Readers Write (Oct. 16): Civic sacrifice; state prisons; Kersten on TiZA

The responses to your question "what government services and benefits are you personally willing to give up to help balance the public books?" were very interesting (Opinion Exchange, Oct. 9).

I have a different perspective. We would not have to give up much if we would ask our government to look at its spending and cut unnecessary expenses.

President Obama said in his campaign speeches that he would do just that, but nothing happened.

We need to review the federal budget and eliminate pet projects that provide nothing to taxpayers. We need to cut subsidies to all corporations and farmers. We need to put America first and cut foreign aid substantially. These cuts alone would take billions of dollars off of our public books.

VEDA SIREK, NEW PRAGUE

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I would be willing to let my Social Security payment remain the same and pay taxes on the full amount if corporate executives, leading public officials and high-paid workers would agree to freeze their wages and cut their bonuses in half for five years.

RICHARD RASER, SAVAGE

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The Oct. 9 story "Hundreds in prison facing deportation" leaves readers with a false impression. Although there certainly are some foreign-born criminals in the state, the article gives the impression that the jails are filled with dangerous "criminal aliens" (as the reporter put it).

What is obscured by this description is the fact that immigrants are considerably less likely than are U.S.-born residents to commit crimes -- so much so that some social scientists suggest that the nationwide increase in immigration helps to explain the drop in crime rates in the nation's largest cities.

In Minneapolis, as in many other cities, immigration has increased over the same period that violent crimes have declined.

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Yes, the U.S. prison system and its costs are skyrocketing, but it is not convicted foreign nationals who are the main cause, as the Star Tribune would have us believe. Foreign-born inmates represent just a small fraction of the nearly 10,000 people incarcerated in Minnesota.

America as a whole has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Empirical studies show that the foreign-born, documented or not, are less likely to commit crimes and be incarcerated than are the native born. In spite of that, public opinion continues to link immigrants and crime. The newspaper only perpetuates that myth.

And why should we afford those "criminal aliens" their rights? Because it is adherence to human rights that makes a civilized society.

ROSE GRENGS, EAGAN

I understand and largely agree with Katherine Kersten that reflexive multiculturalist love for Islam had much to do with the longevity of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA). Still, as a lawyer, she of all people knows that litigation of the sort undertaken by ACLU of Minnesota doesn't poof into existence.

Speaking of things that poof into existence, I wonder if Kersten realizes that a more timely response to the perfidies of TiZA and like entities might have come if these secularists didn't have to deal with attempts by her fellow Christian rightists to shove neocreationism into our schools and other conservative pablum down our collective throat. I guess I should be grateful she gives the ACLU credit for any good at all.

DOUGLAS PRESLER, MINNEAPOLIS

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What strange bedfellows: Kersten and the American Civil Liberties Union. I hope your membership is up to date, K.K.!

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My name is Todd A. Hughes, I live in Minneapolis, and here is an accounting of my donations for the past year:

• Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educational Network: $60

• Human Rights Campaign Fund: $60

• Minnesota Public Radio: $120

• Minnesota Opera: $60

• Metropolitan Opera: $65

• Minneapolis Institute of Arts: $75

There. How hard was that?

Some are concerned that if the public knew the names of those who give to a particular cause, it might make them vulnerable to attack ("State orders donor disclosure," Oct. 5).

Walk a mile in my shoes.

TODD A. HUGHES, MINNEAPOLIS

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In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq over a real attack on America for which Iraq was not responsible. Now the United States is positioning to attack Iran over a fictional attack against Saudi Arabia by Mexico ("Obama promises to punish Tehran," Oct. 14).

I can only assume we will then invade Narnia over a fictional attack by Oz on Mordor.