Congress should look back at FDR

It is time for Congress to bite the bullet. When I was a child during the Depression, FDR's groundbreaking legislation brought banking relief and regulation, the FDIC, Social Security, the 40-hour workweek, unemployment compensation, workman's compensation, collective bargaining, etc., to the American public. These enormous improvements were vehemently opposed by big business interests and the Republican Party.

These laws made our democracy stronger.

Today, with pending health care reform legislation, we have the greatest opportunity to improve the lives of Americans since FDR. Too many people are dying because they don't have access to affordable health care, or are going bankrupt from medical costs even though they have health insurance.

Tell your congressional representatives and senators to stand up for health care reform because it is the right thing to do. Future generations will be thankful forever. If we lose this fight, the present health care system will bankrupt the nation.

Rod Tam lucky he lives in Hawaii

Rod Tam is so lucky to live in Hawaii and be a politician.

Now if he was a politician in China and he was charged with the same charges as here, we all know what his sentence would be: He'd be a target on the firing line. But he is really lucky if he goes to jail here because he would be eating and sleeping off us taxpayers with no bills to pay.

No matter what the outcome is, he will be a winner like all the other politicians who rip off the taxpayers for their own agendas. But who cares? We keep putting these same clowns back in office over and over.

Auwe!

Residents in dark about street lights

In response to a reader's question Sunday about “;Whatever Happened to”; the lighting project on Lunalilo Home Road, I'd like to share more information.

It is noted in the update that the city is saving $63 in operating costs per light each year. It should be clarified that the amount of electricity consumed under this project will be double what it was, so we will actually pay twice as much for the electricity as we did. The savings come from the replacement of the wiring system, not the new lights.

The city has said that this project was needed to improve safety. However, when asked to provide back-up to support this, it only provided traffic counts from 2001 and 2006. The 1,200 cars per hour used to back up the increase in electrical consumption are from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. After 8 p.m., the counts are about half of that. One wonders then, why we need to double the amount of light during most of the night.

Counts were also done between Anapalau and Kaumakani streets on Lunalilo Home Road the last week of August, but, for some reason, the city has no record of these counts. It's important to remember that this was after the community held a demonstration about the project and before the mayor's September town hall meeting. Statistics such as night crime rates or vehicle crash information were not provided. In addition, no pedestrian count was done, even though standards for street lighting include reviewing “;pedestrian conflict.”;

There are still unanswered questions regarding this project.

Furlough Fridays remain a fiasco

What a fiasco the furlough days non-resolution has become. Shame on all those self-proclaimed leaders involved, particularly those publicly elected and those of the various unions who are working against the values they have proclaimed so loudly for so long for their members.

Almost as thoughtless and morally pathetic has been the action of parents using their young innocent children as pawns and parading them before the public in order to gain publicity.