Laws make isle better Laws make isle better ADVERTISING I would like to express my support for the proposed restrictions on the sale of tobacco products. This, along with the proposed GMO and geothermal fracking regulations would give us at
Laws make isle better
I would like to express my support for the proposed restrictions on the sale of tobacco products. This, along with the proposed GMO and geothermal fracking regulations would give us at least a one in three chance of improving the health and welfare of Big Island residents.
Best hopes for the success of this ordinance.
Tim Oldfather
Hilo
Here we go again
Yes, our county council is at it again. Telling us what we can and cannot do. Now Kona council member Dru Kanuha is introducing a bill that would raise the tobacco age limit to 21. That means if you are 18, old enough to die for your country and many have, you cannot smoke until you are 21.
Why is it that our council have become dictators in how we can live our lives. You have to plant what they say, smoke and drink when they say we can, and who knows where it will end.
They cannot fix our trash problem. They cannot fix our crime, nor our drug problem. And for sure, they cannot fix our lack of jobs for our graduating students. It seems the dictators cannot fix anything but tell you how you can live your life.
Maybe our youths should tell the military, sorry, you cannot send me off to war because I am not allowed to smoke or drink. You have to wait until I reach the age of 21. I wish that someone would tell me, what tree did they fall from.
It would be nice if we could elect council members that are here to make our county a better place to live and not control our lives. That would be nice.
John Gallipeau
Honomu
Let them smoke
I do not advocate smoking and of course my hope is that young people will choose not to smoke. However, if they are willing to die to defend the rights of you and I, including the County Council members, vote, and be tried as an adult by a jury of their peers, they should be allowed to make the choice to smoke or not!
You cannot pick and choose under what circumstance you consider a person to be an adult. If I choose to defend this country and end up getting my legs blown off, for you, if I want a cigarette, I should be able to make that choice, too.
Mary Espejo
Hilo
A Pandora’s Box
No empire has lasted and we shall not be the first. I am speaking as us being a military empire. As a matter of fact, we are descending into the abyss unless we wake up and re-evaluate our priorities and our responsibilities in this life to ourselves as well as to the rest of the planet.
We do no need to be and cannot afford to be the first to involve ourselves in every trouble spot on the globe. There can be a simple rule to follow unless our so called national security — the security of the entire nation — not that of the military-industrial complex, not the multinational corporations, and not the security of those in the government, is truly endangered.
The simple rule should be that those closest to a trouble spot, in this case Syria, have the responsibility to act first to resolved the issue at hand and this responsibility decreases as we get farther and farther away from the source of the problem.
There are numerous countries including our allies in Europe much closer to the Middle East than we are, and as you know the British Parliament has rejected being involved in an attack on Syria.
Should England not be far more concerned than we seem to be about what is going on in Syria considering the fact of being thousands of miles closer than we are in this case to Syria?
By the way, the Islamic nations of the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, and then the entire Muslim world should be the first to try to resolve the Syrian issue before any other nation.
Let us not to pry open another Pandora’s Box as we did in case of Iraq!
Abraham Sadegh
Hilo
Don’t attack Syria!
President Obama: Please listen to the Pope and the world community: don’t attack Syria. On Sept. 7, 100,000 filled St. Peter’s Square in Rome for a four-hour Syria peace vigil. Other peace vigils calling for no attack on Syria are being held around the world, Hilo included.
Pope Francis has made a heartfelt plea for peace. He said, “Violence and war are never the way to peace!” He denounced those who are “captivated by the idols of dominion and power” and destroy God’s creation through war. He continued, “War always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity.” Pope Francis appealed to the Group of 20 who recently met in Russia, urging them to abandon the “futile pursuit” of a military solution in Syria and work instead for a negotiated settlement.
Pope Francis announced Sept. 7 as a day of fasting and prayer for peace. He was alarmed at the acceleration of U.S. threats to strike Syria. Pope Francis’ plea is to end the violence, not escalate it. As Gandhi said, “an eye-for-an-eye will only make the whole world blind.”
Jim Albertini
Kurtistown
