Highway duration simply baffling
With family here on the island, we come here two to three times a year to visit. It continues to amaze me that the four lanes from Kona to the airport have still not been completed! How many years has it been?!
It seems to me that even if people were driving on the shoulders or in gravel, the priority should be opening four lanes all the way in that section. We got caught in traffic going into town mid-afternoon that turned into an incredibly unreasonable long waiting time.
I feel sorry for those who have to drive that every evening at quitting time! Come on Big Island, get your act together when it comes to traffic! And then go the next step and do four lanes all the way into Waikoloa.
Bob Waliszewski
Larkspur, Colo.
Shocked by name calling? Look at WH example
In last Monday’s WHT, Ray Pieri wrote a very emotional letter regarding the current state of politics in our country, and more specifically his negative feelings regarding our current president and his supporters. Mr. Pieri did not pull any punches in his letter, and I am guessing the frustration he was feeling is what many, but obviously not all, American are feeling today.
I was more interested, however, by the firestorm of responses to his letter from Trump supporters, and even those who didn’t vote for Trump. After reading several of these responses, it was evident there was a huge irony at play here. The responders to Mr. Pieri’s letter were very upset at the hostile tone of his letter, his name calling, his belittling of segments of the American population, and basically attacking those with different political beliefs. My question for Trump’s supporters and all those who were so angered by Mr. Pieri’s letter is, and here is the irony, do his insults, name calling, and hostile tone sound vaguely familiar to you? Can you not see how we have gotten to this point?
One could write a novel of President Trump’s child-like attacks, stereotypes, and insults toward others, but here are just a few:
Mr. Trump called a female television personality “fat and ugly” because of an ongoing feud. He openly mocked a handicapped reporter during a speech because the reporter apparently wrote some negative press about candidate Trump. He said he didn’t like a POW hero because he prefers those who don’t get caught. He said a female journalist had “blood coming out of her eyes and her wherever” because he didn’t like the questions he was being asked. He attacked parents of a U.S. soldier killed overseas because they were not Trump supporters. He described the Mexican immigrant population in general terms as “rapists and murderers.” He described professional athletes who participated in peaceful protests for a cause he does not share as “sons of bitches.” He referred to his political opponents during the campaign as “lying Ted,” “crooked Hillary,” “little Marco,” and “low energy Jeb.”
He continually mocked the physical appearance of several of his opponents during nationally televised presidential debates. He essentially stated that President Obama was a liar because his birth certificate was a forgery, and he did not have a right to be president. Most importantly, Mr. Trump has made clear that anyone who has the audacity to disagree with him on the issues is irrelevant in our country and fair game for his attacks, which is more than half the U.S. population.
After almost a full year of this behavior by our sitting president, and several years leading up to the election, I frankly find it a little insincere that conservatives and supporters of the president would feign indignation and shock that Mr. Pieri would use strong language and name calling in his letter. Are you really pretending to be surprised that we have gotten to this level of divisiveness, frustration, and anger in American politics? Can you not see how any hint of civil discourse on the issues has become nearly impossible with the example that is being set from the top down?
To those of you who were so upset by Mr. Pieri’s letter, I would simply tell you that you can’t have it both ways. If you think Trump is doing an amazing job and is a great president, then let’s keep steaming forward with rage, verbal attacks, and name calling on all sides, with the tone being set by the president.
However, if you really want to use “creativity instead of hate and anger” and “employ logic and address basic issue differences,” as the responders to Mr. Pieri’s letter asked for, unfortunately, I can say with absolute certainty this will never occur as long as our current president resides in the Oval Office. We will all have to wait three years to have thoughtful adult discussions on the important issues. Which is actually very sad because at the end of the day, I think all Americans basically want the same thing.
Eric Garrett
Kailua-Kona