EXERCISE

YOGA IS HELPFUL FOR MIDDLE-AGED RUNNERS

Jonathan Lyau's excellent "Get a Running Start" article (Sports, Jan. 5) excludes one piece of advice crucial to runners age 45 and over — namely, join a yoga class.

As the human body becomes middle-aged, the moisture content of muscles decreases, rendering them less flexible and more prone to tearing.

Combine that with repetitive exercise, causing worked muscles to tighten, and imbalance is likely to follow. Imbalance is virtually guaranteed to produce injury to distance runners.

Yoga restretches those drying, contracting muscles and helps restore balance.

We'll probably see Jonathan himself in yoga classes in 10 years or so.

MIDEAST

CONGRESS MUST REFUSE TO FUND THE IRAQ WAR

The administration of George W. Bush has made it clear that it will not withdraw American forces from Iraq until the situation in that country has stabilized to the point that the present Iraqi government can survive the ongoing insurgency.

Unfortunately, that is a long way off, if it ever comes at all.

It is time for Congress to put an end to the U.S. military intervention in Iraq.

Congress must refuse to fund any further military action in Iraq.

FAILURE

BUSH WILL BE WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY

In Roosevelt Freeman's Dec. 28 letter in The Honolulu Advertiser he wrote that should Barack Obama be elected president in 2008, he would be a bigger bust than the peanut farmer (former President Jimmy Carter) from Georgia.

Mr. Freeman must be living in another world — one that doesn't carry national and worldwide news about all the reported and documented mistakes, failures and deceptions by President George W. Bush.

Or he refuses to recognize that Bush is now and will be the biggest bust as a president in United States history.

TRANSIT

CAN WE GET A REFUND ON THOSE HYBRID BUSES?

Does anyone who buys our Honolulu city buses ever ride in them?

The new hybrid buses — with the world's largest battery on top — are the pits!

The configuration is mix and match: A couple of rows of front-facing side-by-side seats — then a row of sideway seats. It's impractical — and I'm sure there are fewer seats in these buses than most of the others currently in use.

The seats are small, cold-metal hard and very uncomfortable.

The seats just behind the rear door on both sides have an inverted pillar in front, which makes them perfect — for people under 4 feet tall. The interior noise is almost painful to the ears — high-pitched and very loud. Dogs come running from miles around to chase them!

Did I mention the leak behind the rear door and along the back row of seats? Dribbles from heaven.

I was told the buses came all the way from Kansas. Well, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. Can we get a refund?

COMMUTING

UH-WEST O'AHU MAKES MORE SENSE THAN RAIL

I've always wondered why politicians never push hard to build the University of Hawai'i-UH West O'ahu instead of that costly rail system that might not even work.

I've lived in Waipahu all my life, and I work downtown. I've noticed that traffic is better when UH-Manoa is not in session.

So, logic would tell you that UH-Manoa commuters make up the bulk of the traffic. If you build UH-West O'ahu, it will probably be less costly, create more jobs on our side of the island and students from 'Aiea westward would have a shorter commute to school. Commuters to town would get some relief with fewer cars going toward downtown.

It just makes sense as a win-win situation for all.

A NEW CAMPUS WOULD BE CHEAPER THAN RAIL

Stop, look and listen.

What happens when there is a school break? Less traffic.

Perhaps a better way to deal with the traffic is to build another campus?

How much campus would a billion dollars buy? Could the solution be so easy?

TRAFFIC

HAWAI'I KAI MEDIAN HAS HAD NEGATIVE EFFECT

Obviously, Linda Beechinor (Letter, Jan. 6) doesn't live on Lunalilo Home Road, and has missed the point.

The median has negatively impacted many (not a few) people accessing the bank, Unocal station and the Hawai'i Kai church. I could make a left turn from my house for 40 years. Now, I can't (along with many others).

The median has not slowed traffic at all. I live on Lunalilo Home Road and several times a day motorcycles and cars speed on this road.

I fail to see how it is pedestrian and bicyclist friendly since everyone uses the sidewalks and the edge of the road as before.

Traffic has been choked down from three to two lanes in either direction in spite of the fact that there are more residents living farther in Hawai'i Kai.

The median has caused traffic congestion problems on Lunalilo Home Road while certain drivers still use the road as a high-speed freeway.

CAMPBELL LAND

STATE WANTS TO HAVE ITS CAKE AND EAT IT, TOO

Surprise, surprise.

The state was quite pleased to have the Land Use Commission agree to unrestricted acceptance of Campbell Estate land. There was no objection when 18 months later the commission added a restriction.

Suddenly, the commission's actions are being called into question by the state. The state, as usual, wants to have its cake and eat it, too.

If the commission was right in one instance, then it is right in a follow-up action.

As an aside, all permits should come with a deadline so we will not be faced with another Turtle Bay fiasco.

PROPERTY VALUES

SECOND-HOME OWNERS DON'T MERIT TAX BREAK

I agree with the idea that you should be able to use the money that you earn on anything, so long as it does not create a substantial economic cost.

When someone decides to buy multiple homes in Hawai'i, where having a place to sleep costs an arm and a leg, then, yes, he or she should be taxed additionally. Like a cigarette tax, the money should go to help pay for social efforts toward homeless people.

I realize that second-home owners are not completely responsible for the homeless, but when you live in a communal society you have to consider the negative effects of the actions you think are isolated to oneself.

Therefore, regardless if you're renting it out, investing, or just like to accumulate homes, please pay the tax.

HIGH COSTS

LEGISLATURE SHOULD RESCIND 11-CENT GAS TAX

With all the talk about bulging state coffers and the news that we are going to get a state tax rebate, it's time to get rid of the recently reinstated 11-cent gasoline tax.

This is a tax on people with low, moderate and fixed incomes. Many of these people work two and three jobs just to keep it all together.

This Legislature has a chance to do something that no other Legislature has done — make everybody in Hawai'i happy at once.

ENVIRONMENT

GLOBAL WARMING WILL AFFECT ALL OF NATURE

Letter writer Art Simpson (Jan. 7) writes that global warming is a fact, and describes in detail the impact on the Earth's ecosystem.

According to him, it's a good thing. Everything in nature adapts? Heard of extinction? The only problem with his assessment is that it is 99 percent wrong!

The melting of the polar ice caps may kill off those cuddly polar bears and penguins, and one could say big deal. How about the rise in coastal waters?

2006 was an easy hurricane season for the U.S., but we got lucky.

Tell the farmers in the Midwest when it doesn't rain to get new jobs. The California brown pelican dives for fish — tell them they had better learn to go deeper since the surface fish have disappeared.

A shift of several degrees in nature throws everything off balance, and humans cannot know all the ramifications.