Letters to the editor: Losing GET for rail would be a disaster

If the state Legislature cuts general excise tax funding for rail, it would be a disaster.

>> The federal government will demand we return $750 million.

>> Raising the transient accommodations tax will force the neighbor islands to subsidize Oahu’s project.

>> Making Honolulu pay for rail with property taxes means Oahu legislators, like state Reps. Sylvia Luke and Scott Saiki, will in effect raise property taxes on Oahu residents.

>> Changing rail funding from a steady source like the GET to variable sources like tourist and property taxes will lower our bond rating and cost us millions of dollars a year more in interest.

>> Ending rail at Middle Street will guarantee low ridership and big operating losses.

>> Passing bad legislation invites more lawsuits that will delay construction again, raise costs even more, and even kill the project.

Every rail system in the world cost twice the original price. Get over it.

Larry Meacham

Wahiawa

—

Rail naysayers cost taxpayers money

Enough already!

The rail naysayers want an audit? As long as it starts with an audit of all the damage done by the naysayers, led by former Gov. Ben Cayetano, Cliff Slater and City Council member Ann Kobayashi.

Hawaii needs to know how much time and money frivolous lawsuits have cost us.

It also would be good to know how much money they and their benefactors have spent on the lawsuits, on full-page ads and public relations that cost all of us in time and money.

Also, what did it cost the licensed contractors? Those are our families.

I’d be on the rail now if it weren’t for them working against we the people. I’m tired of the H-1 parking lot.

Carolyn Martinez Golojuch

Makakilo

—

Artificial intelligence warnings not new

Elon Musk considers himself a visionary for warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence (A.I.). But wait a minute: Didn’t we have such warnings back in the 1960s in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” with the HAL 9000 computer, and a “Star Trek” television episode in which a computer takes over the starship Enterprise?

Rule No. 1: Don’t give A.I. access to a perpetual power source.

Rule No. 2: Limit the scope of the A.I. control over our systems and our lives. At all times remember that a computer is not your mommy.

While A.I. will learn and adapt, we can help ourselves with a bit of risk management. Everything has risk — including believing that any business person is a prophet. Musk’s achievements are impressive, but let’s keep them in perspective.

Lloyd Lim

Makiki

—

McCain a hero for opposing repeal bill

U.S. Sen. John McCain, a jet-fighter pilot, was shot down during the Vietnam War and held prisoner for several years. But the then-presidential candidate, Donald Trump, was not impressed and said: “He’s not a war hero.” Such a comment from someone who used deferments to avoid the military draft is disgraceful.

But to millions of hard-working poor and middle-class people, McCain is a hero for casting the vote that killed the “skinny repeal” health care bill, passage of which would have harmed poor Americans. His “no” vote is a rejection of partisan politics and ideological purity that are used to stymie legislative progress.

McCain’s action demonstrated his deep commitment to do what’s best for the country and the American people, a virtue that most politicians don’t have.

I hope that McCain’s political gallantry will inspire the return of the traditional legislative process in which compromises are embraced for the good of the country.

Rod B. Catiggay

Mililani

—

Congress gets deal on Obamacare

The arguments about President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold Obamacare subsidies omit the process of how members of Congress obtained their own health care subsidies through Obamacare. To understand this debacle, do an internet search for “Congress receiving unconstitutional Obamacare subsidies.”

I am mad about the disconnect created by Congress, which makes laws for its members’ personal benefit. And U.S. Sen. John McCain displayed his senatorial political shrewdness by casting the deciding “no” vote on the Obamacare repeal bill, providing political protection for his Senate Republican colleagues for the 2018 mid-term elections while giving Trump a political middle finger. Under the Obama administration, he consistently voted “yes.” Nevertheless, we wish him and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono speedy recoveries.

Ed Ige

Kaneohe

—

Mauna Kea houses great tools of science

It saddens me to see one of the world’s greatest resources for discovering that which makes us what we are, being held hostage as matter of principle.

Mauna Kea and its observatories certainly do deserve respect and proper management, and as one who spent 20 years at the summit, I can assure anyone who really cares about the site that we who were a part of the best science in the world did our best to honor that mountain.

Opponents seem to embrace the ethos of, “Don’t get mad, get even,” perhaps for ancient sins real and imagined. The sad part is, Mauna Kea supports a significant part of the state’s economy and to blow one’s foot off to prove a point seems counterproductive.

It would be a tragedy to have the operators of the remaining institutions get fed up with the obstructionist mindset and leave the summit. We are now among the stars and not bound to Earth. We have come so far and Mauna Kea is part and parcel to that journey.

Ken Barton

Lebanon, Ore.