News

Say the Names of Those You Know Who Died for Our Country -- then, pledge to preserve that country

Updated: May 28th, 2009, 5:33 pm

Published:  

  by  Roy Beck

Alan Ruddell, Jerry Petty, John Hanson. You don't know them, but you owe them. They were fellow members of my high school football team and welded with me at the local steel plant. Like me, they were drafted into the army, but they lost their lives in service of our national community. They're the names I must speak at the beginning of my Memorial Day. And I owe a debt to the names of the people among your family and friends that you will speak today. Don't let their names die; tell your kids or your friends about these people who missed out on so much of their lives because of something we all once took for granted -- a country, with clearly defined members and borders.

Farms and Immigrants

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The immigration system, broken in a thousand places, needs a multitude of fixes, from the borders to the workplace to the status of would-be Americans waiting in limbo overseas and toiling in shadows here. A new bill called AgJobs, introduced in the House and Senate, addresses some of those problems. It seeks to relieve chronic farm labor shortages while protecting rights and opportunities for immigrant workers.

New immigration charges filed against Rubashkin

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Federal prosecutors today filed a 142-count criminal indictment against former managers at Agriprocessors Inc., the struggling Postville slaughterhouse, and increased the number of immigration charges against former plant executive Sholom Rubashkin.http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090515/NEWS/90515015/-1/NEWS04

By Grant Schulte -- Des Moines Register

Vermont dairy farms count on illegal immigrants

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In Burlington and Middlebury, police have policies in place not to bother Hispanics about immigration issues unless they're breaking the law.

And recognizing that the farms are vulnerable to enforcement sweeps, even Allbee is part of an emergency response team that is ready to step in and do chores if a farmer's workers are ever hauled away on immigration charges (The team has never been used.).

Congress should act now on AgJobs bill

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In spring, whenever storm clouds gather heavy with hail capable of ripping fragile crops to shreds, my Kansas-born mother always offers the same reflection: ''I'm sure glad I'm not a farmer anymore, depending on the weather, which is so undependable.'' In late summer, as the rains become scarce and harvests are endangered by horticultural thirst, there she is again: ``I'm sure glad I'm not a farmer anymore, depending on the weather, which is so undependable.''http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-vie

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