Opinion

Students need to attend forum; budget battles affect everyone

Editor, The first question of the day is, How many of you know President David Schmidly will address concerns about the "economic crisis" at an important forum Friday? The second question is, How many of you will show up? As a GPSA representative for the Community and Regional Planning Program, I see it as my responsibility to inform fellow students when important events affecting their University community and academic resources will happen.

War on drugs ignores individual rights to liberty and property

Editor, If Alaskans have state constitutional protection to have marijuana, why is marijuana still illegal for the rest of us? Marijuana is still illegal because the judiciary does not recognize marijuana users as persons and does not recognize marijuana as property under other state and federal constitutions.

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Daily Lobo excels in covering economic crisis at University

Editor, I want to commend Daily Lobo journalists for doing an excellent job in reporting on the current economic crisis at UNM. Every day, even if I have a busy schedule, I have made it a point to check the latest in the Daily Lobo and to read the lead articles carefully.

Letters: The abortion debate

While the debate about abortion heats up in the letters to the editor, so do the comments posted on DailyLobo.com. Here's a look at what some of our online readers have to say: Rich Latta, while your letter is an interesting look at scripture, it does not speak to the issue of abortion: Why is it OK to kill the unborn baby? Do you doubt or deny the medical science that clearly identified you as a new, unique, distinctive human being at the moment of conception? If you agree with medical science, do you agree that we should end abortion except to save the life of the woman when no other choice is available? Philip Howell posted on DailyLobo.

Capital funds should be used to help nontraditional students

Editor, I strongly believe that government's role in economic hard times like these is to help the common man get by and to help our nation's workers prepare for what could be a very different future economy. Given the recently declared recession, I particularly appreciate UNM going ahead with major capital improvement projects.

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Day needed for remembering murdered transgender people

Editor, On Feb. 12, Lawrence King, 15, was shot and killed in his classroom by a 14-year-old classmate. In the same month, a black transsexual woman, Duanna Johnson, was beaten and pepper sprayed while handcuffed in a police station in Memphis, and then in November, she was found dead.

Thanks to UNM Transportation, shuttle service is less stressful

Editor, I would like to publicly say thank you to the UNM transportation team. I commute to UNM for classes and park in South Lot. Last semester, this was not a pleasant experience; I had to wait in line, sometimes for 20 minutes, for a bus to come around, and sometimes, I barely made it to class.

Column: U.S. needs to spend carefully

'Tis the season for buying each other cheap plastic gifts that will be swiftly relegated to the back of a closet. It's a Christmas tradition, after all. And all too often, we spend tax dollars the same way: just mindlessly throwing money around because, well, that's just the way it is, and we never do anything about it.

The Bible does not support Christian anti-abortion beliefs

Editor, In his guest column "Abortion is a woman's choice," James Letterhos references arguments made against abortion based on the Christian faith. It is widely believed that Judeo-Christianity opposes abortion, but if you actually read the Bible, it tells a different story.

Avoid computer viruses this holiday

Since friends and family will likely be sending you holiday letters and eCards this time of year (and saving a few pennies and a couple of trees by not sending paper cards through the U.S. Postal Service), it may be a good time to review the "golden rules of e-mail.

GPSA has degenerated into a playground of amateur politics

Editor, After last year's GPSA debacles, President Christopher Ramirez and Council Chairwoman Lissa Knudsen were overwhelmingly elected on a platform of transparency, accountability and unification. Yet those words disappeared from the GPSA vocabulary before the ballot boxes were cold.

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Punishment was too lax for ASUNM election violators

Editor, This is in response to the punishments issued to the ASUNM election violators. Although I lack knowledge of every detail of this situation, I witnessed violations and know what arguments were heard in the student court hearing. I feel the penalties given by the Elections Commission lack sufficient severity.

Anti-abortion advocates need to broaden their perspectives

Editor, Upon reading the latest addition to the debate on abortion, I thought it might be useful to broaden the discussion to include the rest of the world's population and to address the specific issue of our health dollars that go to international programs to alleviate suffering.

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Smoking the hubbly bubbly not as safe as it may sound

Editor, It is known as shisha in the Arabic world and hookah in the U.S. It is also called narghilä, turca, hubbly bubbly or simply water-pipe smoking. Whatever name one may call it, it's the same. This popular activity is an old pastime in Arabic and East Indian cultures.

Transgender people shouldn't force views, situation on others

Editor, I was disappointed to see a one-quarter-page ad in the Nov. 21 Daily Lobo issue alerting readers of "Transgender worship: Creating a trans-inclusive campus." To begin with, I personally don't have a problem with anyone who claims to be transgender.

Abortion prevention should be based on culture, not law

Editor, I feel abortion is immoral. I also feel it would be irresponsible and naive to outlaw abortions in this country. The problem with outlawing abortion is that it doesn't solve the problem. Even if we were to outlaw abortions, women would still receive them.