letters to the editor

HIV/STI

Your columnist, Britt Baca-Hochhausler, did a true public service in warning that the HIV virus does indeed cause people to contract AIDS and have their immune systems become unable to cope with deadly diseases. The oddball groups trying to spread the totally false information that HIV does not cause AIDS are the same sorts who belong to the Flat Earth Society!

I urge anyone wishing to understand the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its origins to read “The River,” by Edward Hooper, which gives a comprehensively researched account of its history and initial causes.

Chris Lawrenson
Portland, OR

 

Nice try but you have not defined how HIV causes AIDS. Guess what? There is still no definition after more than 20 years of research. There have been over 100,000 papers written on HIV and AIDS and yet not one Nobel Prize. Why is the Nobel Committee ignoring HIV “science”? Could it be that they fully understand that retroviruses do not kill cells?

Wake up Britt, you are being used by the scientific establishment. You admitted there are conspiracies in the world, how about the one that turns a human being into a profit-generating machine. Keep your eye on SARS and “bird flu”; both are bogus. Why? To generate fear which generates funding.

Jeff Sullivan
Albany, NY

 

The government will never prevent one single person from acquiring AIDS. That’s true whether a Republican or Democrat is in office. Personal responsibility and a conscience will. The conscientious gay AIDS prevention educators of young gay men have already fallen on deaf ears: the newest phenomenon is “the bug chaser.” The government cannot change or modify an acquired attitude.

Nina Rhea, B.S., Health Education
Portland, OR

 

PSU IDENTITY

I think the point of hiring a firm to shape the school identity is to make changes to improve the school’s image, not to simply reaffirm it. I think we should work towards improving the school’s image as a regional academic powerhouse. There has been improvement over the years, but more work needs to be done. Raising the school’s academic prestige is good for PSU grads (better employment opportunities) and also good for the school (higher research grants & donations).

Dennis
Second-year PSU MBA student

 

APOLOGIES

(The following is in regards to an article published Jan. 27, “Women’s Center settled in.”)

I want to apologize for the racist tone of one of the quotes from the student staff. We are not in competition for money or any other resources with our fellow groups on campus. It is the belief of the WRC that money should not be spent on the basis of the number of students, but rather the needs of students and what is going to benefit the campus ?” this includes the Multicultural Center and the vast array of student groups. The WRC works with the Multicultural Center and shares their mission to create places on campus that bring together a diversity of people and opinions ?” this includes the WRC.

Aimee Shattuck
PSU Women’s Resource Center