Planned Parenthood’s focus is ‘awareness and education’

I would like to respond to Mike Hathaway’s Feb. 4 article, “”A Going-out-of-pregnancy sale?”” Mr. Hathaway needs to understand that one of the top priorities for Planned Parenthood is awareness and education, and in this effort it seems smart to provide coupons to a vast number of students. Yes, it is a $10 coupon, but it is also spreading awareness of the services and products available. The rising price of birth control and reproductive health procedures in addition to the rise in cervical cancer rates makes women’s health a top concern for female college students. There is nothing wrong or tacky about advertising these services, and offering to make the financial aspect less of a burden. Health care in the United States is a business. Many well-respected and accredited health practices advertise accordingly. It is Mr. Hathaway who makes it tacky with his thoughtless comparisons. Sexual health should be a top priority for both sexes, and comparing it to purchasing a car at a dealership shows the immaturity and thoughtlessness with which the author treats the subject. It seems to me that Mr. Hathaway is using this coupon as a way to attack the organization itself. He does a fine job of doing so in an uninformed and shallow way.

Kimberly Ryan
administrative assistant
Office of Academic Affairs

Readers deserve ‘a balanced report’ on Gaza

I’m a visiting scientist from Israel, on sabbatical leave at the entomological department. In Israel I live in a Kibbutz adjacent to Gaza Strip (two miles from Gaza) and suffer along with our innocent inhabitants from the Palestinian terror, especially their rocket attacks (“”Kassams””) that resulted in fatalities and casualties in addition to property damage.

I was surprised to read your cover story regarding the “”march for blockade issues”” (“”Students march for blockade issues”” Jan. 29). The story was biased, avoiding the causes of the Israeli actions in Gaza to stop the missile attacks, which even the UN Security Council was ready to honor. I’m a non-political person but directly a victim of Palestinian aggression.

Last year, the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a bloody revolution, killing many of their Arab brothers. The Hamas is known for its suicide bombing and other attacks directed against Israeli civilians. Hamas’ charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its leaders deliberately torpedoed every possible Palestinian-Israeli peace effort for years. The rocket attacks from Gaza – whose victims are Israeli civilians, are a part of these actions, condemned worldwide, even by the majority among the Palestinians, but hardly mentioned in your story as the cause of Israel’s efforts to stop them.

During January 2008, the Hamas and other fanatic Islamic groups have increased their rocket launches (e.g., a letter from my friends back home – “” … to let you all know that we are hanging in this crazy situation. The rockets and mortars have been falling at a rate that we have not been used to … and hopefully we won’t have to send our soldiers into Gaza …””). As a non-choice solution, the Israeli government indeed enforced a blockade of Gaza. As a result, the rocket launches have been reduced significantly.

Your readers are worth a balanced report, including my humble contribution to it, not only as an eye witness, but directly as a victim of radical Islamist Palestinian aggression.

Rami Horowitz, Ph.D.
researcher, department of entomology

Barack Obama: Hope, change and the American Dream

It may surprise you to find out that a 20-year-old female will be voting for Barack Obama and not Hillary Clinton, a fellow female. While I understand the desire that many women have to vote for Hillary, the desire to bust through that ultimate glass ceiling, and finally see a woman in the White House, our vote should not be based on a single characteristic. While I too would love to see a woman in the White House, Hillary is not the candidate for me.

This is a close race because the two candidates are similar in many regards. However, there are several issues (health care, education, homeland security, the environment) in which I agree with Obama’s position over Sen. Clinton’s. These issues, however, are not what I wish to speak about. I wish to speak about Barack Obama’s ability to unify our nation and to move our country forward. The cornerstone of Obama’s campaign is bringing this country back together, destroying the partisanship that has been dividing our nation and eliminating the polarization of our citizens as well as our congress. He is an individual who sees the corruption and the ill-functioning aspects of our government, and knows that we can be better, that America can be better. He sees a congress that gets little accomplished because of the partisanship and divisive politics our current politicians claim to be unavoidable. But we as a nation have come together before, during the American Revolution, after the Civil War, again during the Civil Rights Movement and again after 9/11. We are not a nation of divided citizens; of people who cannot agree and cannot get along; of people with different aspirations. We are Americans who share a common desire for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We share a common belief in democracy, equality, justice and the American Dream. Barack Obama is the candidate to bring our country together and bring hope back to the American people. Echoing the words of Martin Luther King Jr., I, like Barack Obama, “”Believe in the fierce urgency of now.”” The time is now, we cannot afford to wait, it is time for our generation to step up, this is our moment! Vote today!

Kristen Reynolds
political science senior