Analyzing Ashcroft
I appreciate the evenhanded approach you took relating to John Ashcroft's role as U.S. attorney general ["Ashcroft's Way," January 26]. You balanced the article with opinions from knowledgeable individuals, both positive and critical. Ashcroft is leading the Justice Department at a most challenging period, a time when Americans look for and expect homeland security and justice from our government but not at the expense of our inalienable rights.
STEVE TOMSON
Addison, Texas
Your cover story on John Ashcroft was very good. However, I hoped to have a more informed impression of his work as the attorney general of the United States by the end of the article. Unfortunately, I didn't. I still believe that he wants to monitor my every movement as a citizen of the United States.
JOHN ANDERSON
Belchertown, Mass.
I'm not sure I have a better understanding of this very complex person, but I admire Ashcroft's commitment to our safety and security. However, Ashcroft tried to have the Oregon "right to die" law overturned in the courts, despite the fact that residents have twice approved the "right to die."
PRISCILLA KERR
Merrill, Ore.
Despite being a hard-line conservative, I was having doubts about some of the seemingly unconstitutional efforts that I believed Ashcroft's Justice Department was undertaking. I'm much relieved by your article and believe Ashcroft to be acting in a principled and effective manner.
GORDON F. LEDERMAN
Niceville, Fla.
Iraqi Mission Accomplished
As the senior member of the Science Applications International Corp. team responsible for the Iraqi Media Network (IMN) and having just returned from Iraq, I want to respond to your piece "Broadcast Blues" [January 26]. The bottom line for this successful project is: SAIC developed, installed, and operated IMN based on the direction of our U.S. government customer, and we delivered the requested broadcast capability and programming content called for in our contract. The IMN today reaches nearly 90 percent of the Iraqi population, the established goal of the contract, after starting with virtually no broadcast capability following the bombing of Ministry of Information facilities. SAIC accomplished this task under extraordinarily difficult conditions at considerable risk to our employees and reputation.
FRANK JENKINS
Senior Vice President
SAIC
McLean, Va.
Beef Safety
Thank you for highlighting recent changes to protect the American beef supply in "Is It Safe?" [January 12]. Reviews by Harvard's Center of Risk Analysis in 2001 and again in 2003 have indicated that USDA's safeguards not only are effective but would eradicate the disease if it occurred in this country. We also have a surveillance program that targets high-risk cattle for testing that enabled us to find and aggressively respond to the discovery last month. Consumers can be assured that we remain committed to make a strong system even stronger to protect the food supply and public health.
RON DEHAVEN
Chief Veterinary Officer
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C.
Clarification: Although it takes 12 hours to make a batch of espressolike concentrate for the Toddy Cold Brew system mentioned in "A Barista in PJ's" [January 26], it can be refrigerated up to 10 days and used to make a fast cup of coffee. The user mixes one part concentrate to three parts boiling water.
Neighborhood Hubbub
Regarding your "Two Cheers For The Urban Pioneers" [January 19]: I don't see anything to cheer about. Columbia University's Lance Freeman asserts that "Neighborhoods are changing more as a result of replacement, where people who are leaving are being replaced by more affluent neighbors." Replacement by the more affluent is gentrification. A solution to cheer about would be to improve neighborhoods and have housing opportunities for people of all incomes.
JIM AUGUSTIN
Charleston, S.C.
No wonder the educational system in urban areas is in such bad shape, if you believe Bruce Katz, who says, "When you need to make $150,000 to afford a home in a neighborhood with a decent school, then something is dramatically wrong with the housing market." He should realize that it actually means something is wrong with the educational system. Children from every neighborhood, regardless of housing costs, should be able to attend a decent school. With quality education, residents of poor urban areas could remain and improve their own neighborhoods.
JOE OPENSHAW
Bessemer, Ala.
Debating Plan B
I agree with Dr. Bernadine Healy when she argues that women deserve to know the truth about the morning-after pill ["What `Girls' Should Know," January 19]. But let's give women the whole truth. Healy insists that the morning-after pill (sold under the label Plan B) prevents conception by intercepting rather than interrupting a pregnancy. How the morning-after pill works depends on where the woman is in her cycle. If a woman had unprotected sex during ovulation, conception can occur within five minutes. If the morning-after pill is taken during the next 24 to 48 hours, it would effectively terminate that pregnancy by causing an abortion. The high levels of synthetic progestin in Plan B would make the woman's uterine lining inhospitable to implantation so that the embryo has no place to implant and is sloughed off. A concern, though not a proven risk, that Healy neglected to mention is that Plan B can put a woman who takes it at an increased risk for ectopic pregnancies. Plan B also can cause nausea, vomiting, fatigue, headache, abdominal cramps, and menstrual irregularities. Those are just the adverse effects we're aware of now. As for Healy's claim that routine use of Plan B will reduce the number of abortions, Plan B has been available in Washington State since 1998. Yet the state's abortion statistics have remained about the same from 1998 to 2001.
RENEE MIRKES, PH.D.
Pope Paul VI Institute
Omaha
The morning-after pill shouldn't be taken lightly, and that's exactly what will happen if the Food and Drug Administration allows it to be sold over the counter. I'm not condemning it or saying that it will "promote promiscuity," for it is useful in times of dire need. But in due time, people won't be writing to news editors about it because it will become simply the thing to do. What would the show Friends be if Rachel hadn't gotten pregnant? Perhaps it was a mistake, but we still love Friends because the characters realized and faced the consequences of their actions upfront instead of popping a pill.
SANDRA HAMADA
Age 16
Los Angeles
Dr. Healy's informative comments omit the preferred option, continuing the (unplanned) pregnancy. Americans aren't being honest when they look for every option except that one. A mother can choose adoption, an honorable choice, so her baby can have a chance at life. Rather than have to seek adoptable babies abroad, thousands of American couples would love to have an opportunity to adopt one of these supposedly "unwanted" babies.
RICHARD KING
Rockford, Ill.
Maintaining Majesty
I will gladly overlook the shortcomings of the Founding Fathers in view of their magnificent achievements ["The Sorry Legacy of the Founders," January 12]! How comfortable and safe it is for a group of so-called historians to Monday-morning quarterback these great men 200 years after they gave birth to the philosophical ideal of a democratic republic at enormous personal risk. I dare say that there isn't a thimbleful of that kind of courage in the whole lot of these revisionists.
WARREN A. NADEAU
Newport, Wash.
The Art Of Translation
Kudos for your fine profile of Edith Grossman ["Tilting at Sentences," January 26]. As longtime translators (French-English, English-French), we applaud wholeheartedly Grossman's exemplary work. While working assiduously to attempt to put down and re-create each author's precise thoughts, whether it be in prose or poetry, we are constantly reminded of the Italian aphorism traduttore, traditore (the translator is a betrayer). Succinctly, translation is a painstaking art that is not too often appreciated.
MEL AND CINDY YOKEN
North Dartmouth, Mass.
Skin Therapy
"Drugs To Save Your Skin" [January 12] outlines a number of new therapies that are currently available or that may be available for the treatment of various skin disorders. Among the emerging therapies, infliximab (Remicade) is mentioned and described as a potentially promising new therapy for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. However, to imply that Remicade should be used only as a "last-ditch treatment" because of potentially violent reactions that may result from its protein origins is misleading. As with all therapeutic proteins, including Remicade, infrequent but serious reactions may occur, and appropriate caution should be used whenever these products are administered. Most reactions are manageable and infrequently require discontinuation of therapy.
JEROME A. BOSCIA, M.D.
Senior Vice President
Clinical Research & Development
Centocor Inc.
Malvern, Pa.
This story appears in the February 16, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.