Green Party should act as a political party and nominate its own candidate

-I… Green Party should act as a political party and nominate its own candidate

-I feel the need to refute your incorrect editorial of Ralph Nader in Feb. 23’s The Pitt News.

-First of all, you seem to imply that Nader is the Green Party’s candidate for President. That he is not. The Green Party has yet to nominate a candidate for president, and because he pulled out in December, Ralph Nader will probably not be the nominee. Ralph Nader entered the race Sunday, not as the Green Party candidate, but as an Independent. That is, he’s not representing a political party.

-So, that’s your first factual mistake.

-Your second factual mistake is in believing the Green Party is not a political party but an interest group. A political party’s purpose is to provide candidates for elected office. That’s what they do. The Green Party isn’t interested in endorsing anyone; they’re in the business of running candidates in elections, including presidential candidates to the voters who will adhere to the party platform if elected. The Green Party won’t endorse Nader! And they sure as hell won’t endorse Kerry! They don’t endorse other parties’ candidates! If you think the Green Party’s interests are served by not being a political party, you’re on crack.

William Johnson

CAS

Sophomore, History

Animals: Sentient, not swallow-able

-The title and tone of the recent article on the bio-engineered glofish (“Glofish: You don’t want to swallow 40 of these,” Feb. 18, Nick Kratsas) left much to be desired. While well-executed journalism has an obligation to objectively present an issue, I feel that Kratsas fell short of this in failing to address how, both ethically and physically, bio-engineering has a negative effect on the animals themselves. The idea that the ethics of genetically manipulating and altering wild animals for human entertainment and profit even needs to be debated shows how far our view of other animals needs to evolve.

-Fish, like all vertebrates, are sentient beings. Many fish are long-lived, have complicated nervous systems and are capable of learning complicated tasks. They deserve more than becoming life-long prisoners of the pet trade and laboratories, tormented and killed for food, or tortured and swallowed in college pranks. Kratsas’ article works solely from the premise that nature and other animals exist merely to serve our selfish desires without the need for consideration in their own right. This anthropocentric ideal is the disease. A genetically modified, captive glofish existing to be gawked at in our homes is just another symptom.

Sincerely,

Jon Farinelli

CAS

Sophomore, English Writing