by Peggy Spencer Daily Lobo columnist Dear Dr. Peg, Is there an unusually high number of people at UNM with cold sores or oral herpes? It seems that they are everywhere, and I am afraid that I will come down with lip sores like that. I have never had one.
Editor, This is to address the issue of embryonic stem cell research, which Gov. Richardson wants to fund with state money. I think there are moral ramifications involved here. First of all, Richardson believes this research does not pose a pro-life issue.
Boy, Mos Def is going to have a heyday with this one. As 23-year-old Sean Bell was buried on Saturday in Queens, N.Y., another African-American family mourned the loss of a son, father and what was a soon-to-be husband gunned down by the New York Police Department in the most completely absurd amount of bullets - 50 - on Nov. 25.
Editor, I'd like to refute and correct some remarks made by columnist Steve Painter in Tuesday's Daily Lobo. The bulk of his column arguing for U.S. support of Israel relies on unreliable, incomplete and biased sources. Painter began his column by emphasizing the melancholy saga of the Jewish people and the harassments they have endured throughout the years, especially during World War II.
Editor, When I read the article by Damian Garde in the Tuesday Daily Lobo about the similarities between right-wingers and hip-hop, I was stunned. Hip-hop isn't that bad. True, hip-hop artists talk about toting guns and doing drugs, but there are some good aspects to rap.
Editor, I hesitate to write anything in regard to stem cell research, because I hold the issue so close to heart. The most common attack on stem cell research is based on morality - because I believe in and promote stem cell research, do I cease to be a moral being? What if I said that my family and I carry Huntington's disease? Huntington's disease cannot be contracted or caught - it must be passed on through genes as a defect in the fourth chromosome.
Editor, I support Child's Play, the charity through which one can donate video games, among other things, to sick children. Sick children deserve to have a little joy in their lives, and if giving them a game or toy does that, it is a good thing. People like to say that video games and gaming consoles are wrong and evil, but they need to look at the deeper picture and see the fact that they are helping sick children have fun, and that they need that.
Editor, Tuesday's Daily Lobo featured a letter and a column that suffered from the same simplistic delusion - that the U.S. has some sort of God-given right to tell the entire world how to live and govern itself. In a letter, Damian Erasmus said, "We need a radically different foreign policy - a policy that upholds American self-interest on moral principle.
Editor, I would like to pose a question to your readers because I consider your paper to reach the largest amount of educated people in the area. The Democrats won the 2006 midterm elections. What now? Will they unleash a sweeping socialist plan to revitalize the safety net and further sink the nation deeper into debt? I did vote blue, but not because I liked the Democratic agenda.
After several high-level strategic assessments of the situation in Iraq, the Bush administration stands poised to escalate U.S. military involvement in defiance of the growing domestic and international consensus - including a large majority of Iraqis - favoring withdrawal.
Editor, Are embryonic stem cells the answer to curing diseases? Maybe at some time in the far distant future, when researchers have managed to prevent embryonic stem cells from multiplying out of control and creating malignant tumors, then embryonic stem cells will be the cure for diseases.
Immortality and unlimited potential. That's a stem cell in a nutshell. They are unspecialized ancestor cells, capable of living practically forever or morphing into any cell type from any tissue - talk about power in a small package.
Editor, Gov. Richardson is planning to legislate for $10 million devoted to the same thing. My concern is that there is so much misinformation and intentional disinformation out there that people are being taken advantage of without knowing the full truth.
Stem cell research is a hot issue wrapped up in an ethical war. Although ethics play a role in the debate, it is important to consider other dimensions. Stem cell research means so much more to the U.S. than a religious debate - it means economic potential, scientific advancement and, potentially, the end to many serious diseases.
Is Cmdr. Data just a robot on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," or is he truly alive? The concept of life is uncertain - the standards unclear, the rules bendable and the value infinitely mysterious.
Editor, The article "Nude models portray art of assurance" in the Daily Lobo on Monday brought up a good point. I'm still really hesitant telling certain people that I'm a nude model - people don't exactly have the most open minds when it comes to being naked.
After the attack on Lebanon and a censure from the U.N. on Nov. 17 for a missile that hit an apartment building in the Gaza Strip and killed 19 civilians, many people are wondering why Israel continues to receive aid from the U.S.
Editor, I hope to see The Pit packed on Tuesday when the Lobo men's basketball team plays New Mexico State. But I have a plea to fans from the short people. I'm a huge fan of basketball, but at just more than 5 feet tall, I have a problem seeing the game when all of you tall people stand on the bench in front of me.
Editor, Six Arab nations have told the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency that they plan to pursue and master nuclear technology. This means that we face the threat of nuclear weapons being held not only by Iran, but by several other regimes swarming with and supportive of Islamists.
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