If others did it, it would be illegal
Bookies, drug dealers and prostitutes cannot collect their debts in court. That is because their businesses are illegal. Likewise, unlicensed taxi-cab operators cannot call the cops on a passenger who refuses to pay their fare. And scam artists will use the telephone for their electric bill frauds because letters in the mail will send those crooks to jail.
The County of Hawaii, however, operates an ancient, illegal, unlicensed, leaky sewer system in Naalehu. It is the gang-cesspool in the old camp. Then the county commits mail fraud when they send out illegal sewer bills in the U.S. mail. They do this because they are the powers that be.
Worse yet, a county Corporation Counsel lawyer will take his non-paying victim to state court. That chamber is where the judge and the lawyer shake down the frightened citizen who must prove himself innocent. Plus, there are burly deputies in the courtroom and they have a paddy-wagon waiting outside. They are ready to take the rattled homeowner to jail if he doesn’t sign their paper and fill in his bank account numbers along with all of his personal financial information: Welcome to Bongo-Congo.
Don’t forget, the County Department of Water Supply will shut off anybody’s water if they don’t buckle under and pay their sewer bill. The County Council approved this newest method of water torture. Well, just remember how lucky you are to live on their island.
Jerry Warren
Naalehu
TMT respectful symbol of modern wayfinding
Hawaii’s very existence as a home to us and our predecessors is the result of reliance on the heavens to guide the Polynesians here, as well as to South America, and the Vikings to North America.
Indeed, the Polynesians voyaging to Hawaii depended on their kahuna, who were learned in wayfinding which had astronomy at its core. The intertwining of the heavens and religion with astronomy exists today and is unquestionable as the resultant Hawaiian lifestyle is tied to the stars, the moon and tides, all involving astronomy as taught by the kahuna.
So given the above, why do we have a faction opposing a temple of astronomy, the TMT, on the mountain dedicated to exploration of the heavens? We are now at the stage where there is an opportunity for the descendants and successors learned in astronomy, as were the kahunas, to explore the universe, learning the history of the heavens or exploring worlds possibly viable for voyaging and possible colonization should disasters, natural or man-made, make earth untenable.
Essentially, the TMT will conduct wayfinding using astronomy as the ancient kahuna did when they sent their canoes guided by the same heavens to these Hawaiian islands. It is not in disrespect that this observatory is waiting to be built. To the contrary, it’s a tribute to the astronomers of old who could map the heavens utilizing a handful of sticks.
Rather than protesting, there should be a jubilant gathering with prayer offerings to Ke Akua (God) to accept the successors to the kahuna, the astronomers of today. No matter the culture, we should all join hands and rejoice in the continuation of the voyagers whose knowledge of the heavens is the basis for modern astronomy.
Imagine, the same Polynesian wayfinding that guides the Hokulea in its travels today, providing the basis of exploration of the heavens initially described and utilized by the kahuna 2,000 years ago. This common ground should be universally celebrated rather than be used to divide. No doubt, the kahuna, in their wisdom, would encourage broadening the knowledge of the heavens.
Hugo von Platen Luder
Holualoa