Immigrants are drain on U.S.
Your coverage of Tuesday’s immigration reform rally and march was one-sided (“Rights. Now.” May 2 cover story). You wrote about “undocumented” immigrants, but many of them are “documented.” They have fraudulent Social Security cards and stolen IDs. Did your reporters ask them why they don’t demonstrate in Mexico demanding reform there?
You should refer to them as illegal aliens. They are in the U.S. illegally. They are by definition criminals. Your coverage did not mention how much they are costing American citizens in jobs, stagnant wages and health care/education/social services for their families. You also did not give statistics about which “taxes” they pay.
How many of them are in our prisons? How many are drug dealers? How many have multiple children they can’t afford?
It’s not journalism when you don’t cover both sides of an issue.
Angela Myers, 38, Lakeview
Let’s talk about premarital sex
Finally, a guy who thinks like me (“Waiting until marriage for sex: Bad idea,” May 2 sex column by Dustin Seibert).
Honestly, why would you wait until marriage for sex anyway? Personally, I would never have sex with a virgin or a woman who is saving herself for Mr. Right. Wake up, ladies. There is no such man.
Besides, while you are waiting you are losing valuable time and experience in the ways of the bedroom. I believe before you say “I do,” you better know if she can. Because if she can’t, your marriage will be over before it starts.
Antoine Simpson, 42, Ravenswood
Why not wait?
You neglected to address a key point in your don’t-put-off-sex-for-tomorrow-when-you-can-have-sex-today argument: People who wait don’t think of sex in the same way that you do.
They don’t view the deed as merely a way to get off. The emphasis is on the emotional junk rather than the physical junk. And for the people I know who’ve waited, the emotional stuff seemed to carry them through their marriage just fine.
Logically, it makes some sense. For many people their “first love” is the hardest to get over. So why not save the “first love” until marriage, when, potentially, you’ll never have to bother trying to get over it?
Also, I think you’re forgetting that there’s a certain amount of training in any sexual relationship. It takes time to get comfortable with someone new. The only difference is, marriage-bound virgins have the benefit of not knowing any better. Without a comparison, they’ll never know what they’re missing. In some ways, that seems preferable over lamenting that my otherwise ideal mate is not half as good in the sack as the chump I picked up from a bar last winter.
Janet Krenn, 24, Buena Park
Green rewards
I read Katie McCollow’s editorial/op-ed “Seriously, it ain’t easy being green” (May 3 column) and I would just like to voice my disappointment.
Yes, I’m a very green Chi-town girl and am happy to be in such a green-friendly city. I try not to proselytize or preach at people, yet being green isn’t simply a matter of popularity or trendiness. It’s an essential lifestyle change that our country (and our world) demands if our children are to live in Chicago in 50 to 100 years leisurely reading the RedEye as I did this morning.
Yet Katie’s article made green living seem trivial and then taxing. I believe that the Chicago Tribune and the RedEye should take its responsibility to the public a little more seriously and expect its writers to evaluate their work and how it may affect the minds of Chicagoans everywhere.
Katie’s article almost excused her bad behavior. No, it’s NOT easy being green. At first! Yet when you truly start making long-lasting, everyday green choices, the benefits of peace of mind and the knowledge that one is doing right by the one world we have makes it easy and worth it.
Personally, though it is annoying that celebs and politicians hypocritically flaunt their “green” sides, the important thing to focus on is that the more press a green lifestyle gets, the more the general public will accept it as more than “inconvenient” propaganda.
Furthermore, there’s more to eco-friendly living than living without air conditioning, icky composting and not getting a full wipe on the toilet seat.
Rachael Albers, Edgewater
