Inbox: May 14, 2007

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It is unfortunately true that, as forensic psychiatrist Neil Kaye said, "we glorify and revere" killers. But in response to his doubts about people recalling Ted Bundy's victims, those of us who were at Florida State University in the late '70s have not forgotten Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman. Likewise, I doubt that those who survived that day at Virginia Tech will forget their classmates and teachers. It is the media that keep the killers' names alive while those who were there and those who care remember the victims.

Donna Sessions Waters, PENSACOLA, FLA.

Bear Care

RE "Postcard: Woolong" [April 30]: For a species that numbers only 1,600 and has a habitat of barely 5,000 sq. mi., reintroducing pandas into the wild might turn out to be an important complement to the more basic need to conserve habitat. China deserves credit for making the world aware of the panda's plight and for getting East and West to cooperate in saving the animal. The $4 million that four U.S. zoos contribute annually to saving the pandas' habitat is a piddling amount compared with the need, but China has responded by pouring billions into a "Grain to Green" program designed to convert marginal mountainside farms back to forest. There is nothing to be gained by focusing on a few misguided efforts and ridiculing a program that has been highly successful overall.

Donald Lindburg, North American Coordinator for the Giant Panda Association of Zoos & Aquariums, SAN DIEGO

Giant pandas are like a boyfriend or girlfriend who is staggeringly good looking but otherwise brainless and self-absorbed. Pandas often have to be artificially inseminated because so many have lost the most primal of urges. When pandas reproduce, many cubs have to be cared for by zookeepers because the mothers take no interest in them. Over time, pandas have worked themselves into an impossible ecological niche. They eat almost nothing but bamboo shoots and then, depending upon their appetite at the moment, only certain varieties. If the right kind of bamboo is unavailable, they will starve to death. If ever there was an example of a species hell-bent on committing suicide, it is the giant panda. In keeping with the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest, we should allow them to do so.

Holmes Brannon, WOODLAND PARK, COLO.

Getting Bush to Budge

RE Joe Klein's "Making Bush Make a Deal" [April 30]: I have another idea for bringing the Iraq war to a close. Let's initiate a pay-as-you-go policy for the war instead of financing it with borrowed money. We could start with an early sunset on the big tax break that President George W. Bush gave to his wealthiest friends. Perhaps we would be more careful about rushing into war if we had to shoulder some of the financial burden instead of deferring it to our children and grandchildren.

Tim Courtney, FLORENCE, KY.

The arguments advanced to support continuing the Iraq war are eerily reminiscent of the domino theory used to justify extending the Vietnam War. That doomsday prophecy didn't come true, and ending the American presence in Iraq won't be as bad as war supporters claim. As William Faulkner wrote, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past."

Chet Ramey, NOVELTY, OHIO

Impoverished and Afraid

Alex Perry's excellent article "Land of Chains and Hunger" highlighted the tragedy of Zimbabwe under the rule of President Robert Mugabe [April 23]. Another loser is South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki and his ineffective policy of "quiet diplomacy" (what South Africans call "silent diplomacy"). Mbeki's supposedly close ties with Mugabe have not helped him develop a plan to rescue Zimbabwe from its dire situation. It is only a matter of time before the African leaders who so often criticize Western governments start calling on them to aid Zimbabwe.

Gavin Murray, ONBRIDGE, ENGLAND

Digital Lit

The Sony Reader may be able to hold 80 novels in one small package, but it's not going to replace books in my household [April 30]. I do my pleasure reading almost entirely in the bathtub. If I doze off and drop a book into the tub, I can dry it out. The Sony Reader, on the other hand, would become a very expensive doorstop.

Karen M. Campbell, SACRAMENTO, CALIF.

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