Sen. Salazar and U.S. immigration reform
Three years ago, while campaigning for the Senate, Ken Salazar said he would promote environmental protection, address the widening income gap between rich and poor, and support affordable health care for all Americans. These were popular positions and Salazar was elected. In his time in the Senate, however, he has done little to address these issues.
Now comes the immigration issue and we see where Salazar’s real passion lies. According to news accounts, he has spent much of the past few months negotiating and promoting a bill that represents the first major change to immigration law in 20 years.
Unfortunately, that bill is a disaster. It includes hundreds of thousands of new work visas annually and rewards more than 10 million illegal immigrants living in the United States with permanent legal residency.
Salazar owes his constituents an account of how these changes will be good for our country. How will flooding our labor markets help working Americans negotiate better wages? How will doubling the U.S. population over the next 35 years help us protect our wild lands and create a sustainable society?
Philip Cafaro, Fort Collins
Re: “An opportunity for compromise,” May 30 E.J. Dionne column.
E.J. Dionne says, “The best way to guarantee the rights and wages of all Americans is to give every immigrant the opportunity to become a citizen, with all the rights and duties that entails.”
The proponents of the immigration bill say we must give the illegals citizenship, but none say how that benefits the U.S. No representative or senator should vote for this bill unless he can tell us unequivocally how bestowing citizenship benefits our country.
I believe giving the illegals legal status is desirable, but that can be done without bestowing citizenship by giving them long-term visas. The bill’s supporters say we must consider benefits to the illegals, but neglect any consideration of detriments to our country. For example, Sen. Barack Obama complains that the proposed system “places a person’s job skills over his character and work ethic.” The job skills are more important to the country.
I believe this bill should be summarily rejected.
Dave Miller, Sedalia
“An opportunity for compromise,” May 30 E.J. Dionne column
If it is really true that the United States of America needs immigrants to do the “work that Americans won’t do,” why is no one suggesting that more people be allowed to immigrate legally to this country? Of course, those immigrants would then become Americans and maybe they would not do the work anymore. Does that make any sense?
John Cleveland, Centennial
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Re: “Rachel Carson’s legacy,” May 27 guest commentary.
Stewart Udall didn’t give us the “rest of the story” in his glowing praise regarding Rachel Carlson’s legacy.
Shouldn’t he have included the fact that as a result of her condemnation of DDT, in “Silent Spring,” millions of people in undeveloped countries have died, and continue to die, from malaria? And the fact that recent findings have absolved DDT of its danger to humans?
Jim Stelloh, Littleton
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Right-to-die movement
Re: “Dr. Death is still among the living,” May 31 Debra Saunders column.
The right-to-die movement is not organized around Dr. Jack Kevorkian or anyone else. It is international in scope and generally focused around the facts that end-of-life medical care may extend suffering rather than useful life, that some diseases literally imprison people in their own bodies, and that not all pain is treatable. There are principles common to all such organizations: that persons shall make decisions about their own medical care; that sick people are entitled to have their pain controlled, even if the effect is to shorten their lives; and that hastening one’s inevitable death should be a personal choice, not a governmental choice.
In the U.S., there are two organizations which roughly represent the two facets of the movement. One facet is the push to legalize what is known as assisted dying, such as allowed by the Oregon law. The other facet is to offer guidance toward a hastened death to persons who qualify via their verified medical conditions. These two organizations carefully train compassionate volunteers to act within state laws.
Wye Hale-Rowe, Aurora
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