Opinion

Letter: Spineless administrators should support Berthold

Editor, I write to express my displeasure and concern about Provost Dasenbrock's decision rescinding professor Berthold's plans to teach a course in Greek history in the UNM Honors program. It seems extraordinary that an administrator can make an academic decision at all and, moreover, one based upon the following allegations: not adhering to professional standards, not correcting deficiencies in performances and having a poor service record within the history department.

Letter: Candidates pay attention to age-groups that vote

Editor, I resent the premise of Christopher Sanchez's article, "Students search for reason to vote" - that a reason to vote needs finding. Given that neither of the names of the students quoted in the article shows up in the Bernalillo County voter database, perhaps Sanchez should have asked whether his subjects were registered to vote before the interview began.

Letter: Mayoral candidate Griego has big picture in mind

Editor, City Councilor Eric Griego is unique among the candidates in the upcoming mayoral race to be held in Albuquerque on Oct. 4 because he is the only candidate who seems to value the concept of interdependence in his policy agenda. I usually associate the word interdependence with the science of ecology, as it explains that all living and non-living things are connected to one another in what is commonly referred to as the web of life.

Letter: Qualified teachers worth more than radical thinkers

Editor, Richard Berthold's problem is his ego. Thinking that students are deprived without his presence in the classroom is ridiculous. The University has every right to deny him a part-time teaching position. The University is not in business of employing radical thinkers.

Letter: People often spread faith out of concern for others

Editor, I am writing in response to Michael Tahani's letter to the Daily Lobo in Tuesday's paper, in which he said, "The problem with religion is that everyone thinks their religion is the right one." I ask, who would subscribe to a religion they think to be the wrong one? Everyone subscribes to the worldview they believe to be right, whether it's religious or atheistic.

Letter: Church's treatment of prairie dogs unnecessarily cruel

Editor, On June 24 of this year, the First Baptist Church of Los Lunas hired a pest control company to eradicate prairie dogs on its property. The method the company used to kill the animals was legal, but certainly not humane orˇsmart. They were fumigating the burrows with a deadly gas.

Letter: Shuttles crucial to students who commute to campus

Editor, In their letter to the Daily Lobo, students Josh Tybur and Holly Victorson proposed the elimination of UNM's shuttle system. As a student who commutes to UNM from outside Albuquerque, I feel the reasons cited need to be refuted. One of the chief complaints is the inefficiency of the shuttle system.

Ed Toons

Letter: Professor's dismissal shows UNM doesn't value education

Editor, It is shocking and disappointing that Richard Berthold's request to teach an Honors seminar was shot down by UNM's terror squad of bureaucracy. I have to say, though, it's not surprising. While no one is willing to provide legitimate answers as to why, UNM student and Chairman of the Reagan Freedom Society of New Mexico Bob Cornelius speculated in the Daily Lobo that the University is a business and Berthold is a liability.

Column: Sex, drugs and chocolate

by Samara Alpern Daily Lobo columnist Chocolate has always been associated with sex. Some scientists have suggested that chocolate acts like a drug as well, with both inebriating and positive health effects. Chocolate contains more than 300 chemicals. Plenty more research needs to be done before we have a clear idea about how chocolate works on the body, but a few things have been examined.

Letter: Berthold fired to warn faculty not to question military links

Editor, What could be called the second firing of Richard Berthold raises a big problem for the faculty and for peace-loving people across the state. First, no one I know believes Provost Dasenbrock's statement that the rejection has nothing to do with Berthold's outspoken views as they emerged in the tragedy of the Sept.

Ed Toons

Letter: Hurricane was God's way of saying 'Stop whining'

Editor, I am writing in response to Will Veeder's letter in Monday's Daily Lobo about Bush and his administration's reaction to Hurricane Katrina. First of all, the fact that New Orleans did not receive any federal funding to repair the levees is irrelevant.

Letter: Objections to Berthold reek of McCarthyism

Editor, I find it ironic that Ryan Brightbill, founder of the Reagan Freedom Society, feels comfortable defining what constitutes treason. While Berthold's comments regarding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon were, without question, tasteless, asserting that his commentary rises to the level of treason reeks of a neo-McCarthyist if-you're-not-with-us-you're-against-us mentality.

Letter: ACLU's action attacks a positive relationship

Editor, Despite J.R. Giddens' comments regarding his religious association with Ritchie McKay, any promotion of religion McKay may have committed was welcomed and in the context of a personal conversation. His mother's comment that McKay wants to get Giddens into church and it was mandatory to go to church can be disregarded, since McKay was stupefied by the comment and no one close to the team has made any similar claims.

Letter: Country reveals greed in griping over Katrina's cost

Editor, My mother-in-law is from a little town northwest of New Orleans, far enough away to have been spared the full brunt of Hurricane Katrina but close enough to witness the masses of people, many of them young children, streaming away without anything to their name.

Letter: Forcing religious beliefs encourages intolerance

Editor, I see many people debating the McKay issue, and in Monday's Daily Lobo, I saw several people even defending McKay's actions. I ask these people, or any good Christian who condones this type of behavior - using the basketball court as a pulpit or a coaching position as a preaching position - what would you do if McKay were a Muslim preaching Islam and the word of Allah? What if the Lobo football coach forced Judaism onto the players, forcing them to accept his religion in exchange for time on the field? The problem with religion is everyone thinks their religion is the right one.

Letter: McKay's conduct reflects his destructive religion

Editor, I am amazed to see the sheer ignorance and blatant disregard for the principles upon which this country is founded exhibited by letters to the editor by Ulrike Visser and Lindsay Holloman. Both wrote in to support coach McKay against accusations levied by the ACLU suggesting he uses his position as coach to preach religion to his players.

Ed Toons

Letter: ACLU causing problems; let McKay coach in peace

Editor, Give me a break - why is the ACLU trying to come in and cause problems? Has anyone complained to them? I would see the issue if players were coming up and saying, "Coach McKay is shoving God at us, and I can't play unless I go to church." But they haven't.