Heroes

In his July 22 Times Op-Ed article, " Every soldier a hero? Hardly ," retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. William J. Astore lists all the technical, logical and semantic reasons why our fighting men and women should not collectively be called "heroes." I am one of those misguided people who, when writing about our military men and women slugging it out in Iraq and Afghanistan — engaged in combat, just trying not to get killed or maimed by an improvised explosive device or just driving a truck with supplies across the desert — instinctively and invariably refers to them as heroes.

The gig: Christopher Thornberg is founding partner of Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics consulting firm. Since its founding in 2007, Beacon has provided economic analysis and forecasting for cities, counties and corporate clients. He also worked as chief economic advisor to the state Controller's Office from 2008 to 2012. While he was at the UCLA Anderson Forecast, he began sounding the alarm about an impending housing market crash - and the ensuing recession.

The Triangle fire, a garment factory blaze that killed 146 people 100 years ago this week, was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until the fall of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Yet despite the fire's place in history, many Americans know nothing about it. Those who died in the March 25, 1911, fire were mostly young Jewish and Italian women and girls, new immigrants who risked their safety in horrendous sweatshop conditions making women's garments. Foremen frequently locked workers into their workrooms to make certain they didn't take breaks or pilfer cloth; this ensured that for many trapped inside, there was virtually no escape when the blaze began.

In the chaos that descended on Boston's Boylston Street after two bombs detonated at the finish line of the city's beloved marathon, heroes emerged from every direction. A young surgical intern who had just finished a 14-hour hospital shift pushed his way through the police lines to treat victims at the end of a marathon route. An Army veteran who served in Afghanistan soothed a gravely wounded young woman by showing her his own shrapnel scars, assuring her that she would survive.

What is it Lance Armstrong wants from us? News reports are saying that the fallen hero of cycling and of cancer patients may be about to confess to doping over the course of his extraordinary cycling career. I hope he's heard the adage about keeping your mouth shut and being thought a fool instead of opening it and removing all doubt. PHOTOS: Lance Armstrong through the years A confession would remove all doubt, but it couldn't be a wink-and-nod confession just to get back into the cycling game, the charity game, the headlines.

2012 was a year marked by national tragedy -- the shootings in Newtown, Conn. and Aurora, Colo. ,  the damage from Hurricane Sandy --  as well as instances of heroism and transcendence. The presidential election dominated headlines throughout 2012, with a number of candidates jockeying for position in the Republican primaries. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came out on top, though he eventually lost to President Obama in the general election. The nation debated the " 47% ," " legitimate rape ," who built it, and still, even with the election over, consensus remains rare in Washington, D.C. The killing of black teen Trayvon Martin by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman riveted the nation, as did the Colorado movie-theater shootings and images in court of gunman James E. Holmes, his hair dyed orange.

I read with disgust your article regarding the lawsuit filed against Officer Loran Dale Turner and private citizen Jim Campbell by the young woman they risked their lives to assist after an auto accident. These two men are heroes in every sense of the word, and to sue them is obviously an act motivated by plain old ambulance-chasing greed. I hope that callous, ungrateful behavior toward these two courageous men will not encourage other would-be Good Samaritans faced with similar situations to "let 'em burn."

Re "Firefighters, NYPD Clash; 12 Arrested," Nov. 3: The images and actions of the New York firemen in the melee at ground zero were very sad and shocking to see, but I am not surprised after watching in disbelief as they booed and heckled Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Richard Gere at the recent fund-raising event in Madison Square Garden. These men have courage and put their lives at risk, so by definition they are heroes, but in these two events they do not display the qualities of a hero--to be courageous, noble and valiant.

I want to publicly thank everyone who came to my aid when I was accosted by a mugger adjacent to Granada Hills Recreation Center on Dec. 23, between 12:45 and 1 p.m. My purse was stolen by a man who proceeded to walk back through the park. My screaming was heard by a lady in a nearby home, who called the police. I continued running and following the man, screaming "catch him, in the red jacket--he has my purse." A group of boys playing basketball heard me and started chasing him and yelling.

Consider this premise for a novel: Helen Hamilton has always known there is something odd about her. It's not just her superhuman strength, which she has learned to mask, or her tendency to provoke strange attackers. Lately she's worried that she's losing her mind — and the news that she is no ordinary human but a hero of Greek legend raises as many questions as it answers. Does this remind you of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians"? Now consider this description: A mysterious and glamorous family that hangs together clannishly takes an interest in a shy, awkward local girl.

This being Utah, the self-proclaimed Beehive State, Darren Cox is an expert in -- what else -- bees. Civic fathers use the term for the population's strong work ethic, but Cox deals with the stinging, honey-producing real McCoy. Now the fourth-generation bee farmer is trying to use his recognition as this year's national beekeeper of the year to focus attention on a major threat to the industry: colony collapse disorder. Cox, 48, who lives in Logan but has 5,000 hives in Utah, California's Central Valley and Wyoming, received the award from the American Honey Producers Assn.

WASHINGTON -- As news of the death of Margaret Thatcher came in Monday, tributes flowed from conservative leaders across the Capitol, showing the lasting influence the "Iron Lady" on the personal careers of many American lawmakers. “Lady Thatcher was a towering figure and a hero of mine,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania who once ran the conservative group Club for Growth. “Utterly fearless, she never once went wobbly,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, a first-term Republican from Texas and a tea party favorite.

There are a lot of places and interesting things to do on spring break. But an off-duty California police officer capped off his vacation by becoming a hero. Cpl. Justin Rogers of the Pinole Police Department was on vacation in Hawaii and had just removed his shoes to go through security at Honolulu International Airport when he saw a woman hitting a female officer of the Transportation Security Administration, according to the security video of the March 30 event. Rogers, a six-year veteran of the Pinole Police Department in Contra Costa County, is seen leaping over the small barrier and wrestling the suspect to the ground.

This post has been corrected. See below for details. It seems like only yesterday - in fact, it was only yesterday - that I read that Roger Ebert was taking what he called, with typical verbal skill, "a leave of presence" to fight the cancer that had re-invaded his body. Today he is dead, and that collapsed time frame somehow seems only fitting. For in the more than 10 years since he was diagnosed with cancer, Roger refused to give up as much as an inch to the disease that had ravaged his body but left his mind if anything more nimble and ready to rumble.

Christopher Knafelc, 32, was waiting for a train in north Philadelphia when fate gave him a chance to redeem a life of pain. Security footage at the Cecil B. Moore station on the Broad Street Line -- and broadcast nationally on cable television and on the Web -- shows a man walk straight off the platform and onto the tracks about 12:40 p.m. Thursday. Knafelc, who was sitting about 20 feet away on a bench, jumped down to help the man. A train was due to arrive in moments. “I had a plan if a train came I was going to roll him underneath,” Knafelc told WPVI-TV, “or if I couldn't, I was going to ask someone to jump down and help me roll him.” He held the man's head and neck stable until firefighters arrived.

A 9-year-old girl who hiked through difficult terrain to get help after the SUV she was traveling in crashed near Acton acted courageously to try to save her father, her family and authorities said. Alejandro Renteria, 35 of North Hollywood, was driving south on Sierra Highway near Soledad Canyon Road when he lost control of his Ford Escape, coroner's and California Highway Patrol officials said. He later died. The girl's sister, Amber Mejia, said she was not surprised by the child's actions on Renteria's behalf.

In "Rescued Sailor Has Arrest Record, but Says He Can't Recall the Incidents" (Sept. 28), the real heroes and heroines are the servicemen and women on the frigate McClusky. These true Samaritans, who receive relatively low pay in the military, donated $800 to purchase a plane ticket for Richard Van Pham. As for Pham, he is truly a survivor. Sam Fung Newport Coast

I am writing in response to "Let's Bring Superman Back" (April 25). As a child of the mid-1950s, I grew up with what most children today might consider "corny" heroes in my life. The memories of TV's Superman and Lone Ranger will always be a part of the foundation of my values of what is right and wrong. The picture of George Reeves as "Superman" brings back thoughts of a simpler time when my heroes stood for "truth, justice and the American way" in their purest forms. In a nostalgic way, I still hold him up as a champion of justice and good deeds, although I know he was a mere man playing a part in a television show.

In more ways than one, Robert Clary is a survivor. In real life, the diminutive Parisian-born actor and singer survived three years in concentration camps as a Jewish teenager during World War II. In show business, the 87-year-old has had a long and successful career that has included TV, Broadway, nightclubs and records. Clary remains best known for his role as master chef and French patriot Cpl. LeBeau in the 1965-71 CBS comedy series "Hogan's Heroes," which was set in a German stalag , or POW camp, during WWII.

A tale neither of ancient Greece nor of a camera company's market share, "Olympus Has Fallen" is instead a typical slab of Hollywood action in which the White House crumbles under attack, the American flag is tattered and tossed aside by baddies, and clichés rise like gods. Gerard Butler swagger-stars as ex-Secret Service tough guy Mike Banning, who leaps into action from his desk job at Treasury when terrorists initiate a bloody, expertly timed home invasion on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Once inside, he becomes the only man - or, as he modestly puts it at one point, "the best hope you've got" - to save the president (Aaron Eckhart)