According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, from 1943 to 1946 the U.S. Navy had between 3,699 and 6,768 active ships and submarines, all of which burned oil for fuel. Today, the Navy has roughly 300 vessels on active duty, many of which are nuclear-powered.

Presumably, the Red Hill fuel storage system was sized for the World War II requirements. So today, with far fewer oil-fueled ships, why does the Navy still claim (by omission) to require a facility the size of Red Hill? It seems that the replacement for Red Hill could be dramatically smaller; thus, closing Red Hill might prove to be cost-saving.

It’s time for the Navy to come clean on the alternatives for keeping Red Hill open.

Garnett Howard

Ewa Beach

Bob Jones lives on through his writings

I have read the writings of Bob Jones from when he wrote for MidWeek and through his blog, “The Bob Jones Report.” I did not always agree with him, but Mr. Jones, by turns, enlightened, amused and fired me up on certain issues to the point where I sometimes forwarded his articles to government officials. In this last regard, he once called me ‘”his best publicist.”

I want to publicize Mr. Jones once more since he passed away on Nov. 22 (“Bob Jones: Longtime Hawaii journalist dies at 85,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 25).

He enriched and invigorated my life through his writings, and he may have done so for many others. I don’t know if there is an afterlife, but I think Mr. Jones lives on in the ways he affected his many readers.

Jennifer Chiwa

Makiki

Private health insurance inflates costs of care

Dr. Stephen Kemble pointed out Medicare Advantage’s examples of private insurance “cherry-picking” for healthier pool of clients to increase profits, while upcoding or inflating diagnoses of ill patients in order to get more Medicare Trust Fund dollars, threatening its long-term existence for our kupuna, the retired and handicapped (“Inside the Medicare Advantage plans, many now being probed,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Nov. 21).

According to a Jan. 6, 2020, article by Reuters, in 2017 in the U.S., 33 cents of every health-care dollar went to bureaucracy, compared to Canada’s 17 cents. Per-capita costs for insurance overhead was $844 in the U.S. versus Canada’s $146; hospital administration, $933 versus $196; physicians’ insurance, $465 versus $87; nursing home, home care and hospice administration, $255 versus $123.

Medicare Advantage overhead costs in 1999 was 12.3% versus 2% for traditional Medicare. It’s the same pathetic story with pharmaceuticals.

Now’s the time to ask our politicians before the 2022 elections: Where do you stand on Medicare For All and how will it be paid for, if we could have saved $600 billion in 1999 and more today?

Brad Baang

Waianae

Keep stadium in Halawa; affordable housing, too

I believe the new Aloha Stadium replacement should stay in Halawa, and not be located anywhere near the University of Hawaii at Manoa or the Old Stadium Park. It would cause absolute traffic gridlock in those areas.

The freeways surrounding the current stadium were designed so that cars have the ability to get in and out from various directions very quickly, without gridlock. With the rail, people from all along the route could park their cars and hop on, cutting down on traffic.

If anything needs to be changed, it would be to scale down the project a bit and increase affordable housing — it does not need to be high-end, expensive apartment buildings like in Kakaako. It also does not need to be part of a super sports/entertainment complex like you would find in Los Angeles, Dallas or Atlanta. Just a stadium to function as it has, for sports, entertainment, graduations and more.

Joan Navales

Aiea

In dire circumstances, we will need militias

The contemporary meaning of a “well-regulated militia” was a force of citizens, trained, drilled, knowledgeable in military matters, equipped with appropriate weapons and ammunition, ready to defend themselves and their fellow citizens as necessary, against both foreign and domestic enemies.

The U.S. Code defines the militia as males over 17, but anti-discriminatory legal opinions would suggest that any capable late teen or adult is potentially a member of the militia should the need arise, and thus should be trained, equipped and prepared to participate, hence the right to “keep and bear arms.”

Most people are ignorant of the role of militias in our history, and of their role as potential militia members. Conceived as the primary defense of the country, militias were less effective than the organized military in the lengthy and fraught Revolutionary War, but they remain our last hope and defense in truly dire circumstances.

Brian Isaacson

Kailua

Mandating sprinklers cuts affordable homes

Does City Council Bill 37 take into account that many condo owners will be unable to afford to stay in their homes if they have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to install fire sprinklers (“Condominium owners face steep costs to comply with fire safety measures,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 15)?

Does it take into account that our citizens are more likely to die when crossing the street than by dying in a fire in an unsprinklered condo or single-family home?

Homelessness in Hawaii and elsewhere is a glaring reminder that having a place to call home is beyond the financial reach of many Americans.

If we are not vying to be No. 1 per capita in this area, a cost-benefit analysis should be made whenever taxes and other mandates are placed on our citizens who are simply trying to find an affordable place to live.

Robert Griffon

Makiki

EXPRESS YOURSELF

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser welcomes all opinions. Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor.

>> Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.

>> Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210 Honolulu, HI 96813

>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter