Akaka Reservation for Corporations

Dear Editor,

U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka’s legislation to invent an Indian tribe in Hawai`i is heading for a vote in the Senate soon.

The largest, richest and most greedy shareholders of big oil, big fish and big energy need an Indian tribe in Hawaii because they want to harvest the whales, other fish and control the other important resources.

Jack Abramoff’s partners, who aren’t in jail, also want to open some cash cow casinos there.

If you want to learn more about how Federal Indian Policy and rogue corrupt federal agencies, like the Department of Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency and our Justice Department are unconstitutionally destroying our republic for the benefit of its already richest citizens, please read the 12 page Monograph on Equal Rights vs. Tribal Sovereignty found here: www.TheResourceSentinel.com

Howard B. Hanson

TheResourceSentinel.com

Special rights for terrorists

Dear Editor,

The preamble to our Constitution states with extreme clarity who it was written for “We the people of the United States, ---” (not some foreign country) “--- in order to form a more perfect union ....” (not a world union) (--- do ordain and establish this Constitution FOR the United States of America.” (not for any other country). How could anything be made more clear?

Article I Section 8 says in part, “Congress (not the Supreme Court) shall have the power to declare war … and MAKE RULES CONCERNING CAPTURES on land and water”. The Supreme Court is not empowered to make rules concerning the capture of foreign terrorists.

Article I Section 9 says in part, “The privilege of the Writ of Habeus Corpus shall not be suspended unless in cases of rebellion or invasion when the public safety may require it”. Yes, the Constitution provides that even for U.S. citizens, Habeus Corpus may be suspended.

Some say the Supreme Court’s June 12 ruling gives the rights of US citizens to illegal combatants whose battlefield conduct was in constant violation of the Geneva Convention. The truth is that the Supreme Court has given terrorists legal rights greater than those the constitution provides for US citizens.

Robert Williams,

Na`alehu, Hawai`i

Tossed from graduation

Dear Editor,

I went to the celebration “GRADUATION” June 3 if only for a few minutes. After I entered the room Principal Soderburg came over with two armed police officers, told me this is a private affair and I was not welcome. I only had enough time to say I was a parent of one of the children and my right to be there was protected under the law. The officers then moved up to me and ordered me out of the room saying it’s going to be the easy way or the hard way but I was going. Out in the hall the officers positioned themselves as a block to re-entry of the banquet room.

King Kam Hotel security arrived 10 min later and ordered me off their hotel property. Police then told me I would be arrested for trespassing if I don’t leave the hotel property. Police officers commented about lack of support from other parents saying, ‘You’re the only one here’ and ‘Go home or go to jail’.

This was the call of this public school principal Souderburg. All I wanted was to see my son perform and take a picture of him receiving his graduation certificate. Those of you with keiki going into 8th grade at Konawaena Middle will face this principal with her ‘PARENTS AND FAMILY’ attitude next year. Put a new principal at this school tell them you want a graduation with parents its your kids. If you don’t act soon you will be left with this sad ending. `OHANA NOT AT THIS SCHOOL, it is very sad.

Michael Fowler,

Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i

Raining on the poor

Dear Editor,

The Hawai`i State Legislature blocked important Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant funds for needy families -- to save for a rainy day?

Is it not rainy enough today with the economic downturn, soaring prices on commodities, large local employers Aloha, ATA and Moloka`i Ranch going under, tourism dropping 15% and a legislature that is not interested in aiding the people they represent?

That’s rainy and cold.

Ronald Orr

Honolulu, O`ahu

Suing for Smoking

Dear Editor,

As passed, because the legal perimeters of County Parks are not marked the Hawai`i County outdoor smoking ban ordinance is equivalent to taking down all of the speed limit signs and then issuing speeding tickets.

Do the County Council and Corporation Counsel believe they have met the level of performance expected by the Public they serve? Did you consider “unintentional consequences”, or request / receive any input from the Parks and Recreation and / or Police Departments regarding implantation and enforcement practicality and costs? The Mayor provided you comments in his Veto Message (Comm. 942.141).

I heard that when the County Council started out it was all about discarded cigarette butts. Why did they go to this Ordinance when a sign with the word “LITTER” with a lined circle over the word, and “$1,000 FINE” below “LITTER”. If word spread that just a few people had been hit with a $1,000 fine, it would do more to cut down litter than this Ordinance will probably ever do. As for people not smoking (including minors) at County parks and recreational facilities, do you really expect that to carry over and stop them from smoking everywhere?

One person told me they were considering contacting the ACLU over this Ordinance. I know if someone did start a legal action regarding this Ordinance, I would likely donate some money to them to support their action. I’m also fairly sure many others would donate (Class Action maybe).

Comments of a Retired Engineer,

Ralph E. Toomire

Kea`au, Hawai`i

Bush Lincoln

Dear Editor,

G. W. Bush (R. Texas) and A. Lincoln (R. Illinois) merit comparison.

Both presidents were widely despised. The legacy of both is iron bound to the fortunes of a war threatening our nation. Both experienced problems with fellows named McClellan.

Before removing him as general-in-chief on March 11, 1862, President Lincoln had said disparagingly, “If General McClellan does not want to use the Army; I would like to borrow it for a time.” Had not Sherman taken Atlanta in 1864, Lincoln would very likely have been defeated by Major General George Brinton McClellan -- his Democratic rival that year.

If anything is likely to save the candidacy of Arizona Republican Senator John Sidney McCain III (Captain, USN, Retired and former POW) this year, it is likely to be the ongoing success of an audacious military ‘surge’ launched by President Bush.

Another comparison of interest: Senator Barry Goldwater (whose seat is now occupied by McCain) was falsely accused of ‘extremism’ in the presidential race of 1964; but when it comes to dangerous, irresponsible extremism, Senator Barry Obama (D. Illinois) is the real deal.

Cordially,

Thomas E. Stuart

Kapa`au, Hawai`i

Hawaiians recognized in US Constitution

Dear Editor,

I am a Hawaiian American and I oppose the Akaka Bill, and while I do not tout the Bible, Jesus Christ said it best when he said that no man can have two masters. The insistence of our senators and representatives that Hawaiians need federal recognition is a misconception. Recognition will be for the governing entity as quasi-sovereign. Native Hawaiians who will fall under the jurisdiction of a Hawaiian government with tribal status will lose recognition as citizens having equal protection under the law; their rights will no longer be recognized by the federal government as declared in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. As it stands, the Federal government recognizes Native Hawaiians.

The federal government does not recognize Native American Indians and Native Alaskans, who are enrolled tribal members, as individuals. It is the tribal governments with all the land, power, and wealth who are federally recognized as the sovereigns. Enrolled tribal members fall under tribal government jurisdiction and ambiguous tribal laws. As an example, thousands of Native American Indians have been dis-enrolled from their tribes and evicted from tribal lands. Those people will never have their day in court.

The Akaka Bill proposes that Hawaiians will fall under a federal policy, which imitates Federal Indian Policy. Federal Indian Policy promotes tribalism and protects tribal governments - not individual American Indian citizens. American Indian citizens are at the mercy of their tribes. The Akaka bill purports to restore rights somehow perceived to have been lost by Native Hawaiians. The individual rights of all subjects regardless of race were recognized under the first constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom and that did not change after the Overthrow, Annexation, and Statehood to the present.

Thoreau wrote in Civil Disobedience “That government is best which governs least.” Adding another layer of government will only intrude in people’s lives. Rights are inherent for all people by virtue of their humanity, not by virtue of their ancestry or nationality. The Bill of Rights does not grant rights; it clearly states what actions the United States government cannot take and was written to protect the rights of all the people. What the Akaka Bill proposes would infringe upon people’s rights including those whom it pretends to benefit.

Kaleihanamau Johnson

Aiea, O`ahu