To the editor:
Jim Dyment is off on another of his extreme right-wing rants.
In his letter to the editor of Wednesday, May 5, he intentionally conflates the Mexican drug war (primarily a Mexican-on-Mexican fight for control of drug turf) with the problem of illegal immigration across the southern border (primarily an influx of workers seeking jobs). While both problems are serious and need to be addressed, they are not directly causally connected.
Any reader of Dyment’s letters to the editor has learned not to accept his wild assertions or claimed connections between events without independently researching his claims.
In his most recent letter, he cites mortality statistics without identifying the source of the figures, the nationalities of the deceased or the causes of their death. He wants to leave readers with the impression that Mexican drug dealers are killing thousands of Americans each year, which is, of course, total bunk.
But Dyment goes beyond merely falsely claiming that we have another Vietnam war raging on our southern border. Unbelievably, he states that President Obama is siding with drug lords and illegal immigrants. Does he have such little respect for this country and the institution of the presidency that he would even think such a disgusting thought? Does anybody even pay attention to anything Dyment says anymore?
For months now, President Obama has been calling on Congress to address this country’s illegal immigration problem.
Who has resisted all efforts to do so? Why the conservatives in the Senate, of course. Just this past week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that now is not the time to address immigration matters. Arizona Senators Jon Kyle and John McCain continue to decry the federal government’s failure to act to address the immigration problems impacting their state, yet they line up behind McConnell in refusing to allow any debate on immigration matters.
Don’t they realize that they are active participants in the federal government — the very same government that they are blaming for refusing to act? Can you spell “hypocrisy”? What are they doing about the problem?
Within the past two weeks, Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina pulled his critical support for a climate-change bill when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated his intent to have the Senate address immigration policy this session. In other words, yet another conservative who took his football and went home rather than address a serious pressing matter facing this country.
Conservatives are so hell-bent on doing anything and everything to bring down President Obama that they will lie, misinform and, what’s even worse, refuse to act in the best interest of this country just so President Obama cannot claim any more legislative victories.
Why does anyone even take them seriously anymore? Where are the adult statesmen that once controlled the conservative movement in this country? They are sorely needed at this critical time in our history.
Nels Kelstrom
Clinton
