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Don't Miss This!
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2008 Comment (1)Tom Omestad's "Poll Finds World's Preference Is Clear: Obama for President" [posted September 10] has already chalked up 248 comments and counting. Here's a sampling:
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Has U.S. News Hit the Mark?
Tweet Share on Facebook September 5, 2008 CommentHow remarkable, refreshing and unexpected it was to read in Brian Kelly's Editor's Note on Iraq's surge that our beleaguered president may have been right all along ["Journalism Critics Wanted," August 18-25].
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Taking the Media to Task
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 CommentWith respect to your request, I must respond to "Journalism Critics Wanted" [August 18-25]. Whether it is your magazine or the others I read regularly, I believe writers and/or journalists make news, not report it. The industry of news has become mostly an entertainment endeavor, rather than factual reporting. I compare the polls of the president, which are low, to those of Congress, which are lower. I would rate journalists lower thaneither of those.
Harley H. Dupler
Frankfort , Ind.I was surprised that you asked your readers to comment. To even suggest that the country is better off because of the Bush surge policy strikes me as delusional. The bombing and killing continue, as does the ever growing cost of this trumped-up war. You talk of a "remarkable turnaround." What about $10 billion spent a month, plus the$9 trillion debt affecting the nation on the Bush watch? What about the 4,100 service people killed and the thousands wounded? The numbers grow every day, along with the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed and wounded. For a real eye-opener, look into the new VA hospital in San Antonio, named the Center for the Intrepid, which was recently built for the worst of the worst wounded to help repair their bodies and their minds.
E. V. Schmidt
Pacific Palisades , Calif. -
Masters of the Universe
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 Comment"Will We Soon Find Life in the Heavens?" [August 4-11] should enlighten all human beings. Science is constantly proving that so much of our traditional, earthly thinking is outdated. The fact that there are many who still doubt the possibility of other life forms in the universe is disturbing. In explaining techniques used in galactic exploration, astronomer Seth Shostak was quoted: "We're looking for life [in outer space] that's clever enough to hold up its side of the conversation." Now I understand why I've had problems most of my life. I've been looking on Earth.
Gary Hardeman
San FranciscoWhether there is life only on our planet or others as well, it is still a miracle that molecules can get together and live and breathe and reproduce. The RNA and DNA are too complex to just happen. There has to be a supreme being directing intelligent design of all types of life.
Gordon Walker
Anaheim, Calif.Read between the lines: "We're going to find out, one way or another, that biology is not a miracle." Obviously, scientists are not satisfied with evolution as a viable explanation for how life began here on Earth. Scientists are still searching for the missing link. Intelligent design, especially from a creationist perspective, is so hard to swallow that they must continue to search for what they feel is explainable. Scientists will always be fighting intelligent design, specifically creationism, because it is the only plausible explanation for life.
Dan Castaneda
Visalia, Calif. -
Of Superkids and Evolution
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 Comment (1)"What Will Human Beings Become?" [August 4-11] delivers breezy revelations about "transhumanists" who want to tinker with the fundamentals of human biology and fertility clinics that already use "preimplantation genetic diagnosis" to screen embryos for various deficiencies. This is very troubling stuff for a lot of us, yet the story offers no more comfort than a few lines about parental love and an assurance that "it's too early to lie awake worrying that genetically manipulated superkids are going to ace your grandkids out of varsity soccer." It's not soccer bullies we're worried about; it's those bullies in the lab coats.
Betty Smartt Carter
Birmingham, Ala."What Will Human Beings Become?" states that "the race's evolution is speeding up." The words should have been chosen more carefully. Humans are adapting as the world changes, not unlike the way a virus adapts and changes to deal with new antiviral medicine, but the virus is still a virus, and the human is still a human. Use of the word evolu tion implies the same kind of change as expressed in the theory of humans evolving from one-celled organisms, to monkeys, to humans. Macroevolution—change from one kind to another—must be distinguished from microevolution—change within kind.
Donald Felker
Lititz, Pa. -
Global Warming’s Flip Side
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 Comment"An Atlas of Climate Change" [August 4-11] on the possible negative ramifications of global warming is one perspective. Another perspective is that millions of northern homeowners who enjoy just one or two warmer degree days throughout the winter would collectively save millions of dollars each year in energy costs. More complete and balanced analysis of the multiple causes and the associated changes will hopefully be developed over time. In the meantime, a complete approach to energy use, including multiple supply and conservation efforts, is called for.
Thomas Tukey
Bar Harbor, MaineI have counted on U.S. News as a source of accurate journalism. You manage to identify 27 horrible consequences of global warming. Yet you fail to acknowledge that some parts of the world may benefit from a warmer climate and that global warming caused by humans is not a universally accepted scientific fact.
Pat Purdy
Boise, Idaho -
Links to Life in the Lab
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 CommentI suspect the question of how life evolved will never be convincingly answered ["How Did Life on Earth Get Started?" August 4-11]. Gerald Joyce triumphantly predicts that "sooner or later, life will be made in the lab." The point that should not be missed in this statement is that it will always require intelligent input to design the experiment that makes this life. It will even take intelligent design to make the lab.
Donald Fregeau Jr.
Fortuna, Calif. -
The Meat of the Issue
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 CommentCommon misconceptions about animal agriculture form the framework for "What Will We Eat?" [August 4-11]. First, what is called the woeful inefficiency of animal production needs perspective. Today's dairy cows produce 2 gallons of milk for every 10 pounds of feed, compared with less than 1 gallon 80 years ago. Dairy cows emit only one third as much methane per gallon of milk as they did 83 years ago. But the bigger issue is: What would we do with the planet's sizable land mass that produces forages were it not for ruminants? They utilize forage from land otherwise unsuited for intensive cultivation and provide highly desired, much-needed, nutrient-rich milk and meat. In vitro meat seems barely more than an idea. Ethanol from fibrous (cellulosic) feedstock is still on the drawing board. But those of us in the cattle business have been using cellulose technology since cattle were domesticated.
Steven Larson
Whitewater, Wis.Thank you for providing an objective look at the potential of meat grown in laboratories. In vitro meat will be humane, environmentally friendly, and free from the disease-causing organisms rampant in factory farming and animal slaughter. Concerned people don't need to wait for a scientific breakthrough. Meatless burgers, "chicken" nuggets, and even faux lobster are delicious, readily available, and kinder to animals, human health, and the environment. Visit VegCooking.com for shopping and dining tips and recipes.
Jeff Mackey
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Norfolk, Va.
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