L-word dismays rail supporter

The last thing I want to hear about the rail project is the L-word: lawsuit. We have come so far with the rail in the past few years with the environmental review, the pro-rail vote and now the news that the rail budget has actually come down a few hundred million from last year.

I do not want to see some foolish lawsuit tie the project up in court. I want to see our island move forward and join the 21st century with a modern rail transportation system. Keep the L-word far away from rail.

Governor must dump fear factor

Gov. Linda Lingle's recent actions are harmful and misguided. Rebuffed by the court, her furlough of state workers by fiat was shelved. Rather than raise the excise tax a small amount, which would share the burden more equitably or dip into the rainy day fund, Lingle has had her departments begin notifying over 1,100 state workers that they would be axed—a notification crudely and callously done by voice mail and e-mail. These layoffs would do great harm to workers and their families and further undermine private sector jobs. The state should be hiring people in these bad times, not laying off its own workers.

Lingle is using fear, falsely pitting private sector against public sector, and claiming severe emergency to seek support for her misguided actions—a tactic based on her Republican ideology and anti-worker views.

Telescope will bring benefits

I was extremely pleased when I read that Hawaii has been selected as the host location for the Thirty Meter Telescope Project. Not only will the construction jobs and permanent research jobs to build and support the TMT prove to be a blessing for the local economy, but having this technology at our disposal will, as former President Bill Clinton once said, enable us to “;continue the search for answers and for knowledge that is as old as humanity itself but essential to our people's future.”;

The selection of Hawaii is proof that we can and will continue to move forward and that good things are happening every day here in Hawaii. I look forward to one day reading of the amazing discoveries that will be made with the TMT.

Public schools offer quality, too

Your article about the book “;Going Against the Grain”; (”;Going Public,”; Star-Bulletin, July 19) was much appreciated. It is refreshing to learn about a book that debunks the myth here in Hawaii that public schools are failing while private schools are succeeding. Finally the truth can be told that there are quality institutions in both public and private schools.

I would like to add my name as a parent who sent his two sons to public schools (Manoa, Kawananakoa and Roosevelt). I too ended up satisfied with the “;quality and scope of the academic and extracurricular activities, the condition of the facilities and the safety of the campuses.”;

The author refers to this “;incessant chatter”; that highlights public school shortcomings and promotes private school successes. I think the chapter on Connecting The Dots shows how much both daily newspapers have contributed to this stereotype. The media share the responsibility of perpetuating incessant chatter that has tarnished public schools.

All parents should check out both the private and public schools in their areas and then make an informed decision. They might be pleasantly surprised how good their neighborhood public school really is.

Health care plan needs more time

In response to the letters that this is no time for politics in health care reform—well, I agree but why blame it on only the Republicans? Let's put the blame where it belongs. Who is ramming bills through the House and the Senate so fast that they don't have a chance to read them? Who else but Obama , his cronies, and his special interest groups.

We want our representatives to be able to come up with a reformed health care that will help people who cannot pay and at the same time not break the rest of us and our country.