Great season needs no apology

Before I read another article about how the Badger men's basketball team lost the game against Davidson, I offer my congratulations.

Coach Bo Ryan has helped the men's basketball program gain the respect it deserves. They won the Big Ten tournament, they are the Big Ten champions.

They have nothing to apologize for.

Congratulations on a great year. On Wisconsin!

-- Anne E. McGill, Lodi

Not even Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's team was able to reach the platform among the country's elite teams vying for the national championship. Neither they nor the conference champion Badgers even made a respectable effort to do this.

The fact is, in the two major sports, the Big Ten at best contains a handful of "almost" teams -- better than mediocre, but not competitive among the elite teams.

They look good enough to generate delusional hopes about national titles, and almost get there, but stopping their move abruptly when faced with the talent of a genuine elite team.

I keep telling myself not to get too dreamy-eyed when the Badgers start knocking down opponents in their own conference. It's enjoyable to watch, but inevitably painful to hope for more.

-- Bruce Grau, Madison

Now we know how Georgetown felt

I think most ardent Badger men's basketball fans saw what was coming after the first several minutes of the game against Davidson. I don't believe we have ever seen a team like Davidson play with the tenacity on defense that they demonstrated, right out of the chute. They could and did play better defense than we were able to muster.

Notwithstanding their shooting guard Stephen Curry's ability to get his shots off in a flash with the accuracy of an atomic clock, our inability to play Bo Ryan's offense wasn't because the Badgers decided not to use it, but because Davidson's defense didn't allow it to happen.

I focused on the area of the post and saw Badgers Brian Butch, Greg Stiemsma and Marcus Landry being smothered by Davidson defenders, making passes risky and, when attempted, usually unsuccessful.

Rather than being upset about this loss, we should better understand how Georgetown fans felt when they were faced with Davidson.

I look forward to another surprising basketball season next year.

-- Ernie Pellegrino, Middleton

Key word in license scenario is 'illegal'

Regarding Saturday's guest column by Sandra McAnany, the driver who slid off the road was no more an undocumented immigrant than a bank robber is an unauthorized customer. He was an illegal alien, in this country illegally, driving illegally.

If he is not working, he may be collecting welfare illegally. If he is working, either his employer is illegally paying him under the table or he is using an illegal Social Security number and is not filing with the IRS.

If this illegal immigrant had slid off the road in the other direction, McAnany could have been killed by someone who had no right being here.

-- Robert Linn, Lyndon Station

Fix the issues that continue to plague us

Thank you for Saturday's editorial which placed the spotlight back on the sinking ships of Social Security and Medicare. But it stopped short of giving us all the information we need.

Not only will these programs be bankrupt within our lifetimes, but they will bankrupt our whole country unless we overhaul them. Unfortunately, the American public does not have the foresight to make its leaders deal with the most important and fixable issues.

I am a middle-aged, white, upper middle-class male who usually votes Republican, but that doesn't mean I am selfish or self-centered. I expect to shoulder more than my fair share to fix these two huge problems. But the solutions will mean sacrifices for us all, including delaying the retirement age and reducing benefits. The sooner we admit that and proceed, the smaller the sacrifice we will all have to make.

The presidential election should not be about the war or the economy, which our government cannot help much anyway. It should be about fixing what we can. It just happens that the fixable problems of Social Security, Medicare, immigration and national security are critical and have permanent implications. Tell our representatives and senators how important we believe these issues are.

-- Kirkland W. Davis, Madison

Save sympathy for those here legally

More letters on the poor illegal immigrants in our country have been printed. Let's give them driver's licenses, let them have jobs, give them free health care, and so on.

What part of "illegal" don't the writers understand?

As an American citizen, if I do something wrong, I pay the penalty, go to jail, or whatever. Why should illegal immigrants be given any break?

Thousands are trying to become citizens legally and wait for a long time for the process to be completed. They should come first. The illegal immigrants must go home and apply, just like the honest people trying to become citizens.

-- Gary Lewis, Brooklyn

Do Iraqis want U.S. to fix mess?

Sunday's guest column by Dave Arnold states we should stay the course in Iraq because we started it and we need to clean up the mess.

In the same issue is an article about how violence is heating up again because militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr (a citizen of Iraq) has vowed not to stop the violence until the present Iraq government can "get the occupier out of Iraq."

How ironic. Arnold, an American, says we need to stay and clean up the mess we created, while al-Sadr, an Iraqi, wants us out so that Iraq citizens can clean up the mess we made. Who should Americans listen to?

Arnold also mentions protecting "our interests in the area" which is the real reason we are there. America invaded a sovereign country using the excuse (now long disproved) that they were going to attack us with weapons never found. Would Americans have approved this invasion if the reason given had been to protect our oil interests?

The media are full of our present economic woes. Unmentioned in most articles is that the cost of the war is a separate budget item that would put the regular budget out of whack. How much of the present crisis is due to bad home loans and how much is due to the cost of the war, a war the majority of Americans believe should never had been started?

-- Elaine Engelke, Blanchardville

Safety from rider training, not helmets

Contrary to what was suggested by Friday's news analysis, "Motorcyclists deaths rising," the fatality rate in Wisconsin has remained relatively constant over the last 10 years, and the average is 3.84 per 10,000 registered motorcycles. In 2006 it was the lowest at 3.19, and six out of 10 years it's been below average (statistics from Abate Wisconsin and Motorcycle Riders Foundation).

The federal government used to withhold highway funds if a state failed to enact motorcycle helmet laws. President Gerald Ford ended the mandate in 1976. By the end of 1977, 22 states repealed or modified their helmet laws, and today there are 30 states that have legalized freedom of choice. Of the 12 safest states for motorcycling, 10 are freedom of choice states.

Rather than obsessing over helmet laws, the emphasis should be on accident avoidance through rider training, motorist awareness programs, reducing riding under the influence and getting motorists to drive with greater awareness rather than with distractions, not the least of which is cell phone use while driving. Helmet use should be left to the decision of those who ride.

-- Robert J. Brodbeck, Platteville