UH-West Oahu too costly

Today, I had an editorial criticizing plans to expand UH-West Oahu on Hawaii Reporter


http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?10953863-82d7-4492-aa59-fdfd7286e091

A Pie in the University of Hawaii Sky
By Pablo Wegesend, 3/19/2004 7:44:13 AM

In 1976, the University of Hawaii-West Oahu was opened. That small campus is located near Leeward Community College, which is somewhere near the border of Pearl City and Waipahu. The reason that campus was opened was because of the increasing population growth in West Oahu. Since then, the population increase within West Oahu has been increasing even more rapidly. This brought about proposals for the expansion of U.H.-West Oahu. One expansion proposal is to move the West Oahu campus to Kapolei, where there is more room.

To commute to U.H.-Manoa from West Oahu, one must sit in traffic jams. This motivated a few letters to the daily papers, screaming in anger about the opposition to an expansion of U.H.-West Oahu. I remember one letter screaming "how would you feel if you had to sit in those traffic jams, hunt for parking in Manoa, etc., etc."

These letter writers can feel all the emotion they want. But when it comes to government funding, logic must rule over emotion. When one looks at our state's financial situation logically, one will find that the state doesn't have enough money to build a new campus in Kapolei. In fact, the state doesn't have enough money to open a public library in Kapolei. Yet, people demand that we build a new university in Kapolei with its own libraries, lecture halls, science labs, computer labs, parking lots, campus eateries, and athletic facilities out of the same state budget. Plus, add to the fact that building a West Oahu campus will drain money out of the Manoa campus. Some programs might be moved to the West Oahu campus, forcing Honolulu and Windward residents to commute. And they say that a West Oahu campus will reduce traffic jams? I don't think so.

Some people look at government as a bottomless pit of wealth that is able to fund everything. But it can't. Governments get their money from taxes on income, property values and sales. That money is limited, especially in hard economic times. Of course, some will propose raising taxes to pay for a Kapolei campus. But raising taxes will just be like over-eating. Whereas over-eating saps the energy of our organs, excessive taxation will sap our economy to the point where more people will seek greener pastures elsewhere, even if "greener pastures" are in mainland desert states with lower taxes, (i.e.. Nevada and Arizona). Because that is happening, the rest of us who remain in Hawaii are stuck with the burden.

While West Oahu people complain about long commutes to the Manoa campus, people from Maui, Kauai, Molokai and Lanai have to uproot their lives and leave their island just to earn a university degree. In fact, the island of Maui has more land space than Oahu, yet it doesn't have a public university there, just a community college.

Fortunately, some refuse to be intimidated by the "we want a Kapolei campus now" posse. In fact, U.H. Board of Regents member Ted Hong even proposed shutting down U.H.-West Oahu. Hong called U.H.-West Oahu a "pipe dream." Hong's unwillingness to bow down to the politically correct "we want a Kapolei campus now" posse might've been the reason why his appointment as a state judge was rejected. After all, a large number of West Oahu state senators rejected Hong's appointment.

At this point in time, it will be too late to shut down UH-West Oahu since some people depend on it. But Hong is right in calling any U.H.- West Oahu expansion a "pipe dream." Which is why Ted Hong should continue to be a member of the U.H. Board of Regents.

And check out www.hawaiireporter.com and http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/ for a non-liberal Hawaii perspective!

Hawaii's Anti-Gun Gestapo

Yesterday, in an auto-shop in Kapiolani Blvd., a mechanic snitched on an old woman who had a gun in the car. No evidence of her having ties to criminals. The cops busted her.

So far, I haven't heard the name of that auto shop! Maybe they're scared of a boycott! Because I would boycott them when I found out their names.

Hawaii's policy on guns is stupid. No one but cops are allowed to carry loaded guns outside one's home and business. That means if you want to enjoy the nightlife but you're not 6 ft. tall, you are on your own. It's either 1) risk get robbed, raped, and severely beaten, or 2) risk getting get busted by the cops.

And when you're busted by the cops for not following HPD chief Lee Donahue's gun control agenda, 3 cars full of idiots are racing in the freeways, causing massive damage and death!

And recently, state senator Sam Slom's proposal to allow those WITHOUT criminal records to carry concealed weapons was rejected! All thanks to gun control fanatic Colleen Hanabusa.

And to you gun control fanatics, I will tell you that NOT all gunshot victims are innocents. Some are rapists, robbers and other bullies. Those people DESERVE to be shot at and killed. Unfortunately, for Lee Donahue, Colleen Hanabusa, Ed Case and their allies, the lives of bullies are more important than innocent people who just want to protect themselves.

Unplanned Parenthood

Here was a letter sent to the advice columnist at Ka Leo

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/03/15/4055112cbbf41?in_archive=1

My boyfriend and I want a baby. We have been together for two and a half years. My boyfriend wants to wait till we're married and financially stable. I am ready to have the baby now. I have cousins and friends who have babies and are younger than me. I really think I'm ready to be a mother and I can't wait till I'm married and stable. Who knows, that might not be for another three or four years. I'm thinking of stopping my birth control so I can have a baby, what do you think? Should I tell my boyfriend about my intentions or surprise him when I get pregnant? I know he'll be happy to be a father.
Senior
Communications

My response: Since you are a communications major, I'll communicate something to you

If you think that by sneakily going off birth control without telling your boyfriend will bring good results - GET A BRAIN! What will result is that your now "gentleman lover" will likely be disillusioned, pissed off at your deception AND decide to become a deadbeat! And if you think situation has never happened before to anyone in this world of 6 Billion people - GET A BRAIN!

Get ready to be screamed at by your boyfriend! I wouldn't condone it, but I would understand his rage!

And you think that you know your man is good parental material after only 2 years of dating? That's too short!

And even if your boyfriend stays loyal, what if he gets killed in an accident? Your financial instability will get WORSE!

A lot of girls thought that by getting pregnant, it will keep the boyfriend from straying! What actually happens is that boyfriend will run away FASTER, and the child will suffer most! And what will become some of those children! Some will have minimum or no guidance, end up running the streets and end up dropping out of school, doing drugs, joining gangs, and being unsuccessful! I know because some of my childhood neighbors are like that!

Of course, not all kids with single parents end up in jail! My oldest brother was born to a single mother, with a dad who ran away from his responsibilities. That brother is now a white collar worker at Bank of Hawaii. But that's because our mom later found a man who was willing help with parental responsibilities, and in the process - create me and my other brother! But other kids aren't so lucky. Just visit Hotel Street or OCCC.

It's just like that one letter to a national advice column, where a girl told her boyfriend that he could leave, she'll take care of his baby on her! He left! Later, that boyfriend got sued for child support from that same woman, who said she didn't realize it will be that hard to raise a child on her own! GET A BRAIN YOU ****** Everyone knows it's hard to raise a child on one's own!

And just listen to songs by 2pac, Eminem, WC and few other rappers who's dads ran away! They are PISSED OFF that their dads ran away! You better think about that before sneakily going off birth control and lying about it to your boyfriend!

I'm BACK on Ka Leo

Here's my latest editorial on Ka Leo

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/03/16/40569e49023ce

There is no 'i' in teacher

Pablo Wegesend
Ka Leo Staff Columnist
March 16, 2004


Imagine your favorite football team has been getting bad results the last few years. This has been very embarrassing to you. You demand new leadership for the football team. You demand team management terminate the current coach and replaced with someone more fit. Others publicly agree.

But the coach won't take the criticism lying down.

He says to the public: "How many of you have ever been a head coach? Don't you know all the hard work I put in?" His words don't satisfy you since other coaches work hard, but got better results.

The coach then says: "Look, my players come from disadvantaged backgrounds! A lot of them come from single-parent homes, a lot of them live in public housing, some of them have been racially profiled, some came from the South Pacific and had to deal with cultural bias."

The coach's words don't satisfy you since other coaches have players who have been through the same problems and have gotten better results on the field.

The coach then says: "My players are good athletes, they just don't do well in big games."

The coach's words don't satisfy since a coach is supposed to help the players do well in big games.

The coach then says: "My players are hard to discipline, some of them come from broken homes."

The coach's words don't satisfy you, since it's the same excuse you've heard before!

You see, we don't accept our favorite football teams losing. We would never accept the coach's excuses.

Usually, coaches of losing teams get fired. On this campus, Fred von Appen got fired after 3 losing seasons, with his last one being the worst. June Jones led the team to a bowl game his first years, using a lot of the same players that were coached by von Appen. And von Appen didn't make the same excuses I mentioned above.

Yet, year after year, we accept the same types of excuses from Hawaii's public school teachers. While we call for the coach's firing after a losing season, it is politically incorrect to even make mild criticisms of public school teachers, even though the public schools have been getting von Appen-like test scores for years.

We say too many of the public school children come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Never mind that Kaulawela Elementary School (in downtown/Liliha area) has a lot of immigrant children, yet have decent test scores. Never mind that movies like "Lean on Me," "Dangerous Minds" and "Stand And Deliver" are based on true stories of school officials effectively reaching out to students in America's most dangerous inner cities.

Never mind that football coaches have high expectations of their players, many of whom are black or Polynesian or coming from low income households.

We claim that tests are culturally biased against island youth. Never mind that on the mostly black Caribbean island of Barbados, the students do very well on the same exact tests given out to American kids. In fact, they do better. And never mind that on real SATs, in the reading comprehension section, there are paragraphs talking about minority experiences (I've taken the SAT, so don't tell me it wasn't there).

But too many of us have this religious faith that SATs and other tests are 100 percent biased towards white suburban youth! Facts arguing against this faith be damned.

We accept the excuses that some kids are smart but don't well on tests. Yet when Timmy Chang screwed up in a big game, a lot of us booed him, even though that game is nowhere as important as the scores our kids earn in the academic and real world.

We let teachers guilt trip us about never being in their positions. Never mind that 99 percent of us have never been head football coaches or the President, but still make harsh comments about their real or perceived shortcomings.

And before you start writing an insulting letter to the editor about me, let's get some facts about me clear. I am a son of an immigrant from Mexico.

I spent my youth living in a low income community of Kalihi which had its drug and gang problems. Yet I was able to get into this university with test scores and GPA ABOVE the general admissions requirements. This has made me LESS accepting of the excuses promoted by the teacher's unions and their defenders.

I am also teaching a Freshman Seminar this semester, so I do have an idea of what teaching is like. In a few weeks, I will be under a mid-semester evaluation, plus I'll be evaluated again at the end of the semester.

I know I could've done a few things better, and I am accepting of constructive criticisms of my teaching. But if I end up having a von Appen record, I will not use the students' background as an excuse! I will learn from my mistakes and learn to be more effective. But I guess that is too much to ask from our public school teachers.

Actually, that Freshman Seminar evaluation has passed, and it was suggested that I improve on making difficult subjects clearer, that I talk to the students face to face instead of over-relying on email, and that instead of reading the handouts word for word, I let them read em silently, then we go over them as a group! So I'm still learning to improve myself! It comes with trial and error!