‘Occupy’ folks get special treatment
It would appear that all the homeless need do to ensure not being rousted from city parks and other public spaces is to claim membership in the "Occupy Honolulu" movement.
I’m not advocating either group be allowed to thumb their nose at the law, but talk about a double standard!
Michael O’Hara
Kaneohe
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National health care actually less costly
Those who oppose national health care say countries with socialized health care such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Australia and Canada have exceedingly high taxes to pay for their health care.
Maybe so. But our taxes in America are actually higher.
How is that? Because if you pay health insurance premiums of $200 to $500 dollars a month you are actually paying a tax. Add that on to your regular income taxes and what do you get? Higher taxes than those "evil" socialists. And did you know that, for instance, in Australia, you can get additional private health care on top of your government health care for $100 a month?
Many people who oppose national health care have a financial interest in keeping the status quo. Our health care system is an expensive mess. Don’t buy the argument that we are better off being privatized.
Where are the polls stating the opinions of the citizens of countries with national health care?
Arthur Reppun
Kaneohe
Hirono’s voting record progressive
Al Braidwood perceptively identified some shortcomings of Mazie Hirono as a potential opponent to Linda Lingle for the U.S. Senate seat made available on the retirement of Sen. Daniel Akaka ("Can Hirono beat Lingle?" Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 2).
Indeed, Hirono ran a truly lackluster 2002 campaign that resulted in eight lean years under Lingle. Can Hawaii’s Democrats afford to make the same mistake twice?
But that’s only half of the Democratic voter’s dilemma. Hirono’s opponent in the primary, Ed Case, has a record as a blue-dog Democrat in his short tenure in Congress. I’d vote for Case over Lingle in a heartbeat, but do we really want as Hawaii’s second senator a Democrat often siding with Sen. Mitch McConnell’s slash-and-burn Republicans?
Hirono’s performance in Congress thus far is unspectacular, for sure. But her voting record is consistently progressive. And that may be just what these parlous times require.
David Polhemus
Manoa
Rail construction could take forever
The 200-yard-long Kinau Street offramp reconstruction has been going on for two or three years. I lost count but I experience the daily traffic jams. Can somebody in the city or state administrations assure me that construction of the fixed-rail system will be finished this century?
Ulrich K. Stams
Kahala