War surtax could bridge partisan divide In this time of devastating financial deficits, a viable saving of face (and country) for both sides might be the immediate imposition of a temporary and long-overdue war tax, a surtax of 0.2 to 0.3 percent on all net personal and corporate income. This would expire automatically, perhaps some two years after formal cessation of hostilities.
Recall that the vast expense of the Defense Department, contributing greatly but necessarily to the deficit in this decade of combat operations, has not been ameliorated by any special cost sharing by the public. The burden of war has been borne, financially as well as personally, by the all-voluntary military and their families.
This surtax might possibly bring a degree of civility into the NIMBY arguments as to the state of the nation and its budget in these parlous times, and permit a rational approach to the necessary decrease in federal expenditures while preserving the bedrock of services and protection expected in any civilized country.
John F. Kurtzke
Falls Church
Street cops ignored attack at Metro station
Re: “D.C. brass take aim at street cops,” Aug. 9
I found Harry Jaffe’s column quite one-sided. There is clearly blame on both sides for what is happening in the Metropolitan Police Department.
Most MPD cops are out in the community doing a great job, but Jaffe doesn’t mention a recent incident at the Columbia Heights Metro station where five lesbians were attacked and the responding cops let the identified perpetrator go. The officers didn’t even file a report on the incident until two days later, after the women spoke to the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.
It is totally unacceptable for officers to think they can make their own determinations as to what to report when a person has been attacked. Everyone, including the LGBT community, must feel safe on the streets and know that MPD officers will be there to assist them when needed.
Chief Lanier said she was “appalled” by this incident. So was the LGBT community, as should be the entire community at large. It is time to work out the issues at the MPD, but they need to be addressed by both management and the union.
Peter D. Rosenstein
Washington
S&P responded to Obama’s war on capitalism
President Obama and others’ rhetoric demonizing Standard & Poor’s and the Tea Party movement in response to the U.S. credit downgrade does little or nothing to alleviate government’s feeble attempt to curb reckless debt and spending, removing any and all doubt that Obama and liberal Democrats in Congress have been engaged in an endless war against capitalism.
The majority of Americans who represent the Tea Party movement are now reining in government. The 2012 elections will send a new sheriff and posse to town to clean up Washington.
Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley, Calif.
