War wastes cash while we starve

The Star-Bulletin carried an article Tuesday, “;Skipping meals,”; about the rising number of Americans suffering from “;food insecurity.”; Apparently, 49 million of us worry about getting enough to eat.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon and U.S. generals in Afghanistan are pressing for another 40,000 troops to bolster the corrupt, unpopular Karzai regime. Each additional soldier is budgeted to cost a million dollars a year. So here in the U.S. our people go hungry while we waste billions on a useless war which has all the markings of another Vietnam.

I hope President Barack Obama will have the wisdom and courage to say no to the military and support our real priorities.

Oahu's traffic laws should be enforced

The new chief of police will have to be strongly committed to enforcing our traffic laws. Right now we have a complete vacuum of traffic law enforcement. I drive for only half an hour and see at least half a dozen traffic law violations.

Let's enforce the most important one: Stop at the red traffic light. If a police cruiser or motorcycle has to stand around some corner, so be it: $100 ticket minimum. That should cut back on most traffic accidents.

Next, stop crossing solid lanes, then stop making turns without signaling. Substantial fines. And minor tickets for loud boom boxes, disconnected or illegal mufflers. Uninsured cars need to be towed immediately and released only after towing and storage charges, a fine and proof of insurance.

And finally establish a fast response team for traffic accidents. The nonsense of closing highways for hours on end has got to stop. The California Highway Patrol does that in an hour or less.

Never mind wasting police efforts on methamphetamine users. They will just be recycled by our courts, and if they wish to fry their brains, it's their own problem.

Ending illegal wars would aid veterans

We support veterans being given the best possible medical care, but we are opposed to U.S. wars of aggression that keep producing more and more disabled veterans. It's time to end, not escalate, these illegal wars and the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The money being spent to kill people abroad should be spent to create jobs at home. The money used to build and parade Stryker killing machines should be used for veterans' medical care.

Strykers are modern chariots of empire, high-tech versions of Egyptian and Roman chariots whose old-style weapons included swords on the wheels that mowed down people who rebelled against occupation.

Today's Stryker urban assault vehicles fire depleted uranium (DU) machine gun and cannon armor piercing and bunker busting munitions. Strykers are presently training at the Pohakuloa Training Area known to be contaminated with DU. According to Dr. Helen Caldicott: “;Depleted uranium is a deadly carcinogenic and mutagenic poison that remains radioactive for 4.5 billion years. It's primary hazard is from tiny aerosolized particles that are inhaled ... “;

I believe in respecting veterans by not further exposing them, and the public, to additional military toxins.

AARP's position mischaracterized

Why are you publishing all those letters claiming federally funded AARP supports health care reform when you have only to look at its Web site and/or publications to see AARP does not support health care reform? It is wholly committed to health insurance reform to protect and increase its insurance commission revenue.

Christmas spirit lives on in Kaimuki

Yes, Kaimuki, there is a Santa Claus. Thirty HECO employees who helped erect the lighted Christmas tree above the Kaimuki Fire Station sure looked like Santa's menehune elves to us. After their regular work they came, volunteering to put up the 30-foot tree—and they did this in the wind, rain and dark.

The tree lights will go on Dec. 3, right after the Kaimuki Christmas Parade. Mahalo to HECO for the use of its cherry picker trucks, and Mele Kalikimaka to the HECO elves.