In 1977, he earned a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, where he later graduated with a degree in business and international economics in 1979.  He became a United States citizen in 1983, although he also retains his Austrian citizenship.

      Albert Einstein was born in Wurttemberg, Germany on March 14, 1879.  Wurttemberg is a suburb in the city of Ulm, located on the Danube River.  While Albert was growing up, he developed a talent for models and mechanical devices and built them for fun and he also began to show a talent for mathematics.

    At the age of ten, Albert took up science, math, and philosophy.  By the age of twelve, he learned Euclidean geometry from a school booklet.  Soon thereafter, he began to investigate calculus.  In 1900, he graduated from ETH Zurich, which is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology with a degree in physics. And, as we all know, Einstein also brought us E=MC2, the theory of relativity.

      In 1940, he also became a citizen of the United States, although he retained his Swiss citizenship.

      On May 29, 1903, entertainer Bob Hope was born in Eltham, a suburb in London, England.  He has entertained all of us in both movies and television. Mr. Hope also is a legend for his entertaining military troops overseas.

      When the Hope family emigrated from England to the United States as they traveled here on board the S.S. Philadelphia, they were inspected by immigration officials on Ellis Island on March 30, 1908.  Mr. Hope became a United States citizen in 1920 at the age of seventeen.

      My point is that if these aforementioned immigrants can come from their respective countries, learn our language, and assimilate to our culture and way of life, why then can't those who wish to immigrate now do the same thing?

     Arnold Schwarzeneggar not only immigrated from his home land of Austria, and got an education, but also eventually rose to become the current governor of California.

      The one thing these immigrants have in common is that all of them attained United States citizenship, even though they also retained their home country citizenship as well.

      Now, the Democratic governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, wants to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants living and working in his state.  Mr. Spitzer was sworn in as the forty-second governor of that state in January of this year.

      According to an article in the New York Sun, illegal immigrants will be able to attain driver's licenses without the legal documentation needed, legal status paperwork, or a Social Security card.  Now, in that state, the Department of Motor Vehicles will accept foreign passports and birth certificates as proof of identification.

       Never mind that these documents are easily forged.

      During last year’s gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Spitzer said he would permit illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, arguing that banning them from driving endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without adding to security.

      He added, "All it does is drive immigrants into the shadows, creating a class of people with no public records."

      Opponents of the proposed changes said restrictions in giving licenses to illegal immigrants help to prevent identity theft and thwart terrorist attacks.  They also note that the September 11, 2001, plane hijackers had at least thirty-five licenses, which helped them to rent cars and open bank accounts.

      In 2004, former governor George Pataki issued an executive order to the Department of Motor Vehicles to send out warning letters to New Yorkers concerning licenses whose Social Security numbers did not match federal data.

      My question is this: if the above-mentioned immigrants can come to the United States and gain legal status as citizens, then why, in this time of war, can't we be even more careful of those immigrants who come here illegally and choose not to transition from their country to ours?

     Political correctness should not be a concern in this matter.

Sgt. Steve Boggess

Tacoma, Washington