USA Today, May 5th, 2008
Letter to the Editor From Jerry Lujan

I don’t necessarily agree that age brings wisdom (re letter in 4/22 issue). I believe age brings experience but even young people can have experiences beyond their years. Much depends on what they do with the experiences. Do they learn from their successes or repeat their mistakes?

I do disagree with the letter writer’s examples of best vs worst. He compares apples and oranges — commander in chief vs president. The latter includes the duties of commander in chief, as well as a whole host of other duties.

Reagan was a class B actor as well as president. Despite the long and expensive investigations, and eventual impeachment, Bill Clinton was head and shoulders above Reagan as president. Don’t forget Clinton left offce with a budget surplus, which Bush quickly went through; putting the US in debt to China, Saudia Arabia, and others for billions. The country was much better off then than it is today. Bush has the worst disapproval rating of any president in 70 years, regardless of age, and his term in office isn’t over yet! (Page 7A, USAToday 4/22).

I don’t believe age has that much to do with whether a person would make a good or bad president. It is the decisions one makes while in that office and Bush has made unbelievably bad decisions since he became president, and he was the youngest of all.

Jerry Lujan
Retired Foreign Service Officer

Michigan Democrats Think We can fix things with a June 3rd re-do of the Michigan Primary.

By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Michigan Democrats agreed Friday to push a do-over primary in early June to give them a say in the close presidential race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Amid talks with the two campaigns, the four Michigan Democrats said in a statement they were “focusing on the possibility of a state-run primary in early June which would not use any state funding.” Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, one of the Democratic participants, said a likely date is June 3.

“This option would require the passage of legislation by the state legislature, and we look forward to working with the members of the legislature in the coming days to see if this option can be made a reality,” the Democrats said.  Click here to read more of this disheartening story.

Our problem is that after some 40 state primaries we have not selected a candidate.  If we just go along as we are doing, we won’t select one till August.  At that point, both sides will have reached anger points that will prevent the party from coming together.  We will all be so mad at one another, that the Republicans will win.  

If Michigan postpones this process to June we are sunk.  It is VERY likely that even if we re-do Florida and Michigan, then neither candidate will be able to come up with the needed votes until August.  We need solutions now!  Not months in the future.  

Any solution that does not give us a candidate quickly is an non-starter.  Ok, Howard Dean it is time for you to get busy.  Save our Party!  — Editor

Letter to the Editor
Arizona Star, Friday March 14th

In the March 13 issue there is an important item buried on page two in the article entitled “3 American Soldiers Killed In South Iraq.”  It concerns a Pentagon study that confirms there was no pre-Iraq war link between the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Being buried in a longer article is significant but what is more important is the fact it appears the White House is opposed to publicizing the study.  Originally the Pentagon had plans to post the report online and making officials available to discuss it.  Now they will only mail copies to reporters — if they ask for it.  The report will not be posted on the Internet.

The Hussein-al Qaida link was one of the main reasons Bush rushed to war.  The others, weapons of mass destruction and the nuclear threat, have long since been proven untrue.  The only other one, regime change, was completed when Hussein was deposed and the blundering American Bremer was in control.

Our troops can come home now, with their heads held high, having accomplished the mission their Commander in Chief sent them to do, not in retreat as the Bush Administration says.  So why are they still in Iraq being killed?

Jerry Lujan
Retired Foreign Service Officer

Recent Letter to the Arizona Star

Those AZ legislators proposing a bill to allow students and teachers to arm themselves are at least a half a bubble off plumb. How many more would have been dead at Northern Illinois University than was already the case if some of the students (and teachers) had started shooting? Think of those who could easily have been shot from “friendly” fire. I can’t imagine what kind of a horrendous bloodbath would ensue if this kind of situation were to occur in future such incidents.

Make it easier for youngsters to carry guns? It’s too easy already. We would not have had Columbine or Virginia Tech or NIU had it been more difficult for these young men to have access to guns.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) honchos must love these AZ legislators. Wonder how much they would be willing to “invest” to see that this bill is passed, with a view to assisting other state legislators throughout the country to introduce similar bills?

What absolute madness!

Gladys Lujan
Retired Foreign Service Officer

Lena Saradnik in the Arizona Star March 26th, 2007

Arizona is on the front line of the national immigration issue. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people come across our border. Many of them do not stay. Instead, they travel to jobs waiting for them in every state in this nation.Illegal immigration is a serious problem we must address. The state Legislature must take action with meaningful, practical and real solutions to these problems, but those real solutions need to start at the federal level. I hope Congress will pass reform this year.

In Arizona, one of the areas we can address is the “demand” side of the equation. We can make it harder for Arizona employers to hire undocumented workers. In order to do that and subsequently hold employers accountable, we must have a quick method to verify the legal documents (Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, etc.) presented to employers for work in the United States.

Until then, employers — including the Arizona House of Representatives, which recently experienced an immigration-related hiring incident — must simply wait for the Internal Revenue Service to notify them that the employee’s documents do not match records on file with the federal government.

We also need to tone down the rhetoric surrounding this issue because several opportunistic hate groups have aligned themselves with the anti-immigrant movement. Two members of our Legislature, one Democrat and one Republican, have received numerous threats related to their positions on immigration.

The reason I did not support HB 2779 is that it has no verifiable method for employers to check the legal status of potential employees. HB 2779 has no enforcement provision and lacks a method to investigate complaints.

Because this bill does not require that valid complaints be forwarded to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for investigation, it is essentially a very expensive Maricopa County-dominated catch-and-release program.

The bill provides $2.5 million in funds. The bill says $1.5 million will go to Maricopa County, $500,000 to Pima County, and $500,000 will be divided among all the other counties.

Most likely, this legislation will be challenged in courts. In the meantime, the legislature is wasting valuable time and resources and burdening Arizona’s businesses with a meaningless layer of bureaucracy.