Brainstorm! Challenge

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Isle taxes actually pretty low -- for some

Based on U.S. Census reports, the Star-Bulletin (May 21) headline was "Isle state tax bill still highest." That should be no surprise since Hawaii ranks first in the nation in the cost of living. Food, clothing, housing, gasoline and almost everything else is about highest nationally.

Why should we expect our taxes to be any different? Yet Lowell Kalapa of the Tax Institute points out that our state "is in the top five or six states per capita." In fact, our total state and local taxes are below our cost of living index. Not quite a bargain?

There are better bargains: low property taxes, which benefit hotels, office towers and Wal-Mart. Low gasoline taxes help SUV owners. Our biggest bargain is our public schools, which are the most underfunded in the nation.

No bargain are our excise taxes, which Kalapa also notes are not only the highest in the nation but also cover far more services than any other state. He also reveals that excise taxes are most regressive, harming middle and low income families much harder than high income people.

Laura Manis
Honolulu

Adam and Steve? What about Cain and Abel?

The first man, Adam, was lucky.
Everyone knew he was straight.
No one confused, not even bemused
Until he was pushed through the gate.
The second man was his son
We don't know that much of him
He had a brother, perhaps not his lover
But his brother, did nobody love him?
The third man, that unloved sibling
Went off and married some woman
Of some folks near his home, heretofore unknown
And then suddenly there when we need them.
At that point the story gets muddy
Beleaguered by begats by the dozen
We hear of the names, but not much of fame
And what of those Cain-gotten cousins?
So, where in this story is Adam and Steve?
They've been here since then it is obvious.
You would think it would say that one kid was gay
And take the pressure right off of us.

Brent Kincaid
Lihue, Kauai

Heftel's media talk raised many points

I welcome Alf Pratte's commentary ("Public must take back its airwaves," Insight, Star-Bulletin, May 9) on Cec Heftel's recent talk at the Honolulu Community Media Council.

I, too, attended the event. Heftel's premise was that media conglomeration in "The Age of Murdoch" means that now 80 percent of the media basically portray one editorial point of view. As a result, the public's perception on issues of grave importance is not balanced.

Among many of the examples Heftel gave were:

>> Why is there no massive outrage about the billions of tax dollars in nonbid contracts for Iraq reconstruction awarded to Halliburton and Bechtel?

>> And, as yet another example of deregulation gone awry, Heftel mentioned that the savings and loan scandal was among the largest thefts in history and Neil Bush, the president's brother, was never charged for his role in it.

A recent poll pointed out that two-thirds of our troops serving in Iraq still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11. Given that degree of disinformation among so many of our troops, the recent disclosure of the atrocities committed under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's watch become even more egregious.

A democracy is predicated on an informed electorate, and it is up to its citizens to ensure that transparency can cut through spin. Heftel made it clear that this role belongs to an independent media, now more than ever. It really is the American way.

Karin Gill
Honolulu

Radio-wave regulation has outlived its use

The mathematician Claude Shannon proved in the 1940s that the amount of information that can be transmitted by radio waves is virtually unlimited. The problem is that the regulatory framework for electronic communication was established in the 1920s and 1930s, when radio technology was primitive.

While the laws may have had some benefit in those early days, the main effect of creating the "public airwaves" doctrine and regulation was to create an artificial scarcity of radio spectrum. This led to the creation of artificial values for broadcast "licenses" (many of which are held by government entities such as the military) to the detriment of new technologies. The holders of these licenses have a vested interest in keeping their monopolies on radio spectrum. At the time the regulations were created, the main concern was the technical one of preventing interference between users. Advances in the last 80 years have created technical solutions to this problem, but our archaic regulatory structure is preventing their rapid deployment. It should come as no surprise that the most exciting advances are occurring with services such as wireless internet (WiFi) that use so-called unlicensed radio spectrum.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell understands these realities and the potential technology has for improving America's future. Unfortunately, the vested interests will have to be dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming.

Scott Smart
Mililani

Did U.S. lose morality to win the war?

Americans may be learning once again the lesson from Vietnam that power does not come from the barrel of a gun, but from morality. We should all seriously ask ourselves about the morality of the war in Iraq.

David Cheever
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] The ponds at the state Capitol are full of icky green stuff. What, besides holding an election, can we do to get rid of all that scum at the Big Square Building? Or should we just replace the ponds with something else? Tell us what you think, whether you know of a way to clean the ponds or if you'd rather see a remodel of the Capitol grounds. Anything would be an improvement. Send your ideas by June 16 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or by mail: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Or by fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750