Health care law must be saved

I am appalled to hear that one of the first things the U.S. House Republicans intend to do is to repeal the recently enacted health care law.

I cannot understand why they want to subject American families to the inequities and harsh consequences of the prior system.

Those of us in Hawaii are fortunate to have the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care law. I was fortunate that Hawaii law does not allow insurers to deny health coverage for pre-existing conditions. This is one of the major changes at the federal level that the Republican House intends to repeal.

If I had lived in a state that allows insurers to deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition, I would not have been covered when I became seriously ill three years ago. I don’t know how I would have paid for my treatment if I had no insurance.

All those who vote to repeal the law should voluntarily relinquish their government-provided health care. Otherwise they are hypocrites.

Oh happy day, GOP is back

Jan. 5, 2011, was a glorious day for our republic.

It was the day that the headlong plunge of our country into socialism and bankruptcy was temporarily halted.

The Republicans have moved from the back seat into the shotgun seat next to our president. The Pelosi-Reid cabal is at last brought down to an equal standing with the Republican Party.

Now, it is time for the tea party-backed candidates to back up their campaign promises and bring us back to sanity.

The Democrats call the reading of the Constitution in the House of Representatives a Republican fetish. They should have had the same fetish for reading the health care bill.

Have prisoners clear out ditches

Seems like every year during the wet months we hear the same old cries of how the ditches on Oahu are overgrown and not being maintained by the state or the county — all of which causes flooding and damage to surrounding areas.

This could be eliminated by simply giving the Halawa prisoners the job of circling the island several times a year to keep all such ditches and waterways cleared of vegetation and other junk.

When visiting California and several other states, I noticed prisoners cleaning areas such as harbors and parks. Why not here, so as to earn some of their keep? Yeah, I know: the unions.

Use rail money to build schools

Great article on the new Ewa Makai Middle School.

And, wow, it only cost $67 million to construct!

The state and county governments should come together and take the heavy rail project monies and redirect the $5.4 billion toward rebuilding schools.

At $67 million a pop, we could rebuild half of the public schools on the island.

That would employ four times as many construction workers as the rail project — all local labor, over a time period twice as long.

Nearly 200,000 children and school personnel would benefit. That as opposed to, at most, 20,000 people who might bother to use the train.

DOE needs to put students first

I am appalled and disappointed that schools superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi is considering asking for an exemption to the start date of the new law that mandates a minimum number of instruction hours in our public schools.

Matayoshi admits she doesn’t know how to make this happen by the next school year. She is using scare tactics, saying winter break and other holidays will have to be sacrificed to add more instruction time.

This is nonsense. Most schools on the mainland are able to fit the necessary hours within their school calendars. The new Hawaii law was designed to fit within the existing seven-hour school day, with five to five-and-a-half hours of instruction time. Bowing down to the unions once again shows that the state Department of Education administrators are not willing to fight for the students.

What Matayoshi should be saying is that this law is long overdue and she will do whatever she can to make this happen. Are we going to put our public school students first, or is it going to be business as usual with the unions calling the shots? I am hoping that the new appointed Board of Education members will put our kids first.