Peace of Mind

Framing the News
Your cover of Sept. 29, "It's Not as Bad as You Think," sits framed on my desk and I look at it for consolation every time I read another newsmagazine. Your moderately upbeat cover story on the global financial crisis was a welcome change from the doom and gloom monopolizing all other media. Thank you, and please God you are right!
Karl H. Pagac
Villeneuve-Loubet, France

Exemplar of Women ' s Rights
You report in "In Golda's Footsteps" (PERISCOPE, Oct. 6) on "an unprecedented feat in a Western democracy" of having women poised to head the branches of Israel's government: prime minister, speaker of Parliament and head of the Supreme Court. This feat is to be applauded considering the region's standards when it comes to gender equality. However, I would like to point out that another country has already achieved this "unprecedented feat" and surpassed it. In 2005 and 2006, the highest offices in New Zealand were held by women: the sovereign Queen Elizabeth II; the governor-general, the queen's representative in New Zealand, Dame Silvia Cartwright; Prime Minister Helen Clark; Speaker of the House of Representatives Margaret Wilson; and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias. Some additional facts: the CEO of the largest company valued on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, Telecom NZ, is Theresa Gattung, and from 1997 to 2001 both the prime minister and leader of the opposition were female. New Zealand has consistently shown that all human beings enjoy rights and has been an important voice, for example, by having the world's first openly transsexual member of Parliament, Georgina Beyer (1999–2007). Most notably, New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote.
Toni Evans
London, England

' Don ' t Call This Art '
PERISCOPE'S Oct. 6 Fast Chat "Food For the Fishes" with Danish artist Marco Evaristti, famous for his subversive art installations, left me utterly disgusted. How duplicitous for Evaristti to take an anti-death-penalty stance in his latest project by saying that if people don't feed his goldfish the freeze-dried flesh of an executed Texan inmate the fish will die, when in fact in a previous show Evaristti puréed live fish in a blender. Such shows are pure perversity. On the other hand, if Evaristti truly wants to protest the death penalty, there are other artistic ways that don't involve killing living things, let alone vilifying a corpse in such a revolting manner. Don't call this art, but pure debauchery. It's a pity that the financial sponsor of this is not revealed. We have the right to know whom to boycott.
Louis Brennan
London, England

Commenting on the U.S. Elections
Yes, America is a unique place whose values should be an example for the world ("Worlds Apart," Oct. 6). But should we say that America is now on the wrong track and it is time to return to the first seeds it sowed? Both Barack Obama and John Mc Cain were determined to prove to doubting Americans that they were the ones to restore the vision cherished by the Founding Fathers. Considering the lies of the Bush administration and the recent financial crisis, should one not wonder whether America can regain its credibility? It is time to heed Abraham Lincoln's warning that "at what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? … If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher."
Dan Chellumben
Amboise, France

So John Mccain would "aim for some grand victory over all terrorists." Hadn't we heard that before from someone who is now largely seen as a failure in office? Reducing today's complex realities to John Wayne-like formulas invites more trouble and strife. For a while, I criticized Barack Obama for falling back on his promise to abandon politics as usual; when denigrating your opponent at all costs was the order of the day, Obama was trying to convince the electorate that voting for McCain would be like presenting Bush with a third term. Originally, this sounded like an oversimplification. Yet there was and is more than a grain of truth to the charge. Moral absolutism may have its place from time to time, but it is downright dangerous when unchecked by the power of reason. McCain's most appalling move? Appointing Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Werner Radtke
Paderborn, Germany

Your comparison of "hot" John McCain and "cool" Barack Obama was right on the money ("The Vices of Their Virtues," Oct. 6). We had repeatedly heard McCain advocate the most extreme response in his proposed solutions to our problems. He either wanted to bomb someone or fire someone or suspend his campaign. Obama is much more nuanced and analytical in his approach. We need a president who advocates reasoned discussion and solves problems pragmatically.
Mark Challis
West Des Moines, Iowa