Why all the applause?
I’ve never gotten an answer to my question: “Why do the people on the podium applaud when the Dow and NASDAQ are shown on TV news when they both have tanked?” Example: Thursday, when the Dow dropped 700+ points along with the NASDAQ tanking more than 100, they acted like it was New Year’s Eve.
Dennis Lawson
Kalaoa
Opiate crisis in the news
The Times edition covering the opioid crisis in the U.S. was gripping, but narrowly focused. There exists a strong market for opiates dispensed via prescription. Addiction develops in some regardless of socio-economic status. And this addiction destroys families — nuclear, extended, and community.
Sarah Kay
Kona
Big Island healthcare not all bad
I have read with interest the letters to the editor pertaining to the quality of healthcare on the Big Island.
My husband and I recently returned from an extended stay on the Big Island. We have to give kudos to Dr. Daniel J. Walker, D.D.S. My husband broke a tooth late in the afternoon. We randomly picked Dr. Walker from the phone book. He stayed late to take x-rays, forward them to our dentist in Ohio with a very nice note and ground the sharp points off the tooth. He and his staff displayed the true aloha spirit.
We were very grateful for their kindness.
Mrs. William J. Oen
St. Marys, Ohio
Stopping the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Recently we see more news reports of huge amounts of plastic garbage, nylon nets, etc beginning to appear on our lovely Hawaiian beaches. We might think we are isolated, in the middle of nowhere, but the enormous quantity of pervasive plastic pollutants, left over from the worlds reckless disregard for future generations is actually quite close — caught in rotating ocean current gyres located between our island shores and the U.S. West Coast. Some estimates say this “patch” of detritus covers an area twice the size of France and might contain up to 79,000 metric tonnes.
Sorry to say, but it’s heading our way! A lot of it is partially decomposing plastic pieces, some already too small to be picked up in small mesh nets.
What are we doing, friends? Such rampant pollution must be controlled. We are the generation that can and should make a difference. Let us share ideas and motivate changes in laws (such as banning the use of styrofoam food trays and plastic straws) to do our best now, before it is too late.
Norman Moe
Kailua-Kona
Knowledge is freedom
Like Trump and other Republicans, conservative pundit George Will doesn’t believe that truth sets humans free. Instead, Will’s disingenuous “free speech” rant against California law supporting a woman’s right to know her reproductive options shows the disconnected conservative preference for maintaining religious and political control over women’s lives and bodies while putting individual rights on the back burner.
Women of all economic, social and educational backgrounds have a right to know if there are viable alternatives to getting pregnant and having babies they otherwise might not choose to have. Women who have access to as much information as possible can make better personal choices regarding their reproductive health rather than making choices put upon them by those who would control and keep them in the dark. Those choices affect not only their personal lives and future, but that of their families and communities.
Mahalo to Californians for their strong support of a woman’s right to make educated choices about her reproductive future and health.
Janice Palma-Glennie
Kailua-Kona