Don’t blackmail us with threats of violence

To the editor:

In response to the Tuesday commentary by Andres Oppenheimer, “Beware the coming Hispanic intifada”:

Mr. Oppenheimer wrote: “We are creating an underclass of people. … Many of them (illegal immigrants) will become increasingly frustrated, angry and some of them eventually may turn violent.”

First of all, we did not invite them to break our immigration laws and come to this country illegally. We are not creating an underclass of people; the illegals are creating an underclass of people.

Mr. Oppenheimer is a Latin America correspondent for the Miami Herald. Why would he plant the seed for Hispanic violence as a response to our present-day situation?

He writes: “The millions of undocumented among us will not leave. They will only get angrier.” Mr. Oppenheimer should take note: The millions of documented Americans among us will not leave, either — it just happens to be our country. And, yes, the American people are fed up with the present situation.

Should the American people be blackmailed with the threat of Hispanic violence?

Gordon Hurst

LAS VEGAS

Fighting back

To the editor:

I read Andres Oppenheimer’s Tuesday commentary with much interest. He is warning us that if we don’t give citizenship — and all that goes with it — to the illegal immigrants, they will hit us with an intifada.

Intifada is a curious phrase to use in this instance, since it describes a revolt or uprising against the government.

As a taxpaying, proud American citizen, I want to say this to the illegal immigrants: America is not — I repeat, not — France or Great Britain, where the citizens have been coddled, protected and disarmed. No, sir. We Americans are proud, loyal, mostly law-abiding people with one more distinct difference: We are armed.

To believe that we will sit idly by while some people who are here illegally burn and destroy our country is folly. It will not happen.

So, if they get too discouraged by our refusal to give them our country, they should go back to where they came from — or, if they want an intifada, bring it.

Bill Wilderman

LAS VEGAS

Spend more

To the editor:

In his Tuesday commentary, state Sen. Bob Beers presented a couple of statistics to illustrate his view of the fiscal state of our state. He says that from 2002 to 2007, Nevada raised taxes by the second largest amount per capita in the nation. That may well be true.

But what Sen. Beers never mentions is that for the 10 years before 2003, Nevada was one of only three states whose state budget did not keep up with the growth of population and inflation. For those 10 years, while we were consistently the fastest-growing state in the nation, our state government, in proportion, got smaller and smaller and smaller.

Nevada is today — by a standard that I think Sen. Beers would recognize as valid — the winner in the small government sweepstakes. Nevada is 51st in the nation for public employees per capita. We have the least.

And what do we have to show for this success of the conservative ideology? Nevada is 49th in the nation in having a low high school graduation rate. Nevada is dead last in state-supported per-pupil funding for K-12 education. Nevada ranks fourth-highest nationally in children without health insurance. At the beginning of life, we are 45th in providing adequate prenatal care. At the end of life, we have the highest suicide rate amongst our senior citizens.

And it goes on and on.

This is the model that Sen. Beers says works so well. I think we can do better. I think most Nevadans want us to do better.

Peggy Pierce

LAS VEGAS

THE WRITER, A DEMOCRAT, REPRESENTS DISTRICT 3 IN THE NEVADA ASSEMBLY.

Property rights?

To the editor:

In response to your Monday editorial on ballot initiatives in Oregon and Utah:

You criticized the “anti-growth ‘preservationists’ ” who supported the successful passage of Measure 49 in Oregon, a critical measure to protect private property owners while conserving our clean water and quality of life. I wonder who you’re talking about? Is it the Oregon Farm Bureau? Or maybe the Oregon State Firefighters Council? How about the American Heart Association or the Oregon Center for Christian Voters? They’re just a few of the supporters of Measure 49, along with four past governors of Oregon and a lot of common-sense folks who care about doing what’s right for Oregon’s future.

I would appreciate it if next time, before spilling ink on your neighbors in Oregon, you take a look in the mirror. Southern Nevada’s open space is melting away like a snow cone in August.

Perhaps you can learn a lesson from your neighbors and take steps at home to conserve some of the wonderful wild places, working ranches, geological wonders, and delectable open spaces that make the Silver State so special.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT

PORTLAND, ORE.