Criminals in U.S. illegally should be deported Re: “Why is MontCo protecting criminals?” Local Editorial, April 29
It’s a shame and a disgrace that Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is not cooperating with federal authorities’ efforts to deport violent illegal immigrants.
What is Leggett hoping to accomplish by not assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in getting rid of these unwelcome trouble-makers? Could he be looking for votes to keep him in office?
I recommend that Montgomery County citizens pick up a pen and write to their state and federal lawmakers to protest Leggett’s unwise policy.
Al Eisner
Silver Spring
Birth certificate issue is not over
Re: “Birthers have helped Obama, distracted from real issues,” April 28
I just don’t see how Examiner columnist Philip Klein believes the birthers have helped President Obama. Headlines this past week showed that only 38 percent of Americans “believe with certainty” that Obama was born in America.
Obama is the biggest fraud in the history of America. He is toast, regardless of what you say inside the Beltway. I am not a Donald Trump fan, and he isn’t going to win the Republican nomination, but Trump did something none of the other pathetic Republicans would do.
This issue is still not over. Everyone knows that the birth certificate Obama released is manufactured. Why else would he hold it for three years? Does he have a legitimate Social Security number and is his Selective Service registration on the up and up?
Do your job. Our country was taken over by a coup in November of 2008.
Kelvin O’Brien
Nashville, Tenn.
Airlines’ safety record speaks for itself
Re: “Who’s fixing that airplane while you’re getting groped?” Beltway Confidential, April 27
Your coverage of the Transport Workers Union of America’s recent report on aviation maintenance was disappointingly one-sided. In recent years, airlines have increasingly contracted maintenance to specialized repair stations that perform the work more efficiently. This helps them become more competitive without compromising safety.
Regardless of where the work is done, all U.S.-registered aircraft are inspected and repaired to the same stringent Federal Aviation Administration standards.
The aviation maintenance industry’s impact on the U.S. economy is $39 billion per year and it employs more than 274,000 American workers, with a $2.4 billion positive balance of trade for the United States.
Scare tactics used by labor organizations like TWU, which raise false safety arguments to achieve short-term political and economic advantage, are very effective. TWU is urging Congress to pass legislation that would make it harder for airlines to use repair stations and unnecessarily drive up maintenance costs. Ironically, that would make U.S. air carriers less competitive and potentially cost airline employees (including TWU mechanics) their jobs.
What the TWU report (and The Examiner) failed to mention is that as airlines have increased their use of foreign and domestic repair stations, the accident rate has fallen dramatically and we are now in the safest period in the history of civil aviation. That simple fact speaks for itself.
Christian A. Klein
Executive vice president,
Aeronautical Repair Station Association
Alexandria
