I read The New Mexican headline (“Nuclear buildup could mean work for labs in N.M.,” Feb. 3), with deep weariness and déjà vu. Of course the relentless push to shovel tax dollars to unneeded proliferation means New Mexico will do a lot of the dirty work. Our state has been conditioned to sit up and beg for jobs in the most toxic industries. Our slack economy guarantees it. But no matter how much we want jobs, an endless global arms race is not (and never will be) a local issue.
Asserting that the labs have been underfunded is laughable. The underfunded part is cleanup — sure to fall even further behind if production increases. Real cleanup and renewable energy could provide all the jobs we need. A president who is addicted to macho posturing, incapable of diplomacy and apparently willing to actually use nukes is nothing to cheer about — here or anywhere else.
Sasha Pyle
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