On Jan. 10, President Bush announced his new strategy for the war in Iraq. His plan calls for more troops in the area. Unfortunately, the use of more troops will have little effect on the war. Only more bodies will be added to the death toll. Instead of adding more troops, Bush should find more competent leaders for the forces already in Iraq.
Editor, The FBI has been able to listen in on our phone conversations without a warrant through wiretapping for the past five years. How much longer is this supposed to go on? The Constitution says the police can't search you without a warrant. I think this goes for wiretapping, too.
Editor, Within a year, I will be a U.S. citizen. Even though citizenship bestows many wonderful benefits on its recipients, I feel somewhat hesitant about becoming a citizen. First, I feel embarrassed by this country's proclivity toward an ever-increasing waistline.
Editor, Who does UNM think it's fooling? I am sick and tired of all the unsatisfactory, illogical excuses that the administration keeps spewing to my fellow students and myself. What am I enraged about? Here is just one example: paper handouts. On Tuesday, one of my instructors said, "To reduce costs, UNM is limiting the number of things handed out to class.
At the end of 2006, U.S.-backed Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia to drive from power an Islamist movement called the Somalia Islamic Courts Council, which had seized large blocks of the fragmented country, establishing stability for the first time in decades and posing a direct challenge to the official government, the Transitional Federal Government.
Editor, I just watched Al Gore's movie about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," and it was very concerning. It really made me realize that we need to do something about global warming right now. Last semester, NMPIRG was working on getting renewable energy on campus, and I think this is a great step.
Editor, After reading Tuesday's article about banning smoking on campus, I wondered why the UNM community is not settling for strictly enforced restrictions. Why can't we respect the rights of smokers by providing designated smoking areas or appropriate distances from campus entrances without sacrificing the health of nonsmokers like myself? Why are there ashtrays at the entrances anyway? It seems that all the rhetoric coming from both camps does a great job at ignoring the middle.
The Albuquerque blizzard of 2006 was not a blizzard. It was a few inches of snow. That being said, it caused a lot of trouble, including highway closings, a shortage of potatoes at Flying Star and multiple power outages. The state spent pretty much its entire road budget for the year in about three days.
Dear Dr. Peg, Some friends introduced me to hookah smoking a few months ago, and we've been getting together to smoke a couple times a week. It's fun to hang out, and the smoke smells nice. I know cigarette smoking is dangerous, so I've never done it, but hookah smoking is safe, right? Doesn't the water filter out all the bad stuff from the smoke? And isn't hookah tobacco healthier than the tobacco in cigarettes? Dear Hooked on Hookah, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you are wrong on all counts.
Editor, I am a graduate student enrolled in the Executive MBA (EMBA) program in the Robert O. Anderson Schools of Management. This program is designed for professionals who cannot attend classes at regular school hours. For this convenience, students pay more than $500 per credit hour.
Editor, Whatever their views of President Bush's new surge of 20,000 soldiers, both liberals and conservatives continue to claim that they support our troops. Liberals say they support our troops by criticizing or opposing Operation Iraqi Freedom, which they claim has unnecessarily killed 3,000 soldiers.
Editor, In our day and age, with the advances of high-speed Internet, you would think that by now UNM would have figured out that on the first day of the semester, every single student will need to log into LoboWeb for one reason or another. But still, after many years of ITEL outages due to high volume, the new LoboWeb system has also failed due to "extremely high volume," according to LinkAlerts.
Editor, Who is the enemy in Iraq? Is it terrorists, insurgents, al-Qaida, private militias, private contractors, foreign fighters or U.S. troops? The resistance in Iraq is coming from Iraqis. We have become our own worst enemy in Iraq. The U.S. is the aggressor, the invader and the occupier in Iraq.
Editor, This is a brief response to a column by Olivier Simon written last semester about the U.S. population topping 300 million. Not everyone in the U.S. can afford to live a lavish lifestyle today, as this column generalized. According to a recent "Oprah" episode that included Maria Shriver and other reporters, there are 37 million Americans that live below the poverty line.
Editor, Recently, a man who lives in Baker, Mont., a rural area where coyotes pose a problem to people, organized a weekend coyote-calling contest - another way to say a killing contest. He has said he doesn't know why God put coyotes on this earth. Another man, who also lives in a rural area, where both coyotes and people pose their own problems, saw it differently.
Editor, My friend was a member of NMPIRG this past fall. Those kids did some really great work. They registered more than 1,000 students to vote, contacted almost 3,000 people before Election Day and organized a debate on campus. They raised money for the Trinity House, a local homeless shelter, helped run a food drive and even slept out on Johnson Field in November to raise awareness about homelessness in Albuquerque.
Editor, It is amazing to the point of incredulity that this country is determined to speed ahead with blindfolded eyes into its dire demise. People and politicians continue to follow a proven illegitimate and incompetent leader into an ever-greater catastrophe.
Editor, I happen to be friends with an NMPIRG representative, Katryn Fraher, and a former NMPIRG employee. I am very happy to see people my age, in college, working for a better future and challenging the way politicians approach us. Fraher and the leaders of NMPIRG allow students to voice their opinions.
Editor, The current Iraq fiasco and President Bush's reluctance to admit the reality of his great blunder is proof positive that no one man, no matter what his real motives may be, should have so much power over life and death decisions. In part because of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, Bush has power not only over Americans, but also the poor people of Iraq, who have been victimized by an unprovoked invasion, occupation and five years of death, destruction and misery - all allegedly in the name of democracy.
Editor, All I want this holiday season - not just for me, but for my entire generation - is a foreseeable end to the Iraq war. It's my generation of 20- and 30-somethings that is losing lives over there. But I'm concerned about the lasting effects, too.
Solutions by The State News
