U.S.-Turkish relations rattled this month as two crises converged. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a nonbinding resolution labeling the Ottoman Empire's post-World War I killing of 1.5 million Armenians "genocide," infuriating Turkish officials who deny it occurred.
Editor, One cannot help but notice the addition of motor scooters to the ebb and flow of traffic around campus. Many people I have conversed with are of the opinion that these rather chic-looking vehicles are a nuisance and should be banned. However, I say nay - let the scooters stay.
Editor, I empathize with Julie Kidder, who expressed concern in her letter published in the Daily Lobo on Wednesday about recyclables being thrown away in the SUB. It's sad that so many in the UNM community haven't realized how important it is to start working toward a sustainable future.
Editor, There are still nice people in the world, and they've been caught on our campus. I know it's hard to believe it these days with the power struggle over flags - which, face it, if you didn't read the rules concerning raising a foreign flag on campus or anywhere in the U.
Editor, I read a jury awarded a former McDonald's employee $6.1 million because she was forced to strip naked and was sexually assaulted by a manager's boyfriend. The backstory was a caller impersonating a police officer saying this woman stole from a customer and that he had the corporate office on the phone.
Editor, I have a suspicion Richard Berthold thought he was making a very clever point when he wrote the following in the Daily Lobo on Oct. 4: "Hamas was not created by Iran, but by Israeli intelligence, which wanted to challenge Yasser Arafat's Fatah." Perhaps he was attempting to recreate those witty hijinks he so embarrassingly displayed on Sept.
Editor, "Do you have a minute to help save the environment today?" If you are reading this and haven't been asked this question while walking around campus in the past month, I'd like to know how you avoided the Environment New Mexico canvassers for so long.
Editor, Today marks the return to campus of the pro-life group the Survivors. It's a Christian organization dedicated to educating high school and college-age individuals. Members believe that anyone born after 1972 is a survivor of the abortion holocaust, which completely belittles the Holocaust.
Editor, Columnist Richard Berthold's assessment of hate crime laws as an attempt to "punish someone for what he thinks" is simplistic and incorrect. Crimes motivated by racism, religious or sexual intolerance or other such forms of hatred are particularly heinous and are accordingly punished more severely because their aftermath is twofold: A hate crime harms not only the victim, but is meant to terrorize his or her entire group.
Editor, I am writing in regards to the story about the past and present of civil rights published in the Daily Lobo on Sept. 27. In the article, there is no mention of the issue of disability and civil rights. In the UNM Civil Rights Symposium agenda, there were no panel discussions listed that support dialogue with respect to issues of disability and access at the University or anywhere else.
Editor, If burning a cross on someone's lawn, burning the U.S. flag and walking around a courthouse with "Fuck the draft" written across your chest is considered free speech, then how can the same University that taught me the importance of a person's First Amendment rights be pursuing a hate crime against someone who exercised his constitutional right by tearing down a flag? I think people and groups should expect U.
Editor, Amidst a crowd of students, parents and young children going for a stroll to the Duck Pond after lunch, including our guests from across the globe who have come to enjoy the Balloon Fiesta, I found myself crossing Central Avenue, proud to be a student and a part of this wonderful community at UNM.
Editor, I was washing my hands in the SUB restroom a few days ago when I noticed a full trash bin. What caught my eye wasn't so much the fact that it was full, but the two aluminum soda cans on top. On closer examination, there were also two flattened cardboard boxes resembling what the SUB uses for box lunches, a Daily Lobo and a clear plastic water bottle.
Myanmar's yearning for democracy has reached a new high -- so has its repression. In the past two weeks, thousands of pro-democracy protesters, led by monks, have risked a brutal police force and taken to the streets demanding that democracy be restored. The ruling military junta has responded with batons and bullets.
Editor, Those scary people at GPSA are trying to secretly hold meetings so they can pass resolutions. I do not understand why they are trying to hide the time and place of their next meeting from UNM graduate students. It is not enough to announce the time and place of the next meeting during a meeting, and it is not enough to post the meeting at the GPSA office and at the place of the previous meeting.
Editor, I retired from UNM a couple of years ago. As a UNM retiree, I kept the health insurance I had with Lovelace's health maintenance organization. Last year, I had the chance to visit Southeast Asia. The Lovelace contract with UNM does not cover immunizations for travel.
Editor, When did patriotism become a hate crime? First, let me define the term according to New Mexico law: "(a crime) committed because of the victim's actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity" (31-18B-3).
Editor, It is to his credit that columnist Richard Berthold has become a defender of freedom of expression, particularly his own. Unfortunately, he does not believe that there is a need for expressed facts to be true. He was correct to state that Hamas was not created by Iran, but to write it was by Israeli intelligence can only resemble the concept of the big lie - saying something so preposterous one must assume it is true.
Editor, A hate crime is not "punishing someone for what he thinks," as Richard Berthold claims in his column published in the Daily Lobo on Thursday, but for what he does. It is because of seemingly intellectual propaganda such as this that today, the "Namaste Kicker" is likely to be let off with no more than a slap on the wrist.
Editor, I would not give up my strong romantic attraction for certain men for all the money and fame in the world. The main purpose of sex is not to make more babies, especially with the soaring world population of 6.6 billion people. The main purpose of sex is a mutually affectionate, pleasurable connection between persons - female and female, female and male, male and male.
Solutions by The State News
