Lower bus fares and raise parking fees

I'd bet that if the bus fares weren't so high, more people would use the bus. It costs my wife and me $8 to take the bus from Waikiki to Aloha Tower and back. If we take the car on the same trip, it comes out to a little over $2 after validating parking and gas. It doesn't pay to take the bus.

To remedy this, I say that we should lower bus fares and raise parking fees. For every full bus there would be about 25 fewer cars on the road. Use the hike in parking fees to subsidize the bus company if that is necessary. It should be no more than $1, one-way, per person in bus fare. Until something like this happens, the buses will stay mostly empty and hundreds of unnecessary vehicles will remain on the road.

Perhaps we could use some of the parking fees to put into the essentially one-time fee of bike lanes. To have a bona fide bike lane system would also help.

Listen to Rush, not to those pesky scientists

I'm astonished at the audacity of the National Academy of Sciences' brazen contradiction of the world's self-proclaimed most brilliant intellect -- i.e., Rush Limbaugh -- with its recent report amplifying its previous reports about global warming. For years, Limbaugh has ridiculed this preposterous theory, which is based merely on overwhelming evidence that carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning is trapping re-radiated heat energy and raising global temperatures.

True, recorded temperatures, both atmospheric and oceanic, are rising; polar glaciers are melting; permafrost zones are shrinking; and biological systems are changing. But what are these trivial facts weighed against the opinion of history's most popular radio talk-show host? Can these pointy-headed climatologists seriously believe that their meticulous scientific observations should outweigh the rantings of a former disk jockey, college dropout and closet junkie?

As he has in the past, when he dodged the military draft and cheered the Vietnam War from the sidelines, Rush is doing his patriotic duty, exposing our enemies, foreign and domestic, denouncing the perversion of science to validate bad ecological news.

President Bush deserves our gratitude for agreeing with Limbaugh. Our economic prosperity depends on ignoring the scientific facts about global warming. The greatest crime anyone can commit is to ask Americans to think.

HECO unfair to give Leeward discount

HECO is planning to build a new plant on the Leeward side of Oahu and giving a 7 percent credit to all in the 96707 zip code for 10 years. Does this seem fair? HECO has been raising our bills substantially under the guise of "Energy Cost Adjustment," which is really a fuel surcharge. I am sure everyone who received their last month's electric bill discovered this increase even as we are trying hard to reduce our costs.

Now with this new plan for crediting a group of people in a certain area, we all will certainly be paying for this credit by even higher charges. The rationale is faulty. It's based on the residents living in 96707 having to put up with the unsightly plant, but they have been looking on similar structures within the Campbell Industrial Complex for decades.

What is it about one more plant that allows HECO to rob Peter to pay Paul? Are we just going to sit back and take it?

You're in pretty good company, Michelle

Sunday was a difficult day for Michelle Wie, but remember Retief Goosen who won the U.S. Open twice -- he shot the same final day score a few weeks ago, so she is in respectable company.

Michelle, there's nowhere to go but up! And Hawaii loves and supports you, especially me.

Imua!

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