RAIL ALIGNMENT

COUNCILMAN DJOU MICROMANAGING RAIL

We saw it when he put forth his texting and video game ban while driving. A true visionary would have added a ban on phone calls when driving without a hands-free device. It would save time in the legislative process to bundle these bans and save lives.

Now here he is trying to drop the rail project into a populated area. I thought he was pro-business and pro-family. The current plan allows for the families and businesses that will be affected time to relocate.

Charles Djou's plan would have this process fast-tracked and displace those businesses and families almost immediately, as well as increase those displaced by having to build the base yard in a heavily populated area.

Djou fought rail at every turn and now he wants to micromanage the project. Has he seen the light or is he just posturing for his congressional run? Just maybe he thinks he can kill the rail project if he meddles with it enough.

NO MORE VOTES: LET LEADERS DO THEIR JOBS

As I read the letter to the editor on Nov. 26, suggesting we have a vote on the route of rail transit, "Salt Lake vs. Airport," it occurs to me that this has gotten way out of hand.

We were basically forced into putting the vote on the ballot by the Stop Rail Now crowd, and now we should vote on the route? Please give me a break. Should we vote on the specifics of every City Council decision? We have voted for rail, we have voted for our representatives, let's move on and let them do their job.

START FROM THE AIRPORT OR UH AND BUILD OUT

I agree with your editorial (Nov. 4). Also: Rail must serve the airport and Pearl Harbor and UH.

Furthermore, it would be folly to start at Kapolei to Waipahu, which would help very few. Best to start at the airport and build out in both directions. Or start at UH and build out.

BUDGET CUTS

MENTAL-HEALTH CUTS CAUSE DISMAY TO MANY

I was personally dismayed when I read your headline on Thanksgiving morning, "Mental health cut $25M." One of my family members is forced to live in California, away from home in Hawai'i, due to the poor mental-health services available here.

I can't believe our state Department of Health is making more cuts. We have also read even Tripler Hospital avoids admitting the mentally ill, and now is faced with the consequences.

Let's send the Mainland our best politicians, policemen, athletes, teachers and young people who can't afford the rents in Hawai'i. We'll keep the ice addicts, vacation renters and mentally ill homeless. Oh, and don't forget, we'll get the rail, too.

SIGN WAVING

COUNCIL SHOULD BAN ROADSIDE DISTRACTION

The City Council has proposed a ban on driving while text messaging or playing video games. The general principle of such a ban is that anything that distracts the driver may cause an accident and thereby endanger the public. In that same vein, the time is long overdue to ban roadside political sign waving as well.

The whole idea of a politician waving a sign by the side of the road is to intentionally draw attention from motorists who should instead be focused on driving. What Honolulu driver has not suffered a near-accident or been delayed in traffic by these guys? Ironically, politicians who thus inconvenience and endanger me are less apt to get my vote.

Political sign waving is wisely prohibited on freeways. But let's face it, Honolulu traffic is heavy and dangerous even on side streets. Political sign waving is a nuisance that should be banned on all Honolulu roadways.

Now that political yard signs are allowed as an alternative, it is time to end the archaic and dangerous custom of roadside political sign waving.

GLOBAL WARMING

NATURAL GREENHOUSE GAS LEFT UNMENTIONED

The Associated Press article in The Advertiser (Dec. 4) about greenhouse gases was filled with omissions. There was no mention of the major greenhouse gas, water vapor, which represents about 95 percent of the total greenhouse-gas inventories.

Water in the form of droplets, vapor, clouds, liquid water and ice has significant effects on our climate, nearly all from natural sources. The relentless mentions of CO2 in the media omit the fact that about 97 percent of all atmospheric CO2 comes from natural sources and not from man-made sources. These include volcanoes, decomposing vegetation, insects, and the ocean itself.

Finally, there's been no warming for the last 10 years and cooling for the last seven years. This cooling is occurring while the CO2 increases, suggesting that there's little or no relationship between CO2, man-made or natural, and global temperatures.

Other forces are involved. Many temperature stations (such as at the U.S.' Amundson Base at the South Pole) have been showing cooling for decades as well.