Fund education rather than rail

Let me be right up front by saying I am not a proponent of rail. This tiny island needs at this place in time a $5 billion to $10 billion rail system as much as Babe Ruth needs a colonoscopy.

What Hawaii does need is a better education system, a genesis of thought and new ideas as a ways and means of pulling itself up by its own bootstraps. One does not have to have kids to understand that a child's right to a good education, a thorough education, far surpasses in importance the right to less traffic.

Some think procreation is building rail, and some believe procreation is allowing our children to be smarter than we are. Neither is easy. Only one is necessary for the future of these islands.

One does have to have an education to understand the consequences of not knowing which is more important. The Hawaii government slapped Oahu with an increase in the general excise tax. Can someone tell me how rail and Hawaii's traffic is more important than our children and giving them a better education? Someone? Anyone?

Why not rotate furlough days?

Like most parents, I'm shocked by a policy that will furlough our teachers. And, like most parents, I'm shocked by a policy that will reduce the salaries of our already underpaid and underappreciated teachers.

This I blame on our politicians. The results of this simplistic, knee-jerk solution will be that our already challenged educational system will suffer further, and that our children will bear the suffering of their incompetence. The question I propose to our Department of Education is: Why not rotate the furlough days among the teachers and keep the schools open and our kids in class? It's not as simple as shutting our schools down, but a basic algebraic formula would solve this problem. I guess our DOE administrators skipped class when that assignment was given out. Add to that equation, the unknown factor that “;sports”; will be exempt from “;Furlough Fridays”; and now you're talking AP-level mathematics.

DOE, go back to school and take a logic course or resign and bring in people who are not logic and mathematically challenged.

Green technology critical to growth

No nation will be able to meet the challenges of growing the economy and creating jobs in the 21st century without a serious investment in green technology. For too long, the world, including the United States, has been slow to respond to or even recognize the magnitude of the climate change threat. But this is a new day.

In the last eight months, the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution than at any other time in our history. The Obama administration has made the largest-ever investment in renewable energy and invested billions to reduce energy waste. The administration is also proposing, for the first time in history, a new national standard that will increase fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks. Most important, the House of Representatives passed an energy and climate bill in June: the American Clean Energy and Security Act would finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy for American businesses and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Thanks for gifts to school sports

In the midst of huge cutbacks to the public school funding, including the sports programs, I wanted to thank all those individuals, businesses and organizations who have donated to the S.O.S (Save Our Sports) campaign. As a student-athlete, I love to play sports and challenge other school teams. I can't imagine going to school without having athletic opportunities.