Letters To The Editor
March 18, 2009 - MidWeek
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Del.icio.usOut of touch?
I had to laugh at the headline on Michelle Malkin’s March 11 column: “Obama Out Of Touch With Reality.” Seems to me it is Ms. Malkin who is out of touch. She and other conservatives are so desperate to criticize Obama, she chides him for having the thermostat in the White House set too high, and for his “ability to groove with the common man.”
He’s actually connecting with folks of all political and economic categories. Maybe Ms. Malkin is just jealous.
Ellen Tobaru
Mililani
Bail me out!
Roger Simon’s column “Why Turn Down Obama-Bucks?” was a miserable attempt at muckraking that devolved into rubbish.
Mr. Simon tried to claim that CNBC’s Rick Santelli railed against the bailout for homeowners, but did not mind the bailout of the Wall Street moguls, saying “Santelli did not wave his arms and rant.” Umm, really? Don’t try claiming he’s anti-Obama next. Instead, go to YouTube and watch the clip titled “Rick Santelli pissed off about the bailout” posted Sept. 27, 2008. You’ll find in this CNBC clip that he was totally against the TARP bailout passed during the Bush regime.
Simon went on to toot White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’s horn - he’s on record as saying, “I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Who do you suppose has more savvy and understanding about how the American markets and economics should work, a veteran trader and market reporter or a press secretary?
I met Mr. Santelli a handful of times when I worked in Chicago, and can tell you first-hand that’s he a down-to-earth regular guy like the rest of us. He nailed it, in my opinion. I work 55-70 hour weeks, renting here in Windward Oahu, because I knew I couldn’t afford to buy. My family struggles to make ends meet too , but now I get to help subsidize other people’s homes and insolvent financial firms? Like Mr. Santelli, both bailouts raised my ire.
If I only knew ahead of time about the bailouts, I too could be living in my “own” home. Please, someone, send me advance notice before the next one; I’d like every taxpayer to start subsidizing me too.
S. Pongklub
Kaneohe
This is patriotism?
Jerry Coffee, Rick Hamada, Bill O’Reilly and Michelle Malkin are proving to be Rush Limbaugh dittoheads who “hope Obama fails.” Yet when Bush managed to “win” twice, they told us that we must believe everything our commander in chief said, even when he misled us. Patriotism indeed!
Nancy Bey Little
Makiki
No Capitol raises
As I watch the debate over whether or not members of the Legislature should forgo their 2009 salary increases, a couple of thoughts come to mind. First, of course they should. Hawaii is entering a period of economic hardship, and it is unconscionable that our elected representatives would award themselves a 35 percent pay increase while, in the private sector, businesses are closing and jobs are being lost. That’s the same private sector that pays those legislative salaries.
My second thought is, are there other places where the Legislature can cut costs? Since about 2002, appropriations to run the Legislature have increased by an eye-popping 80 percent! While the economy was good, the incremental growth was a bit more tolerable. But now that taxpayers are hurting, it seems reasonable to ask why the government needed all that extra money in the first place. Are we getting 80 percent more value out of the Legislature? How about cutting the Legislature’s entire budget by 80 percent until they can demonstrate to taxpayers how those additional funds improve their performance?
It’s long past time for our elected representatives to experience a reality check, kind of like the one the private sector faces.
Robert R. Kessler
Waikiki
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In just 3 months in office, Obama has made dozens of radical liberal changes that no president in the history of American had dared to make because they were just too liberal, too socialist.
He has done exactly what he said he would do - change things. But now even Europe is criticizing him for his liberal ways. Spending $2trillion dollars to fund his ultra liberalism is going to do exactly what spending did in the late 70’s, bring on hyperinflation.
He has legalized the destruction of embryos and has not allowed doctors to live by their conscience.
I do hope Obama fails in all these liberal things he is doing. I know he will fail because socialism has failed in other countries and that is the direction he is taking us.
Marx would be proud of Obama, but our Founding Fathers would hang him as a traitor.
Posted by oahu real estate on 04/10 at 03:56 PM