Letters to the Editor
Medicare solution isn't the right solution
Regarding Rep. Galen Fox's April 3 Island Voices ("Long-term care: There's a better way"): He offers a proposed solution — Medicare. Who is proposing it? Isn't Medicare a tax? If the Medicare proposal taxes only those over 65 — a high-risk population — the premiums will most probably be higher than the state-proposed program of $10 a month.
Doesn't Rep. Fox know that when a person receives Medicaid, a lien is put on his home and when he moves out or dies, the lien is collected on the sale of the house up to the state expenditure for his care?
Doesn't he know that the state-proposed long-term-care financing program also includes a tax credit for those who have or will purchase private insurance?
Rep. Fox's proposal is very similar to the state program in intent, but it is unlikely to ever see the light of day. With war expenses and concerns, when, if ever, will a national program go through the byzantine process of congressional approval?
The fact of the matter is that the proposed state long-term-care program will do what Rep. Fox says of his Medicare solution — to help the 85 percent of families who care for their patients at home but will do it sooner and with more benefit to state businesses, to the people and to the state Medicaid problem.
Laura G. Manis
Legislative chair, Coalition for Affordable Long Term Care
Without God, we would lose strength
In response to the April 9 commentary "Keep God out of our policy" by David Shapiro: I believe that it's people like this writer who cause disunity in our nation.
The Founding Fathers raised our nation on a Christian foundation. President Bush is just emulating the leadership qualities of our Founding Fathers.
Now, we may voice our opinions, but once our leadership makes the difficult decision of moving forward, our role is to put aside our personal views and come into agreement. If we are to remain united, we must follow our president willingly, even if he, as Shapiro stated, "thumps his Bible at every turn."
As a family trusts a father, we, too, must trust that the Lord has given our leaders insight that we would never have.
History tells us that there will be times when peace is gained only by sacrifice. It happened in the birth of our country when so many gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy. It took place when the Nazi regime attempted the genocide of the Jewish people. Peace came only because other countries stepped in on what was to them "foreign soil."
For this I commend Bush for his decision in attaining peace. Without God in our policies, our nation wouldn't be the strong nation it is today. If God were to lift his hand off our nation, I can scarce think what may happen.
Amy Cordeiro
Claim of 'victory' in Iraq premature
I am writing in response to Charles Krauthammer's recent commentary in which he claims victory in Iraq ("A message to the totalitarians"). It's early and presumptuous for hawks to claim victory when there is still fighting going on in Iraq. Once the fighting is over, a new government is set up and the country is reconstructed, then we can begin to assess whether this was a "victory."
Against Krauthammer's claims will have to be weighed all the Iraqi and American dead, the cost to the American taxpayer, the outrage of the rest of the world and potential terrorist attacks inspired by this invasion.
Deborah Smith
Waimanalo
Too many problems remain besides fighting
So what is victory?
If this war were about ensuring that Iraqis are fed, clothed, healthy and secure, hundreds of thousands are still in serious jeopardy.
If this war were about bringing democracy to the Iraqi people, we haven't even begun that project.
If it were about removing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, we haven't found any.
If it were about reducing the threat of terrorism, we've done nothing — except perhaps to fan the flames of Muslim fundamentalism.
If it were about stabilizing the region, right now, there is increased instability.
And if it were about bringing the world together to address threats to our security, we've clearly done the opposite.
Only if the war were about taking Saddam out of power — and literally nothing else — did last week's events signal victory.
Marilyn Mick
Women's commission must be supported
I just read that the state Commission on the Status of Women has been cut out of the state budget. I strongly oppose this.
This very small office produces remarkable projects and participates and takes leadership in economic and social studies that have been instrumental in understanding the status of women in Hawai'i. Many, many community agencies and individuals use this information, and legislators look to the commission in areas of women's and girls' equality.
The state should be proud to support equality for women, and with our first woman governor, support for women should increase. Not only is there inequity in pay for women but lack of equality in representation in the state and local governments.
The commission is committed to improving this situation.
Unfortunately, we need this commission, and I know many women in Hawai'i are committed to assisting in these efforts. Please support equality and provide the needed funds to keep the commission going. This cannot be left to chance. Support the state Commission on the Status of Women.
Mary Jo Sweeney
Kaua'i
Remember tax increase at the next elections
Sens. Rosalyn Baker, Kalani English and Shan Tsutsui continue to salute the "good old boys status quo network" mantra and march in line, chanting: "Tax, two, three, four, tax, two, three, four; hey, let's burden our 'ohana some more!"
Any thought of loyalty to the people who worked on their campaigns and voted for them is out the window when their multiple-personality Democratic leaders give them their marching orders — they leap!
Now they are supporting an amendment to HB 1554, which could raise taxes in Maui County. Is this what you asked of your representative?
Since they have forgotten us, maybe you'll have to forget the esteemed Kalani, Roz and Shan at the '04 and '06 polling center. Better yet, call them now and tell them you'll forget about them in the future.
Star Fernandez-Patterson
Ha'iku, Maui
Tobacco fund must not be tampered with
Your April 7 editorial "Leave tobacco funds 'where they're at' " was a welcome sight for health advocates' tired eyes. The Legislature is blurring our children's future when it goes after Hawai'i's Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund in Senate Bill 1305 by reducing the tobacco trust fund's allocation from 12.5 percent to 10 percent.
About 15,000 of all high school students in Hawai'i are smokers. This dangerous, addictive practice is further fueled by the onslaught of devious marketing ploys from the tobacco industry.
The tobacco industry is estimated to spend $41.5 million a year in Hawai'i promoting its deadly product. And deadly it is. Last year, more than 1,100 people in Hawai'i died from smoking-related illnesses. And overall, lung cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian and Pacific Island men and women.
As you correctly noted, the Legislature halved the tobacco trust fund's cut from 25 percent to 12.5 percent in 2001 to help pay for the new University of Hawai'i Medical School building. While many can rationalize the potential health benefits that will emanate from such a transfer of funds, it is clear that a further reduction of the tobacco settlement funds will only serve to compromise the future health of Hawai'i's children.
Tobacco cessation is both a health and economic issue. States that have implemented comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs have seen dramatic results.
Brian Issell
President, American Cancer Society
The great pothole detector
I would like to add my voice to Clark Himeda's (Letters, April 11) for repaving our streets, and I have the perfect pothole detector: the radio in my car.
The radio in my car annoyingly cuts out and shuts off whenever I'm jolted by one of Honolulu's country-road potholes. There isn't a main street in Honolulu I can drive down without my radio going silent mid-song or mid-news report as I listen to my car's suspension clunk and creak as it takes another hard blow from a King Street pothole or the Kapi'olani ripple beds and my passengers listen to a few choice words.
You name the street and my radio has found the potholes: King, Kapi'olani, Ala Moana, Dillingham, Salt Lake Boulevard, any Kam Highway, Nimitz, Farrington Highway, Kane'ohe Bay Drive.
I would really recommend that car manufacturers send their cars and trucks to Honolulu for road testing. I'm more then willing to let them borrow my car and its radio to find the best streets for testing. Honolulu can get some free advertising when Ford, GM, Mercedes and Toyota advertise their cars have been tested on the streets of Honolulu.
Every Mainland and foreign tourist can vouch for that testimonial and buy those vehicles ... "Tested on the streets of Honolulu"!
Sam Gillie
Lingle is on the judicial hot seat
Your article on the Judicial Selection Commission's recommendations to Gov. Lingle for appointment to the state Supreme Court remarks that the governor will have the opportunity to appoint someone who shares her view that "the court shouldn't take on the role of the Legislature by making new law." Similarly, her media adviser is quoted as saying that "she wants somebody who's going to interpret the law in a fair way and doesn't make law." And Randy Roth, her "senior policy adviser," said, "She's not looking at this in political terms."
But in this country, judicial appointments, particularly to a supreme court, are fundamental political decisions (yes, my judicial appointments were all political), and part and parcel of the issue is the question whether a candidate for appointment is seen as one who will follow existing principles (merely interpreting the law) or engage in "political activism" and "make" law.
That has always been a stormy question in our society, particularly on the national level. Witness the national debate over whether and for what reasons judicial confirmations have been stalled by both sides over the past several years.
In Hawai'i, the issue of judicial activism has particular application to matters concerning Native Hawaiian rights. The PASH decision rendered by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in 1992 firmly established that the traditional and customary gathering practices of Native Hawaiians exist as a fundamental part of the laws governing private property in Hawai'i. The decision interpreted and applied statutory laws and historic legal principles long extant but not applied in the manner established in that case.
When the decision was rendered, however, a large segment of the development and business communities denounced it bitterly. And one University of Hawai'i law professor in particular was vehemently opposed to the decision. Particularly strident was the argument that the PASH decision is a glaringly egregious example of judicial activism; that the court did not merely interpret the law but fashioned the protection for Native Hawaiian gathering rights virtually out of whole cloth.
In deciding who to nominate from the list forwarded to her, the governor must give strong consideration to the candidates' philosophy and reasoning on Native Hawaiian issues. She must consider which candidate's background and thinking will continue to provide the most protection for those rights. Will her nominee follow the line of cases dealing with Hawaiian issues or discard them as aberrations created by judicial activists?
During the last election campaign, indeed for the preceding four years, the governor cast herself as the champion of Native Hawaiian rights. In making her decision, which will she consider the more important "political" question — judicial activism, or her campaign for governor? And if that ain't politics, then "God didn't make little green apples" and we didn't have a state election last November.
Walter M. Heen
