Column missed religion mark
Usually, I’m a proponent of Mikie Kerr’s interpretation of the intent of the original Constitution, but certainly not in the consequences of not following her beliefs in modern America.
She says the result of the lack of moral teachings in our public schools has resulted in violence and bullying with teachers having no respect. Most psychologists believe that bulling and violence was much worse in the ’50s and ’60s because of our horrifying stances on race and physical impairments. If anything, we hear more about it now only because of social media. But it has always been present and often fueled by religious hypocrisy and teachings. Although religious myself, I still remember some of the great divides taught by my religious elementary school that I attended.
As far as respect for teachers, that is taught at home and has absolutely nothing to do with lack of devotion in our classrooms. In fact, that doesn’t even make sense. Religions teach respect for God, but all others are secondary. Stick with 1776, Mikie. But still, that was such a flawed concept that it has been amended 27 times with those being amended still.
Dan McRoberts
Naalehu
Cost of Big Island living going up
Once again, it seems the residents of the Big Island are under assault from our legislators, (state and county), who are attempting to squeeze more money (taxes) out of us.
As with their attempt last year, they are once again trying to increase our vehicle registration cost and fuel taxes, thanks Lorraine Inouye! Your term ends on Nov. 5, 2018, so you have two more sessions to try and squeeze more money from us. Then there is the TAT (aka hotel tax) that the state is trying to commandeer via HB 1486 under the guise of an income tax reduction for us.
What strikes me as irresponsible is that our Big Island Rep. Richard Onishi says, “there has not yet been any reliable data generated to determine the exact amount of revenue the state would lose by implementing the progressive taxation system proposed by the bill. … It’s complicated to determine where in the bracket people actually end up. That information is not readily available” (West Hawaii Today Feb. 10)
Are you kidding me? You propose a new tax system and have no idea what the impact will be on your constituents? Or, what impact it will have on the state income? Included in this piece of legislation is the elimination of Big Island’s portion of the TAT, which our Big Island businesses generate. We make the money, the state takes it. So once we lose the TAT funds, how does the Big Island recoup the lost funds? We raise our taxes — real estate, vehicle registration, fuel tax, etc.
Lest I forget, there is another Big Island representative, Nicole Lowen, who has co-authored this bill. HB 1486 doesn’t seem like a good deal for us and will likely increase our cost to live here on the Big Island. It’s time to let our representatives know how we feel.
Paul Robinson
Kailua-Kona