Abercrombie couldn’t paddle

Four years ago, on the night of his victory, I was happy Neil Abercrombie won.

I went to the tent celebration and got chicken skin hearing U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye speak with hope about Abercrombie’s upcoming term as our governor. Abercrombie even promised to me, "We will do great things."

I was sad that Abercrombie did not do great things, and seemed to not even know how to act with aloha toward many.

He spoke about us all rowing in the same canoe, but so many had to jump ship while he did things his way. I believe Abercrombie became too far removed from Hawaii ways while in Washington, and he had difficulty paddling on his own while in office here.

Shelly R. Brown
Downtown Honolulu

Conservative voters spoke

The voters have spoken loud and clear by removing Gov. Neil Abercrombie and state Sen. Clayton Hee from office. They both showed their disdain for the electorate last October and now turnabout is fair play.

Abercrombie thumbed his nose at the conservative electorate by calling a special session for the sole purpose of pushing through his LGBT agenda.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hee showed his contempt for the conservative electorate by cutting short the hearing on Senate Bill 1, thereby negating the validity of those who were robbed of the opportunity to testify.

Funny how in most cases the voters often have short-term memories, but not this time. We remembered on Saturday during the primary election and we will remember in November.

Margaret Peary
Lanai City

Declare war on ISIS terrorists

During an election-eve TV interview, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (herself a combat veteran and rising political star) made a key observation that merits consideration. She noted the mission given to our armed forces immediately after 9/11 was to find and destroy terrorists — not nation building — and that the Obama administration should reprise that mission by conducting full-scale military operations against the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Gabbard and her colleagues in Congress could now restore integrity to policy making involving the use of force by abandoning the half-hearted practice of passing ambiguous, expedient "resolutions" and instead exercise their unique Constitutional power in a way that has not been done since Dec. 8, 1941: Declare war against ISIS.

Twelve years of shifting policy objectives, public unrest and rancorous debate should have convinced us that half-hearted measures won’t do. We are in a fight for our survival.

Thomas E. Stuart
Kapaau, Hawaii island

Photo showed spending waste

Your front-page photo showing eight workers idly watching only one co-worker operate the backhoe was great ("Lucky break," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 9)! Look again: There are two more idle employees in the truck’s cab.

You can see such scenes nearly every day. You’d think workers would be stationed in various parts of the island to enable faster response time, but no. Government spending is too often inefficient, wasteful and pupule. Don’t blame the 10 idle workers; blame their supervisors all the way to governor and mayor.

Alan Matsuda
Hawaii Kai

Madame Pele protected Oahu

Pele appeared to knock the stuffing out of hurricane Iselle in recent satellite images. Winds in the eye wall of a hurricane are in a balance between centrifugal force and pressure gradient force. When large volcanoes upset that balance through increased friction, the air blows more directly toward lower pressure and into the eye region, rapidly filling the storm.

However, despite the impact of the volcanoes on Iselle’s circulation, the storm still made landfall without deflection of its path, bringing wind gusts up to 90 mph and up to 14 inches of rainfall. But crossing the Big Island and coming out the other side is another story.

The disruption to the winds is great enough that any hurricane will weaken significantly during such a crossing. In this regard, Pele is the victor, and we on Oahu can give her a nod of respect and gratitude.

Mahalo, Pele.

Steven Businger
Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii-Manoa

Price gouging common in isles

It’s ironic that so many people were upset over price gouging during the hurricane watch, upset that bottled water was selling for two to three times its regular price. People said, "Where’s the aloha spirit?"

Price gouging goes on year-round, not only during hurricane and storm watches.

What about food trucks charging $12.50 for a hamburger? What about an ice cream cone for $7? What about the airlines charging $250-$400 for a short round-trip to Honolulu? What about fixer-upper homes in the worst section of the island going for $500,000 and more?

It’s all about supply and demand.If you bust a merchant for trying to make a buck, you need to bust the airlines and just about everybusinessin the tourism industry.

The aloha spirit basically consists of, "Aloha, give us all your money."

James "Kimo" Rosen
Kapaa, Kauai

After the storm, lots of Spam

For sale: Seven cases of Kirkland bottled water, four cases of Spam, three cases of Hormel Corned Beef Hash. No reasonable offer refused.

Bill Lofquist
Waikiki

OMPO leaders fail to perform

Once again (Aug. 11), a meeting of the Policy Committee of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization was canceled for lack of a quorum. The Policy Committee is the decision-making body on funding for road, bus and rail projects on the island.

Apparently, this function is not of sufficient importance for the two City Council members, two state senators and three state representatives who missed the meeting. What part of the term "public servant" do they not understand?

Frank Genadio
Kapolei

Hawaii deserves large stadium

Thank you, Fred Martinez, for the reminder that moving forward and still being able to dream big is not just something that happens in Kakaako ("Stadium seating should be 50,000," Star-Advertiser, Letters, July 23).

A new stadium should have at least 50,000 seats with ample parking (no more having to be in line for a parking space four to six hours prior to the event). Get it right from the get-go and incorporate more concrete than steel, thus reducing inevitable rust and corrosion.

As our population grows, we in the state of Hawaii deserve an ample stadium facility that can do it all for many years to come.

Chris Brown Sr.
Kahaluu