ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

IF I ACCIDENTALLY shoot my friend, would I be allowed to sit in my home all comfy and cozy? I seriously doubt it. But if I were co-president of this country, this story would have an entirely different ending. Yes, all men are created equal, some more equal than others.
SALLY C. SANCHEZ
Albuquerque

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

Moving

Petroglyphs Deceitful

RE: “CITY Handles Rocks with All Due Respect” editorial

The Albuquerque Journal stated that

it is “hard to imagine … any greater measure of respect” by the city of Albuquerque in moving petroglyphs to make way for the Paseo del

Norte extension.

It takes great stretches of the imagination to conclude that wrapping these boulders in a blanket and moving

them during the quiet of the Christmas holidays constitutes “respect.”

“Tragic” might be a more appropriate

descriptor, for Mayor Martin Chávez has desecrated a nationally recognized cultural treasure and religious site in order to save

just 4.5 minutes of commuter time. . ..

“Deceitful” is another good option, for Chávez still has not

explained to taxpayers why he gave up federal funding for this project to avoid conducting an environmental impact

statement.

Rest assured, we will soon see major new cost escalations, like the new bridge over the Piedras Marcadas

Arroyo, done to avoid approval from the Army Corps of Engineers. Let us not forget that Mayor Chávez used to say

that not a single petroglyph would be impacted by the Paseo extension.

The Journal and Mayor Chávez have known for

over a decade the strong opposition to this road by every tribe in New Mexico and the National Congress of American Indians. To use the

word “respect” to describe the very act that desecrated this area is, in a word, appalling.

LAURIE WEAHKEE

Executive director
SAGE Council
Albuquerque

It seems that most people don’t really know any atheists, so it isn’t

surprising that there is misconception about atheism.

I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I do want to respond to Kaitlyn

Rice’s letter-to-the-editor.

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

‘Under God’ Supplies Purpose

RECENTLY IN one of my classes, we had a

discussion about taking “under God” out of the pledge of allegiance. The majority of the class agreed that God should be left in, but

there were a few who disagreed. One believed that by saying “under God,” students who did not believe in God were being

ostracized.

I think it is sad that people believe we were randomly put here for no reason at

all, that we have no purpose and it doesn’t matter what we do with our lives because after we die that is just the end.

It doesn’t make sense to me that some people believe that what is right and wrong is a standard made by man. … I guess if

you believe that there are no eternal consequences for your actions, you wouldn’t think that there is anything wrong with teen

pregnancies or drug abuse. I find it depressing that people have so much pride that they believe they have accomplished everything on

their own, and that God has had no hand in their life. …
KAITLYN RICE
Albuquerque

I

understand that you attribute much that is good in human beings to god. Your mistake is in assuming that without god, I can’t recognize

good and evil in human beings. Worse, you insult me by assuming you know what I must believe if I don’t believe in god — a condition

you can’t grasp.

After I am dead, I will not enter heaven or hell. My energy and molecules will gradually move out into the

surroundings, in a sense returning to the beginning. It really doesn’t matter to me, because Mark Justice Hinton will no longer exist.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about how I live or how I affect my world. I care because I am a part of it NOW. Hereafter

means nothing to me.

Much of what you attribute to god, I attribute to good fortune and chance. Indeed, a lot in life is random.

But some of it is cumulative — we end up where we are after many steps involving lots of influences, good and bad. I’m pretty certain

I’m a decent human being. I’m confident that much of what has lead me to this point has not been solely my own doing. I don’t believe

in self-made people — we’re all connected and interdependent. But our connection is life itself — which connects us to everything

else, as well. It is our humanity, our capacity for empathy and sympathy, that connect us to other human beings. We don’t need a god for

that.

Specifically on the matter of the pledge, I think we should stop saying it altogether (as I did many years ago). America is

a great nation; one should not need to be programmed to see that; one should not ever be coerced into group-think. But, if we need a

pledge to hold the nation together, so be it. “Under god” is a small part of what’s wrong. Schools (and churches) full of impressionable

children conditioned to see no evil and only good in their country — and to equate one administration and one party with all that is

good — that’s the problem. Invoking god helps glorify the state.

I would advise your classmates who dislike “under god” to stop

saying it — and ask themselves why they say any of the other words. Part of what makes this a free nation is a willingness to refuse to

join the majority and the majority’s tolerance of those who so refuse. At this very moment, some prayerful faithful rage that I am

corrupt and ‘the real problem’; their anger and hate is as obvious as their bibles or prayer rugs; some of them are willing to kill for

their god. How is that good?

peace, mjh

The following is from a real uniter, not a divider. Like all children, he

imitates the adults he hears, including the President and Vice President.

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

Ignore Enviros,

Drill ANWAR

NOW THAT Congress has shown that it is full of pansies and lily-livered cowards, instead of going

ahead and voting to drill in ANWAR, they drop it and guarantee higher prices for oil and our future dependence on other countries.

They should be voting for the drilling and for the restriction of environmentalists nuisance lawsuits whenever a nuclear power

plant is to be built, or a new refinery or the opening of a new oil field. These cause the price of construction to go way up to the

point it is not profitable to build or do any drilling. Then you have those that ignore new sources of energy or any lines of pursuit

that may allow independence from the Middle East.

Our government, instead of listening to the majority and using common sense,

listens to special interest groups. This includes the mealy-mouthed, two-faced liars that go by the name of Democrats.

RALPH E. ZECCO
Socorro

How is one supposed to take this viciousness? Turn the other cheek?

Respond in kind? Ultimately, it is up to other less boneheaded conservatives to talk some sense into idiots like Zecco. Good luck with

that.

peace, mjh

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

GOP Deserts

Moderates, Ideals

DURING THE recent Albuquerque election, I received several fliers from the office of the chairman of the

Republican Party.

None of them promoted the Republican candidates or their records. None of them contributed to informing the

public about current political issues. All of them slammed the Democrats. They did not sit well with me. I think it was

just the final straw, and they caused me to vote for a Democrat, something I haven’t done for years.

Since the

takeover of the Republican Party by the conservatives, I have slowly realized that there is no room in the party for

moderate-thinking members [mjh: the Radical Right calls moderate Republicans RINOs]. The party has abandoned traditional Republican values such as small government and balanced budgets.

They have introduced new standards of government that are based not on public need but political payback. The image of that ignorant FEMA

chief still gives me heartburn. …

The Republicans have taken the U.S. to record trade deficits. … They have cut the

effectiveness or are attempting to cut the effectiveness of all major environmental laws including those that protect our water, our air

and our public lands. No consideration is given to protecting the public. …
J.W. TANNER
Albuquerque

Several interesting letters Tuesday in the ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor. mjh

I give a hearty second and amen to Patricia Carpenter’s suggestion

for a live tree as the National Happy Holidays Tree. I agree it is awful to butcher a grand tree every year. New Mexico’s tree was 85

feet when selected and then trimmed to 65. What a dumb ritual.

Bob L. Easley of Placitias says Ojito is a “playground for the

urban pseudo environmentalist.” Since most people use “environmentalist” as an insult, what kind of insult is “pseudo environmentalist”?

I thank Brittmarie Perez for her thorough trashing of Dimdahl’s latest dreck.

Over in ABQjournal: Speak Up! (why is this separate on the Web?), I

almost agree with:

THE CHRISTIAN right and evangelists are no better than the Muslim terrorists. They are trying to

turn our country into their view of the world.— P.B.

Though it may be easier to live here with

our extremists than theirs.

On the other hand, I give an exasperated WTF to

this:

LET THE PARTY begin! Now that more than 2,000 have died in Iraq, the Democrats and their allies can move full-

speed ahead with their seditious agenda. Ultimately, though, their actions will destroy this country.—

M.W.C.

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor
Being President is Hard Work!
ON 9/11/01: GEORGE BUSH reads “My Pet Goat” while

the towers burn.
12/26/04: George throws a mondo-bucks party while the great tsunami inundates the Sri Lanka area.
9/28/05:

George takes a month’s vacation, flies around the western United States, rides his bike in San Diego while Katrina devastates the South.

He did, however, caution people to take shelter and stay out of the way of the storm.
9/30/05: George cuts his month’s vacation

short by two days to see about releasing some of the oil kept in reserve.
What a guy! No wonder he said being president is hard

work!
SALLY C. SANCHEZ
Albuquerque