Great to see Ron Paul supporters in The Daily Cougar
To the editor:
I was not at all surprised to see on The Daily Cougar something about the Texas Primary. The first thing that came to mind was "I don’t want to hear about Obama vs. Clinton" – I want to hear/read something about Ron Paul for once." Had I not picked up this copy, I would’ve never come across Leynier Cesar Brown’s great column about Paul, "Guest commentary: Ron Paul would bring our troops back home," (Opinion, Tuesday).
I was seriously excited and surprised when I read Paul’s name on the page. I would like to thank you for covering Paul. Brown’s column was a great way to inform people about Paul and to reach out to people who are willing to listen to his message.†It’s nice to know that I am not the only one on campus who supports Paul and what he stands for. I see Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters left and right whenever I’m on campus and sometimes feel out of place because I support Paul. Even when I went to vote there was an overwhelming number of Democrats in line and there was literally no one in line for Republicans. Thank you again for the column.
Kim Tran
Biology junior
Fellow student’s experience illustrates University’s problems
To the editor:
I second the notion raised by Brendan Laws iin his letter, "Khator should take time to hear student concerns" (Feb 28, Opinion). What happened to the open door policy espoused by Uh President Renu Khator? Weren’t we all supposed to provide suggestions, comments and advice during Khator’s first 100 days?
It really does seem that the administration of the University of Houston does not care for student input. It is a sad day in Houston when a person could get arrested for trying to discuss human rights concerns. Sadly, we had no input in selecting Khator, and as evidenced by this story we will have no input in the future of UH.
Adil Saleem
Anthropology senior
Issues should inspire desire to vote, not crush it
To the editor:
When a terrorist organization such as Hamas chooses to launch rockets from within heavily populated areas of a city – which international law defines as a war crime – knowing full well that that site will soon be destroyed to prevent additional attacks, the question must be asked: Whose hands is the blood really on?
In her column "Gaza goes unnoticed by candidates" (Opinion, Tuesday), Sousan Hammad states the rockets Hamas is firing into Israel on a daily basis are "literally made from oven pipes and crushed soda cans." While some rockets are indeed homemade, I would hardly consider Russian-made and Iranian-supplied BM-21 Grad rockets a harmless homemade device.
America’s intention in assisting Israel is to protect democracy, which in this case, unfortunately, entails providing military aid to a country whose neighbors are constantly trying to destroy it. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East that protects its citizens’ freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion – just to name a few. Hamas and other radical Islamic factions in the Middle East wish to bring this to an end – and do so by way of terror.
So rather than boycott the election, go out and vote. Vote for the candidate that best represents your views on the myriad other issues facing this country. It will be difficult to choose a candidate based solely on their support for Israel, because one will be hard-pressed to find a presidential candidate who doesn’t embrace Israel as a democracy and support its right to defend itself.
Dror Berel
Biology graduate student
