Opinions aren’t facts
This is a response to Daniel K. Kunert (“Border security,” Your Views, May 26). Sadly, you don’t realize that Fox News, Tucker Carlson, et al, are not disseminating news. They are commentators, voicing their opinions, which are not necessarily based on fact.
There is a big difference between news and commentary. Just thought you should be aware of that.
Karen Cooper
Hilo
‘The right to life’
The horrific murders in Uvalde, Texas, are yet another example of the gun obsession in the United States. So far this year, we are averaging 10 mass shootings a week, and one school shooting a week.
No other First World country comes even close to our level of gun carnage. We, alone among the civilized world, tolerate the more than daily gun violence which takes so many lives.
Why does this happen? You need look only at the statement of North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who declared a few hours after the Uvalde shooting that we should not limit free access to guns just because a bunch of grade school kids and their teachers got murdered in their classroom.
This is the recurring Republican mantra: The right for any murderous lunatic to grab an assault weapon and blaze away at school children is far more important than the right to life of those children and their teachers.
Gun advocates loudly trumpet the Second Amendment. But they conveniently ignore the very first right mentioned in our founding documents: the right to life.
The Declaration of Independence, in its reasons for separating from Great Britain, mentions first the “right to life.” That’s the very first right all Americans are supposed to be guaranteed.
But today’s Republicans, given the choice between the lives of school children and teachers, and the freedom of killers to purchase military weapons at will, invariably side with the murderers.
I am fed up with the nation’s kowtowing to the cowards who are afraid to venture out their front doors without an AK-47 at hand. It’s time we told them if they’re too terrified of their neighbors to go outside without being armed to the teeth, then they should stay home.
The right to life must be deemed more important than the right to blaze away with an assault rifle.
Dan Lindsay
Hilo
Endless possibilities
When I read about the recent Hu Honua denial by the Public Utilities Commission to start operations, I thought that maybe it would be a good time for them to consider other options.
The trees they are planning to burn for energy is eucalyptus grandis, which is also known as rose gum or red grandis. Its lumber is known for its durability, resistance to rot, mold and mildew and naturally resistant to weather and insects including termites.
With the shortage of lumber here in Hawaii, and the rising prices due to shipping costs, it would make sense to turn the plant into a self-sustaining lumber mill.
Mills need a lot of power: to run the saws, to run equipment on site, and even for drying rooms to cure the wood. There would be enough cutoffs from the lumber to actually burn and provide the plant with all the necessary power. The other waste products could be made into chips that could be used in landscaping. The saw dust from the mills could be turned into a usable by-product. Finish-grade wood could fetch between $5 and $8 per board foot.
Even the heat produced when burning the scraps for power could be used for drying the lumber and other products, maybe even fruit. The branches and leaves could be chipped into mulch.
Right behind my desk is a wall-sized book case that was made from the same wood. Log cabin kits could even be designed for small affordable homes. The logs could be “peeled” and made into plywood (especially since plywood is now needed to cover the purlins before roofing).
The possibilities are endless and would provide a valuable product used for lumber, furniture, logs, outdoor decks, fencing and a lot more. Something maybe to consider.
As the saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Steve Hirakami
Pahoa
