Opinion

The Israeli journalist Gideon Levy a few years ago referred to Israel as a “a loud-mouthed bully who shouldn’t be provoked into anger ... Not that the bully’s not right — someone did harm him.” Following the attack on Gaza this past week, Levy added, “Once again, Israel’s violent responses, even if there is justification for them, exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom…. Hamas brought this on itself and on its people, but this does not excuse Israel’s overreaction.”

UP thumb ... READY TO GO. Struggling with broken equipment for months, the management at the city’s recreation center kept its pledge to have all the treadmills operational before the end of the year. Wednesday morning, all the machines appeared to have been working fine.

Let’s hope exercise buffs take advantage of the repaired equipment as they begin their New Year’s resolutions, and that the rec center staff can keep them working throughout the new year.

SANTA FE — It’s time to see how I did on my 2008 predictions.

For beginners, I picked the winners of the four open congressional seats. Remember, at this point last year, candidates hadn’t even filed yet.

U.S. Senate — Tom Udall over Steve Pearce. Right, all the way. Udall and Pearce won their primaries. Udall took the general election.

1st Congressional District — Daren White over Martin Heinrich. White and Heinrich both won their primaries. Heinrich took the general election. Score me only 2 out of 3 on that one.

It does seem to me that the road Las Vegas chose is far from the goals I remember the community was looking for.

For starters, where did the pride for community go? My last visit was so disappointing that I left in a depressed state. As a child and young adult, I always felt intense pride in every aspect of the community.

One morning, about a week ago, a puppy ran in front of my car on the Eighth Street Extension and was killed. Had the puppy’s owner cared enough (or had common sense) to keep the puppy fenced in or tied up in its yard, not only would it be safe from traffic, wild pack dogs or other predators, but both the dog’s final suffering and my grief could have been avoided.

We all enjoy the holidays, but with the holidays come parties and of tendencies to drink too much.

Growing up in post-World War II, small-town New Mexico left its mark on many of us.

We watched our mothers and grandmothers saving everything, in advance of running out of or being caught unawares. It didn’t matter that we were on the cusp of the “throw-away” mentality going into the ‘50s — saving, recycling — doesn't matter how you want to euphemize it, it’s the way it was.

SANTA FE — “Corruption is the most enduring tradition in New Mexico’s history.”

Those are the words of my favorite historian, Dave Clary of Roswell reacting to last week’s column about New Mexico ranking low in a recent study to identify the most corrupt states in the nation.

USA Today analyzed Department of Justice statistics for the past 10 years to find the states with the most convictions of public officials per 100,000 population.

It’s been a full year since Gilberto Reyes has been in the San Miguel County jail. His trial for a charge of distribution of marijuana is set for late February.

We suppose the players in our local justice system would argue that they are ensuring Reyes’ constitutional right to a speedy trial. We think such a claim is hogwash.

As we have stated in this space before, we consider this case a huge failure of our justice system. And the blame goes around to all involved — the judge, the prosecutors and the defense attorney.