Feds should require mortgage rate rollback

Why should the taxpayers take responsibility for the Wall Street losses when all we have to do is:

a) roll back the law passed by Congress in 1999 and signed into law by former President Bill Clinton, and

b) pass another law to force the lenders to roll back the payments and rates to the original amounts for the next 10 years.

In doing so, it would save most of the owners from losing their homes and would not have to bail out anyone and save $700 billion to the taxpayers. This would keep the federal government from going deeper into debt than it already is.

Wall Street donors control politicians

The loudest voices in Congress calling for a taxpayer bail out of Wall Street get an awful lot their campaign contributions from, you guessed it, Wall Street and its cohorts.

Go to http://www.opensecrets.org, which tracks political money, and check out Sens. Christopher Dodd and Richard Shelby, the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, their counterparts in the House, Reps. Barney Frank and Spencer Bachus, to say nothing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader John Boehner. The site has a lot more data relevant to the current crisis.

Of course, the pols invariably say they're not influenced by contributions. On the other hand, if ever there was a time when Wall Street energetically started calling in its chits, it'd be this week.

Taxpayers should see proposal before vote

I believe transparency should have the utmost priority in this proposed bailout. If the taxpayers are responsible for fixing this mess, they should have a full and uncompromising view of the language in any proposed bailout.

Congress must unite or taxpayers will revolt

Whether you are for the bailout or not, the issue today is unity within the American democratic process and the American people. Our democratic system is failing badly! Failure of the Congress to achieve consensus on this issue is a travesty. The politicians said at the beginning that this is a nonpartisan issue, that the good of the country is their concern. The speaker of the House, the supposed leader of her party, could not even deliver enough votes to carry this issue to majority. Talk about a weak, divided Congress!

Their failure to gain a consensus on this issue, whether it passes or not, has left hard-working men and women, many of whom barely get by, watching their retirement accounts and savings slowly dwindle in value. Is that taking care of the country and putting it first? Is that taking care of your constituents? Come November, whoever is up for re-election should be wary, it is time for a revolt by the taxpayers, not against the banks or Wall Street, but against those who say they are for us and cannot come to agreement with each other for the sake of the country they are serving.

Precious time wasted waiting for Hauula bus

Five days a week, I'll catch the city bus from Sunset Beach back to Hauula and almost every day is a disappointment. There's always one bus that has the sign “;Not In Service”; passing by us and we end up waiting for the next bus, which is almost never on time.

I wonder why the people living in Kahuku get special treatment. Why can't TheBus think of a better way to serve the community? I don't think it's a good idea to have one empty bus go all the way from the bus depot just to pick up the school kids in Kahuku and not the school kids from Sunset and other areas. There were at least two days last week when we had to wait for more than one hour for the bus.

The situation will get worse because there'll be more tourists going to visit the North Shore this winter. I wonder if anyone will do anything for us who lost the precious time in our lives.

McCain's VP choice defies explanation

I can't fully comprehend the reasoning behind John McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. Until he chose her, I really thought that McCain would be a legitimate opposition against Barack Obama. Now I dread the day that McCain is president of the U.S. with Palin at his side.

Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate is much more practical and rational.