Coach McMackin should be fired

Polls seem to indicate the majority of us think no action should have been taken against University of Hawaii football coach Greg McMackin other than a reprimand, and most of the rest of us believe the sanctions levied were about right.

Would we still hold those opinions if he had used the N-word three times in a press conference to criticize a group of students instead of the F-word? I don't think so. Why the difference? I believe it's because many of us are still uneasy about treating homosexuals as equals. McMackin is the highest-paid state employee, making over $1 million a year, not including perks, and many other state employees who make a lot less would have been dismissed for the same infraction.

This is going to be a recurring embarrassment not only for the coach, but also for the university and the state. I believe McMackin is truly sorry for what he said, but he represents more than just himself. He should go.

Coach's salary is too costly

Dave Reardon's column (”;Mack must improve mouth management,”; Star-Bulletin, July 31) should have been on the front page, rather than on Page 63. He hit the nail on the head. There are many of us who didn't know how much Coach Greg McMackin was being paid, probably because we didn't pay attention. However, now many of us do know, and we find it an obscenity; $1 million, while the rest of the university is planning to cut jobs, cut down on programs and academic courses.

Sports activities at the University of Hawaii are a vital part of the community. Jim Donovan appears to be excellent as head of the Athletic Department. But none of this adds up to a million-dollar contract for anyone.

As for McMackin's behavior: Reardon stated the case better than I could. What do you think of tying the head coach's salary to that of the university president? No one should make more than the UH president.

Medicare will cost us all dearly

One of Harvard's finest, Paul Krugman, Ph.D., defended President Barack Obama's plan to expand the government role in delivering national health care (”;Health reform is not radical,”; Star-Bulletin, Aug. 2). The good professor argued that those against this proposal ignore the wonderful job that Medicare—government-funded health care—is doing for millions of senior citizens.

For some reason, this brilliant economist, champion of all things liberal (or progressive, whatever that means), neglects to mention the fact that Medicare has close to $40 trillion in unfunded liabilities (meaning future costs for which there are no funds or projected funding sources). Unless taxes are raised drastically, Medicare costs, in the form of national debt, will hit our economy like a great big asteroid from outer space.

So, the good professor wants to add millions of people to government-subsidized health care. Seems to me this might get a few laughs if Mel Cabang used it in one of his comedy routines, but from Krugman, it comes across as an amazing lack of intellectual integrity.