Taxpayers shouldn’t come to subprime rescue

Re: “Take the hit from a bad mortgage,” Sept. 6

Amen to Martha Montelongo. She is absolutely right that the taxpayers should not have to bail out those who abused the subprime mortgage fad of yesteryear.

Anyone making a huge purchase like a house should be responsible enough to learn about the mortgage products presented to them. To plead ignorance of the simple fact that an adjustable rate will increase is on the par with pleading ignorance to the fact that you have to pay for the gas you just pumped into your car.

Anyone on shaky financial grounds who bought a house does not deserve to own that house. Letting them off easy will only create more abusers the next time.

William Burt
Arlington

There’s not enough oil left in America

Re: “Changing CAFE standards will worsen the gas crisis,” Sept. 3

While we do have a few areas where oil production is banned, the reason oil production is falling in the U.S. is that we’ve pumped it out already. The oil fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania were drained long ago, Texas and Oklahoma peaked roughly when the nation peaked, and even Alaska has been in decline for some time now.

David Rothbard and Craig Rucker say that it is only common sense that we increase American oil production in order to reduce our dependence on imported oil.

Hogwash. You can’t create energy independence by draining America. Pumping out our last reserves now would allow us to run our gas-guzzlers a few more years and then lay us at the tender mercies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Carl Henn
Rockville

Latino immigrants least likely to become criminals

Re: “There is no immigrant crime wave,” Aug. 24

The media fails in its responsibility to present the true nature of our immigration situation. During the recent trial in federal court in Hazelton, Penn., for instance, Hazelton’s claim that “illegal aliens” (i.e. undocumented workers) were to blame for high crime rates and economic decline was proven wrong and inaccurate.

In fact, it was conclusively shown that undocumented Latino workers were the demographic group least likely to be involved in criminal behavior. It was also demonstrated that the city had gone from a substantial deficit to a fiscal surplus over the period of time examined, and that the Latino community had much to do with the economic development that occurred.

We should treat those coming to America at great risk and cost with kindness and respect.

Michael Ahern
New Sanctuary Movement of Northern Virginia
Oak Hill

Virginian’s Darfur divestiture bill encouraged others

Re: “Malnutrition on the rise in Darfur,” Sept. 1

The 2007 legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly witnessed a bipartisan effort led by state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Centreville, and Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg, to end the atrocities in Darfur through targeted divestment, ensuring that Virginia’s foreign investments were not complicit in humanity’s worst crime and that the billions of dollars invested internationally by the Virginia Retirement System could be used responsibly to help stop genocide in Sudan.

While Sen. Cuccinelli’s legislation (SB 1331), the first Sudan divestment bill considered in 2007, failed to pass, it help set off a maelstrom of Sudan divestment legislation across the country. Following his lead, 13 states have successfully adopted Sudan divestment policies. His leadership on this issue deserves praise and acknowledgement.

Adam Sterling
Director,
Sudan Divestment Task Force

U.S. citizens must renounce allegiance to home country

Re: “Detained Iranian-American academic leaves Iran,” Sept. 3

The article refers to Ms. Haleh Esfandiari as an “Iranian-American.” Evidently that appellation is not simply to show her ethnic roots, but means she is still a citizen of Iran.

According to the article, she “flew out of Iran on Sunday after receiving her Iranian passport Saturday.” Was she arrested as an American or an Iranian?

How does one retain citizenship in another country after taking the U.S. citizenship oath, which reads, in part, “... that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen ...”

Is the U.S. citizenship oath meaningless?

Joseph R. Farrell
Alexandria