Not your grandfather’s VA
Just a heads up that the new Veterans Administration is not your grandfather’s VA. When my 103-year-old dad, a WWII Navy vet, was asked to wait six weeks for an appointment with his audiologist, I mentioned it as inappropriate on a survey from the VA.
The next week, I received a call from Rae in Columbia saying that he could see the audiologist in two weeks, and that she had called his assisted living center to arrange transportation, and wanted to make sure that I was okay with the appointment. Wow! What service.
This is a marked improvement from the previous administration. Two years ago, we ran into endless bureaucracy delays when applying for his pension benefits. Phone calls were routinely routed to another department or office. No real progress. An act of Congress was required.
Then I notified Nancy Mace’s office that he was not getting the benefits he deserved after 1½ years of applying. And within a week the VA called — I was told that the application was being processed and would be approved shortly.
My suggestion to all the local veterans is to make sure to read the weekly veterans column in The Island News and give the new VA a chance to handle your issues.
— Jerry Floyd, St. Helena Island
Ominous
There’s a blackness
On the horizon
Impending danger looms
Foreboding, dread
It’s palpable
Grim days
Such evil
Staggering in its scope
Insanity continues
To reign
— Carol Connor
Can we pass this test?
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a tragedy. Almost as tragic as Kirk’s assassination were the rush to judgement and the calls for vengeance coming from some on the right – Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Jesse Watters, Laura Loomer, etc. They demonized Democrats and those on the “radical left” long before they knew the identity or the ideology of Kirk’s killer. At a time when Americans needed a voice of reason and calm, these self-serving demagogues threw gasoline on the fire.
As we learn more about Kirk’s killer, it appears he was not a “radical leftist.” It appears he may have been aligned with an ultra-far right group known as the Groypers. Groypers are disciples of Nick Fuentes (of J6 infamy). Their ideology is virulently anti-Semitic, homophobic, white supremacist, male supremacist, white Christian nationalist. Fuentes and many Groypers viewed Charlie Kirk as insufficiently radical, a dupe of the conservative establishment. Under Fuentes direction, Groypers frequently disrupted Charlie Kirk’s events.
I am not going to pretend to know the killer’s motivation. I am going to call upon everyone to PLEASE look to our “better angels” in moments of tragedy. We are being severely tested by those who benefit from divisiveness and anger. Can we pass this critical test?
— Peter Birschbach, Port Royal
PUGH-litzer Prize nominations
For journalism fomenting behavior that ultimately brings out the worst in those weak and filled with hatred among us at the grass roots level, we nominate the team of local opinion columnists at The Island News for this dubious and troubling award. Using their platform to promote and accuse those who disagree with them of being fascists, Nazis, racists and dictators who support totalitarianism, fascism, oligarchy, concentration camps and a general state of Orwellian malaise … the group has effectively used their collective voices in a most divisive manner. For that this PUGH-litzer Prize nomination is well earned.
Upon receiving the news the group deflected accusations of their abuse of their first amendment freedom of speech rights and went on to confirm their commitment to “responsible incendiary and totally one-sided” commentary “in defense of our democracy”.
Of course the vast majority of readers understand that this is one-sided, ultra-left ranting and can digest and ultimately dismiss it as propaganda from a party of failed policies and who are clearly losing the political debate. It’s the other folks that should worry us … along with the aforementioned columnists.
So, where do we go from here. The hope is … that journalists, politicians and influencers alike … in both parties … stop with the “labeling” that only gives cover for those who’ve become lemmings of “the cause” and may think they are doing a noble thing by resorting to violence.
Perhaps these journalists could do a better job of introspection by asking themselves why their particular party or issue lost and then focus on fixing it rather than using inflammatory, hackneyed and defensive rhetoric that leads to nothing good. The community deserves better.
RIP Charlie.
— Frank Wainwright, Saint Helena Island
