We must win this war

In response to Gabe Cronon’s article, “Disrespectful to fly flags high” about the flag not being lowered to half-mast Sept. 11, I agree that it was inappropriate to not do this in honor of the terrible events that transpired on that infamous day.

As for people forgetting, I don’t know if that is possible. I remember nearly everything about that day and the following days when my unit, the 25th Infantry Division, was deployed for combat missions. In a way, that day will never be forgotten.

In another way, it has been forgotten too easily. See, when a kid falls off a swing because he is swinging too high, he may do it another time and fall again. But he will eventually learn from his actions. I don’t think that our national leadership has learned its lesson. It will take another event similar to Sept. 11, or maybe two, to wake it up. The way people are acting, you could never tell that we are at war.

I was deployed last year to Iraq and sent home because of a hearing problem that I had developed. But another 40,000 were deployed. These are men and women who have served their entire time as active military and have been placed on the Individual Ready Reserve.

This generally means that they would never put on their uniform again. Last month, 2,500 Marines were deployed from the IRR. Last week, we heard reports that the Taliban has been gaining momentum in southern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan.

We are increasing forces on both war fronts. Meanwhile, on the home front, we have the comforts to complain about such trivial events as a mistake about the flag. All the while only about a third of the eligible voters actually vote.

We are at war! It is a hard war to win but we must win because the men who cut off Nick Berg’s head and captured Matt Maupin will stop at nothing short of converting everyone in the U.S. to Islam. Do you think that torture and abuse matter to them? Do you believe that they would think twice about killing you if you were there? How many Sept. 11’s and lowered flags will it take to make America wake up and finally realize that we must fight for our country. We must fight! We must win!

Shaun Fugate senior political science

NKU must prevent hate

My sympathy goes out to Jeremy Phillippi, the openly gay student whose dorm door was allegedly vandalized with anti-gay slurs.

Hate should not be tolerated and I hope university officials can resonate that message to the student body. To University Housing Director Matt Brown, who said the incident was the first of its kind and that he can’t determine if the incident was motivated by hate, I say: get a clue.

These types of incidents are not unique. However, most hate crimes go unreported because victims often feel they have no real recourse. Brown should use this terrible incident to send the message that hate will not be tolerated at Northern Kentucky University. No one deserves to live in fear.

Brent Schanding Former NKU student

What about anti-God?

Regarding the alleged defacing of the Jeremy Phillippi’s dorm room: if I walk down the hallway leading to the Northerner’s office and overhear a Northerner staffer say “God—- it,” where do I go to report this as a hate crime against Christians?

Rick Wesley NKU alumni

Story shows paper’s bias

It can be well understood that The Northerner promotes Northern Kentucky University’s agenda on its pages. I pick it up religiously every Wednesday and read its articles urging the students to be patient with construction, think swell thoughts about the way our budget is spent and find a sassy new way to decorate our dorms. Harmless.

Last week, though, I was dismayed by the front page story. Whitney Ross’s article “The Pill: what the doctor may not tell you,” continued a tradition of anti-abortion writers using bogus health facts to scare women about the ‘dangers’ of contraception. The one-sided article hurts women.

So I would like to present a couple of facts about oral contraception.

Oral contraceptives have been deemed safe enough by the FDA to be distributed to more than 100 million women worldwide. Concerns were raised about its safety but, after extensive studies and research, pills with lower doses of estrogen were introduced.

By the 1990s, the amount of estrogen in birth control pills had decreased by two-thirds, and the risk of blood clots had decreased by that amount as well.

I looked up the study by Professor Jayashri Kulkarni. It was merely a pilot study and Kulkarni said it was not definitive. More research needed to be done before any conclusions could be drawn.

Any time any medication is started, a doctor needs to be fully consulted. Birth control is no different. All medications do. Does the pill come with a chance of nausea and weight gain? Yes. You know what comes with a certainty of these side effects? Pregnancy.

A huge downfall of stopping your birth control if you are a sexually-active woman is not just more painful periods, but pregnancy. If you really want to keep this about women’s health, you have to compare the side effects of birth control to the ‘side effects’ of pregnancy, which can range from mild morning sickness to life ending complications.

When it comes down to it, talk to a doctor and find out the risks. Don’t let someone tell you that you are supposed to feel depressed on the pill. Get the facts. Empower yourself. Educate yourself. Birth control is a responsible choice. Don’t let anyone make you afraid or ashamed.

Alex Kindell junior English and social justice

Northerner anti-choice

When I picked up The Northerner Sept. 6, I was intrigued by the front page story about birth control pills. When I read the article, though, I was extremely disappointed.

I suffer from a chronic pain disorder. Without the pill, my monthly cycles leave me sick and in severe pain for over a week. Every typical symptom that accompanies a menstrual cycle is compounded by the disorder. To control this, I was prescribed the pill by my doctor. It regulated my hormones so now I can function as a normal 23-year-old, and my symptoms are easily controlled by Advil.

Every medication has side effects, but those medications also both improve and save lives. To create a front page story that presents limited information, with a shaky study to back it up, should not be considered health advice, and people should be presented with balanced and well-researched information. Had an article of this caliber been printed about my pain medication, I would be extremely alarmed and doubt the integrity of the paper. It makes one wonder what the goal of The Northerner is.

Sarah Waller senior anthropology and history