Letters

The Fight for Justice

As a young Republican who hoped this Administration would debunk the stereotype of right-wing Republicans [NATION, Jan. 22], I am embarrassed at George W. Bush's choice for Attorney General. By nominating John Ashcroft, the President, despite his self-congratulation for having a diverse Cabinet, has nullified any good he has achieved. Ashcroft's support for a constitutional ban on abortions even in cases of rape is a joke, in the Republican Party or anywhere else. MATTHEW RAWLINGS HINDMAN Decatur, Ga.

Did the far left really expect Bush to stock his Cabinet with Democratic appointees? In time, Bush will garner support among objective Democrats, and the country will recognize his leadership skills. Then the childish assertions of the far left will fall on deaf ears. MARK D. MEANEY Dix Hills, N.Y.

Bush said he will work to unite America. His appointment of Ashcroft as Attorney General proves the opposite. Bush has taken the first step to break the fragile connection that could unify us. BLANCA SURGEON Santa Fe, N.M.

Should Ashcroft be Attorney General? The answer is a resounding yes! What a joy it is to know there are still men of integrity and faith willing to devote their time and energy to restoring morality to American government. DAN RUNYON Spring Arbor, Mich.

The Attorney General has great power in determining who will serve as federal judges and how strongly laws are enforced. It is for this reason that Bush's nomination of the rigidly conservative Ashcroft is so troubling to environmentalists, labor, people of color, gays and lesbians, those who believe in religious freedom and all who support a woman's right to choose. ELLIE DUFFIELD Seattle

The cover picture of Ashcroft was a low blow. He shouldn't be Attorney General, but neither should he be demonized. You made him look like a Method actor playing the villain Iago in Shakespeare's Othello. CARL A. KERR Glenville, W.Va.

Can anyone say with a straight face that Janet Reno was more qualified than Ashcroft to be Attorney General? Or that she is not further to the left than Ashcroft is to the right? If it was all right for Bill Clinton to appoint someone consistent with his views, why can't Bush? DONALD RANFT Hershey, Pa.

How much integrity does Ashcroft have if he is willing to put aside his strongly held beliefs for his ambition? He says he will enforce the law rather than his beliefs. Does ambition then dampen his integrity, or will he work with one hand to follow the rules and with the other to overturn them? Women's reproductive rights are under renewed attack. I fear zealots in any form. This nomination convinces me that Bush is not concerned with conciliation. PAT LINDSAY Mattoon, Ill.

The Federal courts and the Justice Department are arbiters for many diverse ethnic groups who seek intervention for social injustice. Even if Ashcroft's heart is pure, his failure to implement voluntary busing of schoolchildren as part of a Missouri desegregation program showed racial insensitivity. FARIBORZ MOHAMADI Lake Forest, Ill. A Bleak St. Petersburg

How discouraging to see Lise Sarfati's gritty photographs of St. Petersburg, Russia [WORLD, Jan. 22]. A person who has never visited the City on the Neva would think it's a modern-day hell of Calcuttan proportions. I lived there with a Russian family for three months last year, and I saw a city that, although poor by European standards and going through a difficult time, had nowhere near the amount of lawlessness or anarchy portrayed by the media. What I found was a city rich in culture: the world-class Hermitage and the unjustly overlooked Russian State Museum, opera houses and palaces, jazz clubs and a thriving alternative-rock scene. The media, however, find that photos of homeless couples and teenagers in rehab or on drugs make better copy. FRANK BORGHESE Chapel Hill, N.C.

Building Better Babies

I beg to differ with bioethicist Arthur Caplan's view that we don't need legislation to regulate the genetic engineering of humans [SCIENCE, Jan. 22]. Can you imagine what Hitler would have done if he had had such genetic technology to assist him during his infamous quest to establish the perfect race? And why does Caplan defend parents who want to improve their offspring genetically before they are born? ALEJANDRA ROBINSON Buenos Aires

About a dozen years ago, I lost a number of fingers in a farm accident, and I have long since given up waiting for them to grow back. But salamanders and cockroaches are born with the ability to regenerate lost appendages. Would it be so bad if my unborn great-grandchildren could have such a desirable gene inserted into their DNA? DONALD OSTERGARD Drumheller, Alta.

Genetic enhancement should be banned just as performance-enhancing drugs are. If everyone can run a one-minute mile, the achievement loses all meaning. If everyone has an IQ of 200, what's the value of being smart? Caplan's nonregulated approach to human engineering deeply troubles me. CONSTANTIN POLYCHRONAKOS Montreal

Gridlock in the Air

In describing the troubling situation in air travel [BUSINESS, Jan. 22], you left out the most important step that would make the skies friendlier and ease the congestion: constructing high-speed rail systems to serve the needs currently met by short airline flights of only a few hundred miles. We don't need to build more airports and add runways. A short trip between urban centers (say, Chicago and Detroit) on high-speed rail would be as fast as or faster than a short-haul plane flight. Let's put our tax money into a transportation system that would be faster, more efficient, better for the environment and less affected by the weather than airline travel. ROGER GRIFFITH Lombard, Ill.

Your suggestions of how to make the skies friendlier unfairly targeted general aviation [civilian aircraft not under the control of a common carrier]. You stated that G.A. aircraft use more than half of airport-tower services, but most of that traffic is at airports that have very few airline flights. The vast majority of small G.A. aircraft don't use the major airports, utilizing instead reliever and general-aviation airports not used by the airlines.

General aviation is not the problem. If it went away tomorrow, some 5,000 communities not served by the airlines would lose their connection to the air-transportation system, and airline passenger delays would barely be affected. The long-term solution is to build more runways at the major airports. As long as the airlines schedule more flights than the airports can comfortably handle, there will be delays. PHIL BOYER, PRESIDENT Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Frederick, Md.

No White Flags

I was disturbed by the article describing Laura Doyle's book The Surrendered Wife, which argues that an acquiescent wife is the key to a happy marriage [SOCIETY, Jan. 22]. Talk about two steps back! No personal growth can occur when conflicts are circumvented rather than resolved, which is what happens when one party consistently gives in to the other. Doyle seems to have tried only two approaches to conflict in her marriage: fight or flight, nagging or submission. A mature couple uses neither of these measures for a happy marriage. No mentally and spiritually healthy person needs an obsequious partner in order to feel empowered. SARA HESSEL Austin, Texas

Doyle's approach is damning, demeaning and destructive to women, and goes against everything they have striven for years to accomplish. Wives should not control, criticize or disrespect their husbands, but men should follow the same guidelines. A woman who becomes passive, who surrenders, is in danger of losing her identity and self-respect. HEATHER PIGMAN Bowling Green, Ky.

What a scary world it would be if we all followed Doyle's advice! Just imagine a place where all a woman ever said to her husband was, "Whatever you think, dear." Is it Doyle's "own world peace crusade" to take hundreds of years of progress toward gender equality and flush them down the drain? Doesn't she know that a society like the one she lovingly describes already exists? It's the Taliban's Afghanistan, and she's welcome to move there if she likes. But I--and my opinions--are staying put! ANN COLIN HERBST Paris

A happy marriage is one in which two partners complement each other, making the couple greater than the sum of the two individuals. If Doyle believes that an acquiescent wife is the key to happiness, I suspect she assumes that husbands are domineering and want to control their wives. But most men I know would not put up with a "Yes, dear" wife; they want a life partner, not a doormat. REKHA KULSHRESHTHA Richmond Hill, Ont.

It seems to me that Laura Doyle's husband would feel just as empowered if he were married to a blow-up doll. Besides, there's less of a chance a doll would come to its senses someday. IMOINDA ROMAIN Toronto

Organizing to Exploit

In the article "Illegal But Fighting for Rights" [SOCIETY, Jan. 22], Margot Roosevelt observed that the illegal status of undocumented U.S. workers makes them vulnerable to exploitation. The sorriest part of this tale is that Big Labor is set up to take its turn exploiting these people, as it looks for a fresh source of dues to finance union power struggles. As you noted, this is the same Big Labor that yesterday "supported raids that resulted in mass deportation" and "sanctions against employers." Do these powermongers have no sense of shame? ERIC COLL Montreal