Lingle clearly favors native rights

Gov. Linda Lingle is being very much misunderstood in the matter of her stance relative to the ceded lands. She points out that during the overthrow certain legal requirements were not followed, rendering the state's claims to the land just as foggy as Hawaiian claims. Until that legal tangle can be unwound, neither the state nor the Hawaiians can get clear title.

Those are the cold facts, and have nothing to do with her or anybody else's opinion. Her stance is clearly shown by her statement that in her opinion, the Hawaiians are morally deserving of the lands. That means that if she could do anything about those foggy claims, she would push for Hawaiian rights! So why is she being vilified?

High cost of electricity darkens holiday lights

The majority of us senior citizens who are on fixed incomes feel the same pain as the jobless and the people having to take pay cuts. The increasing cost of utilities, especially electricity and water bills, which are necessities, and sewage charges affects all of us.

If nothing is done to lower the cost of these utilities we will have a dark Christmas without lights. As for us, I will turn the lights on Christmas Day and not two weeks before like we used to.

We need to improve emergency care

According to a new report card released by the nation's emergency physicians, Hawaii received a grade of C+ (Star-Bulletin, Dec.9). The state needs more capacity for its patients, ranking among the worst states in the nation with regard to our lack of ICU beds and daily hospital occupancy rate.

In addition, Hawaii fails to maintain a statewide trauma registry with the current trauma system depending entirely on a single institution. The state does not require reporting for hospital-based infections, which limits oversight and the coordinated planning and response for hospitals in the state.

The chances are good that someday soon you, or someone you love, will need emergency care. Why wait until you need it to find out what it's lacking?

Especially at these times, it is important to urge members of Congress to make emergency patients a top priority in any health-care reform legislation. Additionally, legislators at the state level should ensure that systems are in place to protect this crucial safety net for residents in a comprehensive manner.

Blue bin was dandy, will green be handy?

The more I think about it, the more I'm OK with Kaneohe not being on the recycled trash pickup route. Our blue trash bin provided by the city a few years ago has come in quite handy. My husband designed an upstairs laundry chute, with the blue bin located directly underneath.

I wonder what we could do if we get the green bin next.

Money men forgot lesson on Adam Smith

Exactly 232 years ago, in a classic work on economic theory, appeared the following warning: “;Though the principles of the banking trade may appear somewhat abstruse, the practice is capable of being reduced to strict rules. To depart on any occasion from these rules, in flattering speculation of extraordinary gain, is almost always extremely dangerous, and frequently fatal to the banking company that attempts it.”;

If the CEOs of Citicorp, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and a host of others had heeded Adam Smith's warning in “;The Wealth of Nations,”; we would have avoided the financial meltdown threatening our economy.

Congress should reveal where money went

I'm responding to an article that wasn't - one that tells taxpayers about the bailouts' total cost and the plan for spending it - other than “;trust us bureaucrats”; to spend it.

I write, because I just found the $700 billion bailout blew past $5 trillion in October, and today is at least $6.5 trillion - enough to give every infant, child, adolescent and adult on planet Earth $1,000 for Christmas. The share of that cost held by every member of your family exceeds $20,000 each.)

It's as though political science has squeezed out any understanding of real science, including economics, e.g. rationalizing today's spending binge by using the prior Chrysler bailout “;success.”;

It wasn't. Its small size - $0.0012 trillion - just kept its damage unnoticeable while it let out-of-touch auto executives stay in power until, like salmon, they returned to their spawning grounds for more. It let them and union leaders build galactic union retirement benefits both knew would take a federal bailout to pay. Instead of reorganizing when America's economy was stronger, it was kept alive, with problems growing, to explode at the worst possible time. For other auto companies, it made relying on a federal bailout an attractive alternative to changing their executives.

Why care? Because serious investors will not reinvest the money we pulled from the market (cutting your IRA value in half) until voters force Congress to explain and control the politically administered slush fund it created without telling us - a fund that makes reliance on serious economic theory useless.

There's no room for complacency at the top

Whatever goes up must eventually come down. The moral of that tenet is: No matter how high up we might go, we shouldn't flap our wings mightily to blow some “;hot air”; down to the people below.

Also, we should not crow too loudly, to challenge and dare the people down on earth to come up and “;beat us if you can,”; because one fine day, some people might just do that.

Put another way, it's tough to reach the top, but oftentimes it gets even tougher to maintain that top position. Eternal vigilance without complacency is a prime requisite to stay on top.

Government ought to buy Makena site

Not far from the hustle and bustle of Kihei town is another world altogether, known as Makena. It could be one of the most beautiful, pristine beaches in Hawaii if not the world.

A mile long and 100 yards wide at points, the beach is set against a backdrop of native forest. It is magnificent Maui. The Makena area is home to endangered sea life and flora, exceptional scenic beauty, superlative public recreation, and rich cultural and historic significance.

Unfortunately, Makena is threatened by 800 ultra-luxury homes to be developed by builder Dowling Company Inc. and land owner Morgan Stanley called Makena Resort. The community will have private golf courses, private beach clubs and private gates sealing off the area, all in contradiction to the Kihei-Makena community plan.

Gov. Linda Lingle, in a bid to protect the North Shore of Oahu from developers, proposed the state buy Turtle Bay, one of the last natural beach areas on the island. For a similar reason, preserving and sharing wild Hawaii for generations to come, the government in partnership with others should acquire as much of the Makena area from Morgan Stanley as is feasible.

Sydney system gives rail riders pause

Sydney, Australia, has a steel-on-steel rail system. Our initial impression was good because the rail car was new. Later, in using the system for intra-city travel, we saw most car walls marred with graffiti and windows etched with the same. In the suburban area, sides of the tracks were littered and the squealing of the rails was irritating - more so to people who endure that several times a day as trains pass their homes.

Is that Honolulu's future? Panos Prevedouros' excellent column (”;Gathering Place,”; Dec. 2) includes a list of questions that should be answered to ensure we get the rail system we want. Let's include those questions in petitions to the mayor, City Council and city director of transportation services and request them to answer so we know each has been fully considered prior to starting any construction.

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