How many more times?
What the hey? What’s with the fear mongering? It’s like the cover of your paper is a George W. Bush campaign poster (“Is Your Child Safe?” by Tara Servatius, Aug. 17). Must be a slow week when you reprint information you could have directed us to with an internet link.
Ed McDonald, Charlotte
Dazed and confused
I can’t believe CL missed two very important blogs (“Blogged Down. . . But Not Out,” by Karen Shugart, Aug. 17). NCRumors.com keeps up with state politics, and NinerNation.net covers UNC Charlotte sports.
Kenny Houck, Pineville
The battle of evermore
Regarding the letter from Greg F. (“When Hunter Becomes the Game,” Aug. 10), I must point out that his attempt to refute the myth that there was justification for the US invasion of Iraq comes up short due to his use of another myth — that there was ever a country called South Vietnam and that it had asked for our help.
At the Geneva Conference in 1954, all attending delegations recognized Vietnam as a single nation. One of the agreements reached at the time called for the separation of the armies of France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam at the seventeenth parallel, stating in part that this “. . .military demarcation line is provisional and should in no way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary.” And yet for the next twenty years the US deceitfully maintained (until finally capitulating at the Paris Peace Accords of 1973) that the Geneva Accords had actually created two sovereign nations — North and South Vietnam — in order to justify its support for a succession of puppet regimes in Saigon and its war on the Vietnamese people.
Contrary to Greg F.’s assertion, just as with Iraq, Vietnam too was a case “where the US attacked a country without any provocation.”
Richard Hornsby, Charlotte
Immigrant song
In response to “Driver’s License Redux” (Letters, Aug. 17), Ailen Jardines misses the point. The issue is about legality. The question asked, “Is it fair that immigrants not be granted the basic right to an identity?” For legal immigrants who have gone through the proper channels, no. It is not fair. However, the system works more often than not.
I remind Jardines of the death of an NC man and American citizen who was killed in a car accident. It was caused by a drunk driver. It was the fifth such incident for the drunk driver. Here is the kicker. The drunk driver was an illegal immigrant who at one point did have a valid license.
It is estimated there are 10 million Mexicans in this country with nearly half of them being illegal. Our state does not benefit from any of the “contributions” made by these people. The only entities that benefit are the companies that exploit the cheap labor as well as those dollars being sent out of the country. Another problem is that this state only has one immigration agent to deal with the estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants in this state. No mention of money for additional agents in the state budget. Hmm.
Here’s an idea: Consider tapping into an American workforce already in place: the city’s homeless population. This does three things: Deports the illegal immigrants, gives jobs to the homeless and keeps the money in this state and country. This action would most certainly benefit us all.
Erik Norman, Charlotte
Communication breakdown
In regard to Ms. Jardines letter regarding the inability of undocumented immigrants to get licenses, let’s not play semantics here. While I can appreciate the political correctness of saying “undocumented immigrants,” let’s just call a spade a spade. They are illegal aliens. The operative word in illegal aliens is illegal. See it’s a very simple word that means unlawful and in this case describes an unlawful entry into our country. I’m all for taking the masses yearning to be free but there are legal channels to go through. It’s not too much to ask for these people to use the channels we have in place and obtain a visa and apply for citizenship just like hundreds of thousands of immigrants that enter this nation every year legally.
The laws in North Carolina shouldn’t make it easy for these people to profit from their unlawful activities. They shouldn’t be able to rent an apartment and reside here because, frankly speaking, they don’t belong here. If our laws make it just a little more difficult for someone to reside illegally here then so be it. Anyone defending these people might as well slap every single legal naturalized citizen of the United States in the face. If immigrants want to come here and live here they need to make the effort to abide by the laws of this land starting with how they enter it.
Will Styers, Charlotte
This article appears in Aug 24-30, 2005.
