NM Tech should recruit Hispanics
Editor:
Universities are primarily responsible for educating local community members because they pay the taxes to keep the university in operation. New Mexico Tech blatantly recruits students from all over the world and fails miserably at recruiting the locals.
Newspapers are fond of offering you the quote of the day. Before returning, in coming weeks, to commentary on the legislative session's big issues, I give you Quotes of the Session:
All right, so I’ll never win any fashion awards – you don’t have to laugh or make fun. Adam and Eve didn’t even have any clothes at first. That must have made life simple and easy. Now enter the time-worn narrative: that life is a seamless garment, of the same-thread cut in all the issues of life – a beautiful age-old yarn to describe and defend human life in all its forms.
First Amendment is the real issue
Editor:
In her letter to the editor (El Defensor Chieftain, Feb. 8,), Skeeter Leard calls out Congressman Steve Pearce for his stance on conscience protections.
While I absolutely support the right of individuals to question their government, Ms. Leard is way off track. The issue is not whether women want to use contraception. Instead, the issue is our First Amendment rights as Americans.
A few bills in the Legislature this year deal with state regulations and how they are made. In discussing these bills, I was reminded that most people don't participate in the rulemaking process, don't understand how it works, and so might not appreciate the benefits of improving it.
I was standing in a pecan orchard, an inadequate stand-in for my convalescing brother-in-law, shepherding the crop from the field to an eventual semi. A young man walked up and informed me that he wanted to take a test at a local community college, and asked permission to take off of work after lunch.
We should throw ‘em all out of office
Editor:
We know our government offices and state legislature are rife with corruption, malfeasance, and low ethics. It’s reported daily in the news media.
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but Mark Twain seems never to have said "Whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin' over."
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and be loved in return,” Natalie Cole. “Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a loving heart,” Henry Ward Beecher. “Life is the flower for which love is the honey,” Victor Hugo. And love makes poets of us all.
Conflict makes news, I’ve learned. Somehow, headlines about agreement don’t have quite the same zing as those big black letters signaling a good fight.
We’re paying for more than just electricity
Editor:
This letter is in regard to the article that appeared in the Feb. 1, 2012, edition of El Defensor Chieftain about Socorro Electric Cooperative’s effort to have the countersuit filed against it dismissed.
A creative headline writer described the employment packages offered by Democrats and Republicans as "Dueling Job-Growth Plans."
Recently I saw some pictures on my Facebook. They were from the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and its recent visit to Socorro High School. My first thought was, “How nice!” My second thought was, “Why can’t the children in Socorro have access to quality music programs?”
Rep. Pearce on wrong side
Editor:
I often wonder if Rep. Steve Pearce actually reads the legislation he carries on about. His latest diatribe about what I think is good news about contraception for women really convinces me that he does not.
A couple of months after Susana Martinez took office, I ran into an old friend who was once active in Republican party affairs and asked him whether he thought the new governor was up to the job.
Here it is. We have delayed giving this State of the Onion speech so as not to compete with President Obama's address, so now we need wait no longer. We use the majestic "we" not out of arrogance, but rather out of proper grandiosity, on behalf of all vegetarians and a few octogenarians. To be precise, we present here not the speech itself, but rather its response, thus assuring balance and equivocation. So let us begin.
Many readers are probably sitting around right this moment wondering what it is like to be a newspaper columnist. Oh, wait a minute. You are not sitting around right this moment wondering what it’s like to be a newspaper columnist? Too bad. I'm going to tell you anyway.
The difference between men and boys is in the games they play.
There’s an old saying that no one is safe when the Legislature is in session.
You’re paying for attorneys fees
Editor:
Thanks for the heads up coverage by your reporter regarding the $30,000 bill Socorro Electric Cooperative recently received from the Kennedy & Han law firm (El Defensor Chieftain, Jan. 28, 2012).
