Letters - The Daily Lobo

Opinion

Letter: Employment precarious for University staff

February 23

Although the administration is perpetually exhorting the UNM community to buy more corn dogs at the ball game, or to buy them a new gym that will photograph better in brochures, I would like to direct the reader’s attention toward another matter. UNM (or is it WisePies? Or, as former President David Schmidly maintained, Wal-Mart?) is most properly understood as a tax-exempt corporation operating a sports franchise and an academic theme park. Accordingly, the actual management of UNM employees is by the Wal-Mart corporate model: every employee is seen as a black mark against departmental management. At the Center for High Technology Materials, staff was laid off with just four weeks’ notice after decades of documented excellent service.

Opinion

Letter: Reactions to recent killings could be positive development

February 19

The recent execution-style killing of three Muslim American students in North Carolina by a man who had posted anti-Islamic and anti-religious messages on social media could hopefully be the catalyst for some positive change in this country. While some stupid, racist people with low self-esteem have actually praised suspected killer Craig Stephen Hicks on social media for what he did, the overall reaction of many ordinary non-Muslim Americans has been horror and rejection of this cowardly act of terrorism. Average non-Muslim Americans need to understand that the mainstream media has corporate sponsorship which makes money from invading and taking the natural resources of Muslim countries.

Opinion

Letter: Jail should be option for threatening individuals

February 19

The individual who shot three innocent Muslims in cold blood showed himself as a nut when he first approached two of the individuals in a parking lot in what apparently was a hostile posture with a gun in his possession.

Opinion

Letter: Slain Muslims should have called police first

February 17

The unprovoked and opportunistic murder of three young Arab-American college students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina could well have been avoided if the victims had brought in the police earlier. When the white, middle-aged gun nut who eventually executed them had threatened them, and walked up to their door with a gun – had they warned him they had told the police, this could have made him back off.

Opinion

Letter: A loving god would not allow religious massacres or Hell

February 16

Would a loving human parent slam and lock the door forever against a son or daughter regardless what evil they have done? Would a loving parent-God sentence billions of people, or even one person, to never-ending torture with no pardon, no parole? To all who believe in God, do you believe in hell? I would never want to spend eternity with such a cruel monster God.

Opinion

Letter: Community solutions needed after recent sexual assaults

February 16

On Thursday evening, as I was working on homework and having a cup of coffee, my partner informed me that there had been a sexual assault at Zimmerman. I’ve spent countless hours studying at that library. It always felt safer than Parish, even though Parish is open later. When I was younger, I used to play hide-and-seek in the stacks. I’ve shown up, like many other UNM students, in pajamas during Finals Week.

Opinion

Letter: ASUNM license resolution disregards one side of story

February 12

The UNM Conservative Republicans are disappointed to find that ASUNM recently passed a resolution supporting the issuing of licenses to illegal immigrants. Last school year, our student organization showed documentaries with the goal of informing the UNM community of the economic cost of illegal immigration and the security risks of an open border policy.

Opinion

Letter: Fewer cyclists would die if all obeyed traffic laws

February 12

I am not surprised that New Mexico has the dubious honor of being the second deadliest state for bicyclists. New Mexico’s rate of bicyclist injuries is 50 percent higher than the U.S. average. While both of these facts are troubling, I find that experts and public officials are placing much of the blame in the wrong direction. Officials state that primary reasons for the appalling number of bicyclist deaths and injuries are New Mexico’s high rate of substance abuse, lack of bike lanes and poor street infrastructure. In addition to the reasons listed, they also state a need to increase motorists’ awareness and understanding of motor vehicle laws pertaining to bicyclists and motorcycles.

Opinion

Letter: Current trends portend bleak future for universities

February 12

In a recent “communique” Provost Chaouki Abdallah asked, “What will the American university look like in 2025?” Well, it will be far too expensive for the average American, unless he is an athlete, and administrations will be much larger and modeled after corporations and make even more money than the faculty and staff.

Opinion

Letter: Columnist's reasoning reflects personal agenda

February 9

Mr. Darensburg’s impassioned analysis of New Mexican emigration touches upon the main cause: graduates getting “much better pay for the same skills in neighboring states.” But the rest of his reasons just reflect the important issues at the top his mind and not of the typical person deciding where to live.

Opinion

Letter: Free community college worth every penny

February 9

Editor, Obama said he wants to make community college free.

Opinion

Letter: MLK's prophetic legacy condemned, forgotten

February 9

Prophet Martin Luther King Jr. damned the Vietnam War in his most controversial speech on April 4, 1967 — exactly one year before he was assassinated. King damned the U.S. mass-murder of Vietnamese people. King said, “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.”

Opinion

Letter: Congress and Netanyahu collaborating against peace

January 29

Journalist Thomas Friedman caused controversy a few years back when he said that the U.S. Congress was, “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.” On the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union Address, House Speaker John Boehner has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to Washington and address Congress. The fact that an Israeli leader will be able to openly challenge President Obama’s peace overtures to Iran seems to validate Friedman’s analysis that Congress acts like a cheap prostitute in regards to Israel.

Opinion

Letter: While educating your minds, don't neglect your hearts

January 29

Do most college graduates live more wisely than minimum wage workers who never went to high school? Do most college graduates travel less, pollute less, cause less global climate chaos? Do most college graduates pay less federal income tax for war? Do most college graduates consume less and live more simply and fairly in our world family of more than seven billion people? Do most college graduates take strong public stands against US greed and wars? Do most college graduates choose jobs that help more than harm?

Opinion

Letter: There's no 'justice for all' while racism stills exists

January 26

If the Ferguson white cop Darren Wilson had killed an 18-year-old unarmed white youth, would the grand jury have indicted the cop? If the cop had been black and if he had killed an unarmed white youth, would the grand jury have indicted the black cop? If the 18-year-old unarmed had been the Ferguson mayor’s son or from the richest family in town, would the grand jury have indicted the cop who killed him?

Opinion

Letter: Saudi king's death changes nothing for war-torn Mid East

January 26

The news has come to us from Arabia that the Saudi King Abdullah has passed away at the age of 90. Back in June 2008, King Abdullah hosted the Mekka interfaith meeting in which he publicly met with Shia clerics and claimed to support the establishment of a more pluralistic and tolerant interpretation of Islam.

Opinion

Letter: Walkers, drivers alike should take care on the road

January 26

The reason I wanted to write this article in the Daily Lobo is to wake both drivers and pedestrians up. Let’s all be on high alert when crossing busy roads instead of in our prevalent auto-pilot mode. The life you save may be your own. Pedestrians — do not be lulled by the “safety” of crosswalks. Remember, you can die in the right of way.

Opinion

Letter: New amenities sure to be the best fix in these hard times

January 15

It’s nice to know that in difficult economic times, UNM administration, headed by President Bob Frank, is looking out for UNM students by planning to offer more “amenities.” Whew.

Opinion

Letter: Some modest proposals to improve theater department

January 15

With the fact that time limits are placed and then holds for payment when the incomes from FAFSA can’t be accessed makes it impossible for anyone to return to school. Being thrown out of the college of fine arts made me realize that, for the third time, this college needs more than revision. With the billions of students that have received Lottery and other means of help while most of us paying students with limited incomes come to a fuddy duddy place with weird situations to encounter things like theft and other complications in the theater dept. It would be advisable that this whole college be transitioned to a better place of learning for the monies that we are paying for them. What is taught is not sufficient to some of us to pass the tests and it isn’t our ability to study, but the distractions of outer concerns and having to back track to finding the mysterious occurrences.

Opinion

Letter: Public money should not fund unopposed candidates

January 6

In this year's campaign for the Public Regulation Commission, candidate Lynda Lovejoy ran unopposed yet accepted and spent $26,000 of public financing on her campaign. If it sounds like a rat, looks like a rat, acts like a rat, it must be a rat.