Letters, 2/3: Immigrants get few benefits

 34 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

It is at first amusing but ultimately depressing to read opinions such as the one by Dimitrij Krynsky stating his strong stance against benefits for illegal immigrants.

Krynsky reveals a great many personal fears, misconceptions and outright distortions about illegal immigrants, while shirking any responsibility for offering factual evidence on precisely what “benefits” are being depleted by illegal immigrants. I read his column twice and certainly didn’t get what benefits he was referring to, nor the amount being stolen.

I have had some exposure to various community outreach programs bringing me into contact with immigrants, some of whom were no doubt here without documentation. What I witnessed was a subclass of people working incredibly long hours for low pay, and for the most part hiding out on society’s fringes for fear of being discovered and deported.

Most of these people wouldn’t even know how to seek out our benefits, and in any case, wouldn’t, for fear of retribution from a system that despises them. The idea of these people gobbling up our “benefits” is absurd.

This issue is a complicated one, and people claiming to perceive the truth in such a clear ideological clarity are missing the facts, or are simply delusional.

John E. Fritts, Lincoln

Obama will bring change

Many of my fellow Democrats believe Hillary Clinton is the heir to the Democratic throne and the White House because of her experience as first lady and as the junior senator from New York. I could not disagree more.

The slash-and-burn tactics the Clintons use to get elected shows that their ambition has no limits.  The one candidate who can unite the Republican Party is Hillary Clinton. How many of my friends from the farm would even consider casting a vote for Hillary? My guess is not many. Hillary Clinton and most of the candidates in the Republican Party represent a ruling class that has got us into this mess.

Many people of my generation feel it is time for a change, and I believe that we may have the heir to John F. Kennedy’s legacy waiting to help lift us out of our funk. This is a man who speaks to all Americans regardless of race, creed, gender or age. He is a man who believes real change is brought by uniting us rather than dividing to conquer. That man is Barack Obama. 

As Nebraska Democrats, on Feb. 9 we have a historic chance to change the tone of our politics.  For the first time in my lifetime, it looks like our presidential vote may actually count here in Nebraska.

If you believe as I do that the status quo must be changed, attend your caucus on Feb. 9 and give your support to Barack Obama. I cannot promise change, but we need to give change a chance.     

Jack Bangert, Bellevue

End the death penalty

I want to urge state senators to pass LB1063, the bill that would abolish the death penalty in Nebraska.

All homicide is immoral and dehumanizing, no matter what the stated justification. Capital punishment and abortion are wrong and damaging to our society. Taking life is never the answer. Two wrongs don’t make a right. The numbers of both executions and abortions have decreased in the past decade. We are making progress. Let’s work together to reduce the frequency of both.

Our society is sometimes presented with difficult political choices, just as we as individuals face difficult choices in life. We try to resolve these dilemmas by living according to our fundamental values and principles. These values and principles come from our inner spirituality that we are created with. We inherently know that killing is wrong.

LB1063 offers us the political choice to do the right thing, which is to end killing by capital punishment. As singer-songwriter John Prine said, “Now Jesus don’t like killin’ no matter what the reasons for.” So please, let’s end the death penalty in Nebraska.

Robert G. Lange, Lincoln

Nelson is an enabler

Recently, Sen. Ben Nelson joined with other bullyable Democratic senators and all of the Senate Republicans and voted to support President Bush and Vice President Cheney in their efforts to grant immunity to telecom companies. By supporting immunity, Sen. Nelson went against the wishes of the entire Senate Democratic leadership, every Senate Democrat currently or formerly running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and 59 percent of Americans. These people want to spy on al-Qaida, too. They’re just not willing to do it in a way that undermines the very democracy that the spies, Congress and the president are supposed to be protecting.

I’m curious what Sen. Nelson knows that these distinguished members of the U.S. Senate and his constituents do not. Maybe you should ask if he has received any of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the companies are spending to get that immunity. The real aim of the Bush administration is, of course, to make sure the full story of the illegal wiretapping never comes out in court.

Luckily, my two U.S. senators, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, had the wisdom and the courage to stand up for their constituents against the onslaught on their privacy and the illegalities being pursued by the Bush/Cheney administration and their Republican enablers. Sadly, Sen. Nelson must be added to that “enabler list.”

Bob Carter, Spokane Valley, Wash.

No ‘glib’ presidents

I watched “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” last Sunday, and on the roundtable discussion, one of the esteemed panel members stated Hillary Clinton was eminently electable because she was so “glib” about everything in her answers and what a positive trait it was for her politically.

I looked up the meaning of “glib” in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary. It means “marked by ease and informality, showing little forethought or preparation (offhand) as in glib answers, lacking depth and substance (superficial) as in glib solutions to knotty problems, smooth, slippery, marked by ease and fluency in speaking and writing often to the point of being insincere or deceitful (glib politician).”

Perhaps this gentleman thought he was doing her a favor, and then again, perhaps not. I wondered if I would vote for a candidate who was “glib” and concluded I would not.

I am convinced many people in our country will vote for a glib candidate because they don’t care about their sincerity, deceitfulness or truthfulness and just want their candidate elected, regardless. I think this applies to both parties.

I have said, time after time, “This country will have the president it deserves.” I hope it is a president who is not “glib.”

Thomas F. Jones, Central City

Johnson makes decisions

I would like to encourage Sen. Joel Johnson of Kearney to consider relocating to Lincoln. We are underrepresented by leaders who are actually willing to make leadership decisions. Sen. Johnson’s bill (LB1139) would take money out of the state’s cash reserve fund to build a four-lane highway between Columbus and Fremont.

I feel that his assessment that the money would boost economic development is accurate. He was able to arrive at this conclusion without asking for a $1.2 million study first. The Lincoln City Council and other local leaders should take note.

Darlene Dvorak, Lincoln

Thanks for articles

I thank the Journal Star staff for the well-written and informative articles on the Near South neighborhood. It is encouraging to learn law enforcement, individuals and organizations are working to maintain and improve this neighborhood.

Another group that has worked on this area since about 1988 is the Capitol Environs Commission. Its stated purpose is “to foster pride in the beauty of the Capitol and its environs by studying and publicizing their essential aspects; to provide a fit setting for the Capitol by encouraging appropriate public improvements and private development, especially in the Capitol Environs District …”

Certainly the strategic location of the Near South neighborhood is central to the pride and well-being of the entire city.

Burke Casari, Lincoln