Articles for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Socorro is still on my mind

by | February 15, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

It's like the opener for that Parade Magazine column: "Whatever happened to Hunketty Bunketty in the show 'Ding-a-Ling' on TV? I always thought he was the craziest of the bunch …" So, whatever happened to the guy who scratched out the column, "Socorro on My Mind"? He seemed to one day kind of disappear from the map. All right, and disappear he did. He moved back to Albuquerque, from where he came. His house in Luis Lopez grew too many weeds for an old guy to handle. So the good times became memories. And Socorro was a phase in the fortuned life of a therapist gone mental. Good things always seem to come to an end — or, at least, the saying goes.

The cost of convenience

by | February 9, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

I am not particularly good with computers. Working in the command line makes me feel uncomfortable. I can follow instructions well enough, but when doing something "ambitious," things can go south very quickly.

Licenses, plus shorter campaigns

by | February 9, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

New Mexicans weary of the contretemps over illegal immigrants and driver's licenses, which has engulfed them since Susana Martinez hit the campaign trail back in 2010, were probably surprised to learn that a new law in Illinois permits immigrants without papers to apply for licenses in that state.

Three tales of survival

by | February 6, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

Edith Hahn Beer, the author, with Susan Dworkin, of "The Nazi Officer's Wife, How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust," lived in Vienna, Austria, not in Germany, but she and her family soon experienced the Anschluss, Hitler's first conquest of a neighbor. Beer says as early as 1920, authorities wanted to know who was a Jew. She didn't want to tell her story, but her daughter urged her to "let the world know." It must have been painful to relive all the sad memories.

Letters to the Editor (2/2/2013)

by | February 2, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

Candidate forum helps in decision
Editor:
As a new resident of Socorro, I was very much looking forward to the school board candidates forum, which was held on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Much to my dismay, only two of the four candidates were in attendance.

February Skies

by | January 30, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

Tiny Mercury puts in a brief but very bright appearance during early to mid-February. It reaches its greatest elongation from the sun on the 16th. Shining at magnitude -0.6 a small telescope will reveal its tiny disk exactly half illuminated. Thereafter it rapidly dims and sinks below the western horizon.

Time to return to old ideals

by | January 30, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

Writing Gene's Nickle for the past four years has been a learning experience. The most depressing lesson that recurs is that many of the fundamental concepts of our nation are no longer practiced. Either our schools have failed to teach them, or they have become inconvenient and uncomfortable, and therefore ignored or discarded.

Letters to the Editor (1/30/2013)

by | January 30, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

New trustees mean new age for cooperative
Editor:
The newly configured Board of Trustees at the Socorro Electric Cooperative is much improved. Although this comes from attrition and no effort on the part of the board, as we historically know it.

Fresh-baked business model works well

by | January 26, 2013 | Filed under: Business Opinion

Back in 2007, the band Radiohead released an album titled "In Rainbows" digitally with a pay-what-you-want scheme. Users could pay as much as they wanted for the album – or as little. Radiohead and its management have been quiet about actual sales statistics for the digital album.

Education Policy Report gives state a D

by | January 23, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

Michelle Rhee got the Public Broadcasting "Frontline" treatment a couple of weeks ago. Cameras followed Rhee during the three years (2007-10) she was chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools. PBS was sympathetic to Rhee, an interesting notion, given that in D.C. Rhee took names and, gasp, fired people, and PBS is a bastion of liberal media that one ordinarily would think is entirely a creature of the unions controlling schools.

State of the state is bleeding

by | January 23, 2013 | Filed under: Opinion

Last week Gov. Susana Martinez delivered her third State of the State address since taking office on Jan. 1, 2011. It was, almost certainly, a public relations success.