The costly F-35 jet fighter; a GOP alternative to the Dream Act; U.S. policy toward Cuba

Exposing the truth

Re “Highflying costs,” April 19

Revealing that the F-35 fighter jet program is in jeopardy because of its increasing costs could bring comfort to the enemy and potentially jeopardize national security. Reporting that Secret Service agents engaged in unacceptable behavior could compromise the reputation of the Secret Service and the security of the president. Showing photos of soldiers with body parts exposes unacceptable behavior by the troops and may increase resentment of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Reporting government problems often causes short-term negative consequences. However, the alternative is that news embarrassing to the government is not reported at all, which would cause much greater problems in the long run: Think Watergate.

For the real, long-term security of the United States, the news media need to consistently err on the side of showing our problems to us all.

Darrel Miller

Santa Monica

One Dream or another

Re “A GOP approach to immigration,” April 18

Tamar Jacoby asserts that Mitt Romney could simply latch on to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) transparent alternative to the Dream Act and magically attract Latinos. That notion is both laughable and insulting.

After months of demonizing Latinos while positioning himself to the right of his GOP rivals, Romney will try to Etch-A-Sketch his way to appear less hostile to Latinos than his record suggests. But Latinos will remember that Romney supports Arizona’s draconian SB 1070 and favors “self-deportation” as a solution to the presence of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

How naive does Romney and his handlers think we are that we could fall for such a conspicuous maneuver? I fully expect to see Romney wearing a huge sombrero and eating a taco for the cameras in the coming weeks.

David Perez

Los Angeles

Except for the small percentage of indigenous peoples, we are all immigrants.

Though I applaud any reasoned attempt to fix our country’s problems, illegal immigration being just one, I’m amused by Jacoby’s line, “But in this case, the perfect may be the enemy of good.” Makes sense.

But I would ask Jacoby why Republicans don’t apply that same logic to the healthcare reform law, the economy, women’s rights and other issues.

Buz Wolf

Studio City

Moving forward on Cuba

Re “Time to include Cuba,” Editorial, April 17

The failed 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo and its rejection by Latin America and the rest of the world show how easily American foreign policy toward Cuba has been co-opted by a small cartel of politicos in Florida.

Latin American leaders seem to know something that American politicians have ignored for far too long: that the best way to promote constructive change in Cuba is to do away with the embargo once and for all.

Cuba’s substantial oil and gas reserves in the Straits of Florida virtually guarantee its energy self-sufficiency by the end of this decade and its potential emergence as an energy exporter, making the U.S. embargo even more irrelevant and counterproductive.

Scrapping the embargo now would also allow cooperation to prevent major ecological disasters down the line and help the U.S. repair its damaged image throughout Latin America.

Luis Suarez-Villa

Irvine

In criticizing the United States for excluding Cuba from the Summit of the Americas, you argued that “engagement, not isolation, is the best way to encourage change.” Cuba’s record in other international forums demonstrates the opposite.

In 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council elected Cuba as a member and then dropped Havana from its watch list. In return for this engagement, Cuba has vehemently opposed efforts to scrutinize abuses by China, Iran, Sudan, Syria and other repressive regimes. Cuba takes a leading role in sponsoring resolutions that justify terrorism and advocate cultural relativism instead of universal human rights.

Should Raul Castro’s communist government really be given another forum to subvert?

Hillel C. Neuer

Geneva

The writer is executive director of U.N. Watch.

Realities of kindergarten

Re “How to succeed in kindergarten,” Opinion, April 15

Changing the cutoff birthday for kindergarten from Dec. 1 to Sept. 1. will eliminate problems for students like the tiny boy I taught who had a Dec. 1 birthday; he was like a preschooler in kindergarten. It will also eliminate the “October boy” syndrome, with which kindergarten teachers are familiar. I remember the student who cried, saying, “I can’t spell ‘leaf.’ ”

It is not overparenting to make your vulnerable small child’s life less stressful. If being teased and feeling inadequate are “typical childhood experiences that are important learning opportunities for dealing with life’s challenges,” perhaps we should make them less typical.

Julie Flapan’s desire for more creative learning experiences for children is laudable, but teachers are hamstrung by requirements to teach to tests and forgo “frills” like read-alouds, art and music. Until something changes, parents need to deal with “what is” rather than what might be better.

Peggy Constantine

Claremont

It was to have been my first day of first grade. My father took me into our den, closed the sliding doors and informed me that I would be repeating kindergarten. I was devastated then, and certainly on some level this event left its mark on my self-esteem as I was growing up. I felt out of place being almost 19 when I graduated high school.

Today, I occasionally joke about how I flunked kindergarten and chose to go to morning and afternoon sessions to make me feel more like a first-grader. It is only recently that I’ve learned about other children entering school later because of their birthdays. I always thought I was the only one.

Flapan doesn’t imagine things from the child’s perspective; even if things are very different today, it’s something to think about.

David Augsburger

Sherman Oaks

Has anyone considered the fact that some boy or girl has to be the youngest in his or her kindergarten class? If that’s a forecast for failure, how long will it be before we have 8- or 9-year-olds being enrolled in kindergarten, hoping to have the advantage?

Enough already.

Judy Silk

Pacific Palisades

Apple’s story

Re “E-book overkill,” Opinion, April 16

How can competition drive down prices if there is collusion between the publishers? Apple is trying to maintain its control over content.

Bringing together all the major publishers and “suggesting” that, yes, they can afford to pay Apple’s egregious fee on the sale of e-books through its store is like Henry Kissinger telling the Saudis that, yes, they can afford to buy our planes and other arms, and all they have to do is raise the price of oil. Ultimately, consumers pay the price.

I defy Shermer to prove to me that it is as expensive or more expensive to sell a reproduction of a digital file as it is to distribute a physical book.

Martin Tudor

Los Angeles

Wage envy

Re “Plot thickens in tax reform theater,” Column, April 17

Columnist Michael Hiltzik writes, “The Buffett rule may not solve the federal deficit or do much to stem rising income inequality.”

If it is government’s role to limit income inequality, it would be simpler and quicker to eliminate most inequality by passing a law limiting personal income to something reasonable; say, $1 million a year. That would remove incentives to take on risky endeavors.

As a result, everyone’s income would rapidly be brought down to a much narrower spread. Class and culture distinctions would be significantly reduced.

Those entrepreneurs who feel some need to follow their own pursuit of happiness would be free to go somewhere else, where wealth is regarded as a sign of success rather than a social ill.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates set the wrong example by hugely profiting from their work, thus setting unreasonable expectations for the rest of us.

Ed Hull

Seal Beach