Your Turn Letters to the Editor

The closing statements of a recent letter by women’s rights activist Sara Duke say that the question of abortion should stop being politicized and remain within the confines of discussion between a woman and her physician. This is an interesting and hypocritical statement on the part of Ms. Duke considering that the majority of her argument consists of ludicrous accusations toward Catholics and Republicans. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Republican Party is directly associated with politics, the same politics that should be left out of the abortion decision, according to this writer in her closing paragraph. Perhaps before pointing fingers at Republicans, right-wing voters and the Catholic Church, Ms. Duke should have researched her facts from a search engine or news station with limited biases.

The states mentioned within this ill- researched piece are swamped with members of the “Blue Dog Coalition,” southern Democrats who are pro-gun (such as newly appointed Senator Jim Webb), pro-abortion, anti-stem-cell research, and generally conservative in their views. So it looks like the Democrats aren’t winning any points for Ms. Duke’s case concerning the politics of abortion. These are the representatives from both parties assisting to pass legislation in those states.

Next time do your research before pointing fingers at one party, Ms. Duke. Filling your argument with medical terminology and worst case scenarios will not make your opinion factual. You can never honestly consider yourself a true human rights activist until taking into account all of the facts, whether they are political or not. Politics, like the abortion arguments, are not going to vanish. Next time you state that politics should be abandoned within a topic, leave them out of your argument.

– Aine Murphy Norris
College Republicans

Editor,

These pictures are my letter to the editor in response to an article called “Hand To Hand: Self Defense, Israeli Style” (Editor’s note: The pictures provided were of an extreme graphic nature and were not printed for that reason).

The Israeli method of self-defense can hardly be described as “hand to hand.” If you do not publish these photos as a footnote, your printed title alone greatly offends me.

– Tyler Bass

Editor’s note and reply: The title and subject of the article in question had nothing to do with Israeli foreign policy – it only referred to Krav Maga, a martial art rooted in Israel, which has a growing interest worldwide in both civilian and military fields. Anger at the title for that reason of association would be the same as linking the martial art of Karate to Japanese aggression along the Pacific rim in World War II, a notion that would be baseless.