Using the Word 'Illegal'

I'm writing this regarding an article I read titled "Seeking TRUST" by Leilani Clark (The Paper, May 4). Now I realize your magazine caters to "the left," as it's commonly referred to, but are you kidding me?! Really?! You keep referring to illegal aliens as "immigrants." Why is it some people insist on skewing reality when it comes to immigration? To refer to people who knowingly and willingly violate our laws is an insult to all legal immigrants such as myself. In the article, you say that the Secure Communities Program has resulted in families in upheaval, fear of deportation, and distrust and fear of law enforcement. Bull! All these things are a result of breaking the law. I don't believe it's ever a good idea to teach people, especially children, that it's OK to cheat, OK to break the law, OK to push in front of others who are following the rules because there will be no penalties or punishment for doing so.

I wonder how the county board of supervisors chair Efren Carrillo would react if a group of people pushed in front of people waiting to speak at a Tuesday board meeting, because they didn't want to follow the rules or wait their turn like everybody else. If you break the law, you should be punished. The punishment for violating immigration law is and should be deportation.

Rick Grant

Santa Rosa

When Abortion Was the Enemy

Will Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, be overturned if the ruling comes again before the Court? Will "back alley" and self-induced abortions or expensive long trips to states where abortion is still legal be the order of the day? A free public showing of the prize-winning documentary, When Abortion Was Illegal, sponsored by the Sonoma chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women), will take place on Saturday, May 14, at 2pm at the Peace and Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa. A review and discussion of the current national and state threats to women's reproductive health will follow.

Mary West

Santa Rosa

Nobel Peace Prize Blues

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in a stunning decision that honored the first-year U.S. president more for promise than achievement, and drew both praise and skepticism around the world. But critics called the Nobel committee's decision premature, given that Obama has achieved few tangible gains, as he still grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, and now the war on Libya.

The raid has further strained ties between the United States and Pakistan. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling for a review of billions in aid to Pakistan in light of the revelation that bin Laden was living inside a heavily fortified compound in a wealthy Pakistani suburb. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf criticized the United States for attacking the compound without Pakistan's knowledge, calling it a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. "It's very important to use this defining moment, I think, to rally the American people and to remind the American people that we are spending trillions of dollars, billions every week, on this open-ended longest war in American history and that we have economic priorities, economic recovery, job creation priorities here in our own country that this money can be used for," U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee said.

We've got to remove our young men and women from harm's way, and we've got to really make sure that our presence in countries throughout the world does not create more danger and more anger toward the United States, which, you know, diminishes our national security.

Ted Rudow III

Palo Alto

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