A memorial to Marines at Camp Pendleton; proposed health insurance rate increases in California; GOP plans overhaul Medicare

Always a Marine

Re “ ‘Dark Horse’ Marines saluted,” April 30

You quote Lt. Col. Jason Morris as saying: “These Marines did what Marines always do. They took the fight to the enemy and they won.” Morris said it all.

I enlisted in the Corps in 1942. I was pulling a handle in a factory, and I was bored. The Marines promised action, and that they gave me.

I also wonder if the Corps molded ordinary men into extraordinary ones, or whether only special men joined? I deny the latter because it is a pat on my own back. Still, I found myself in situations where any normal man would have been scared to death. I can’t remember any Marine who was. Maybe I was young and too stupid to be.

In any case, I did not know I was joining for a lifetime of pride. I am as much a Marine at 87 as I ever was.

John Waugen

Anaheim

Camp Pendleton has honored 25 Marines killed in Afghanistan. If our nation truly wants to honor the fallen, let it be with the introduction of the Obama doctrine.

The Obama doctrine would declare that the U.S. has achieved its primary objective in both Iraq and Afghanistan: to support those nations in establishing a democratically elected government. It would require American forces to fully depart from those countries now and state that it is not our role to attempt to bring full stability to those nations, defeat any group or to achieve victory militarily.

We have achieved victory; it’s time to end this.

Sid Pelston

Marina del Rey

Insurance at any price

Re “State can’t halt insurer rate hikes,” Business, April 30

Insurance companies have no place as costly middlemen in a viable healthcare system. Their practices will continue until we demand and obtain cost-effective reform by the enactment of a universal single-payer system.

Sure, we’ll hear the same old fear-mongering that it would lead to socialized medicine and the creation of “death panels.” They’ve lied to us before, and they continue to due so.

To obtain a fiscally responsible healthcare system, we must demand that Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature enact state Sen. Mark Leno’s (D-San Francisco) SB 810, the California Universal Healthcare Act. If attempts are made to further delay such economically responsible reform, then it’s time that the electorate places an initiative for such reform on the ballot.

Eugene Strantz

Altadena

I am one of the Anthem policyholders who is about to receive a 16% rate increase. My Anthem rates have increased from $385 a month in 2008 to $664 a month this May. This represents a 72% increase in three years. To add insult to injury, my “1500 Plan” has a new deductible of $1,750, with a 17% drug deductible increase. Go figure.

I would add that I am in excellent health and have never been hospitalized. What I am guilty of is being self-employed. So much for the American dream.

How can the California regulators “do nothing”? How can Anthem executives sleep at night? I think my head is going to explode. I hope that is covered under my new plan.

Valerie Boyce

Long Beach

Medicare: Truth in advertising?

Re “Ad war has started over GOP Medicare plan,” May 1

Is there any hope that these ads will tell it like it is?

Will they tell people why Medicare was enacted to begin with? (Because no insurance company would insure older people or people with preexisting conditions.) Will they tell people that someone 65 or older trying to get coverage with their vouchers will probably be turned down? (These are the people who cost the insurance companies the most money.) Will they tell people that Medicare will no longer have the clout to control costs?

Mary L. Adler

Ridgecrest

Nowhere do I see Republican lawmakers sponsoring or introducing legislation to eliminate or at least scale back the comprehensive medical care they receive as a part of their benefits.

If they are going to enact such laws for the people, how about placing themselves on Medicare, or provide equal care for themselves and us?

Valerie Fields

Los Angeles

Bin Laden’s burial at sea

Re “Sea burial fodder for conspiracy theories,” May 3

So now we have “deathers,” who believe that Osama bin Laden is not dead or has been dead for years, to go with the “truthers,” who believe that George W. Bush staged or allowed the 9/11 attacks, and the “birthers,” who believe President Obama was born in Kenya.

This proves my theory: For every idiocy of the right, there is an equal and opposite idiocy of the left, and vice versa. Conspiracy theories never die, they just reappear in a different form.

During my childhood, some people believed that President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the Pearl Harbor attack was coming and did nothing in order to draw the U.S. into the war.

Jim Mentzer

Los Angeles

It may be true that while releasing photographs of Bin Laden’s body will not necessarily quell the doubters, it would most certainly help any argument against them.

Since the Vietnam War, the credibility of our government among its citizens has suffered enormously, and neither Ronald Reagan nor George W. Bush have helped a bit to restore it.

We published photos and details shortly after Saddam Hussein was captured, but we can’t publish a photo of the dead Bin Laden because it would be too gruesome? Let the public have clearly visible proof, which would indeed quell the doubters.

Flavio Ciferri

San Clemente

Not a historian

Re “Bachmann invokes WWI,” May 2

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has struck again. Is there anyone on the political scene who’s more outrageous?

In her speech to New Hampshire Republicans on Saturday, she said, “There is no analogy to that horrific action,” referring to the Holocaust, but she then proceeded to make exactly that analogy in referring to the country’s tax burden and “disenfranchisement” of Americans.

Bachmann displays a dismal lack of sensitivity and historical perspective. Clearly, she’s the perfect presidential candidate for Republicans.

Norm Avrech

Pacific Palisades

Driver’s licenses

Re “Impounding is not the answer,” Editorial, April 29

The Times’ editorial states, “Unlicensed drivers, including illegal immigrants, shouldn’t be on the road.” The solution, according to The Times, is to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Gee, I wonder if The Times’ real objective is to solve the problems associated with unlicensed drivers or to provide people in our country illegally a form of identification that implies legal status.

Rod Hallock

Chino Hills

Welcome news

Re “He makes physics fun,” Column One, April 29

Thank you for making the story of Amir Abo-Shaeer, the Goleta, Calif., high school teacher, front-page news. How inspirational and impressive, not only in what he gives to his students on a daily basis but of how he was able to raise $6 million to start the engineering academy at the school.

I found it ironic that this story of selflessness and dedication was next to the story of how the civic leaders of Bell cheated their people, especially the children, out of the bond money that could have “transformed Bell into the southeast’s finest community.”

Two very different legacies.

Mari Muki

Culver City