Teachers union has misplaced priorities

As I read the news about Hawaii leading the nation in the failure rate for the Army exam, I feel the most important thing to remember is that the teachers union is doing a fine job of protecting the rights and working conditions of its members.

It also must be commended for deflecting responsibility to the former administration for any failures in the system.

I’m so thankful that we now have a governor who can work together with our union leadership.

Interisland shipping needs competition

Pretty soon it will cost more to ship travel interisland than to the mainland. It also should be mentioned that the projected 14 percent rate-of-return profits will go to Young Brothers’ Seattle-based parent company.

The Public Utilities Commission could inspire even more competition if it approves Young Brothers’ rate increase request: Neighbor island farmers and ranchers deliberately ship surplus product to the overpopulated Oahu market, where farmers and ranchers don’t grow or raise enough and developers want to plant houses on the land. But akamai Oahu consumers won’t pay for overpriced "local" product, and tourists know they can eat McDonald’s Happy Meals, for a week, if the restaurants charge too much.

Long story short: The rate increase will inspire an interisland food shipping market collapse, Young Brothers will go out of business (because it cannot sustain its Seattle-based parent company’s shipping rate of return) and Matson will import more food from the U.S. mainland.

Maybe state senators should weigh in and represent their respective county’s free-trade common interests.

Media should suggest solutions to problems

The negative finding that Hawaii has an extremely high level of chromium 6 in its water supply is highly informative. Why can’t the news media also report on possible solutions to the problems, such as better filters in our water system and home purification systems? Report problems, but also take the time to provide potential solutions, too.

More laws not needed to prevent data theft

State Sen. Mike Gabbard’s idea to punish state agencies for data breaches helps me coin a new phrase: "okole in reverse."

Laws already on the books exist to cover data hacking. If some cyber criminal hacks into government computers to steal data—any data—isn’t that a felony already? And if done across state lines, isn’t that a federal felony? Further, if someone takes personal data, isn’t that covered by the privacy and security act?

Stop gabbing about yet another law and enforce what we have on the books, and spend time finding more effective ways for the state to spend fewer of our precious tax dollars.

Rail project will put people back to work

It’s great news for our construction industry that Gov. Neil Abercrombie has accepted the rail environmental impact statement after such a long delay by the previous administration.

The rail project is now on the verge of delivering a tremendous economic lift to Hawaii’s struggling economy. Rail can put more than 4,000 people back to work soon, and will employ about 10,000 people on average each year of construction.

Every Hawaii resident whom rail construction puts back on the job is one more person paying the rent or mortgage, shopping at local stores, paying taxes and contributing to Hawaii’s economy.