Improvement Weigh-In
You did an excellent job with this year's list of "50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2007" [Dec. 25, 2006-Jan. 1, 2007]. I was delighted with the piece "Learn About Islam." When people learn about one another's beliefs and traditions, it erases the fear and anxiety of the unknown. I hope the non-Muslim world will come to understand that Muslims live in all parts of the world and that the overwhelming majority of us want to achieve peace and happiness on Earth and in the hereafter, God willing.
HAPPY BEGUM
Haledon, N.J.
In "Learn About Islam," you recommend books by Bernard Lewis. He is great on Islamic history, but most of his books don't mention ultraconservative Wahhabism. Saudi Arabia has spent billions to establish madrasah religious schools and mosques staffed with Wahhabi clerics, from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Los Angeles. Wahhabi clerics teach their distorted version of the Koran and hatred of the West. The Saudis claim to have cracked down on these extremists. The bottom line is that 15 of 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi Wahhabis. How can we forget?
RICHARD W. HALE
Sanibel, Fla.
I could not agree more with "Coach Your Kid's Sports Team" and told our community basketball commissioner to read it. He runs a community basketball league that we have both coached for several years. I also agree with the "Think Twice About Travel Teams" article. Kids 10 to 12 years old playing school, travel, and community ball have no time for anything but homework at the end of the day. I have said that travel teams ruined youth sports at the local level.
DAVID SERGISON
Clinton, N.J.
There were several references to the global warming panic in "50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2007." Your advice to read An Inconvenient Truth ["Book a Passage to Change ..."], to "See a Glacier (Before It Melts)," and "To Buy Farther Inland" is misguided. Remember the panic 30 to 40 years ago about the coming ice age? The hype about global warming is just another example of the environmental panic of the decade.
RALPH WEBER
Fairview, N.C.
In "50 Ways to Improve Your Life," you included "Give Your Teen More Driving Time." More operational practice should enhance a novice driver's ability to control a vehicle. However, providing additional practice using unskilled instructors in vehicles without dual controls could result in death and injuries to the participants as well as to others sharing the roadway. Also, parents and amateur driving instructors must understand that teenagers' driving knowledge has been influenced by incidental observation for many years. Teen drivers emulate their parents' driving habits. All too often, parents involved in a negative driving episode blame others rather than themselves. Parents need and should receive, as part of a thorough new driver education program, instruction regarding their role in supporting their teen driver. A comprehensive safety education program should be provided in schools from kindergarten through grade 12 and integrated into the overall curriculum and teachers' certification requirements.
BERNARD KAPLAN
President Emeritus
Pennsylvania Association for Safety Education
Reading, Pa.
I noted your article "Take up an Instrument-Again." It might interest your readers that for about 15 years there has been a program especially for seniors who want to become part of a band. The program is called New Horizons International Music Association, with more than 130 bands throughout the United States and Canada (newhorizonsmusic.org). The program encourages older (usually retired) people to pick up an instrument that they played years before or, as in my case, learn to play starting from scratch. It is a learning experience, keeps me active and involved, and is a lot of fun. I began learning to play a saxophone 11 years ago at age 68 and have loved every minute of it.
GEORGE BLINICK
Prospect Heights, Ill.
Congratulations on suggesting "Get Rid of the Leaf Blower." By doing so, one improves not only his quality of life but also that of everybody in the neighborhood. Leaf-blower technology was invented in Japan, where it is used for seeding, fertilizing, and crop dusting on small farms. In the United States, the leaf blower wreaks environmental damage and generates noise. Any alleged benefits are inconsequential.
HENRY MCGILTON
San Carlos, Calif.
I was especially interested in "Take the Fast Lane With Biodiesel" since biodiesel is my research interest. Though the article does a good job of describing the magic of a car fueled by straight vegetable oil, the title invokes the term "biodiesel." Biodiesel is made from but is not vegetable oil. The process of making biodiesel cracks a triglyceride molecule (vegetable oil) into biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester) and a glycerin byproduct, with a significant lowering of the fuel thickness. Most diesel vehicles can run on biodiesel without any modifications; no switches, no conversion of the vehicle. It is a different fuel, though the two are often confused.
ROGER BEARDSLEY
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Central Washington University-Ellensburg
I was thrilled to read "Write Your Family Cookbook." It's a great way to pass on family history. Some years ago, I began writing stories about my growing-up years and my children's, with each containing a related family recipe and pictures. This Christmas, I gave each of our five children a copy of Marian's Life and Cookbook.
MARIAN Y. PAYNE
Richmond, Va.
I'm sure we could all come up with our own list of 50 ways to improve our life, but No. 1 on all of them should be your "Unplug the Television." I did that nine years ago, and it has provided me with time and necessity to do many other more meaningful things: reading, learning a musical instrument, or just going for a walk. Sometimes I'm at a loss during water-cooler conversation, but I'll take being able to play Mozart's Clarinet Concerto over knowing who got kicked off the island in Survivor.
DAVID BOLGER
Margate, N.J.
Mired in a Mess
"Men in Black" [December 18] outlines many current problems in Iraq. Perhaps the U.S. government should consider a New Deal-style policy for handling militias that would offer military-age Iraqis well-paying jobs working on large construction projects throughout the country. Projects outside major cities might keep these men away from radical clerics. Other benefits would include stimulating the Iraqi economy and rebuilding the infrastructure.
CHRIS MOULTON
Philadelphia
"Men in Black," about the difficulties associated with dealing with militias in Iraq, is evidence of the impossible situation our military has been thrown into and the incompetence of the administration. How can anyone deny that Iraq is in the throes of a full civil war?
RON COSBY
Lithia Springs, Ga.
Innumerable American military officers, Iraqi government ministries, local militia, and various self-appointed religious leaders all demanding opposing solutions are part of the problem in Iraq. No wonder the whole thing has turned into one big mess.
ROSALIND WARNER
Aumsville, Ore.
Farm Subsidies
Farm bill funding deserves careful scrutiny, as should all budget measures. However, the assertion that 72 percent of the (farm program) money goes to just 10 percent of the recipients is misleading ["Is the Farm Bill's Fat Finally in the Fire?" December 18]. The problem is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture says there are 2.1 million farms. Only about one third of them represent farming as a business that might come close to supporting a family. The other 1.4 million farms are so-called rural residence farms with little or no cash farm receipts. The reality is that about 80 percent of commercial-size family farms receive government payments. And it's not just the big operators. In 2003, the largest family farms (sales of $500,000 or more) produced 44 percent of total farm output but received just 32 percent of main commodity program payments.
STEVEN A. LARSON
Managing Editor Hoard's Dairyman
Fort Atkinson, Wis.
Hope for the Homeless
As president of one of the largest homeless rescue missions for five years in Los Angeles on Skid Row, I saw firsthand the problems and the well-intentioned but often futile efforts to address them ["Homeless Sprawl," December 18]. To "reduce" chronic homelessness is honest and realistic, but to "end" homelessness is a popular theme. There are four major factors that would "end" chronic homelessness: paying living wages, addressing addictions, treating mental health problems, and providing affordable housing. In 2003, Los Angeles tried a blue-ribbon committee to address "Ending Homelessness in Ten Years." Besides lacking understanding of how to end the problem, the committee of 60 included only six representatives from active homeless providers. A committee of well-meaning faithful is fine, but there needs to be a mountain of decision makers who truly understand the problem. Skid Row in Los Angeles is an anachronism that continues to address the huge need of many poor and destitute people in that city. My hope is that the problems will be addressed in fresh and insightful ways.
MARSHALL MCNOTT
Montgomery Village, Md.
I recall a time when the homeless were recognized as a group of people with specific problems and were treated accordingly. Some suffered severe or temporary poverty, drug or alcohol dependency, or mental impairments or were orphaned children. None were permitted to live openly on the street. Instead of being sent government checks with which to pay rent and buy groceries, these people were housed, fed, and provided with medical services. At the expense of federal, state, or municipal governments, places were maintained to house and care for the needy. The places may not have been ideal; some may have been well run, others downright bad, but the concept, to take care of those who could not or would not take care of themselves, is what we're struggling with on Skid Row and with welfare. The current solution, I believe, is far less satisfactory than that earlier way.
SHEILA LINK
Hemet, Calif.
As a rule of thumb, homelessness should be temporary. In dealing with homelessness, the social worker should be an important player in charge of listening, guiding, and so much more. That way, the homeless person doesn't feel alone. It's a proven fact that good results can emerge from appealing to the homeless person's pride and worth as a member of society. The key is to stress the word temporary because in life, living on the street happens. I've written from experience.
ROBERT Y. COICOU
Rockville, Md.
This story appears in the January 22, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.