Striking United Steelworkers at Lincoln’s Goodyear plant cite various reasons as to why they will not agree to pay cuts, plant closings and other concessions the company says are needed to remain competitive in the global business climate.

One cause focuses on bonuses paid out to Goodyear executives during the same period of time that all others, both production and management personnel, are told concessions are required if Goodyear is to stay afloat. How do these company officers sleep at night?

According to the 2006 proxy statement from Goodyear, bonus money totaling about $5 million was spread out among the top five Goodyear executives during 2005. This is additional money given to these individuals besides their enormous annual salaries, given while the company struggles financially.

If Goodyear Tire and Rubber is forced into bankruptcy, as is rumored, inflated executive salaries and excessive executive bonuses will be a major factor.

I’m proud to belong to an organization (United Steelworkers No. 286) that is currently attempting to ward off such injustice and greed.

Michael Cuba, Lincoln

Your kids, your choice

As a parent of two school-age children, I cannot express the importance of voting to repeal on Referendum 422.

LB126 was only the beginning stage in the forced consolidation of school districts and the loss of individual control over taxing authorities. The year following the passage of LB126, the Legislature passed LB1024 and took the taxing authority of 11 school districts and gave that authority to one “Learning Community Board.”

A vote to repeal on Referendum 422 will send a strong message to the Legislature that the people of the state of Nebraska want to maintain local control of their schools and their taxes. I feel that the people of these individual school districts have the best knowledge of how to best spend their own tax dollars to provide the best education for their own children.

Your kids. Your school. Your choice.Vote to repeal on Referendum 422.

Shawn Boyd, Lincoln

Words may haunt later

Democrats constantly are reminded that they have nothing but meaningless slogans to solve homeland and international issues. I would like to remind the other party of a few of their slogans that might not be so popular in the very near future.

“We’re fighting the terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” Now, I’m no genius, but I don’t know of anyone with good common sense and sound judgment who would make such a ridiculous statement while allowing millions of  illegals to cross the southwestern borders into their own country.

With the exception of the other party, I’m willing to bet that all the geniuses, people of common sense and sound judgment, plus me, can all agree that a large number of illegals crossing our borders are not in this country seeking low-wage employment.

So when our president so arrogantly made the comment, “Bring ’em on,” do you think he was really referring to the southwestern borders of his own United States? We all know that he gets things mixed up sometimes.

Finally, “Let’s not let the smoking gun come in the form of a nuclear cloud.” Well, as a result of a five-and-a-half year no-border-control policy, this smoking gun most likely will come in the form of a nuclear cloud.

God bless our troops serving around the world, and God help the other party.

W. Craig Bradley, Lincoln

Hope on Election Day

Now that the general election is nearly here, it bothers me to hear that the Republican candidates running for office rave on about their great accomplishments “while in control of three branches of government,” such as job creations, the record-breaking Dow Jones averages and the stock markets in general, the economy being so great, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.

When you really size it up, most of the many jobs created are low- to medium-paying jobs with little or no benefits and hundreds of thousands being part-time jobs with no benefits. Many people work two or more jobs just to meet their living expenses.

The Dow Jones market was at an all-time high during the Clinton administration, so after almost six years we are back to where we were in January 2000.

Consumers’ confidence started on a downhill slide at the start of the Bush/Cheney era. The economy has picked up because of folks spending all they make on cheap foreign imports.

Certainly the Bush-Iraq war is at best going “sideways,” as Republicans Sen. John Warner has reported from his most recent visit to Iraq.

I believe America’s voters see a chance for change of one or both houses of Congress in the November election. There is hope on Election Day for Democrats.

Jared Teichmeier, Lincoln

Minuteman not racist

On Oct. 17, the Lincoln Journal Star printed an article about a Minuteman meeting the previous day. Among other comments, the article mentioned a mixed feeling of one present gentleman (with a distinctive Mexican complexion) who, although he doesn’t support illegal immigration, objects to the racial profiling that has become woven into the public outcry.

I had a chance to speak to this gentleman and I told him that although neither I, nor a Minuteman group, can guarantee him protection from racial profiling, we are willing to help him at any time and offer him the protection we would be able to provide.

We are not a racist group. We welcome people of any origin, when they enter this country legally and maintain their legal status. Furthermore, we have a great respect for people like the mentioned gentleman. His family has lived in Lincoln for five generations; his uncle served in the U.S. Army and died in Europe during the Second World War. He is a full-flagged American.

About racial profiling — it is an unfortunate consequence of this situation, when an overwhelming portion of illegal aliens in this country are people of Latino origin. It is not a consequence of a racially prejudiced feeling. I hope that the mentioned gentleman — and people like him — will understand it.

Dimitrij Krynsky, Lincoln

I-423 must be stopped

Initiative 423 must be stopped. It would amend the constitution to cap state spending increases at the inflation rate plus population growth.

It may sound good in theory, but in practice, it will close local schools and raise property taxes with costs for new prisons and health insurance rising much faster than inflation. The spending caps will force cuts elsewhere, particularly in support for local schools and governments.

Initiative 423 was foisted upon Nebraska by out-of-state interests. They need to focus on New York’s problems. Nebraskans can solve their own.

You can help prevent a property tax increase while protecting funding for your local schools by voting No on Initiative 423.

Marvin Lange, Fordyce