VA not keeping up with needs of vets

For decades, Veterans Administration patients have been deprived of the full benefit author- ized for VA travel reimbursement.

Congress has prevented the Department of Veterans Affairs from making periodic increases to the mileage rate whenever the General Services Administration increases the national rate.

Also, VA patients must now file travel claims through the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) system; EFT payments are more than 20 weeks behind and getting worse.

Many of our disabled veterans are financially strapped to the point that they need the full reimbursement just to make the trip to the VA clinic. The present VA program causes more grief than assistance and must be changed.Our Congress members must be convinced that the program needs change.

Brooks W. Outland
Waianae

Too many drivers don’t signal turns

Hawaii may be the healthiest state but apparently not the most physically fit: Drivers don’t seem to be able to push their turn indicators up or down.

Dick Boyd
Diamond Head

Science not always objective, apolitical

Richard Brill’s July 19 column is not a matter of "an unscientific political rant" or "pure political statements," as Gary Johnson claims ("Science columnist mixes in opinion," Star-Advertiser, July 25). Brill was factual in citing data from polls and studies by researchers.

Johnson provides no substantial logical argument or hard evidence to refute a single sentence in Brill’s column.

Furthermore, Johnson’s "pure science" is a myth. At least since the Manhattan Project to develop the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, it should be obvious that science is not necessarily 100 percent objective, neutral, apolitical and amoral.

That should be clear in the debate over genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which Johnson mentions. That issue is inescapably political. Many proponents of GMOs use science as a means for a political and economic agenda. Indeed, many scientists who advocate GMOs are bought and paid for by agribusiness corporations through their research grants, if not direct employment.

Leslie E. Sponsel
Hahaione Valley

Join the movement to vote absentee

Be part of the "wave of the future," starting with the elections of 2014. With the growing trend of voting absentee-by-mail, join in the bandwagon and march along with us whose numbers are increasing, yearly.

Call the city clerk and get your name on that list of absentee-by-mail voters.

Roy E. Shigemura
Honolulu

Obama didn’t live like Trayvon Martin

President Barack Obama says Trayvon Martin could have been him 35 years ago.

For shame!

Obama lived very well in Hawaii and things like that were very rare or nonexistent.

He must have been thinking about Chicago.

Scott Clarke

Honolulu

@Letters– head1:Verdict dubious in Zimmerman case

The George Zimmerman defense team created a narrative that portrayed Zimmerman as a concerned citizen who feared for his life, a man justified in his actions.

African-American leaders present a narrative rooted in the centuries-old history of black Americans and the tragic realities of today.

Here’s another narrative.

It begins with a man who puts a loaded gun in his holster, gets in his car and begins trolling the area. He calls the police to report a person he considers suspicious. They advise they will handle it and do not follow this person.

In defiance of neighborhood watch protocols and the police directive, the armed man continues in pursuit. That decision will lead to the death of a 17-year-old boy.

The jury has spoken, based on the jury instructions, and that verdict will stand. But think carefully before condoning the actions that led to this tragedy.

Dorien McClellan
Waianae

GOP doesn’t reject all kinds of welfare

Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans, passed a farm bill loaded with billions in agriculture subsidies but not funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) for poor Americans, many of whom are children of poor working families.

Once again, the Republicans have demonstrated their addiction to extremism by sacrificing the well-being of the poor to accommodate the interests of the agricultural industry.

Many conservatives believe that rich people became rich because they are smarter and better people than others, and those who are struggling to make ends meet are dumb, lazy and moochers.

These comments are demeaning. Government-assistance seekers are hardworking individuals, holding multiple jobs and striving to reach the poverty exit door. However, they suffered the most from the debilitating effects of the recession.

Why is it that Republicans have no problem in dishing out corporate welfare but have a callous indifference toward the poor and hungry?

It is a crying shame.

Rod B. Catiggay
Mililani