The chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina illustrated the importance of public service and volunteerism as well as the devastating effects of a poorly prepared and understaffed domestic response team. Yet we still face significant obstacles in the way of building a larger, better qualified and more committed pool of public servants.
Editor, I would like to respond to a letter that was published on Feb. 12 by Daniel Martinez titled "Obama a hypocrite for asking CEOs to reduce their salaries." His complaint is of President Barack Obama asking major corporate CEOs to put limits or caps on their salaries and comparing the position of the presidency to that of a corporate CEO.
Editor, House Bill 383 passed the New Mexico House of Representatives on Friday. As a New Mexico resident and voter, I am disturbed by the blatant attempt to rob New Mexicans of their votes when it comes to choosing our president. This bill would take New Mexico's five Electoral College votes and give them to whomever won the national popular vote.
Editor, God willing, I'll graduate in May with my MBA from the Anderson School of Management. But it doesn't really matter what degree I'll have, because it'll still be hard to find a job given the current economic conditions. Unbelievably, I still retain a decent measure of hope for my future prospects, though it's not coming from where you might expect.
Editor, We are writing in protest of Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico and CEO of Coca-Cola, serving as the commencement speaker this spring and of UNM's collaboration with Fox as described on the front page of UNM's Web site. As two former presidents of the Student Organization of Latin American Studies, we are appalled at UNM's collaboration with a man who has been accused of presiding over human-rights abuses of indigenous peoples, women and human rights activists, among others.
Editor, Regarding student Jordan Sayre's letter entitled "Daily Lobo has been biased in coverage of Schmidly" on Feb. 23, it's journalism 101 to know that when a dog bites a man, it is not news, but when a man bites a dog, it is news. What David Schmidly does right is not news because that is what he is expected to do and is being paid to do.
It is not the best of times; it is not the worst of times. It is a time for President David Schmidly to set aside aphorisms - especially those that invoke decapitated autocrats - and speak plainly to his employees. Yes, employees, not subjects or serfs.
Student Health and Counseling has been very busy lately with a lot of sick people dragging in the door for help. I thought it would interest the rest of you to know what these folks have so you can do your best to avoid it. Typical for this time of year, we're seeing a lot of respiratory infections: colds, bronchitis, sinus infections and the like.
Editor, When I immigrated to the U.S. and to New Mexico in 1992, I began to hear the very famous saying that in this country "everything is possible." I was very skeptical about believing in this idea because I grew up in a country where hope had been killed by authoritarianism.
Editor, I am disappointed with the objectivity the Daily Lobo staff has shown in matters pertaining to President David Schmidly. You have run article after article on your front page blasting him and his administration without any representation from different views.
Online criminals are creating malicious software and online schemes specifically targeted at Macintosh computers primarily because of the increased popularity of Apple's flagship computer system. And while the Mac OS X Leopard operating system has one of the most secure default installations of any desktop operating system, the operating system does include features and additional tools that can help users manage the security of their data.
Editor, As a general principle, I think people ought to hold their governing bodies accountable, whether elected or not. But holding others accountable needn't and shouldn't preclude taking personal responsibility for one's community's welfare. It should be too obvious to be stated, but I'll say it anyway: We're in a recession.
Editor, During last year's election, a New Mexican politician made international headlines when he announced that most Latinos would not support an African-American for president. This gentleman, obviously, was not aware of the long history of co-existence and cooperation of Latinos and Africans throughout the United States and Latin America.
I commend the thoughtful UNM student letter writers on their charming ideas for exciting and innovative ways that this institution can offer fewer services. In budget-cutting discussions, much like politics, no one is ever truly right or wrong. The brightest plans often emerge from intense debate.
Editor, I have been interested in the recent articles addressing the salaries of UNM staff, faculty and administrators. The compensation structure seems to be blatantly offensive to the staff and faculty. It should be a source of keen embarrassment and shame for the higher-salaried administrators.
Solutions by The State News
