Mailbag
Fix Border Issues by Legalizing Pot, Starting a Visa Program
Doing two things would help fix illegal immigration ("Under Siege," March 10):1. Set up a fast, efficient visa program for Mexican nationals, and let them work legally in the United States for specified time periods.
Most crossers are about the same as many Americans: They have European and/or Native American ancestry; most are Christians; and their ethics are no better or worse than the average U.S. citizen. Mexican workers make U.S. businesses lots of money. If they didn't, our government would use force to keep them out.
2. Legalize marijuana and tax it. Smugglers deal more marijuana more than any other drug, and pot is no worse than tobacco or alcohol, which are legal U.S. drugs. Marijuana remains illegal, because it is a multi-billion-dollar industry. It doesn't take an expert to figure that out, but one did: nationally recognized Tucson author Charles Bowden, who wrote Down by the River. Cocaine and the rest of it would still be smuggled, but with far less impact on the border, our court system and our pocket books.
Americans want cheap labor and dope; we're half of the problem. Big money doesn't care about you if you're an American who lives on the border.
Clark Lohr
Cowan Needs to Experience What Border-Crossers Do
I don't wish to sound unsympathetic to Ruth Evelyn Cowan's "living hell," even though the rogue's gallery of sinister villains Leo W. Banks describes as gushing into our country like so much raw sewage is certainly hyperbolized. Nobody disputes that the border is a nasty place these days, as you would expect from an interface between a rich, paranoid society and a slough of desperate poverty. That situation will not be rectified any time soon, given our national psychosis and atrophied compassion.I can suggest a simple remedy for Ruth Evelyn Cowan's suffering: She needs to spend a few months in Mexico getting to know these people who terrify her so. She needs to come across the border with a group and experience things from their point of view. Maybe Mr. Banks would be willing to write an article.
Michael Moore
Article Should be a Wake-Up Call for Americans
Thank you, Leo W. Banks and the Tucson Weekly, for printing a story which paints another side of the story of illegal immigration. The mainstream press, owned and operated as it is by those forces that favor the ongoing invasion, never prints a thing to the contrary of the happy crowd tramping north and its wealthy sponsors.Every nation seeks to control its borders. A nation without borders is not a nation. As all our good jobs get outsourced to foreign shores, we are deluged with an impoverished populace from another culture. How is that a good thing? The globalists/one-world-government/new-world-order crowd are lying through their teeth to us via the media, which has no problems with their agenda. Cheap labor for them means abominable wages for us. And when our middle class is gone for good, you can kiss political freedom goodbye, because such freedom has never existed in a two-tier society.
This is a situation beyond depressing. The content of the article was so sickening that it took me five attempts to finish. But we have to start somewhere, and this should be a wake-up call for all Americans.
Steve Vetter
Quit Whining, and Try to Understand Oppression of the Poor
I was appalled to read the article, "Under Siege." Poor babies in Southern Arizona! Their livelihood is being threatened by "illegal aliens!"I used to teach in Nogales and lived in the surrounding rural area. I, too, was ripped off twice by these people from Mexico who were trying to find a life for themselves and their families. Instead of bellyaching about what they are doing to us, perhaps we should confront our present commander in chief and demand that we work with the Mexican government to open up the border and stop treating those in dire need like criminals. I have yet to hear someone who has been down on their luck, due to governmental oppression, complain about the behavior of the poor.
And, what is this term, "illegal aliens?" The term itself is nothing but derogatory. Middle-class Americans, get with it: Open up your hearts and start using your brains!
Jacinta Hart
Quit Whining, and Go Compost on Your Own
Regarding Tim Vanderpool's "Let It Rot" whinery (Currents, March 17): While it is in the interest of the community to divert compostable materials from landfills, I was struck by the short shrift he gives to individual initiative. Must we rely on the government to teach us to compost? Can we not compost without government-subsidized bins? Can we not search the Internet for non-governmental sources of information on composting?Mark Stevenson
Creationists: Quit Whining and Using Incorrect 'Facts'
Max Wojcik's letter "Science Proves Evolution Is Invalid" (March 3) was an entertaining read and a marvelous example of how creation theory supporters love to bandy about scientific concepts that they really don't understand.Mr. Wojcik includes "a few simple scientfic facts" in his letter which are not facts at all. He claims that proof of evolutionary theory requires the existence of transitional fossils, and that no such fossils have ever been found. Wrong on both counts. The fossil record is rich in transitional fossils. The most famous, and perhaps most beautiful of these fossils is Archaeopteryx lithographica, first discovered in 1860 in the Solnhofen formation in Germany (at least six additional specimens have since been recovered). The magnificent Archaeopteryx clearly shows distinct characteristics of both reptiles and birds. There are scores of other fossils which exhibit transitional characteristics. Raymond Sutera's interesting article, "The Origin of Whales and the Power of Independent Evidence," would be a good place to start.
However, one does not even need to examine the fossil record for proof of evolution. Evolution continues around us, daily, patiently, despite the best efforts of creationists to pretend that it doesn't and--I'm very pleased to report--will continue to do so as long as life flourishes on our planet. Read Jonathan Weiner's Beak of the Finch, in which the author brilliantly chronicles Peter and Rosemary Grant's decades-long study of Galapagos finches, in which they have unequivocally documented evolution taking place in real time.
Scientists attempt--through empirical study and observation--to teach us more about the world and the fascinating past from which our present world has evolved. The creationist viewpoint pretty much boils down to, "Because it says so in the Bible."
Geoffrey Notkin
And After All That Whining, We End on a Tender, Loving Note
Dear Craig Preston ("Vegetarians Survive Only Because Carnivores Allow Them," Mailbag," March 3):I don't know if you believe in God or just in meat, but the "meek shall inherit the Earth."
Here's the good news for now: When it happens, you will be treated with love and kindness. Even now your odiousness qualifies you for my prayers.
Peace and love always.
Frank A. Grappo
Facebook Recommendations
© 2013 Tucson Weekly | 3280 E. Hemisphere Loop, Suite 180, Tucson AZ 85706 | P.O. Box 27087, Tucson AZ 85726-7087 | (520) 294-1200 | Powered by Foundation
