Opinion

World Futures: Electricity And Other Energy – Part Four

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By ANDY ANDREWS
Los Alamos World Futures Institute
 
In part three of this series we finished by implying that solar power would be insufficient to meet the energy needs and that nuclear is an alternative in the quest to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels.
If this is an unacceptable approach, then the lifestyle and organization of humanity will require significant changes. A good question is why?
Using the United States as an example, the country has a total of 2.3 billion acres of land. Of this, 6.1 percent is developed land or rural residential land, 15.2 percent is crop land, 34.3 percent
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Letter To The Editor: Ironically Scientists Are Ignored

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By RICK NEBEL
Los Alamos

The county council has asked for input as to what the county priorities should be. Most of the suggestions have been along the lines of how to spend county/state revenues to improve the quality of life in Los Alamos. My suggestion is a little different, and I thought it would be best to put it in writing.

We do a lot of things for a lot of different people in this town. We have facilities for the swimmers, the skaters, the skiers, the tennis players, the golfers. We have many programs and facilities for children, like sports groups and Boy Scouts. The list goes on and on. Ironically,

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Letter To The Editor: Disappointed In HB 51 Vote

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By Barbara Calef, co-president, LWVLA
By Rebecca Shankland, co-president, LWVLA

The League of Women Voters of New Mexico has written the following news release, which we wish to share with the community.

The League of Women Voters is deeply disappointed that the New Mexico Senate voted against HB 51, which would have repealed the outdated law making abortion a crime. New Mexico women deserve to know that a full range of healthcare will remain available to them even if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

The League believes that in a pluralistic society such as ours the individual’s right to make reproductive

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Letter To The Editor: Guaje Pines Cemetery Unaffordable

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By JEFF ROBERTS
White Rock
 
My father passed away recently, a resident of Los Alamos for 60 years. We wanted to make arrangements to lay his urn next to my mother in Guaje Pines Cemetery, in an adjoining plot they had purchased years ago.
 
The plots already shared the marker with both their names. We were going to make arrangements in December, however the heavy snow precluded the internment, and were asked to postpone. We held the funeral, but waited as requested to bury the remains.
 
A few weeks ago I inquired at the county to begin the process for the internment. To my astonishment,
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Letter To The Editor: New Gun Laws

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By TERRY GOLDMAN
Los Alamos
 
Astonishingly, our newspapers report that 25 New Mexico counties and most of our 33 sheriffs have backed the view that laws are of no use in preventing crimes. What, you say, that cannot be an accurate news presentation? But it is, much more than the sheriffs and counties realize.
 
Consider: The argument presented is that bad people will ignore the new laws on registering gun sales transactions and the law will be difficult to enforce. But these same arguments apply to laws against murder, assault, rape, robbery, theft, fraud, DWI, … you name it.
 
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Letter To The Editor: Minimum Wage Bill

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By TERRY GOLDMAN
Los Alamos
 
Sen. William Sharer (R-Farmington) is quoted as saying: “Most of us can’t all of a sudden take a 21 per cent increase” [in the minimum wage].
 
But over the last eight years, Gov. Martinez’s vetoes of all minimum wage increases were allowed to stand. Did the Senator work for compromises that would have provided for increases of 2 to 3 percent a year, which could have been ‘taken’, gradually?
 
How can we take his concern regarding ‘suddenness’ seriously if he made no effort to prevent it by forging
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Chandler: Editorial Shows Short-Term Thinking

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By Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos)

As a freshman legislator, I surprised many people by asking to sit on the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Few people think that such subjects are interesting, let alone desirable. I disagree. They are at the heart of how our state government functions.

One of our primary jobs as legislators is to ensure that the state can provide the services and infrastructure – education, roads and highways, public safety, and more – that are needed and relied upon by our businesses, families, and communities. It’s the Legislature’s job to craft the budgets that Read More

Shin: SB 11 Is Foolish And Self-Defeating

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By LISA SHIN
Los Alamos

Predictably, our Governor signed Senate Bill 11, which would require a nonprofit entity with 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS to pay state gross receipts taxes (GRTs) and specifically targets our National Laboratory. Say what? I am deeply concerned about this issue, because as I have written before, “Our Legislature should advocate for policies that bring more job creators to our state, not drive them away. Susana Martinez was right to veto this onerous and flawed tax policy on the #1 job creator in Northern New Mexico.” TRIAD has a moral obligation to the American Taxpayers, Read More

Review: LALT Takes On ‘Church & State’

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The cast of  ‘Church & State’ from left, Ian Foti-Landis, Sen. Charles Whitmore (Tim Orcutt)  Sara (Alexis Perry-Holby) and Alex Klein (Charlotte Jusinski). Courtesy/LALT
 
Review by BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon623@ladailypost.com

The Los Alamos Little Theatre is presenting a first rate production of “Church & State”, a play about the collision of the personal and the political, written by Jason Odell Williams.

The play is ably directed by Patrick McDonald. The quick shifts from comedy to drama and back present a challenge to which he rises admirably. Read More

Letter To The Editor: Red Vs. Blue

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By AARON WALKER
Los Alamos
 
For too long, the game of “Red Vs. Blue” politics has been played at the national level. We cheer for our “team” to win, regardless of WHO that person really is or what they stand for.
 
We look for the “R” or “D” on the ballot and check the box without thinking. Political news is not about legislation, but rather about one side attacking the other. This kind of thinking and actions are not limited to one side. Both major parties engage in belittling the others in an attempt to gain momentum for their party or attention. Both sides introduce legislation in hopes to
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