Marine Dakota Meyer being awarded the Medal of Honor; President Obama’s plan for the economy; a fatal crash at the Reno air races

Symbol of courage

Re “Valor in the ‘kill zone,’ ” Sept. 16

How proud all Marines must be to see one of their own awarded the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor, in a ceremony at the White House — lest we forget our troops defending our freedom 24/7 in places far from home.

As the father of an active-duty Marine, I am particularly awed by the actions of Dakota Meyer, and I thank God every day that there are still those among us who answer to a much higher calling.

Keith Karpé

Los Angeles

What a wonderful front-page tribute to this American hero. I read with awe and gratitude of his actions in Afghanistan.

But this paragraph broke my heart: “When Meyer returned to his bunk the evening after the clash, he learned that a stray dog he had adopted had been shot on the commander’s order to get rid of all pets on the base.”

What is the policy that denies our heroic young men and women the comfort of a pet?

Donald Dale Bradburn

Laguna Woods

A young Marine, under fire, begged for help for his men, saying, “We are going to die out here.” Four times the answer for help was no.

Since when does the U.S. military leave its troops to die in combat when all they needed was air cover? Finally, Meyer defied orders and saved lives, but he could not save four Marines who lay dead.

The last thing those brave young men knew was that their country would not try to save their lives. No Marine left behind? Not anymore. Shame on the military.

Cecilia Presley

Newport Beach

Speaking of class warfare

Re “Taxes, wars at core of deficit plan,” Sept. 19

You quote Republicans who label the president’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy “class warfare.”

The country’s wealth has been increasingly concentrated in smaller numbers at the top of the economic pyramid. Class warfare has been going on for a while, and the middle and working classes have been losing.

What seems to upset Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is that the president is fighting back on behalf of the middle class. Warren Buffett is not the only wealthy businessman who realizes that warring against the lower classes is not only unfair but also bad for business, because if most people have less, the whole economy suffers.

Class warfare is bad, but it is even worse when the great majority lose.

Donald Schwartz

Los Angeles

How are we to believe that our president is intelligent when he talks as if he does not know the difference between the income tax and the tax on investments?

I am an 87-year-old who is paying the same tax rates as Buffett because I am being taxed on the money that was previously taxed as wages and now is taxes as investment income.

If I were Buffett, I would be embarrassed to have this plan as part of my legacy.

Remember that 47% of Americans owe no income taxes. All Americans should be taxed, even the so-called poor.

Lucy Brown

Philadelphia

In addition to the statement against government spending that Republicans love to quote, Henry Morgenthau, Treasury secretary for Franklin D. Roosevelt, said, “We have never begun to tax the people in this country the way they should be.... I don’t pay what I should. People in my class don’t. People who have it should pay.”

The idea of taxing the rich is not new. The idea of treating “job creators” with kid gloves so they create jobs (which they have not done recently) is what constitutes the real class warfare. The people on the right are carrying the mail for the rich.

Robert McEwen

Cypress

Danger at air races isn’t new

Re “Air racer slams into crowd,” Sept. 17

My heart goes out to pilot Jimmy Leeward, his family and all those families impacted by the tragic crash at the Reno air races.

Crashes at air shows are as old as the aviation industry. The first African American female licensed pilot, Bessie Coleman, was killed in a crash prepping for an air show in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1926. My great uncle, James Herman Banning, was killed in a crash while prepping for an air show in San Diego in 1933.

Some 80 years later, my brother Chris Hart, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and a veteran pilot, will be among those investigating what went wrong with Leeward’s retrofitted P-51 Mustang.

Philip S. Hart

Los Feliz

The writer produced the 1987 PBS documentary on America’s first black aviators, “Flyers In Search of a Dream.”

Air shows and air races should not be confused. Air shows allow planes to be seen doing fly-bys at sane speeds. Air races are pressing every plane and pilot to the extreme.

If pilots want to race, maybe the planes should be limited to no more than, say, 10 years old.

Tim Ashford

Lomita

Palestinians at the U.N.

Re “U.N. vote might give Obama a boost,” Sept. 18

The United States’ policy with respect to Israeli-Palestinian relations is that a two-state solution be forged. However, “facing restiveness among some Jewish voters,” Obama may take direct measures to prevent such a thing by casting a veto of a United Nations Security Council vote recognizing Palestinian statehood.

Is it any wonder that Arab nations do not trust the United States? America’s days of coddling Israel to preserve the flow of campaign contributions and domestic political support must end.

The Obama administration should support peaceful steps to a two-state solution, even if they don’t come about on terms dictated by the United States.

James Rochford

Glendora

In Sunday’s Times there was a picture of a Jewish Israeli women demonstrating for an Arab Palestinian state. When we see a picture of Arab women demonstrating for the acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state, we will have a better idea of the Arabs’ seriousness in calling for peace, which could well come quickly after that.

May that picture come soon.

Robert M. Miller

Sherman Oaks

A lot of dogs

Re “Ensuring street food cred,” Column, Sept. 16

It was interesting to read that an illegal hot dog vendor can make as much as $300 a day. Working five days a week with two weeks off for vacation, that’s $75,000 a year.

In addition to not paying licensing fees, how many of these vendors pay taxes? That’s money our schools and social services in California could sure use, but I doubt we’ll ever see it.

Although I agree that rich people need to pay their fair share, so do people making $75,000 a year—and there’s a lot more of them.

Leslie Rodriguez

Los Angeles

Tatooine’s twin

Re “Planet with 2 suns like Tatooine in ‘Star Wars,’ ” Sept. 16

Astronomers may have wondered if and when they could detect planets with two suns, but there has never been any doubt that they should exist. All you need is for a planet to be far from a close binary, which was the situation recently discovered, or for the stars to be far apart, so that a planet can be much closer to one star than either star is to the other.

So although this is an interesting discovery, the double-sun planet is not unique. It is just the first of many such planets which should soon be discovered.

Courtney Seligman

Long Beach