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POSTED: Thursday, April 01, 2010

Error on city sign snarls Waikiki

It seems as if the city either had a cruel idea for an early April Fool's joke, or simply can't get its act together. For the better part of last week the large electronic sign on Kalakaua Avenue and Kuhio Avenue announced an upcoming parade on Wednesday, March 31. Kalakaua Avenue would be closed to all vehicular traffic from 3:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. Well enough.

Both my wife and myself, along with thousands of local people, work in Waikiki and whenever the streets are blocked off we act accordingly—leaving for work earlier, parking elsewhere, etc. We planned on doing so on Wednesday, the 31st. Unfortunately the parade was held four days earlier, on Saturday, March 27, at 3:30 p.m. Apparently the sign announcing the incorrect day was not noticed by a city worker until 3 p.m., half an hour before the closure of Kalakaua on Saturday, whereupon it was corrected. The sign disappeared the next day. As you can well imagine, traffic was horrendous. Waikiki came to a halt. Is it too much, really, to ask that the correct date for parades be properly announced?

 

               

     

 

 

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Rooster debate a waste of time

Bravo, James Tokioka—apparently one of the few representatives of the House Tourism, Culture and International Affairs Committee with a modicum of common sense.

Why are our tax dollars and our representatives' time being wasted on passing a resolution supporting the cultural value of cockfighting, which is illegal here and in all other states?

With all due deference to testifier Mr. Paul Romias—who claims “;Hawaii is our home and culture ... We are cockfighters and there's nothing wrong with it”;—there is something wrong with cockfighting: It's illegal and has been for about a century or so here in Hawaii. The argument that the practice is widespread and could boost the economy is the same justification used regarding the legalization of illegal drugs, prostitution and gambling (the latter being invariably linked to the practice of cockfighting). Let's pass on the cockfighting and get our representatives to the serious consideration of the economy, taxes, our educational system and their upcoming re-elections.

 

Budget proposal is fiscally sound

House Speaker Calvin Say and other legislators are unfairly criticizing Gov. Linda Lingle's call for an emergency appropriation of $40 million so the state can make its April payment on time to five health plans that cover Medicaid patients (”;Gov wants emergency $40M,”; Star-Bulletin, March 25).

Borrowing from next year's budget to pay this year's obligation is a necessary but short-term solution for our Medicaid budget woes. The long-term solution is contained in the governor's six-year financial plan, which pays off the $40 million and reduces future shortfalls by adjusting Medicaid benefits to a level that is fair and fiscally sustainable.

In March alone, the Lingle-Aiona administration proposed 11 ways of bringing Medicaid spending under control. The Legislature responded by ducking the issue.

Now many legislators want to “;solve”; the economic crisis by adding to our already heavy tax burden. Their plan to increase the general excise tax by one point amounts to a staggering 25 percent tax hike for the neighbor islands and 22.5 percent increase on Oahu on all individuals and on businesses at every transaction level. That would be especially hard on low-income families and would cause many more companies to layoff workers.

Raising taxes during the worst economic downturn in state history is not responsible leadership—it's a prescription for a double-dip recession.

 

GOP extremists are abhorrent

Extremist Republican response to the passage of the health bill—harassment, threat, violence and hinting to murder—is abhorrent and inhumane.

It is incredible that a political party that claims to be “;pro-life”; should be against a movement that advances quality life for most of Americans. It is equally appalling that the party of a great American leader who advocated for a government “;of the people, by the people, and for the people”; is now “;of the bigots, by the vicious, and for the corporate executhieves.”;

 

Ideals of beauty are conformist

In response to the article “;Seeing Beyond Beauty”; by Joleen Oshiro (Star-Bulletin, March 21):

There should be no definition for beauty; however, the media constantly assigns it one. There are people in China striving to look more westernized by going through drastic measures like the double-eyelid surgery. Little Asian girls are striving to look like Barbie rather than their mothers. When we all are determined to look a certain way, we lose our individuality, our own sense of self.

Everyone starts to look the same and it seems like we are all becoming characters of the book “;Anthem”; by Ayn Rand. The idea of standing out within society becomes unimportant and we lose ourselves because we want to conform to society's standards of beauty.

If there was a definition for beauty, I believe that we would have then been created to look exactly the same.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't look good, but we should not have to go to extremes to be something we weren't meant to be.

 

Tax hike better than welfare cuts

It takes essential safety-net services to keep vulnerable families and children safe from harm and neglect.

Thank goodness for President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act) because through these federal funds we have been able to expand the Early Head Start Program, absorbing some of the vulnerable children and families who would have been left to more hardships when funding was cut for the state's Healthy Start home-visiting program last year.

Now the state budget proposes further funding cuts for many essential services, including the mandated Enhanced Healthy Start program that serves very high-risk families with newborns, infants and toddlers.

These services can prevent the state of Hawaii from incurring more expensive costs in the future.

Why cut essential services today when it will cost us so much more, in the not-too-distant future, in human and financial capital? Why not increase the general excise tax to avoid further cuts in safety net services?