WAR GETS BILLIONS WHILE CARE LAGS

Despite the U.S. spending $1 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the expected $2 trillion to "repay war debt, replenish military equipment and provide care and treatment for U.S. veterans back home" (Advertiser, Focus section, July 5), people who support these campaigns have a reasonable argument that one can't put a value on national security.

The same principle applies — as much, if not more so — to national health. Would we allow 47 million Americans to be left vulnerable to attacks by terrorists? Of course not. Then how can people, many of them the same politicians and pundits from both parties, argue for leaving more than 10 percent of the population vulnerable to the vagaries of our health care system?

One of the main arguments against it is cost. Even the high-end price tag of $1.6 trillion over 10 years (since reduced to around $600 billion) looks relatively affordable when placed next to our past and future war spending.

The benefits accrued by a national health system are vast. Increased competition in the marketplace will lead to greater access and efficiency in the health care industry and lower costs for everyone. If only the same could be said for the wars.

John Cheever | Honolulu

FURLOUGHS

BURDEN FOR PUBLIC WORKERS MUST BE FAIR

I am a state worker, a member of the Hawaii Government Employees Association. I understand the resentment of the private sector toward public workers, as we have not yet felt the impact on our wages of the current economic downturn that the private sector has been experiencing for a considerable length of time.

Many members of the public sector understand the gravity of what has occurred in the private sector and we fully empathize with those whose jobs have been lost or wages cut.

We also understand that we cannot emerge unscathed from this financial turmoil.

Our concern had been that the three days of furlough a month initially announced by the governor was too much of a burden for public workers. It would have meant an almost 15 percent loss in pay, accompanied by the approximately 25 percent increase in their share of health insurance that all public workers are slated to absorb, beginning this month.

State workers are historically not paid well, and this double financial "hit" would have been excessive for many of us.

Most public workers are hoping for an agreement that finds a middle ground: one in which state workers assume their fair share of the current economic burden, but are not pushed toward financial ruin because of it.

Nancy Kern | Honolulu

FIREWORKS

MAHALO FOR TERRIFIC HAWAI'I KAI SHOW

I can't speak for the Ala Moana fireworks, but the spectacular show at Maunalua Bay in Hawai'i Kai was the best I've ever seen in Hawai'i. I don't know who underwrote the cost, but a giant mahalo from the thousands of people whose eyes lit up for well over 20 minutes on Saturday night. Not to mention not having to drive into town.

Cliff Marsh | Hawai'i Kai

CONSERVATION

TOO MUCH WATER WASTE GOING ON

For every person who cares about conservation and the environment, there seems to be 10 who don't. On my workouts around Makakilo, I come across people who still hose down their driveways, wash the sidewalks and even power-wash them. Are they ignorant, apathetic? I do know they just don't care about our water shortages and drought conditions.

To make things worse, they wash leaves and other debris down the storm drains. And I could even start ranting about those who use their blowers to push rubbish into the storm drains leading to one reason why the drainage system gets clogged. And they get so indignant when one questions their actions. Auwe!

Robin Ching | Kapolei

INOUYE

ETHICAL LAPSE ASIDE, CONSIDER LEGISLATION

I've always been fond of Sen. Inouye. We first met in 1962 when my Boy Scout group visited the Capitol.

But using his enormous influence as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee to rescue his investment in Central Pacific Bank was clearly unethical by any reasonable standard of behavior. Inouye's ethical lapse was further amplified by his silly excuse that would have us believe that "only a phone call" to the FDIC from his office wouldn't spur the outcome he sought.

Yet, in the context of what passes for ethics in Congress these days, my approbation for Dan's use of his influence to save himself a half-million dollars is limited. I'm much more concerned about the federal budget deficit (quadrupled already this year), the ridiculously expensive House-passed "cap and trade" energy bill and "health reform" legislation under consideration, the last of which will result in more expensive, slower and lower-quality care for most here in Hawai'i.

So, it's my hope that as Sen. Inouye ponders his recent ethical lapse, he won't be so tone-deaf when it comes to how harmful such pending legislation will be to us back home.

Michael P. Rethman | Kane'ohe