Letters to the Editor Policy

Taking An Early Retirement

The United States has been invaded and occupied by a foreign army. A polyglot legion of 12 million illegal aliens have swarmed over the southern border. They threaten to overload the public school system, strain health facilities, burden the economy, and transform America into a wistful memory.

The purpose of immigration laws is to safeguard the citizenry against individuals with criminal records and those having criminal intent, to protect the population from contagious and infectious diseases, and to control the number of immigrants.

Yet every year a rock-bottom minimum of 500,000 aliens cross the Mexican border and head North. No one doubts that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has completely failed in its responsibility. The questions are why, and what can be done about it?

First, why. The situation has come about not by neglect, but by design. It is meant to be just the way it is. An illegal (he is not an immigrant) works for one-tenth of what his American counterpart earns. He's paid "off the books," the employer does not contribute to his Social Security, worry about withholding tax, or do any of the record keeping required for legal employees. Nor is he concerned about unions, on-the-job injuries, or even basic Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. The employer has exactly what he wants: a paid slave.

The typical employer is not someone with a two-man landscaping business. They are huge multinational corporations employing hundreds of thousands of illegals in all fifty states. These corporations employ lobbyists to influence congressmen to draft legislation favorable to their needs. The lobbyists have tens of millions of dollars at their disposal for the election coffers of either major political party or for individual congressmen. Money talks and it can be very convincing. It should astonish no one that willing ears are easy to find. In short, the root of the problem is the partnership between greedy businessmen and corrupt politicians.

But they have a problem. The mass migration has caused a public outcry that can no longer be ignored. The solution as proposed by President Jorge Bush, and Senators McCain, Kennedy, and others of that ilk is amnesty, but with a different name. Their argument is that the wholesale expulsion of millions is impossible. They're here so we must accept them.

It is a straw-man argument. No one contends for a solution that we do not have the means to implement. Even if this could be done, it would cause economic chaos. It is a "solution" no one seriously considers. They know that and they also know that amnesty doesn't work. President Reagan tried it in 1986. He legalized 2.7 million illegals and it succeeded only in exacerbating the problem.

Amnesty or any of its euphemisms – undocumented immigrants, guest workers – must not be accepted. Americans do not have to surrender. There is a solution and it is disarmingly simple: Let the illegals deport themselves. Self-motivated attrition is the answer; encourage illegals to take an early retirement from America.

First. Address the main point of entry. It's not the border. It's the work place. Employers are obligated to ascertain if a potential employee is a citizen. The applicant promptly furnishes him with a bogus social security number, a driver's license, or some easily forged documents. The employer accepts this. He has fulfilled his legal – not moral – responsibility, the federal government has not. The Social Security Agency (SSA) has the means to validate Social Security numbers. It does not do so. And you will never hear a congressman question why.

The first step, then, is for the INS, OSHA, and the SSA to do their jobs; enforce the laws for which their agencies are responsible.

Second. Some states compound the problem by granting driver's licenses to aliens. This is as good as a green card. It is used to obtain employment, open a bank account, and wire money out of the country. All 9/11 hijackers had driver's licenses. Federal legislation must be passed to stop this practice.

Third. Fine those who employ illegals. Make the fine progressive. Very little the first year, then increasing it every year. Pay part of this fine to the person reporting the violation.

Fourth. Incrementally remove all benefits of citizenship from non-citizens. That means no enrollment in public schools, no free in-state tuition, no welfare benefits, no availability of tax-funded social programs of any kind.

Fifth. Slowly choke off the four major legal loopholes of entry: anchor babies, illegals less than 18 years old, marriage for the purpose of gaining legal entry, and political asylum. A baby born to an illegal mother in the United States automatically becomes a citizen along with his mother and eventually a host of relatives, all gain permanent residency. If an illegal is under 18 he is escorted to a camp, some with horseback riding and movies every night. Eventually, his long-lost-great-great uncle comes to collect him. Marrying for the purpose of gaining citizenship is as easy as saying “I do.” And if an illegal is imaginative enough, political asylum can be his ticket to citizenship.

Sixth. This is the least important and the most discussed: border fences. Only four per cent of the southern border is fenced. Extending this barrier and increasing the purposely undermanned border patrol to an effective level will dramatically decrease illegal border crossing.

Will any of these measures be implemented? Not if the multinationals have their way. Here's what will be done. A voluminous immigration bill of contrived complexity will soon be passed. It will accomplish the following: several million illegals will be legalized, making them eligible for a myriad of federal assistance programs, unemployment for citizens will increase, the living standard will fall, the annual 20 billion dollars will continue to be sent to across-the-border families instead of being spent locally, M13 and kindred gangs of vicious illegals will proliferate; and the INS, OSHA and the SSA will continue with their policy of calculated incompetence. And America, the America that you grew up in, will not be the America your children will inherit.

Senator Harry Reid (Dem.) said, "Republicans today control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House. They have absolute power, and it has corrupted their Party and led to the culture of corruption that we see now in Washington."

The senator failed to mention that if the Democrats were in control, "the culture of corruption" would be just as bad. Cynicism has become reality.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Men’s Club News

The members of the New Milford Community Men’s Club would like to thank everyone who once again, participated in our annual Raffle.

This year, our First place prize, which was a Weber Barbeque Grill, was won by Carmine Monteforte. The Second place prize, a $200.00 Gift Certificate to Rob’s Country Market went to Bill Zitzow. The Third place prize, a Gift Certificate for $100.00 to the Olde Church Emporium, donated by Dennis McNamee, proprietor and club member, was won by Peter Conigliaro.

Congratulations to all of our winners. Through your support of our raffles, the Men’s Club is able to take the proceeds and help the Blue Ridge Community. Some examples of our donations are the signs entering New Milford, donations to the Head Start Program, Faith Christian Academy, the sixth grade school trip to Washington (CAFE), support of Scouting programs and scholarships and many other things.

Our donations and contributions are made possible by the support that we receive through our community in our fundraisers.

We are always looking for new members to join our organization to help serve our community. If interested in membership, please contact Ken Bondurant at (570) 465-7527.

Sincerely,

The New Milford Men’s Club

Ethanol Is A Solution

I am finding out how few people really know about ethanol. Some know it is an additive to gasoline. Some think whatever it is, how come it is not in our gasoline already? Some say “If we are addicted to oil" why do we need to change anything? Addictions are hard to break.

Ethanol is made from crops grown in the ground, it then goes through the same process as making beer. Maybe that will get some people’s attention and give them a better understanding. The crops are ground, heated, and mixed with sugar and water; then it becomes beer, then is distilled into “white lightning” or alcohol. That is the basic process of making ethanol. Every brewery in the world already has the plants set up to make half of the recipe of ethanol. The whisky producers also have the recipe!

Beer makers could be ethanol producers in time of crisis or natural disaster. Then could simply shut down the still and continue to make beer. The Latrobe brewery in PA has half of the material already, and the company who bought them could maybe allow ethanol production, if asked. That would cut the cost of starting from the ground up to make ethanol. I could just see the commercials at next year’s supper bowl: "Buy Busch high-test," or "Coors extra mileage," or "Budweiser’s horsepower," or" Miller clear," or "Jack Daniels’ cure," or “Save our country gin with kick!”

Some people are worried, if we use all the corn for ethanol how will we feed the world? That is perfectly alright to ask. The grain of corn or soybeans is only a small part of the recipe in producing beer or ethanol. Ethanol could be made from the stalks of corn, soybean hulls, sugar cane, switch grass, wood chip, and on and on. There should not be any worry about using up our food for a gasoline additive. However, I answer their question with a question, "Is it better than being held over the barrel by Iran, who threatens the shipment of crude oil in the gulf"?” The better point is, we won't have to depend on some other country for oil or change our lifestyles. Some people are worried about what the large oil companies will think or do to try to prevent this.

America has to import 60% of our oil to sustain our lifestyles and not deplete our national reserves of the black gold. I feel within two years we, as Americas can be self sufficient in that we can have the corn growing, the gasoline stations equipped with the mixing pumps, the truckers to haul products to and from the plants, and the vehicles to use the ethanol and put the American farmer to work!

Two years seems like an eternity, but if we start today and put things into motion we can reduce our overall cost of heating oil and gasoline and boost our economy tenfold.

Everyone in America is feeling the pinch here, so please, no matter what party you belong to, please make the call to move quickly on ethanol production. Everyone knows someone!

Together we, as Americans can do this; it is only patriotic. Anyone who disagrees with ethanol, in my opinion is not very patriotic, and should be told so. Ethanol is a solution!

Sincerely,

Peter A. Seman

Thompson, PA

A Job Well Done

This is just a note of congratulations to the entire Mountain View Class of 2006. Out of a total class amount of 124, there were 27 who graduated with “very high honors.” That is a terrific ratio for that class. Approximately 90% are enrolled in colleges for the Fall. This is saying a lot for a school district and the teachers.

I am not impressed with the administration very much as they are very straight-laced and not much fun. However, I believe the teaching staff is giving 110%.

This is just some acknowledgement for the great job done by the Class of 2006.

Thanks, Class. You are very much appreciated.

I would like to add that it was very touching to see two World War II veterans, George W. Gardner and Peter Marcho, receive their high school diplomas at the graduation ceremonies.

Sincerely,

Patricia Forsythe

Great Bend, PA

Notice To Residents

The Susquehanna Fire Dept. Ambulance fund drive is coming to an end. We have sent “Reminder” notices to a large portion of our residents to remind them that we are very much in need of their finical support. If you have already sent your donation and received a reminder notice please disregard. Remember that the fund drive has replaced the “Ambulance Club Membership.” By contributing to the fund drive you are entitled to the same privileges that the ambulance membership provided. Please be as generous as you can. Over the past years it has become harder and harder to maintain the level of service given the severe increase in operating costs.

Sincerely,

The Susquehanna Fire Dept. Ambulance

Think About It

Someone has mentioned the increase in children skateboarding in town. The question is, what else have these older children got to do in our town? It seems like the only thing these older children do is skateboard in different areas without causing any trouble, except for getting in our “way.” I wonder how beneficial it would be to put something like a skateboard park in somewhere in town. Some think it would be a great idea – along with myself. If the children are stopped from doing this they will start causing trouble, committing crimes, or doing vandalism, instead. So what harm would it do to give our older children something that would keep them happy and occupied? Some day these children will be running our town, and if we won’t do anything for them now, then what will they do for us when we are older? I am sure if we do something like this, we would have less crime in our town, less drunken brawls, less trouble. We are so busy worrying about cleaning up the town that we seem to forget the bottom line, which is getting the kids off the street and out of trouble. We do not have any police right now to stop the crime, but if these children had something positive to occupy them, then it may help, don’t you think?

We should take a strong look at what really matters for our town; what we can do to make a difference, without making empty promises, by getting things done. For instance, we knew last year that we wanted lights for our football field at the high school, so what did we do? We, the parents, rallied to get as many paying spectators as we could for that evening game, so we would make enough to get some permanent lights. However, after we did this, now we are told that we are only going to “rent” the lights. What kind of example are we setting for our children with these kind of results? We did what we were asked to do, expecting to get our own lights – now where are they? We all need to take a hard look at our sadly lacking town, and decide what it is that we really need – things that would benefit us, our families, and most importantly, our children. Then we need to do those things, and I am sure that the taxpayers would have a positive attitude about the funding, being that it will help in the long run; by getting our future voters off the streets and out of trouble. Think about it.

Sincerely,

Anne Stark

October, PA

Public Broadcasting At Risk

Our children are at risk. At risk of losing "Sesame Street" and other great public television. The Bush administration wants to slash NPR and PBS funding – and eliminate funding entirely in two years.

Over 1.5 million Americans have asked Congress to oppose this move. Congress restored some funding, but House Republicans just voted to eliminate all funding in two years.

Americans trust public broadcasting more than any other news source. Let's contact our representatives and ask them to fully restore funding for public broadcasting.

Sincerely,

Harrison White

Windsor, NY

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