Online readers are able to respond immediately to Star-Bulletin stories through our Web forum, which can be accessed at the end of stories, editorials and columns at starbulletin.com. Below is a selection of forum comments that appeared last week. Most forum contributors use pseudonyms; their “;names”; have been omitted here.

  ”;Lingle will miss Obama meeting,”; Star-Bulletin, Nov. 27: In view of the cold shoulder that Lingle has shown toward Barack Obama all along, which intensified to outright animosity and disrespect during the height of the presidential campaign, Lingle's refusal to meet with Obama next week is not surprising.

  Pretty lame ... the race is over, time for work. And she doesn't want to show up.

  Where does it say that any governor is obligated to meet with the president-elect? So many are quick to judge that Governor Lingle purposely didn't want to meet with Barack Obama. Maybe it's true, but how would we know? This news piece is much ado about nothing, and so far, with the people Obama has chosen to lead his “;economics”; team (two former Federal Reserve chairmen), Obama has yet to do anything concrete to show the American public that he's truly serious about saving our economy.

  Once again, Lingle is putting her own self-interests ahead of the state. Our entire state's economy has been falling apart this year and yet that's no priority for her.

  I'll bet that if John McCain had invited her she would redo her schedule to accommodate the other party.

  What's so important on Lingle's schedule that she can't skip to go? This makes her look pretty pathetic and small-spirited, manini, especially since Gov. Sarah Palin is big enough to go and shake hands. Sad and shameful to hold a grudge (or even look like it), when Palin who took a lot of real scars in the race is sucking it up to deal with it.

  All you people who want Lingle to drop everything so she can meet your president-elect, is it mandatory that she do that? Her priorities are to be the governor of Hawaii, not the puppet of the new president-elect. Her presence to the meeting with Barack Obama will not change anything at all.

  ”;State examines school closures,”; Star-Bulletin, Nov. 26: Regarding the inclusion of Kohala High, Kohala Middle and Kohala Elementary on the list for possible closure: Good plan ... close the schools so the kids can sit on a bus for three hours per day! This seems to be proof that each island should be a separate district so the bozos on Oahu cannot screw up the outer islands also. Who is thinking and caring for the outer island kids?

  Yes, some small schools should be closed, but Superintendent Pat Hamamoto should not close any school until she slashes her state and district administrative staffs. Why close schools to protect administrative jobs? Hamamoto is like the CEOs of the Wall Street firms that created our economic crisis. Take care of management and let the public, shareholders and taxpayer bear the brunt of failed policies. The BOE might as well give her a big bonus and a private jet. The BOE, Hamamoto, legislators and the governor are all too concerned about their personal advancement to care about the kids and the communities. They all need to resign.

  I agree with chopping big pieces out of the administration. Another plan should be to mandate that DOE employees have to send their children to public schools. I bet then the schools would start to improve for some strange reason.

The DOE better get ready for the influx of kids who were in private school (whose families) can't afford it anymore - just when you close down some schools, that would be perfect government planning.

  Just wanted to point out that Rep. Roy Takumi's schools are way down the list on the planned phase closures. There are small schools in Pearl City just as small as the schools in Kaimuki and Waialae. Plus the schools in Kaimuki and Waialae are Blue Ribbon Schools. Many of the smaller schools are National Blue Ribbon Schools. So you want to shut down schools that continue to exceed and achieve during this age of accountability and high-stakes testing.

  All of you with Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian blood - you should get the Bishop Estate to cough up some money to the public schools based on the number of Hawaiian kids attending. You folks are being short-changed because Princess Pauahi Bishop's will did not say she only wanted to educate only a select few of the Hawaiian kids.

  ”;Ethics panel's office is burglarized,”; Star-Bulletin, Nov. 27: Regarding the state ethics office burglars who raided the refrigerator for ice cream and pie: Danno, I want you to review all the security video and look for a suspicious looking person with a weight problem. Chin, make a list of all persons who knew where the ice cream and pie were kept. Don't forget to find out the kind of pie and flavor of ice cream. Kono, I want you to squeeze Chinatown until somebody gives us the names of all the pie ala mode junkies. If you need me, I'll be in Waikiki interrogating the beautiful blonde starlet visitor of the week.

  ”;Isles' share of federal cash might not grow, experts say,”; Star-Bulletin, Nov. 28: Last month Brother Abercrombie and Uncle Dan promised that they would get federal funding to help taxpayers buy the mayor's multibillion-dollar train. This week there are no strings left to pull, no more cheery campaign promises to stand on, and probably no trains in the foreseeable future.

It will be for the best if we can stop bickering on that issue, and look at how much money and how many resources we have, and what needs to be done most.

  Military dollars are not the only source of funds. The education system, particularly UH, could get funding for projects that other institutions around the country currently receive. The important fact is that not all federal dollars are pork. There are many worthwhile projects that could head our way. Lucky for Hawaii we've got Dan Inouye and Barack Obama in Washington.