Americans

Dan Rodricks ' recent column ("Immigrants: We detest them — and need them," June 30) unjustly slams legal immigrants and American citizens. By his column comments, it appears Mr. Rodricks does not understand there are drastic differences between Americans' attitude about legal as opposed to illegal immigration. American citizens appreciate the hard work that legal immigrants do in our country in all occupations especially those in the agricultural industry. What is not appreciated are citizens from other countries who illegally cross our borders (many with drugs tied to their back)

Eleven local girls lacrosse players, including three from No. 1 McDonogh, are among 45 girls selected as Under Armour All Americans to play in the seventh annual Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic June 30 at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium. Last season's All-Metro Player of the Year Taylor Cummings along with Corinne Etchison and Liz Bannantine, from McDonogh's IAAM A Conference championship team, will play for the South along with John Carroll's Erica Bodt, St. Paul's twins Brooke and Kelly Boyd, Maryvale's Sam Darcangelo, Century's Alice Mercer, St. Mary's Megan Ward, Bryn Mawr's Molly Wolf and Marriotts Ridge's Anne Zabel.

In the days following Barack Obama's re-election, we learned that Mr. Obama didn't win because voters trusted him more than Mitt Romney on the economy, or because he ended the Iraq war and killed Osama bin Laden. He didn't win because he started to turn around an economy that shrank by 4 percent in his predecessor's final 15 months. He didn't win because his advisers built a state-of-the-art field organization that overpowered the Romney campaign's beached "Orca" targeting program. No: President Obama won re-election because Americans want "free stuff," and millions of lazy takers-not-makers gave him another four years to dish out the goodies.

Your editorial "Tyranny of the minority" (April 19) provided a clear and convincing picture of how poorly Americans have been served by a minority in Congress that has been bullied by the NRA. Most Americans realize that a sophisticated, well educated society needs to move beyond a vigilante, cowboy-like environment. They also understand that we are a diverse society that guarantees individuals the right to own a gun to protect their home, to hunt or to engage in sporting activities.

Almost three weeks after NBA player Jason Collins became the first openly gay active male athlete in a major American sport -- and yes, all those qualifiers are necessary -- new polling data shows a majority of Americans wouldn't care if their favorite athlete was gay. In a comprehensive survey conducted by Reason-Rupe, only 12 percent of those polled said they would be less likely to support their favorite jock if he or she came out, while 77...

The Sun's online survey recently asked readers whether the election showed that President Barack Obama now has a mandate to govern. But because the poll is not scientific, the outcome is of no particular interest. As an alternative, consider this. In the weeks leading up to the election, seven states - Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and Florida - were considered toss-ups that were too close to call; they could have gone either way on Election Day. Yet Mr. Obama won them all. Not one true toss-up state was won by Mr. Romney.

In the topsy-turvy, Alice-in-Wonderland alternative universe of the tea party and its Republican toadies, small-government and free-market economic policy will save the nation from disaster. In fact, as thinking Americans know full well, the current economic crisis is largely due to the unmitigated greed of Wall Street banks and American homeowners, abetted for years by the "free market" nonsense that Reps. Paul Ryan and Michelle Bachmann continue to foist on the public. When the history of this era is written, it will be clear that the Obama administration's aggressive action saved the nation from a fate far worse than the current recession.

Please pass on to letter writer Umar Farooq ("Occupy Baltimore: There's a reason The Sun can't grasp what our movement is about," Oct. 8) that most of us prefer the optimism and opportunity of capitalism to the pessimism and depression of socialism. He should look at Cuba as an example of socialism - and then ask himself why the U.S. gets so many immigrants from that country, while almost no one from here wants to live there. Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville

This is the Jan. 26 press release in its entirety: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Jeremy M. Kane, 22, of Towson, Md., died Jan. 23 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif." It turns out that Cpl. Kane was only briefly "of Towson, Md."

WASHINGTON -- The backlash in this country agains Arab-Americans as a result of the Persian Gulf war has subsided but not ended, Arab-Americans and others said yesterday.The harassment of Arab-Americans at airports and on passenger flights within the United States "hasn't stopped," ACLU attorney Eileen Hershenov told about 250 people who attended a panel discussion at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's national convention.There have probably been a "half-dozen to a dozen" instances, perhaps more, that have not come to the surface, she said, and she asked anyone in the audience who knew of one to come forward.