Focused on the wrong things
Any citizen with a persecution complex will find fodder for their neurosis at Hawaii County’s Environmental Management Commission meetings. Don’t worry, I’ve only been physically assaulted once and that commissioner has retired from the club. My First Amendment rights were stomped on a couple of times. Well, no big deal. My concerns about abandoned vehicles have been ignored by the department and by the commissioners. Ditto for wastewater. They are focused on extreme environmentalism.
So, if somebody disagrees with the department’s dogma, and they think that the whole game is rigged; that person’s suspicions will be reinforced at any future meeting. It is a smorgasbord of angst.
On the bright side, there is a free lunch and get together at the Harbor House after the Kona meetings, but it is only for the director and the commissioners.
Jerry Warren
Naalehu
Ghoulish caricature
of comrade Bernie Sanders
Why did the Cuban Revolution happen? Was it because the common people enjoyed quality public education and a high standard of living with quality health care? Did it happen because the people could see a path forward for themselves in the government as it existed? How bad would it have to be before you would pick up arms and overthrow the government risking your life and your families?
Bernie Sanders is the most respected senator in the U.S. Senate because he is truthful. He has never supported any autocrat and does not now. It is a fact that the Castro regime committed atrocities but it is also true that he gave the people health care and public education. It is also true that Kennedy plotted to have Castro assassinated and launched a failed invasion to overthrow the government. This along with crippling sanctions and embargo leading to great economic austerity in an attempt to overthrow the government.
Obama, to his credit started to try to normalize relations, which would have benefited the U.S. and Cuba, but he too was criticized. China, another autocracy and communist state, went through a bloody revolution not because the people enjoyed any sort of desperation. They are not my preferred model of government but they have improved the quality of life for millions upon millions of their citizens and are now the second largest world economy.
Bernie speaks the truth even knowing that people will distort everything he says in an effort to discredit him. I will always support a man of great integrity, vision and commitment.
Les Iijima
Waikoloa
Learn to count
Tulsi Gabbard’s outrage over her noninclusion in the upcoming Democratic primary debate in Phoenix is a bit hard to swallow by any recognized matrix. According to a Sunday article, the Democratic National Committee now requires any candidate wishing to participate on stage in that debate to have obtained at least 20% of the delegates awarded to date from Democratic primaries or caucuses. Let’s do the math.
NameVote %Delegates%
Biden5,181,38135.3%66447.5%
Sanders4,301,938 29.3% 573 41.0%
Warren1,929,17813.2% 64 4.5%
Bloomberg1,811,19712.4% 61 4.4%
Buttigieg627,2304.3% 36 1.9%
Klobuchar396,1322.7% 70.5%
Gabbard106,0400.7% 20.1%
While I can appreciate Gabbard’s desire to continue her campaign, I disagree with her conspiratorial accusations against the Democratic Party.
Edward H. Schulman
Kailua-Kona
