We need to be prepared for attack
The North Korean government has threatened to launch a missile against Guam, and maybe even the mainland or Hawaii. The chances of us actually being affected by the radiation are quite small. However, a radioactive explosion even 100 miles away could do extreme damage to us. How?
The explosion would emit EMP waves (electromagnetic pulses) that could literally fry everything that we depend on today for communications and entertainment. The only protection for that equipment would be if it’s in a lead-lined safe, or something else that has a thick lead lining. Any item depending on electromagnetism, such as phones, updated power lines, and computers, would otherwise become useless, including our vehicles that are now loaded with electronics. We would be reduced to driving ancient vehicles that have no electronics, such as a classic truck or car, or even a horse-drawn carriage.
Are we ready for anything that might be thrown at us? I seriously doubt it. The missiles we would use to shoot down their missiles would also be useless, as would all the guidance systems. What is our government going to do to protect us from such an event? Does our president have even the slightest understanding of this possibility and its aftereffects? How about the military?
Submarines, planes and boats that rely on electronics to guide and maybe even power them would also become useless. Thus, there is no way to fight back, except with old-style weaponry. Hope our government is now considering this, because the North Koreans have probably already considered it. But I wouldn’t bet on anyone in our government being prepared for such an event. What can we as voting citizens do to convince them that they need to be prepared, and soon?
Carol Buck
Waimea
Rail project complete burden
To put it in perspective, the $10-plus billion to construct the rail line in Honolulu would build 15-20 hospitals and Kona only needs one hospital. The eagerness of the state to inflict the outer counties with some revenue grab to pay for the rail-line folly is particularly disturbing, especially when the citizens of Hawaii County will receive no direct tangible benefit from a project that will always require subsidies.
As the economy is still recovering, this is not the time to burden residents of the Big Island with additional revenue-taking when over 25 percent of the residents receive SNAP assistance for food.
Can our senators and representatives halt this impending atrocity? Maybe. This is a new era of special counsels. They must insist that a special counsel be selected by the outer counties and be assigned to review and audit the entire project, its cost overruns, ethics, improprieties, any collusion, and then follow up with criminal prosecution as needed for intentional omissions and misrepresentations in funding solicitations. The cacophonous sound you hear is that additional tax initiative grinding to sudden halt.
Michael Reimer
Kailua-Kona