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.

  ”;HawTel seeks bankruptcy protection,”; Star-Bulletin, Dec. 2: Hawaii's need to be self-sufficient should also include a local phone company, which Hawaiian Telcom is not. The most secure and cheapest phone communication is land line and not cordless. Cable VOIP and wireless providers are not secure and are prone to the gimmicks of their market. Let's hope at least that Hawaiian Telcom survives this.

  What the public probably doesn't know is that Hawaiian Telcom has to provide services to its competitors below the actual cost of the service so that they can compete with Hawaiian Telcom. So how can Hawaiian Telcom compete while it is actually losing money in this part of its business? Also, as a PUC-regulated company, Hawaiian Telcom can implement nothing without prior PUC approval while other companies are allowed to proceed without any approval.

  The governor and her advisers should take a much more active role in HawTelCom's demise, because a shutdown will severely affect almost every business in the state. The repercussions will be much more damaging than meets the eye! It will affect not just (parent company) Carlyle's customers, but all other communications providers because a majority of their services utilize Hawaiian TelCom networks.

  ”;Electric car proposal has state charged up,”; Star-Bulletin, Dec. 3: This is a brilliant idea. Perfect for the paradise that is Hawaii. I would suggest that the new car be provided with a solar panel in the roof. I used solar panels to charge the batteries on my sailboat and did not require electrical charging for several years.

  With HECO being the single provider of power for the recharging stations, it will need to increase capacity many-fold. Anytime HECO needs to buy new equipment, it heads over to the friendly PUC, which rubber stamps its request for a rate increase to pay for the improvements. That is a rate increase all of us will pay to allow some people to drive their $40K vehicle. I don't believe this is the rosy picture the gov and the vendor would have us think it is.

  It is good that Hawaii is exploring electric car use and the use of alternative energy sources. It is false to say that electric cars will decrease Hawaii's dependence on oil. Most of the electricity generation here is from oil-fired power plants. With an electric car you are just introducing inefficiencies into the system. You lose energy when you burn the oil to produce electricity, and you lose energy when you transmit that power through the power lines. The batteries eventually go bad and need to be disposed of or recycled. It would be greener to just make more fuel efficient cars.

  ”;City Council passes bill to ban texting while driving,”; Star-Bulletin, Dec. 4: (This is a) half-hearted attempt to solve a growing problem. The use of cell phones while operating a vehicle should be banned.

  How can you differentiate between a person making a call and texting? It's amazing how our politicians have the insight to come up with such an unenforceable law. Why not allow drivers to use cell phones only with hands-free devices like California does?

  The military in Hawaii has successfully banned the use of cell phones while driving any vehicle on base. That seems like a sensible way to go. It would make the roads safer and it would be easy for the cops to enforce. If the City Council wants to make the streets safer it should pass a law making it against the law for the police not to enforce the law against running red lights. That makes more sense than a law banning texting. All joking aside, running of red lights is a problem that the Council and the police need to take on.

  ”;Governor put politics before isle concerns,”; Star-Bulletin editorial, Dec. 5: I have provided some work on the state budget due in a little more than two weeks. It is a serious situation. Get upset all you want now, but when a (budget) is announced you'll be very happy our governor is working day and night to get it balanced and not drop services. I understand all the meetings (last week) were part of this process. Auwe, time to understand, and be pleased the governor didn't punt her responsibilities. Oh, and did you see that our state sold bonds, while New Jersey and other states couldn't. This didn't happen by accident.

  If John McCain had been elected president, Lingle probably would still be on the mainland celebrating. That would've been followed by a quick trip to Hawaii to give Duke some instructions and then back to the mainland to prepare for the inaugural ball. But the McCain bubble burst, so now she has locked herself in her room to have a tantrum.

  Most of Hawaii voters are too akamai about the governor's political tactics and when it's time for her to run for the other office she is seeking after her term is up (Akaka's or Inouye's seats in the Senate), we'll remember what she did to us in 2008.

  What was gained from this 85-minute meeting with the president-elect and 48 other governors? What did these governors walk away with that will benefit their states? Gov. Lingle gave valid reasons for not going. She was not obligated to meet with the president-elect. The president, and certainly a president-elect, are not royalty, where their “;beck and call”; has to be heeded.