Endangered Species Act matters to the future
Iam writing in support of the Endangered Species Act and in opposition to efforts in Congress to weaken it. The Endangered Species Act is a safety net for fish, plants and wildlife on the brink of extinction. But now, some members of Congress are trying to weaken the Endangered Species Act to benefit developers and the oil and gas industry. We have a responsibility to future generations to be good stewards and protect endangered species and the special places they call home. Lesley Jorgensen
Santa Fe
A laughing stock
Having arrived in Sweden on Saturday (Feb. 17), there was no evidence of any Friday night incident as alluded to by President Donald Trump (“Trump’s Sweden remarks draw puzzlement, ridicule on social media,” Feb. 21). Has anyone else noticed that this man simply cannot tell the truth? He is now the laughing stock of Sweden, and rightly so. Even the former prime minister tweeted “what is this guy smoking?” It’s inconceivable that this man is our president. When are the Republicans in Congress going to find their backbone and start pushing back on this gasbag? Tom Jones
Santa Fe
Nothing to hide
What do they have to hide? Contributors to independent groups spending big on New Mexico elections should be disclosed to the New Mexico secretary of state (“Senate OKs measure to shine light on so-called dark money,” Feb. 16). Regular political action committees must disclose this information, and the Citizens United court case permits it. However, this is not in New Mexico law. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, and Rep. Jim Smith, R-Sandia Park, are trying to remedy this with their Senate Bill 96.
Citizens have the right to know where this money goes. This is an established principle in many areas. It is one of the rare areas where Republicans and Democrats and Republicans agree. Transparency should be the rule. Tell your representatives to vote for SB 96. This is an opportunity that should not be missed. Herb G. Cohen
Santa Fe
It works
Someone once said that, “Youth is wasted on the young.” Without affordable quality and serious pre-K and early childhood education for our 3- and 4-year-olds, we are wasting our children. New Mexico is 49th or 50th in educating our children. We have one of the highest dropout rates in the nation and an alarming number of our Santa Fe third-graders are well behind grade level and will never catch up. Studies prove that pre-K works for them and us.
Mayor Javier Gonzales’ early childhood education initiative to raise about $7 million per year from a 2-cents-per-ounce tax on distributors’ sales of sugary drinks, dedicated for pre-K only, will work to improve our schools, our community, our kids and our economy (“City committee OKs soda tax proposal on 3-1 vote,” Feb. 21). It is estimated that this tax will help create at least 200 good jobs and attract new businesses by improving our educational outcomes. Edward T. Stein
Santa Fe
At risk
I’m a liberal, a Unitarian and a lifelong journalist. You may not like Donald Trump, but he is right about the media, at least the national corporate media, or as I call them, the “voice of the one percent.”
Should the media be all over Trump, scrutinizing everything? Absolutely, but it should report all sides, even seek out objective perspectives — a standard of journalism, along with fairness, that has disappeared. We don’t get news on hot-button issue like immigration; we get propaganda for open borders and the flooded, cheap labor market it brings.
Immigration law is clear. Trump can deport or shutdown as he wants. If we ignore that, we become a nation without laws, at risk of civil strife, especially if the tolerant among us continue to be so very intolerant toward millions of absolutely non-racist, non-xenophobic — despite media depictions — Americans who disagree with them. Kathleene Parker
White Rock
Hard questions
First of all, I did not support Jeff Sessions for attorney general nor did I support Keith Ellison for Democratic National Committee chairman.
After watching Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., eviscerate Sessions over racially insensitive comments attributed to him 30 years ago, I wonder how these same people supported Ellison, knowing that he has supported Louis Farrakhan, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, and referred to Israel incorrectly as an apartheid state, associations and comments that are considered anti-Semitic.
Sessions has tried to distance himself from his previous comments and has made attempts to undo the harm caused by those positions. Ellison has not apologized and continues to criticize Israel beyond what most would consider political disagreements.
So why was the Democratic leadership unable to forgive racially insensitive comments and actions more than 30 years ago from one politician while embracing another politician, who I believe continues to preach an anti-Semitic doctrine?