Letters to the Editor - Letters

What a sad low note. After a long spring crescendo accompanied by the angst of empty coffers, we had a blip of hope and joy as the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra musicians and staff were finally paid and launched into their fall season.

[mischal]

RE: Give folks more to health care

This bill is more than insane: It slashes more than $400 billion to Medicare and $170 billion to Medicare Advantage, while imposing taxes on medical devices. How can this be good for senior citizens?!

Since it will be underpaying medical providers, they, in turn, will jack up their rates to patients with private insurers, FORCING more people onto the public option!

It `grandfathers` out of existence individual health care coverage.

The bill contains NO BAN on federal promotion of assisted suicides and/or health care rationing of treatment! I want to decide MY health care with MY doctor, not have some DC bureaucrat, whose job it is to cut costs, deciding MY treatment! We currently have the highest cancer survival rates because we can get treatment when we need it, unlike in the UK where you are on a wait list. I don`t want to wait in line to get rationed care. Watch our cancer survival rates drop.

Why did Congress exempt itself from being on the public option? Because they know it stinks!

One of my favorites: It PROHIBITS states from using tort reform to lower health care costs!! Why, when doctors say this would be a MAJOR cost reducer?! Isn`t that the goal?! I guess not.

This is not about health care reform but a power grab by the govt. who wants to control everything. And, amazingly, they are COMPLETELY ignoring the people and following their agenda. This is too important to be rushed through. This is your life! Guaranteed choice means NO PUBLIC OPTION!

[Yellow Dog]

@Don Chun: If teachers are taking home paychecks that are eight percent smaller, then they took a pay cut. The same is true for all state workers being furloughed. Furloughs are being used as an effective budget cutting measure across the country. Your inaccurate definition of a pay cut only reveals your anti-union, anti-teacher bias.

[Rail Haters Blow]

Brizdle is full of it. The Big Lie of the rail haters is that traffic will get worse because of rail. The truth is that traffic will get worse despite rail, but not because of rail. Without rail, traffic will get much, much worse. Rail will help relieve congestion and provide another transportation option. Nothing will completely solve traffic congestion, and the rail haters know it.
Tired of this crap!

[Yeah]

Ernesta H. Masagatani:

It's not the governor's place to be focused on the kids' education. That's what the BOE and DOE are for. That's their function and purpose. However, if you're suggesting these organization be "reorganized" and held accountable for producing what they should be, I'm all for it.

[Yeah]

Yellow Dog wrote:

@Don Chun: If teachers are taking home paychecks that are eight percent smaller, then they took a pay cut. The same is true for all state workers being furloughed. Furloughs are being used as an effective budget cutting measure across the country. Your inaccurate definition of a pay cut only reveals your anti-union, anti-teacher bias.

So if you're boss said you have to take a 10% py cut, but you only need to work once a week,that's a pay cut to you?

Budget cutting measures does not necessarily equate to a pay cut if you're paid hourly.

[Pearl City Senior]

Rail Haters Blow wrote:

Brizdle is full of it. The Big Lie of the rail haters is that traffic will get worse because of rail. The truth is that traffic will get worse despite rail, but not because of rail. Without rail, traffic will get much, much worse. Rail will help relieve congestion and provide another transportation option. Nothing will completely solve traffic congestion, and the rail haters know it.
Tired of this crap!

I can't see into the future so I can't say that rail will alleviate the traffic problem. But, I do recall the recent past.
Do you remember the months of horrible traffic congestion, day and night, we had to suffer through when they retrofitted H-1 for the Zipper lane? On the freeway and the surface streets?
Look for many years of that during rail construction.(I also remember that it took 12 years to complete the bridge going into Wahiawa town.)
Once it's complete (if it ever is) it will be such a relief that it will appear that the rail did help relieve traffic tie-ups.

[Poll]

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10 (see trends). Republicans have opened a six-point lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Sixty percent (60%) say that the Fort Hood shootings should be investigated by the military as a terrorist act. Just 27% prefer a criminal investigation by civilian authorities.

This Veterans Day, 81% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the U.S. military. Thirty-six percent (36%) had a close friend or relative who gave their life for our country. A Rasmussen video report notes that 69% say that military service is good for young people.

[Fair Play]

You forget that rail transit is also about giving options to get to town. When these accidents happens as they do - we are not stuck while the highway is closed.

I'd like to commend this young person for getting involved. We are investing in the future and it is good to see a young person who cares about the future.

[UH Senior]

Rail Haters Blow wrote:

Brizdle is full of it. The Big Lie of the rail haters is that traffic will get worse because of rail. The truth is that traffic will get worse despite rail, but not because of rail. Without rail, traffic will get much, much worse. Rail will help relieve congestion and provide another transportation option. Nothing will completely solve traffic congestion, and the rail haters know it.
Tired of this crap!

Strict control of the population rate and in-migration now will eliminate the need for Rail ;)

[alice]

lingle has no interest in children hon..even before her economy went bad she was blocking educational improvements

[stanleyg]

"Getting second jobs to make ends meet and cutting back expenses have been a reality for a while already."
Don Chun
Honolulu


I'm sure you must be talking about public school teachers here. I know 3 public school teachers. Two of them have second jobs to supplement their income. The third, a single mom, works 3 jobs to pay her bills.(And by the way, don't use the typical right wing excuse of the "absent father." He is deceased.)
Funny how many people compare the private and public sector in this situation. Remember, the PRIVATE SECTOR also includes pimps & prostitutes, gambling houses, strip clubs & hostess bars. How many of these small businesses, these backbones of our economy, are working the same number of hours for less pay? I don't know. But I'm sure their second job to make ends meet is a legitimate one. I'll even bet some of them go from one job right into another without any breaks in between.

[Bows before Hos]

Rail Haters Blow wrote:

Brizdle is full of it. The Big Lie of the rail haters is that traffic will get worse because of rail. The truth is that traffic will get worse despite rail, but not because of rail. Without rail, traffic will get much, much worse. Rail will help relieve congestion and provide another transportation option. Nothing will completely solve traffic congestion, and the rail haters know it.
Tired of this crap!

You hit it right on the mark! There is so much anti rail propoganda going around and John is one of the main spokesmen! Hey john, whos your boss? CLiff Slater? or Panos your professor at UH?

[Bows before Hos]

Good work Tyler. Way to do some research and pushing out a meaningful letter. I read your letter a few days ago in the advertiser and im glad that the starbulletin decided to print it!

[Fact check these letters]

Doesn't the Star-Bulletin fact check the letters before they print them? Obviously not, or they would have never printed Brizdle's inaccurate letter.

A bity of accuracy please wrote:

Re: John Bridzle's letter. I went to the link provided in his letter. He cites figures from a 2006 report. That is not an accurate portrayal.
Instead, I prefer current numbers, like the rail transit Draft Environmental Impact Statement from 2008. It's the most recent and accurate measure of the rail system. The Draft EIS says:
* the airport route will reduce future traffic congestion by about 20 percent (p. 3-24)
* The routes in the Draft EIS will benefit the overal transportation system (p. 3-24)
* about 12,000 people per hour will ride rail during rush hours (p. 3-26).
* rail will save island commuters about 50,000 hours each day (p 3-36).

[sumwonyuno]

Can't anyone do math or even read a chart correctly anymore?

$10,000 * 304 million =$3.4 trillion.

Next, John Brizzdle cherry-picked the 840 car difference by only looking at one direction of one roadway during one hour (H-1 Eastbound in Pearl City) in the City's AA (an older report; should have looked in the DEIS) of the difference between today (905,000 people) versus projected 2030 (1.1 million).

In the DEIS (p 3-28)

As for his 6,000 cars, he cherry picked again, but this time it's the increase between 2003 and 2030 in the number of cars going H-1 eastbound in the morning in Pearl City. There's projected 200,000 more people on O'ahu in 2030. Most of those people will be in 'Ewa, Central O'ahu and in town.

The government doesn't have the power to do population control, but it does have the power through zoning and transportation options to influence commuting trends in the population.

[sumwonyuno]

A bit of clarification:

The first 840 number is suppose to be the difference in cars using the H-1 East in 2030, between rail and no rail.

The DEIS (p. 3-28) is suppose to be "Look in the DEIS (p. 3-28) for a better understanding of the traffic reduction along the H-1 with rail."

For the 6,000 cars, some of these cars will go to park and ride stations. There are none for the rail in East Honolulu. Most of the projected ridership is from bus rider transfers: people that are used to riding the bus or those that would drive w/o the rail but choose the rail if it exists.

[WTF to UH Senior]

UH Senior wrote:

<quoted text>
Strict control of the population rate and in-migration now will eliminate the need for Rail ;)

You're a UH senior and you commented as such about not needing rail due to recommending to "control the population rate" and "in-migration" -- LOL. Dude, what kind of degree are you seeking - a degree in Idiocy? The need for rail is to aleviate O`ahu's growing traffic situation and provide people with an alternative transportation mode. The answer is not to tell people not to move here or limit in-migration. O`ahu's traffic situation is a growing problem and its not only attributed to new comers. Good grief...{shakes my head and does a tripple take at your idiocy.}

[coachrandy]

i see a similarity between the ending of the symphony and the furlough days for education. only after both are gone do people complain. the symphony ended because no one was going. furloughs started 3 fridays ago, but the decision for them was made 3 weeks prior. no one complained at that time. in fact, most of the public in HA and SB blogs said teachers need to do their part in helping with the budget deficit. and according to lingle who wanted furloughs for state workers, all the sides agreed to the 17 furlough fridays. like with the symphony, complaints are made only after some feel the impact. go figga

[alice]

The symphony simply did not have a broad appeal and could not sell enough tickets. Yes, it was bad management but it also reflects societal priorities.

[yeah wrong]

Yeah wrote:

<quoted text>So if you're boss said you have to take a 10% py cut, but you only need to work once a week,that's a pay cut to you?
Budget cutting measures does not necessarily equate to a pay cut if you're paid hourly.

teachers aren't paid hourly.