Student union has a wealth of tasty, healthy food options for students

I'm writing in response to the letter by Sam Louis, who claims that our student union doesn't have any tasty food. It's hard to believe, since there are over 14 eateries to choose from. He must not have tried a green corn tamale from Café Sonora or a made-to-order sandwich from the On Deck Deli. The best foods in the student union are going to be found in the local UA eateries, not the national chains, in my opinion.

I believe that the student union offers a wide variety of good food choices, especially if one takes the time to walk up the stairs to the Cactus Grill or Reddington Restaurant. You can select flavorful soups, salads and homestyle foods instead of eating the typical fare that diners find at any shopping mall food court.

Even if you are automatically drawn to McDonald's after years of indoctrination with "happy meals," you can choose to eat one of their new salads - a healthy alternative to their usual high-fat, low-nutrition offerings. Eating well on campus depends on the choices you make.

There is plenty of good food to be found at the student union. I've been eating there for over 20 years and enjoy the wide variety of food offerings served by friendly staff and student workers. You always can find a convenient, healthy meal every hour of the day without leaving campus. It's just a matter of choice.

Leeann Hamilton
health educator, Campus Health Service

Proposition 200 won't get rid of illegal immigrant problem overnight

Laura Keslar's comments on Proposition 200, in which she cited my estimates of the costs caused by illegal immigrants ("The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Arizonans") were not wrong, but they missed an important point. Prop. 200 is not aimed at getting rid of Arizona's estimated 425,000 illegal immigrant population overnight. Rather, the proposition is aimed at pulling in the welcome mat that has encouraged so many illegal residents to settle in the state.

The proposition's measures will discourage new illegal immigrants from coming to the state and, over time, encourage those who are already here to return to their home countries. That is when the savings to the taxpayer will occur.

Arizonans have the opportunity to show the nation the way to begin to get on top of our scandalous illegal immigrant problem.

Jack Martin
special projects director, FAIR

Assumption that Bush doesn't want Vietnam to be an issue is incorrect

Mr. Okin's diatribe against John Kerry includes precious little information and is riddled with logical blunders.

I especially take issue with Mr. Okin's contention that Bush does not want Kerry's Vietnam record to be a topic of conversation. Is Iraq such a successs that Bush can't wait to talk about it? Our ports and nuclear power plants are all so secure Bush cannot help but discuss his successes? Has bin Laden been caught, nearly three years after Bush declared him wanted "dead or alive?" Quite a record.

In addition, Okin laments the fact that Kerry has brought this upon himself. This is ludicrous, since presidential candidates must run on their biography, and Kerry happens to be a decorated veteran who was "unsurpassed" and was the "acknowledged leader in his peer group." This is according to Mr. George Elliot in 1969, before he joined the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now that's Orwellian). Besides, this smear campaign was started last winter, before Kerry even won Ohio. It is substantially backed by Karl Rove's buddy, Bob Perry, and Sam Wily, the financier of the attack ads against John McCain back in 2000 Republican primary. Where there's smoke ...

Bush himself has incessantly attacked Kerry's record. He has distorted Kerry's record on intelligence and defense. The Bush campaign often cites intelligence cuts supported by Kerry that eventually were passed with Republican support.

They imply Kerry's defense budget cuts were "gutting" said institutions, but Cheney instituted cuts of his own. The Bush campaign does not have a leg to stand on, so it is trying to tear down Kerry's.

Speaking of "flip-flops," if Bush is opposed to all 527s, why did he sign that bill into law? Finally, Bush supported the Vietnam War, as did Cheney. What does it say about their "character" that they opted out of a war that they contend was necessary for the security of this country? Kerry had the valor to fight and then oppose said war. Maybe Bush really does want the focus off Vietnam.

Carlos Chiquete
physics senior

Poorly reasoned anti-ASU column shouldn't have been allowed in paper

How do you allow a column like Mr. Kelley's (column on the UA-ASU rivalry) to be published? The only thing that column did was bring down the credibility of your newspaper. Students are now not going to think of the Wildcat as a place for news, but instead as a forum to bash on others. Plus, the points Mr. Kelley makes are ridiculous. First off, he came off as trying to blame Dr. Crow for the filming of a porno at ASU, when in reality it was shot almost a year before he was president. He also questions the integrity of the ASU students at sporting events. Yes, PLO chants toward Steve Kerr were more than out of line, but that happened almost 20 years ago! I've been to a UA/ASU hoops game in Tucson and the stuff I heard coming from Wildcat students, and even the band, was not wholesome at all.

I could go on for a while, but my main point is that it's a shame that the editorial board of the Wildcat let this in to publication. Rants like that should be saved for arguments at a bar and not placed in the newspaper of a large university.

Andrew Bernick
Arizona State University alumnus

Anti-nuclear proliferation tradition threatened by Bush's proposed budget

I am alarmed at all that talk I've heard about the Bush administration's desire to develop new nuclear weapons.

In its budget request for the 2005 fiscal year, funds were requested to develop a "bunker buster" nuclear bomb and to build a new facility to build these bombs.

If we were to test and create these bombs, it would undermine the work of the three previous presidents toward nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

Not only would this make it harder for us to persuade other nations to disarm and stop advancement of nuclear weapons research, it would further damage our reputation in the international community.

Many of us are lucky enough to not have grown up under the constant threat of nuclear warfare.

Thanks to the Bush administration, we may just get a taste of what that is like in the future.

Please, contact your senators and urge them to eliminate funds for new nuclear weapons from the budget.

Jennifer Crispin
soil, water and environmental science graduate student

Review of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' well done, rivals that of L.A. Times

Having just seen "Fahrenheit 9/11" yesterday and read several reviews in the Los Angeles Times and magazines, I thought Mark Sussman's review was extremely well done, and more precise and dead on than reviews I've read or heard elsewhere.

He really captured the essence of the film and did an excellent job of analyzing it. I just heard former New York mayor Ed Koch criticizing the film for inaccurate info today, but Sussman's review, in my opinion, "got it" much more than Ed Koch did - the film uses artistic license and techniques to provoke thought and hopefully to result in getting out the vote.

For a student reporter/editor, exceptionally well done!

Judith Gonda
UA parent