s a mass or requiem?

Should certain works of art not be studied or displayed if they have religious connotations? Should certain books be banned?

If this separation of church and state thing goes any further and limits the curriculum, I seriously have to reconsider whether public school really is a good choice for my children.

Fletcher Young
Kaimuki

Extravagant eating isn’t a ‘gift to all’

Nadine Kam says the new "Vintage Cave" restaurant is a "gift to all of Hawaii," that "we are all enriched by its existence" ("The Cave philosophy," Star-Advertiser, The Weekly Eater, Dec. 5). Yet dinner for two costs $1,000. Is this a gift to "all" of Hawaii? The many homeless? Those with homes who nonetheless struggle to feed their families?

Even those of us who are reasonably well paid, yet could never afford to spend $1,000 on one meal? If we cannot fund our schools, social services and infrastructure, we are not enriched by such excess; rather, we are impoverished.

Such ostentatious indulgence might be forgivable in itself if Kam did not characterize the "masses" as lacking "artistic mien" and demean those of us who "calculate value to the penny."Most of us have no choice but to calculate value that way — not because we lack "artistic mien," but because we must live within economic reality.

Kathleen Cassity
Hawaii Kai

Mail-in balloting raises questions

I have some concerns with voting via mail. How would you know that the ballot was actually sent in by the person whose name is on the ballot?"

Did the governor provide answers to the various scenarios that could very easily happen, such as:

» Elderly people in care homes or at home may not have all their faculties and have someone else fill out their ballots with their own choices;

» Someone could steal the ballots out of the mail boxes and fill them out with their own choices.

» Should someone report their ballot did not arrive at their home, what could the Office of Elections do?

» Would it be possible for an illegal immigrant to receive a ballot?What protection do we against this happening?

» What is the answer for the homeless, how do they get their ballots?Some of them do have jobs but they just don’t earn enough.

Lincoln Victor
Waianae

Vote with wallet against GMO foods

If investigative journalism still existed, it would expose the influence that GMO (genetically modified organism) lobbyists have on our Honolulu City Council, state Legislature and U.S. Congress, and how these entities shield the genetic engineering industry from scrutiny and prosecution for injuring public health. Fortunately, we have the Internet and a few brave scientists and independent foreign researchers who continue to voice their concern, but the media is suffocated by the monies of GMO corporations.

Since our ballots did not vote the bad guys out because our voting system is compromised, then it is overdue to vote with our dollars to boycott food companies with forked tongues that both sell food with GMO ingredients and own organic brands. Sixty-one countries label GMO, and witha food revolution going on in America, Hawaii is not far behind. Stop eating GMO, and restore your health.

Melissa L. Yee
Makiki

Isle taxes pay for most of rail project

In your union-inspired joy over federal funding of rail, you neglect to mention that 68.4 percent of rail’s cost will come from a highly regressive tax on the people of Hawaii, money that is sorely needed for infrastructure maintenance.

I wonder what would happen to rail if non-union companies were allowed to bid?

Bob Reed
Kaneohe