Letters

Hope and Glory

It thrilled me to see that the figure skater gracing your cover was New York's own Sarah Hughes [OLYMPIC PREVIEW, Feb. 11]. I attended the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki and saw the then 13-year-old Hughes mesmerize the crowd with her performance. She is a gracious yet tough competitor and a great role model. BONNIE HOLZER New York City

Hughes is a very talented skater, but she has not yet developed the beauty and grace that Michelle Kwan has. And she has certainly not developed the ability to control what she says to the press. Her comment that Kwan is "just another competitor" was ludicrous. Remarks like that will not endear her to skating fans. Hughes has to show she has class as well as talent. LANA EDWARDS Delray Beach, Fla.

You highlighted figure skating, but why put only one contender on the cover? Why not all three--especially Michelle Kwan? What does it take for an Asian-American athlete to get some attention? Isn't Kwan's story exciting enough? I'm outraged by how Asian Americans get ripped off in the media. What must we do to show that we exist? YVONNE CHANG South El Monte, Calif.

How sad to read that skater Sasha Cohen finds it necessary to psyche out and distract her opponents by clipping them during warm-ups and using mental tactics to win. Cohen's lack of sportsmanship in her zest to be No. 1 leaves the viewer wondering whether it is cunning or ability that brings home the gold. MARJORIE A. CLAUSEN Santa Barbara, Calif.

You seem to have missed the mark with your Olympic preview. I noticed skiing, skating, snowboarding, the skeleton, sledding (men's and women's) and then men's hockey. What happened to the 1998 gold-medal-winning U.S. women's ice-hockey team? They are a talented group of athletes who train as hard as anyone else going to the Olympics. KAREN SOLOMON Worcester, Mass.

--The cover photo of soaring skater Sarah Hughes was far too revealing for some of you. "Once again, a picture of a female figure skater with her skirt up," complained an Oregonian. "Can't you guys come up with a better pose?" "You chose a camera angle that's used to photograph cheerleaders on Monday Night Football," wrote a California woman, adding, "It should be an honor to be on the cover of TIME, but the shot you used is a disgrace."

What Sets Mormons Apart

Your article "The drive for a new Utah" [OLYMPIC PREVIEW, Feb. 11] brilliantly captured the state's extreme social and political dynamic. As a nonpracticing member of a Mormon family with a long pioneer heritage, I've been on both sides of the Mormon-non-Mormon divide in Utah. Since returning to the D.C. area, however, I find myself explaining, more often than I'd like, a religion I do not believe in. Now when confronted with such questions as "How many wives does your father have?" I will simply refer people to your exceptional article and save myself an argument. KRISTEN L. BARLOW Washington

The clannishness that we Mormons are always accused of exists everywhere to some degree because religion is a big part of the social fabric of a community. Being a non-Mormon in Utah is like being a non-Baptist in Virginia Beach, Va., or a gentile in a Jewish neighborhood in New York City. ART J. VANTIELEN Murray, Utah

Talking Tough

I have winced more than once upon hearing President Bush's cowboy-like rhetoric, but the phrase "axis of evil" had me sitting bolt upright in my chair, stunned, as I listened to his State of the Union speech linking Iran, Iraq and North Korea as dangerous regimes [NATION, Feb. 11]. Is Bush nuts? It's one thing to go after the Sept. 11 terrorists and their ideological kin, but I am not willing to be part of the war he seems to be envisioning. This type of inflammatory rhetoric is the kind of stuff one would expect from Third World dictators. The President is putting us all at risk. JOANNE BOYD Albany, N.Y.

Bush's message left a chill of fear in many of us outside the U.S., mainly because of the President's macho pronouncements and the unprecedented support he is receiving from Americans. If his latest allegations of an "axis of evil" were not so serious, they would be laughable. Iran and Iraq are sworn enemies, and North Korea has very little to do with either of them. Bush's speechwriter obviously needs to brush up his understanding of geopolitics. IAN COLTERJOHN Agassiz, B.C.

Considering that the majority of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, why wasn't that country part of Bush's axis of evil? Iraq allows religious tolerance and has Christians working in its government. Yet Saudi Arabia permits no religion but Islam. And what about Pakistan, home to a snake pit of anti-American extremists, where Westerners have been targeted, abducted and killed? America's first antiterrorist priorities should be Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. JOHN GRADY Dublin

Testing but Not Learning

RE your story on the success of educational test-prep firms [SOCIETY, Feb. 4]: I can see the day coming when U.S. elementary and high school teachers will start preparing their students on the first day of school for the almighty test that won't come until the end of the school year. This of course will be at the expense of a well-rounded education. While memory is one of the faculties man has, aren't we carrying it a bit far to make it the most important component of education? Will memorization help students more than instruction in critical thought and values? I doubt it. But of course that is where the money is. If the government paid for courses on kite flying, every school would teach the flying of kites. FRED FINK Callao, Peru

Those Captives in Cuba

Why not accord POW status to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay [VIEWPOINT, Feb. 4]? They could be incarcerated without trial until the war against terrorism is over and then released. This is what happened in World Wars I and II. I don't suppose the legal profession would be too keen on this idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me, as it would probably mean the prisoners would never go free. DAVID WILLIAMS Hadleigh, England

Funny or Not?

Your cartoon strip poking fun at the shenanigans of Washington officials [CARTOON, Feb. 11] was funny, very funny! Mad magazine couldn't have skewered the energy-policy meetings between Dick Cheney and Enron CEO Kenneth Lay any better! And thanks for including the Puritan-throwback Attorney General John Ashcroft for his unbelievable decision to cover up the breasts of an innocent statue! JEAN P. FORRESTER Rochester Hills, Mich.

The childish and meanspirited lampooning of Cheney, Lay and Ashcroft was more suited to Mad magazine than TIME. While I sometimes disagree with what you publish, I respect the magazine for having a degree of journalistic integrity. Please do not sacrifice it for a cheap, unfair and uninformative laugh. ERIC KERVINA Manassas, Va.

The Value of a Victim's Life

I was saddened to read that there are people who are unhappy with the compensation they will be receiving as a result of the attacks on Sept. 11 [Nation, Feb. 11]. Is there some dollar figure that would make the families of victims forget their pain? People die in America every day of the year for many reasons, and there is no government fund to compensate most of them. JASON G. RAMAGE Winston-Salem, N.C.

Out of the Loop?

When Enron stock was skyrocketing, CEO Kenneth Lay was strutting around Houston, the state of Texas and Washington, D.C., like a peacock [BUSINESS, Feb. 11]. But since Enron tanked, costing thousands of employees their jobs and retirement funds, he wants us to believe he had a frontal lobotomy when it comes to his management of the company. DALE KIGHTLINGER Onamia, Minn.

Your chart listing Lay's assets without noting his liabilities gave a distorted picture of his actual net worth. You criticized Enron's accounting but used the very same creative approach--hiding liabilities--to sensationalize the story. RELLY COLEMAN Westport, Conn.

The bottom line is that Enron is a business scandal--probably a criminal matter--but not a political scandal. Until late last year not a single elected official of either party would have refused Enron money. The fact that people took donations then does not make them crooks. Thousands of companies routinely give to candidates. Are we to believe that each and every one of them has somehow bought a legislator? FRANK JUDD Chicago Heights, Ill.

A Raid That Went Awry

If U.S. forces did indeed kill some anti-Taliban troops by mistake, America has a responsibility to show their families compassion [LETTER FROM AFGHANISTAN, Feb. 11]. If innocent lives are lost at our hands, we should pay compensation to the victims' families. Such actions would send an important message. MEHDI HASNIAN Rochester, Mich.

Correction

Our story on U.S. Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno mistakenly said he held the U.S. record in the 1,000-m event [OLYMPIC PREVIEW, Feb. 11]. At the time we went to press, Shani Davis was the U.S. record holder for that event.