Opinion - The Daily Lobo

Opinion

Letter: A call to action

Daily Lobo Readers | August 23

Editor, Debate over issues like abortion and immigration reform does more than push our red buttons. It often makes us shut down, disown our relatives and unfriend friends on social media. But we have to tackle it. On Thursday, June 15, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly signed a memo rescinding an Obama-era plan called the Deferred Action for Parents of Childhood Arrivals. It was one of two major reforms promoted to help solve our currently unworkable immigration system.

Opinion

Letter: Trump is the enemy of the people

Daily Lobo Readers | August 23

Editor, In an apologetic attempt to rationalize the dire state of the nation, political commentators blame the institution of democracy, and by extension, the American people, for the “election” of vulgar impotence and erratic incompetence. While the psychological assessment is correct, the political assumption is false and needs qualification. Despite widespread political immaturity, the people are in fact not at fault here. Donald Trump is an absolute minority president with the support of perhaps roughly 20 percent. He was rejected by the popular vote, which he lost by three million. This defeat still consumes him. It led him to install the so-called “Commission on Election Integrity” which aims at suppressing enough votes to secure future elections. Trump knows he can win elections only through manipulation.

Opinion

Letter: UNM Africana Studies' take on white supremacist activities in Charlottesville

Daily Lobo Readers | August 20

Editor, On August 1, 2017, the University of New Mexico was thrust into national social discord when the Mentoring Institute was called out for a racially insensitive tweet. Days later, the University of Virginia was thrust into political discord as white nationalists and neo-Nazis carrying armor, artilleries, clubs and Confederate flags descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia for a so-called “Unite the Right” rally around the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the Charlottesville campus. The event ultimately escalated into physical violence, led to several injuries and two fatalities and caused Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, to declare a state of emergency.

Opinion

Letter: Trump Needs To Go

Daily Lobo Readers | August 20

Editor, I'm Jewish. I’m proud of being Jewish. In fact, being the only Jewish member of the State House of Representatives is a special source of pride. But there is always that concern — what if? When I was growing up, and we would read about what had happened in Germany during World War II, my father would warn me — it could happen here. I have never believed him. Our institutions, our culture, our history and our people are too strong. There will always be those who embrace hatred over understanding and love. But the vast majority of Americans will resist that hate.

Opinion

Letter: When will Trump bomb North Korea?

Daily Lobo Readers | August 13

Editor, Americans hope that President Trump and his team can resolve the North Korean tension. Nobody wants any place in America to be struck by an atomic or hydrogen bomb. We are not totally clear on what North Korea can do with a missile, but it is growing clearer their program has advanced and growing stronger almost day by day. Although few people seem to believe North Korea has a hydrogen bomb. We were blindsided by Japan December 7, 1941 when they attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese killed 2,335 servicemen. An additional 1,143 were wounded. They attacked us for 110 minutes from 7:55 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. Hundreds of Japanese planes sank or damaged 21 warships and destroyed more than 150 planes on nearby airfields. That was a horrendous day in our history that we never want repeated.

Opinion

Column: The balance between environment and economy

Nichole Harwood | August 13

In his speech at the United Nations Climate Summit in May of 2017, former president Barack Obama said, “During the course of my presidency, I made climate change a top priority, because I believe that for all the challenges that we face, this is the one that will define the contours of this century, more dramatically perhaps than any other.” America’s view on climate change is one that has been in ever-changing flux for a while and has impacted everyone on often a political level and sometimes a personal level.

Opinion

Letter: New Mexico is failing the Mexican Gray Wolf

Daily Lobo Readers | August 13

To the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Look, we’re all grown-ups here. Let’s cut through all the bullshit. Every USFWS employee involved with the Mexican Gray Wolf recovery program has sold them out. You’ve all sold out the Mexican Gray Wolves. Either by the “Sin of Commission” or the “Sin of Omission.” Either selling them out by direct action, like those who wrote the new recovery plan. Or selling out the Mexican Gray Wolves by their inaction, like not standing up or speaking up or screaming at the top of your lungs that the program has, and is continuing to fail the wolves.

Opinion

Letter: UNM Has More Problems — UNM Press

Daily Lobo Readers | July 26

Editor, The New Mexico Book Co-op had a meeting with Interim Provost White about the problems and future of UNM Press. It was touted that Dean Clement was coming too, but he was a no-show. The Co-op has over 1600 members — authors, publishers, stores, designers, reviewers from all across the Southwest — and 80 people attended on July 24. Although the Co-op has documents scheduling downsizing, employee eliminations (8), titles purged and most distressing — the UNM Press warehouse being emptied of books that are to be sent out-of-state — some UNM employees say that action is not engraved in stone.

Opinion

Letter: Healthcare 一 House Divided Cannot Stand

Daily Lobo Readers | July 23

The latest healthcare initiative from the Trump administration and the Republican Party's leaders in Congress seems set to sink just like the last version. Mitch McConnell can't seem to round up the votes to push it through the Senate; if anything, the House is more likely to tear apart than pass the Senate version, and the White House isn't getting anywhere with its attempt to mobilize the nation's governors behind attempts to modify the Affordable Care Act, aka "ObamaCare." Good. Even the most ambitious proposal up for serious consideration 一 repealing ObamaCare and reverting to pre-2010 rules 一 is just nibbling around the edges of the problems of maximizing care availability and minimizing costs, as was ObamaCare itself. Sooner or later 一 and the sooner the better 一 one of two radical solutions will be adopted.

Camp Corazones 2017 volunteers (via Henrik Sandin Photography)

Culture

Travel Blog: Rewarding volunteer work close to home

Elizabeth Sanchez | July 17

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Yes, I know, it’s completely cheesy to open up a column about volunteerism with a quote from Ghandi, but it’s true. Community service can help us find empathy, education and community. We come to understand that despite our various hardships and societal factions, we’re all just people: equally powerful, equally powerless. Still, we often forget that fulfilling volunteer work does not always have to be far from home.

Opinion

Where have the Travel Ban protests gone?

Nichole Harwood | July 17

When Executive Order 13769 was issued on January 27, 2017, protesters immediately took to the streets and airports, and news outlets brandished photos of protesters filling airports by the thousands. The results were clear: there was a definite divide on who supported the executive order and who did not. Many Americans were uncomfortable or outright angry with the order, which lowered the number of refugees to be admitted into the United States in 2017 and suspended the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely.

Opinion

Letter: Don't overthink it, college students

Daily Lobo Readers | July 17

Editor, It is perfectly normal for college students to feel anxious at times, but is it normal for anxiety to interfere in your daily life, your college work or your fun activities? Many of us know that summer break is almost over for college students, and school is ready to start again. We are about headed for another semester, students! According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America website, “Forty million U.S. adults suffer from an anxiety disorder, and 75 percent of them experience their first episode of anxiety by (the) age of 22, and about 41.6 percent stated anxiety as the top pressing concern among college students.”

Opinion

Letter: Imagine if UNM invested in human capital as much as in capital projects?

Daily Lobo Readers | July 16

Editor, Between 1891 and 2017 the University of New Mexico has never had a female President! Chaouki T. Abdallah 2017–2016, Robert Frank 2012–2016, David James Schmidly 2007–2012, David Harris 2006–2007, Louis Caldera 2003–2006, Chris Garcia–2003, William C. Gordon 1998–2002, Richard Peck 1990–1998, Gerald May 198–1990, Tom Farer 1985–1986, John Perovich 1982–1984, William Eugene Davis 1975–1982, Ferrel Heady 1968–1975, Thomas Popejoy 1948–1968, John Wernette 1945–1948, James Zimmerman 1927–1944, David Hill 1919–1927, David Boyd 1912–1919, Edward Gray 1909–1912, William George Tight 1902–1909, Clarence Herrick 1897–1901 Elias Sleeper Stover 1891–1897.

Opinion

Letter: Our paranoid society is too hard on kids — and on parents

Daily Lobo Readers | July 9

Editor, In the latest sign that America has gone stark-raving nuts at the expense of its parents and children, the Rochester, New York Democrat & Chronicle reports that a "mother faces child endangerment charges for letting her 10-year-old hang out in a Lego Store while she shopped elsewhere" in the same mall. Not a week goes by without a report of parents getting arrested or having their children seized by social workers for the "crime" of letting them walk to or from school or a local playground. Despite the fact that violent crime — including crimes against children — has been on a downward trend since the early 1990s, we're constantly propagandized about the danger of letting kids out of our sight.

Culture

Travel Blog: Cuentos de Costa Rica

Elizabeth Sanchez | July 5

Two cooking lessons, one soccer game and a hundred hugs later, I’ve returned back to the States with improved Spanish jargon and a new perspective on travel. I spent three weeks in Costa Rica, entirely out of my element, but also incredibly in it. I joined a UNM professor, a few professional Costa Rican (Tico) athletes and around 20 collegiate student-athletes from across the U.S. for a summer internship like no other. I have the superpower to trip on thin air, frequently burn dinner and experience chronic nose bleeds—if you know me, you know that I’m not a student-athlete.

Opinion

Letter: The Castile Doctrine—Cops without consequences

Daily Lobo Readers | June 25

Editor, On June 16, a jury acquitted St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez of all charges in the 2016 killing of motorist Philando Castile. That acquittal was, in a sense, also a death sentence — not for Yanez, but for future motorists unfortunate enough to encounter cops like him. No, this is not a "bad cop" story. It's a sad tale, and I actually feel sorry for Yanez. But the facts are what they are. Yanez killed Castile. The killing was caught on video, and neither Yanez nor his attorneys denied it.

Opinion

Letter: ABQ residents can help preserve Bosque

Daily Lobo Readers | June 25

Editor, The past few years, city leaders and civic activists within the Albuquerque Metropolitan Area have made an increased effort to help preserve the Rio Grande Bosque. The "Bosque" as it is colloquially referred, is recognized as an "exotic" ecosystem; it constitutes a stretch of wetland unexpectedly situated in the middle of the vast, dry plains of the Albuquerque Basin's desert region. Recent measures being taken in aid of this area include: improvement of walking trails in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque, as well as the possible establishment of new trails in open space areas to encourage walking and hiking.

Opinion

Letter: Devastating Uniform Bar Exam on UNM Law School

Daily Lobo Readers | June 18

Editor, Students Contemplating UNM Law School Should Be Leery of the UBE. In February 2015, the New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners (BBE), without apparent authorization at the time, instituted the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), nationalized, standardized bar exam questions pushed by a Wisconsin corporation, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). Reflecting a national trend, post-UBE test results have been devastating on test-takers in New Mexico. Pass rates plummeting 30 percent for UNM law school graduates post-UBE prompted the UNM Law School Deans to state, "The low passage rate is related to the adoption of the UBE..."

Opinion

Opinion: Alzheimer's Disease — A public health crisis

Daily Lobo Readers | June 18

Editor, As a New Mexican, I am concerned by the rapidly growing public health crisis of Alzheimer’s disease. There are 5.5 million Americans living with Alzheimer's — by 2050, it could reach 16 million. They are cared for by 15 million unpaid family caregivers. In New Mexico 38,000 citizens live with Alzheimer's (expected to reach 53,000 by 2025) and they are cared for by 106,000 unpaid caregivers. I am a volunteer advocate for the Alzheimer’s Association, N.M. Chapter, because I believe that this disease affects us all.

Opinion

Letter: VA Healthcare improving for N.M. Veterans

Daily Lobo Readers | June 4

Editor, Dr. David Shulkin, Secretary for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, recently talked at a news conference about the challenges facing the VA. He spoke about such important issues as access to care, accountability and the quality of care. Now I would like to tell you about what is happening within the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System (NMVAHCS) and what we are doing to improve health care services for our Veterans. Since I arrived in Albuquerque in December 2014, I have made it a point to travel to every area where we serve Veterans with a community-based outpatient clinic and listen to their concerns, ideas and often praises about their VA care. Near the top of our Veterans' issue list at every town hall has been patient appointment wait times. We take those concerns to heart and have made significant...