HIRONO MISSES POINT

DEMS COULD CORRECT BUSH HEALTH PLAN FLAWS

Regarding comments by U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono on PresidentBush's State of the Union health insurance proposal (Jan. 24):

I was disheartened to awake to Rep. Hirono's comments on President Bush's health insurance proposal. After watching Pres. Bush's address the night before, I thought that his health insurance proposal was the only instance of a possible pearl in a basket full of trash.

The president's plan effectively turns the tax subsidy for health insurance into a kind of voucher. It increases the amount of tax relief that subsidizes acquisition of health insurance, while eliminating the tax advantages for increased consumption of healthcare over all other goods.

I agree with her that the tax incentive as proposed is not going to help those who cannot afford the health insurance in the first place and usually do not have tax liabilities.

But if her fellow Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee stipulate that this incentive work as a refundable tax credit, you begin to have a very effective solution.

President Clinton showed us with the earned income credit that such tax-based solutions work to pull fellow Americans out of poverty.

Republicans always act as if they are the only ones who understand the power of tax incentives. This can be an opportunity to prove them wrong, yet again.

NEIGHBORHOOD BOARDS

INTERNET WOULD HELP INCREASE PARTICIPATION

The objections from Lynn Matusow (Jan. 11) and Calvin Ching (Jan. 16) about using the Internet for Neighborhood Board voting are ill-founded and misplaced.

It is true that we are exploring the option of Internet voting. Matusow and Ching indicate this is bad and that our system of mail-only balloting was successful.

The numbers tell a different story. In 2005, only 25 percent of the ballots that were mailed out (198,405) were returned (49,600).

If there was ever a time to try something new, it is now. The acclaimed Kids Voting Hawai'i project uses the Internet, and 97,508 participated last November.

The Internet is just an option. People who want paper ballots would still get one. Internet voting has the advantage of being able to handle a huge increase in participation with no additional cost, unlike the mail-only system.

Security can be a concern without the Internet. In the last two elections, many ballots were not counted because the voters refused to place their signature on the envelopes as required by the Neighborhood Plan.

Large publicly held companies often conduct shareholder voting over the Internet. The Hawai'i State Bar Association conducted its last election online and saw a 30 percent increase in ballots cast.

The vendor we select to handle Neighborhood Board elections would have to meet very strict standards of security. It will be much harder for someone to fraudulently vote online than it would be for someone to steal your ballot out of a mailbox.

The Internet is often hailed as something that will help to spread democracy around the globe. It makes sense that we take advantage of it to increase participation in our Neighborhood Board elections.

IRAN

COUNTRIES HAVE RIGHT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES

What gives the United States, a sovereign nation that possesses and has a history of using nuclear weapons, a right to tell Iran, another sovereign nation, what it can or cannot do with regards to defending herself?

Call me crazy, but when is the last time you saw any two countries that procured these weapons attack one another? When India and Pakistan (longtime enemies) got the ability to mutually destroy each other, they suddenly stopped fighting.

Perhaps the vision of the scientists who created these weapons is finally coming to fruition. Every country that gets these weapons will be one less country that gets invaded by our government.

On simpler terms if your neighbor purchased a shotgun and threatened you with it from time to time, wouldn't you want the ability to acquire a means to defend yourself to be unimpeded?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

Should licenses be more age restrictive?

I can appreciate and agree with Clifton Uyeda's letter (Jan. 20) that new laws and increased penalties can give pedestrians a false sense of security when crossing any road.

Laws and penalties alone do not deter or prevent death and injury. Who knows if the pedestrians who were injured or killed were aware of Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona's crosswalk law when they were hit. Likewise for the drivers who were careless.

Laws created with a knee-jerk response are merely a political measure to make politicians look like they are doing their job and to make the populace "feel more secure."

Pedestrians do not have any physical protection, law or no law, in crossing any road. A multi-ton vehicle will always have the last say. If politicians must govern drivers who possess "tunnel vision," they will have to pass laws to revoke the licenses of everyone above the age of 70 and prevent adolescents from obtaining a license until after age 24.

I think I just came up with a new proposed law that can save the residents of Honolulu billions of dollars to eliminate the need for TheRail by creating a new class of ridership for TheBus!

BUSH ADMINISTRATION

REALITY AND FACTS WERE MISSING IN ROSY LETTER

The only thing missing in Gordon Oswald's (Letter Jan. 22) rosy picture of the Bush administration is reality.

The federal budget deficit has spiraled out of control to an all-time high. The disparity between rich and poor increases daily. Forty million Americans are without health insurance and Osama bin Laden is alive and well. Those Democratic elections Mr. Oswald refers to were in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Iran. And if you think Libya had a sophisticated nuclear program, I have a bridge you'll buy.

Here's what we liberals would like to change. We'd like to bring back the 3,050 and counting dead American soldiers and the missing body parts of many more. We'd like our troops to be in armor-protected vehicles. We'd like to bring back the 150,000 to 200,000 dead Iraqis and wish that the 1.5 million displaced Iraqis could return to their homes.

We'd like the people in Afghanistan to be free of violence. We'd like to spend the $400 billion wasted in Iraq to reduce the budget deficit. Finally, we would like the Republicans to face the facts and perhaps even use them occasionally.

BUDGET SURPLUS

LET'S USE REBATE FUNDS TO IMPROVE EDUATION

The governor's offer to return $100 to each state taxpayer as a rebate is appreciated, but I would rather have all that money (already in the state's coffers, a part of which would be wasted in the process of returning it to us) go toward improving education in this state, from hiring more teachers to improving decaying facilities.

Giving us back a few crumbs to spend instead of helping our children in schools is irresponsible. Lowering some taxes on basic foods, etc. is a good idea, but why not use the money the state has in its surplus for the long list of public needs we already know about quite well instead of trying to fool us with empty gestures?

WE'RE OVERTAXED AND PAY TOO MUCH FOR GAS

Numbers don't lie. On Dec. 19, crude oil was approximately $63 per barrel; the U.S. national average for gas was $2.33 and the Hawai'i average (Honolulu, not including our friends on the Neighbor Islands feeling more pain) was $2.72. Gasbuddy.com tracks this stuff nationally. One month later, crude dives to $50, a 20 percent drop. The U.S. average prices fall 7 percent — not bad considering there is a timing curve. But Hawai'i? Up 2 percent.

I don't get it. Maybe we need a third refinery, like multiple airlines and let them slug it out while consumers enjoy a break. Or maybe if we had some sort of Utilities Com mission to serve the Public?

We've been overtaxed for years (multiple budget surpluses); taxes are even higher now for programs maybe 10 years away (rail) and yet I still spend half the commute driving on two dark highways because we can't keep them lit. And gas is up.

For this we get $100 back?

SENSIBLE GOVERNMENT MORE USEFUL THAN $100

The proposed one-time $100 tax refund for one person or $400 reimbursement for a family of four covering a two-year period is an inadequate, inconsequential drop in the bucket in 2007 Hawai'i.

I would much rather receive the assurance that government workers will receive competitive wages, understaffed government workplaces (like Halawa prison) will be bolstered and government investment will also be made to ease the homeless crisis and to end the state's wasteful dedication to the use of non-renewable energy.

The way I figure it, 346,000 people with $100 returned to them will yield very little benefit, whereas $346,000,000 worth of sensible government investment will certainly be worth far, far more.