Letters to the Editor

GOP does the right thing on tobacco bill

Finally, a conservative viewpoint in the Daily.

I agree with Ohman's Tuesday editorial cartoon on the tobacco bill. The Republicans should be congratulated for stopping the pork-filled legislation. This bill would have mandated a huge raise in taxes upon the poor and middle class, and trampled on the constitutional right of a company to sell a legal product. This should be very frightening to everyone. What is next?

Thanks again. It is nice to see someone in the media congratulate the Republicans for doing what is right.

Todd Skoda,senior, College of Liberal Arts

Thanks from Brazil

Congratulations on Andrew Donohue's April 16 article, "Photographer chronicles Brazilian land struggle," about Sebastiao Salgado's photograph exhibit showing the struggle for land in my country. The Landless Movement is today the strongest opposition manifested against the neo-liberalism of president Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Coordinated by socialist political parties, the Landless Movement is the way these parties have to reach and conquer the countryside. In industrial centers, such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte or Porto Alegre, they are very popular and accepted.

In the city where I came from, Porto Alegre, the local administration of the Workers Party has been responsible for successfully implementing some socialist programs in the last 12 years. I dare say that local administration is an example of democracy never seen in Brazil before.

Ubirajara Sperb Cavedon,Daily Online reader, Brazil