Editor, I would like to comment on letters this week regarding terrorism and its causes. I was waiting for some UNM history, political science or military instructor to speak up, but none have. First, terrorism is a tactic. You cannot declare war on a tactic.
Editor, Lately, I hear more and more cases of extremist Christians offending the general public in attempts to "save" us. It is painful to hear about Christians being stereotyped as war-mongering, judgmental, self-righteous naysayers - especially by those who are extremists themselves.
Editor, An illustrative example of the progressive disintegration of our public school system - and therefore our culture - was to be found in last Wednesday's Daily Lobo. In a letter run in that issue, a student - apparently a young want-to-be lawyer - ranted and whined about not being able to use her calculator for the final exam in a math course.
Editor, In the next few weeks, a showdown vote on protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is expected in both the United States House and Senate. Having failed at previous attempts to drill in this pristine natural treasure, the oil industry and their allies in Congress are using sneaky, bureaucratic maneuvering to include Arctic drilling in the federal budget reconciliation bill.
Editor, Regarding the alleged battery upon preacher Matt Bourgault, I relate entirely to both sides. Emotionally propped by my indoctrination as a hellfire Christian, I was a street preacher for years. Later, as a more emotionally stable agnostic with a Ph.
Editor, I am appalled at the University's stance on the incident involving the hateful evangelist. Sure, he had every right to be on campus because of his permit, and he had every right to say whatever he wanted - as long as it does not violate the rights of UNM students.
Editor, In a number of recent letters to the editor in your newspaper, the term terrorism has been used in a limited sense to mean violence against Western people and interests. As defined in the Encyclopedia Britannica, terrorism is the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective.
Editor, I applaud Colin Donoghue's column in last Friday's Daily Lobo, "Jesus was no Republican," and Ralph Arellanes Jr.'s letter in Monday's Lobo. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to do good to them. During the first 200 years after Jesus, no followers of Jesus became soldiers.
Editor, I will agree with Matt Bourgault, who demonstrated outside the SUB on Wednesday, that evangelism is the responsibility of Christians, as commanded in the book of Matthew. And I agree that college campuses can be places of licentious parties and moral decay.
Editor, Wasn't that Pat Robertson I saw in front of the SUB on Wednesday? He may not have looked like Robertson, but he sure sounded like him. I guess the guy with the banner spouting off about how everyone was going to hell was the campus evangelist Matt Bourgault, and his message was all too familiar.
Editor, I feel compelled to respond to Carolyn Johnson's letter regarding the Final Exit Network. While I share her confusion as to how an organization which endorses and apparently helps people practice euthanasia can operate in a state which regards assisted suicide as a felony, I am happy to say that her obvious confusion over the wider issue of euthanasia is all her own.
Editor, I am appalled at Carolyn Johnson's letter to the editor in Tuesday's Daily Lobo in response to an article titled "Assisting people in pain." Using the Bible as a piece of factual information to support your every moral claim is preposterous. The Bible is a work of allegorical literature that has been translated numerous times throughout history and is interpreted by many different denominations in a plethora of ways.
Editor, This is in response to Carolyn Johnson's comments about assisted suicide. The Final Exit Network does not actually "assist" anyone with suicide, but instead gives advice to people with terminal disease and no real hope of better health or reduced pain.
Editor, The news that President Bush's nationwide support has slumped to new depths shouldn't surprise anyone. This news says more about the American media than about the man himself. The rest of the world has perceived Bush - but not his arch rivals Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez - as the most dangerous threat to world peace and the future of this globe for several years.
Editor, The issue of intelligent design has been in the news lately, most recently in Rio Rancho, where the ACLU is ready to step in and support any teacher who does not want to teach intelligent design in their classrooms. Personally, I have no problem with the concept of intelligent design - in fact, I'm all for it.
Editor, Once again, someone completely misinterprets what they have read and makes something up to bolster their poorly thought-out case. No one, including W. Christopher Epler in his Friday letter, is asking for "good relations between terrorists and nonterrorists.
Editor, I was at Zimmerman Library the other day, and I waited about 30 minutes for a computer to open up. Then I was in the lower level of the SUB today, waiting to use a computer. As I looked over people's shoulders I could see instant messages, chat rooms and personals.
Solutions by The State News
