Veterans

It's strange how "scandal" gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the "scandal" of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status. Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years. The bottom line first: The IRS hasn't done nearly enough over the years to rein in the subversion of the tax law by political groups claiming a tax exemption that is not legally permitted for campaign activity.

The two apparent front-runners to replace Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas are veteran public officials with strong connections to the east San Fernando Valley Democratic machine that has sent candidates to City Hall since the mid-1990s. Both also are women, which means the race gives voters the best shot in the city of putting a woman on the overwhelmingly male council. Nury Martinez, a Los Angeles Unified School District board member, and Cindy Montañez, a former state assemblywoman and executive at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, are among six candidates competing in the special election Tuesday to replace Cardenas, who was elected to Congress.

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war. He got married, raised two sons and made a career working at credit unions. But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war. The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes - and for having shrapnel scars on his arms.

An upside-down American flag is considered a signal of distress. And that's the feeling Robert Rosebrock had when he looked up and noticed the red, white and blue street-lamp banners outside the Department of Veterans Affairs' West Los Angeles Medical Center were in disarray - tattered, tangled around the poles or flapping upside-down in the breeze. "It was disgraceful," said Rosebrock, a 71-year-old U.S. Army veteran who arranged for the flags' installation 11 months ago using $12,000 donated by Metabolic Studio, a charitable arm of the Annenberg Foundation.

Mark and Cindy Evans make the rounds of Southern California flea markets early, before most shoppers have gotten out of bed. Their favorite stops: The Groves Antique Market Held the first Sunday of the month from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Irvine Valley College, 5500 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Admission and parking are free. Dogs allowed. (949) 786-5277. Pasadena City College Flea Market Also held on the first Sunday of every month, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Due to a scheduling change, the market happens to be open this Sunday.

In a 2-hour toast to patriotism and heroes, a tiny Anaheim church on Sunday pulled together a tender tribute to America's fallen soldiers at an afternoon ceremony that drew four major generals, an admiral and 10 Medal of Honor winners. Despite the allure of blue skies and big games for the Los Angeles Lakers and California Angels, about 700 veterans, their relatives and members of the five military branches filled Anaheim's Pearson Park Theater for the event, organized by the 67-member Lighthouse Baptist Church.

NEW YORK - Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pledged to employ any returning veteran who wants a job in a hiring push that will kick off Memorial Day. The initiative could mean as many as 100,000 hires over the next five years, according to the company. It also comes as the White House has been encouraging businesses to hire veterans who return from deployment amid a tough U.S. job market. In a speech to the National Retail Federation on Tuesday, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Bill Simon pledged to hire "any honorably discharged veteran in his or her first 12 months off active duty.

Samuel Snow, an 83-year-old black World War II veteran who had traveled across the country to receive an apology from the Army for being unfairly convicted on rioting charges, died early Sunday just hours after the ceremony honoring him and 27 of his fellow soldiers. Snow had been admitted to a hospital on the eve of Saturday's ceremony at Ft. Lawton in Seattle.

When Herbert Iske returned to California after nine grueling months in the Pacific theater in World War II, he assumed the veterans parades and salutes and bands were meant for him too. He was wrong: As a member of the U.S. merchant marine, Iske soon discovered that, in the eyes of his country, he was not a "veteran" of the war at all.

Walter Gonzalez hawks military pins, key chains and ribbons from a makeshift stand at a bustling plaza, peddling memories of a war few care to remember. "When we returned from there, we remained in the shadows," says Gonzalez, a fatigue-clad, shaggy-haired survivor of battle and years of postwar therapy. "No one wanted to talk about it."

SACRAMENTO - In the last century, Californians have said yes to every request for money to help veterans buy homes. Since 2000, they have signed off on $1.4 billion in bonds for that purpose. But most of that money remains untapped. In fact, the state's home loan program for veterans, run by the agency known as Cal-Vet, is doing less and less each year to help servicemen and women returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Yet there's more money available for the program than in the agency's annual operating budget.

Dependable and steady, Maribel Ramos was a hard-charging Army veteran just a couple of weeks away from graduating from college with a degree in criminal justice. Beyond all else, friends agree, she was not the kind of person who'd simply walk away. But Ramos, 36, has been missing for 11 days, seen last on surveillance footage turning in her rent check at her apartment complex in Orange on May 2. She was reported missing the next day, a Friday, after she failed to show up for a speaking commitment at a veterans group event and then never showed at the softball game she'd played weekly for almost six years.

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war. He got married, raised two sons and made a career working at credit unions. But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war. The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes - and for having shrapnel scars on his arms.

Josh Beckett has changed. The flamethrower has turned into a finesse pitcher. The cocky kid has become polite, even warm. This would all make for a nice story about a former phenom who is maturing and learning to deal with his age-inflicted limitations. Except for one thing: This 32-year-old version of Beckett has trouble getting hitters out. Beckett has failed to complete six innings in four of his six starts this season, including Wednesday night in the Dodgers' 7-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

The elite level of the National Hot Rod Assn.'s funny car drag racing is dominated by two multi-car teams, John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing, which have seven funny car drivers between them. But that's of no concern to one of the sport's soloists, veteran Cruz Pedregon. Pedregon, 49, leads the funny car championship standings after his win Sunday near Houston even though he's a single-car team, with Pedregon as driver, chief engine tuner and manager. It's the first time since September 2009 that a driver who does not work for Force or Schumacher has led the funny car standings in the NHRA's premier Mello Yello Series.

Jack Shea, a Hollywood veteran who directed popular sitcoms such as "The Jeffersons" and who, as president of the Directors Guild of America, forcefully argued for minority hiring and local production, has died. He was 84. Shea's death Sunday at a Tarzana care facility was caused by complications from Alzheimer's disease, a family spokesman said. His first TV directing gig came when he was 27, a frightened novice who suddenly was asked to fill in when the director of the game show "Truth or Consequences" called in sick.

President Obama awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor to a Vietnam-era warrior Wednesday, commemorating his bravery as well as a generation of veterans often  forgotten, even shunned, by the nation they served. Obama presented the medal to the widow of Spc. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. in a televised ceremony from the East Room of the White House, 42 years after he gave his life to save his comrades from a North Vietnamese ambush in Cambodia. “He saved his comrades who meant more to him than life,” Obama said at the ceremony, also saluting other Vietnam War veterans.

Hundreds of Japanese American veterans of the Korean War gathered in Little Tokyo on Saturday for the unveiling of a memorial wall honoring their fallen comrades, who died more than four decades ago in what has become known as this country's "forgotten war." "If heroism is measured by the sacrifice of life, then our true heroes are the ones who have their names etched on the memorial wall we're dedicating today," said Bob Wada, president of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans.

Jason Collins had long been keeping a secret. As a standout high school player at Harvard-Westlake School, as a star at Stanford and through a 12-year NBA career, he had hidden something fundamental about himself from his family, friends and teammates. On Monday Collins came out, becoming the first active male athlete in a major U.S. professional team sport to acknowledge he was gay. The reaction was swift. President Obama, who just last year gave his support for gay marriage, called Collins to say "he was impressed by his courage," according to a White House Twitter post.

There is a discolored mess on the brick wall behind center field at AT&T Park. The mess is what was left behind when a plaque honoring Barry Bonds and his all-time home run record mysteriously vanished. The San Francisco Giants say they'll put up a new one. We could not help thinking back to the winter of 2006-07, with Bonds on the verge of setting the record. The Giants signed Barry Zito - for the most money ever given to a pitcher at that time - and declared the face of the team henceforth would be the smiling Zito, not the scowling Bonds.