Postcards’ from the Web

Numbers incorrect
“ROTC wastes needed resources,” Vanguard, April 18

Maybe your numbers were correct for the first Gulf War, but they’re no longer correct today.

-Aaron O’Donnell, Portland

Discrimination still a problem

“Affirmative action forum,” Vanguard, April 16

I think that Affirmative Action is a good way of reducing the level of discrimination between the genders and races that still exist in America today. This program would allow many blacks, women, hispanic and Latinos to gain access to education and employment opportunities otherwise would be denied them.

Annie Demen, student, Vermont

I have a dream

“Affirmative action forum,” Letters (see above), April 21

No surprise Annie is from Vermont, the state that elected Bernie Sanders to Congress. Annie speaks of removing discrimination how? By discriminating. Yes, what wonderful logic. That makes as much sense as having an alcoholic go to a bar to get his mind off drinking. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 has officially been revised. Replace: “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” to “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they WILL AGAIN BE judged by the color of their skin FIRST and then the content of their character.” -Adam Wilkie

Secession possibility begins with in-state tuition

“In-state tuition for immigrants,” Vanguard, April 22

Shouldn’t we wonder why Mexico has actively pushed for the amnesty for millions of illegal Mexicans, the acceptance of Mexican ID cards across the U.S. and more guest workers’ visas? Was prize-winning Mexican novelist Elena Poniatowska off-base when she publicly said: “Mexico is recovering the territories yielded to the United States by means of migratory tactics?” She has taught at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. Remember, benefits for illegal immigrants will encourage higher immigration and children born in the U.S. even of illegals and guest workers are U.S. citizens and can be mobilized by Mexico to vote when they turn 18. UC Riverside, CA Professor Armando Navarro has also publicly warned: “A secessionist movement is not something you can put away and say that it will never happen in the U.S. Time and history change.” Professor Charles Truxillo of New Mexico has publicly predicted that the U.S. Southwest’s secession is an “inevitability” due to continued high Hispanic immigration. He said he will use the electorial pressure of the future Hispanic majority in the region to achieve that goal. Was Prof. Truxillo right when he said: “Throughout history, nations and empires rise and fall. No nation’s borders have been permanent”?

-Yeh Ling-Ling, Executive Director, Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, Oakland, CA

Fraying my nerves

“In-state tuition for immigrants,” April 22

Illegal aliens are getting on my frayed nerves! We Americans seem to have to fight them all the way or they will bleed us dry! GO HOME ILLEGAL ALIENS! You are not wanted in the U.S. unless you come in the correct way! Stop demanding programs you are not entitled to. We will organize and fight you all the way! -Terry, homemaker, California

No rewards

“In-state tuition for immigrants,” April 22

Do not reward lawbreakers!

-David Dameron

Smooth rhetoric for thorny problem

“In-state tuition for immigrants,” April 22

“You go to school in Oregon all your life and then you get to college and there’s a big sign that says ‘You’re not welcome. You can’t participate,'” Rep. Billy Dalto(R-Salem), one of the bill’s sponsors, told the House Education Committee. I can add more to that.

You risk your life and being caught by the Border Patrol and you cross the American-Mexican border with almost no cash, no education, and no high-paying job skills and there’s a big sign in the U.S. that says ‘You’re not welcome’. Or, you risk a prison term or deportation and you buy forged documents that certify that you are a legal resident of the U.S. entitled to apply for a job and there’s a big sign there that says `You can’t work here’. What about this: You work hard to organize a good team, you plan meticulously, you memorize the schedule of daily routine, you make an enormous effort to get with your team into that bank and to collect some money (to improve your life, I guess) and there’s a big sign there that says `You don’t belong to this society’. Rep. Dalto may wish to reconsider his sympathy for those who break our laws and violate our borders. No matter how smooth rhetoric will he use, it’s not right to do that.

-Suchenek, college professor, California

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