To the editor:
“‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she with silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’”
Such are the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty — a now pathetic reminder of days long past in American history — the words are a mere vestige of America’s willingness to embrace the downtrodden of the world and give them the opportunity to pursue the American dream. There is no need for further evidence to this conclusion other than resistance to Rep. Jeff Denham’s (R-Calif.) most recent Congressional proposal.
Denham has received a political bashing from his party in recent weeks as he pushes for legislation to allow illegal immigrants to receive a green card in exchange for military service. After being assailed by conservative groups, such as Heritage Action, and lacking support from (House Majority Leader) Eric Cantor, the proposed amendment to the 2015 Defense Authorization Act is likely to fail.
There is no innate problem with recent conservative opposition to immigration reform, but there is with ignorance. Serving one’s country on the field of battle and putting one’s life on the line to protect liberty and justice for all is unequivocally the most American act one could ever do.
To deny legal status, not even citizenship, to one who is willing to die for the United States, and yet to speak of Judeo-Christian values and the original intent of the framers, this concept remains, on both counts, a sin. Political posturing on an immigration reform bill is not justification for forgetting that this nation was forged by immigrants who came with nothing but a promise of freedom.
As a nation, the United States cannot allow itself to lose its status as the golden gate of liberty due to partisan bickering, and especially not because of an extreme fringe of one party.
Thomas Klein
Hillsborough
Veterans Affairs snafu
‘honestly disgusts’ writer
To the editor:
In the past couple of weeks, there has been a spotlight shown on the Department of Veterans Affairs. Comedian/TV host Jon Stewart has been one of the driving forces behind the increased awareness of the completely chaotic state the Department of Veterans Affairs is currently in.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki has resigned from his position.
The whole situation is honestly just disgusting to me. There is so much money that is being injected into things related to the military and the creation of military goods, yet the well-being of our veterans is being essentially ignored and swept under the rug.
The people who give so much to our country are not having the same devotion reciprocated back to them. Of everything that money should be given to, I think helping out veterans out should be among the top of the list.
We claim to love and support our troops with mere words, but when it comes to actions and legislation it seems that this is not the case. The Department of Veterans Affairs epitomizes the worst of bureaucracy in government. The lives of millions of Americans are being valued less than looking good to superiors and meeting quotas.
No system of government is going to be perfect, but I think it is obviously that the current system leaves quite a lot of room for improvement. There really needs to be some substantial changes in the running of the government for a real impact to be felt. Unfortunately, however, it seems that changes of those sort are few and far in between.
I hope for the sake of the current and future veterans that there is some sort of change for the better. At this point, it seems hard for the department to get much worse.
Grant Jurkowich
Hillsborough

