Women’s Center taking correct approachFriday’s Technician’s View did not understand the point of the bake sale organized by the Women’s Center at N.C. State. The point of the bake sale was to bring attention to the gender pay gap. We did this by equalizing the purchasing power of women based upon the wage gap. However, that was not the picture painted by the viewpoint. For the literal translation proposed by the Technician to be true, we would have needed to charge men 20 to 25 cents more than we did. As a male, I think it is a great chance to see the gender disparity still in place in society today. Furthermore, I can assure you no men were shocked at the 25 cent difference they were asked to pay.
Sam MorrisGraduate Student, Higher Education Administration
Walton’s immigration solutions wrong[Matt] Walton, your views on the nature of illegal immigration are so skewed it makes me sick to my stomach. While I admit that illegal immigration is a problem that is putting undue stress on the nation’s economy and public services, the “Keep ’em out” solution adopted by you and your friends on the far right is definitely not the answer. The proposal of building a giant fence across our borders reminds me of another doomed-to-fail project in history: the Maginot Line. For those who don’t know, the Maginot Line was an extensive line of fortifications built by the French to keep out the Germans after WWI. When the time came to invade France once again, the Germans simply went around it. The truth is that constructing a chain-link fence across the 1,951 mile border of Mexico will keep out illegal immigrants for about as long as it takes them to find a pair of wire cutters. A better solution might be to make it easier for immigrants to become citizens, and pay taxes to support those school and hospital services you seem eager to deny them. And while I am sure that there are some illegal immigrants who practice “criminal behavior,” most of these people did not leave their families and homes behind to steal and rob from the Americans. They are honest people who want to better themselves, and I daresay that that is why a majority of American ancestors came to this country. Honestly your rhetoric (“unify beneath one flag, that of Old Glory”) reminds me more of a certain goose-stepping regime than an American one. And while I am an ardent Patriot, I cannot stand to see the impression people like you give to those who come to our country, legally or illegally.
Jeremiah BuntingSophomore, Aerospace Engineering
Black smoke on Cates AvenueWhile driving home early Friday morning from work, around 3:50 a.m., I noticed a thick, black plume of smoke coming out of the steam plant on Cates Avenue. It looked so menacing that I had to check it out. Pouring out of a smoke stack was very thick black smoke/soot, turning the sky eastwards above Cates Avenue, Owen, Alexander, Turlington and Talley very black. It was much, much darker than the night sky, and Cates smelled badly of sulfur. Why is this allowed to happen at N.C. State? This probably violated all sorts of state and federal environmental laws, not to mention the health issues it has the potential to cause. I think it is very interesting that they are doing this at 4 a.m., while it has less health impacts and no one may have been paying much attention at this hour. Well, I saw it; I reported it and I took a picture. This should be condemned and those responsible for spouting soot and sulfates into our campus and city’s air should be held accountable.
Wes HallSenior, Environmental Technology
Stop using ‘stiff elements’Please inform certain Technician writers that “in regards [sic] to” is incorrect. In addition, even “regarding,” “in regard to,” and “with regard to” lack ease and grace. Writers should use “concerning,” “about,” or “for” instead of these stiff elements.
Jeff DaltonGraduate Student, Liberal Studies
Accept what we knowSince I do not claim to be an expert in philosophy I welcome any opinions to this response. Mary Williams illustrates a huge problem that I have always had with the Christian account of life. In her response to [Mike] Freenor’s article, she states “He created us and planned our lives before we were placed in our mothers wombs, says prophet Jeramiah.” There is an overwhelming problem that I see with this, however. If our lives have been planned and god is as a result all-knowing, i.e. he is the past, present, future, and all that is, then we are not, in turn, making any decisions that god doesn’t know about. Thus, he would have already known and chosen who will be going to heaven and hell regardless of what we think we may be achieving by “accepting him.” Therefore, we have no free will according to the Christian account. Why not just accept what we know: we are all here now; we exist; we struggle; we are all human? The sooner we can simply accept that, the sooner so many barriers can be broken.
Aaron HeathJunior, Business Management and International Studies
Morality argument wrong Mike [Freenor], every time there is an article that sounds positive about Christianity, many voices request to ban such speech as it constitutes official involvement in religion. Nevertheless for this article, critical of god, such a request will not be made. Did you realize that all responses to Mike’s article were arguing on the substance and no request to fire him or call names? The reason is that Christians in quest for truth engage in dialogue. Mike argues that if god is “the ultimate force” he can neither be good nor bad. However, if god is God then he makes the rules and he gets to define what is good. Reality does not care about whether someone is able to construct an argument that seemingly contradicts reality. It is not reality that is wrong but the argument. Reality measures against reality and not someone’s logic. The convenience of ignoring god is that it seems as if you could live by your own standard, but eventually, everyone has to obey someone else. Christians are those who have decided to take the evidence for god’s existence serious and attempt to live a life to please him, i.e. apply god’s standard.
Matt HorrerGraduate Teaching Assistant, Physics
