More Than Just Games for China

Anna Quindlen's "The Techie in Chief" reaches a new low in sarcasm and nitpicking, even for one who has been called "a left-wing idiot." True, the telegraph did help President Lincoln with his prosecution of the Civil War, but he also traveled to review the situation. The fact that John McCain has not taken the time to master the Internet shows that he is not given to spending time being frustrated by this machine, which I still waste lots of time on. I am 76 and "learned" how to use it 10 years ago. The fact that McCain lets others handle the electronics testifies to his good use of time. John McCain probably cannot shoot three-point baskets as well as Barack Obama, either, but neither of these skills will solve the problems of our country.
Richard Murray
Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

Measuring Grief
My husband passed away this year. We were married for 51 years. So "Inside the Grieving Brain" (Aug. 4) was of great interest to me. I've always believed that when a loved one dies there should never be a limit on how long to mourn, since we experience loss in different ways. Am I now to understand that if we mourn longer than six months, we're candidates for inclusion in DSM-V, the next edition of the standard textbook on mental illness? Perhaps researchers, in scanning the brain's nucleus accumbens, should look to the heart as well. My sorrow comes from there.
Louise R. Travis
Northville, Mich.

Clarification
NEWSWEEK's Aug. 4 story "A $16 Billion Problem" contained an imprecise statement about Chevron's disclosures to shareholders regarding a lawsuit against the company in Ecuador. The story should have said that a recent court recommendation prompted Chevron in May of this year to include details of the suit in a quarterly report, marking the first time the potential liabilities were disclosed to shareholders in a document filed with the SEC. Chevron had previously referenced the suit in proxy statements to shareholders.

Correction
In the Aug. 4 item "When We Were Kings" in "A Viewer's Guide to Beijing," we reported that the last American Olympian to win a gold medal in boxing was Oscar De La Hoya in 1992. Two Americans—David Reid in Atlanta in 1996 and Andre Ward in Athens in 2004—have won boxing gold medals since De La Hoya. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.

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