There is nothing like a newspaper. The Internet has its advantages, but it can't deliver what newspapers offer. This column space offers a mix of different perspectives each day of the week; from left, from right -- and sometimes, it seems like from outer space. It's a good representation of the spectrum of public thought on assorted issues of the day.

Newspapers are delivered, but Internet users usually go to a Web portal that suits their interests and predisposed political preferences. We tend to avoid articles and opinions outside our comfort zone. It can be unsettling to hear a different point of view, so the Internet actually serves as a great divider rather than a uniter, for all the hype to the contrary.

A newspaper must serve the masses and be as inclusive as possible to draw readers and advertisers. The Opinion page even provides a space for readers to share their opinions in civil discourse. Newspapers offer a unique sense of community that the Internet can't really capture.

On Wednesday, fellow Temecula columnist Phil Strickland again suggested bankruptcy as an option for the dire state of the state's financial picture, which now resembles a Picasso nobody wants to buy.

Let's put this notion to rest. No state in the union has ever filed for bankruptcy. States are not covered under federal bankruptcy law, according to what I found on the Internet.

While I am in myth-busting mode, it is important to note that most state employees took a 10 percent pay cut in February, long before the Riverside County Supervisors and department heads took the same action. State government responded to the budget crisis months ahead of the county yet didn't receive an editorial rose from this newspaper.

Back to Strickland: He also rants about the 1994 anti-illegal immigration Proposition 187 that voters passed, but that never moved forward because in 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children are entitled to a public education.

Strickland claims, "The cost per taxpayer family of supporting illegal immigrants is put at nearly $1,200 per year." I found the exact cost ($1,183) on a number of anti-illegal immigration Web sites, but I kept looking because that figure seems awfully high. Elsewhere, I found a detailed paper from the Congressional Budget Office stating, "The amount that state and local governments spend on services for unauthorized immigrants represents a small percentage of the total amount spent by those governments to provide such services to residents in their jurisdiction."

Illegal immigration is a complex issue that will not be solved through the rhetoric found on AM radio or Web sites of intolerance.

Whether it's the illegal immigrant, the union worker or the state employee, they are our fellow human beings. As Charlton Heston said at the end of the movie "Soylent Green," "It's people!"

PAUL JACOBS writes from Temecula. Contact him at TemeculaPaul@aol.com.