Rants to the editor

I wish letters to the editor in the Howard County Times were set up like blog posts where readers could comment. I noticed a letter to the editor this week that is so ridiculous I am surprised the Times even published it. It basically tried to compare an in-state tuition bill regarding illegal immigrants to an in-state tuition bill regarding out of state troops. The conclusion of the letter was that the illegal alien bill should not have been passed (which it wasn’t) because it may give illegal aliens a better deal on Maryland tuition that out of state veterans would get. If I were dictator, combat troops returning home would get free education at anywhere they choose. I would also make sure Walter Reed was a state of the art facility that was so clean a king could eat off the floor. I am all for bills that make life easier on our troops- but those bills have nothing to do with illegal aliens or any other group. To say something along the lines of “we shouldn’t do ‘B’ because we didn’t do ‘A’”, when ‘A’ and ‘B’ are mutually exclusive is just plain stupid.

If the author of the letter wants better tuition benefits for veterans, then by all means make that happen. Write letters, lobby, do whatever it takes. But don’t try to deny others tuition benefits based on the benefits our troops get. We send our legislators to Annapolis to get things done, not to piss and moan and do nothing so we end up where we started.