Letters

The Olympians
Members of all the countries' Olympic teams tried very hard to concentrate on the Games [Aug. 16], and with journalists, coaches and p.r. machines working in overdrive, the athletes had a lot to contend with. I'm glad they were able to focus on doing their best. Kudos to the Olympians!
Dianna Werthmuller
Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S.

There has been much criticism of how Greece handled being host of the Summer Games. Media reports before the Games opened made the situation in Athens sound dire. But at a time when the rest of the world was just entering a civilized era, Greeks had already established a rich culture and had accomplished bigger and better things, including the first Olympics. We Greeks are a caring people. The 2004 Games have been a success because Greeks welcomed everyone from all over the world. Skeptical articles represent only a minority opinion and are not illustrative of the Greek people.
George Apostolopoulos
West Vancouver, Canada

It was terrific to see U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps featured on your cover. I was already looking forward to the Olympics this summer, but your articles heightened my interest. Straight guys have their annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, and this year women and gay guys will have the Phelps cover. Thanks for the equal-opportunity nod.
Francisco Contreras
Miami, Florida, U.S.

Michael Phelps is a world-class athlete. He has also proved to be a world-class young adult and role model. Your article "Built for Speed" captured the essence of Phelps. Michael is a spokesman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and he volunteers to spend his time with kids. When a gold medal is awarded for integrity and citizenship, Michael will stand on the highest platform.
Donald Mathis, Executive Director Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County
Aberdeen, Maryland, U.S.

The ancient Greek games symbolized the Olympian heights man was able to attain in a golden age. It is unfortunate that greed and corruption have found their way into the modern Olympic Games. The quest for glory has made some athletes use banned drugs or other performance-enhancing products. The Games offer us a rare opportunity for unity and a chance to prove that we are worthy inheritors of the Greek ancestors who left a noble history.
Amadi Gabriel
Aba, Nigeria

Rocking the Vote Re your people item on the musicians who are part of the Vote for Change tour aiming to unseat President Bush in the November elections [Aug. 16]: All I see coming out of this tour is a bunch of musicians forcing their opinions on people my age. My young and vulnerable generation has not yet developed a political mind-set, owing to our lack of experience. We need to make up our own minds. These musicians are not teaching us anything by telling us to vote for John Kerry and giving us a concert. It's fine to encourage us to vote, but my generation will be effective members of society only if we form our political opinions based on the facts and not on the views of pop-culture icons.
Tiffany Ann Fletcher
Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.

The Center Cannot Hold?
In his column "America divided? It's Only the Blabocrats" [Aug. 16], Joe Klein suggested that the great partisan divide in the U.S. is a "media-induced mirage" and that the populace in general is "far less vehement" than the "media yakkers" would have people believe. Klein was right on! The airwaves are full of venom from the far right and hatred from the far left — what Klein calls the media's Anger-Industrial Complex. Almost everyone I know is just trying to decide whether we are better off with an arrogant loner who says what he thinks and has created our antiterrorism protections, or with a more sophisticated, learned man who is saying anything to get elected and is untested in the war on terrorism. Here in the center, we believe that both are good men who share similar views on many of the issues that concern us. Here in the center, we don't expect a President to agree with us on every issue. Here in the center, we see the differences between the two political parties and wish we could find a hybrid of them.
Jim Ferris
Mesa, Arizona, U.S.

Good article, Joe, but I think you have forgotten one salient point: both filmmaker Michael Moore and talk-show host Rush Limbaugh are in the entertainment business. And business is good.
Timothy J. Hayes
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

I don't know why there was a question mark in Klein's title phrase "America Divided?" I have been around since the Franklin Roosevelt Administration and have never seen anything like the division in the U.S. today. The public reaction to the Joe McCarthy witch hunts in the 1950s, the 1954 court decision on separate-but-equal schooling, the 1964 civil rights legislation and the 1974 Watergate affair did not exhibit the deep schisms apparent in the U.S. today. The divisions are the worst since the Civil War.
Ralph Craig
Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.

After reading Klein's column, I'm left to wonder in what ethereal realm he is living! My Republican-backing brother and I haven't spoken in 11 years, and take special care to avoid being at the same family functions. Things got worse between us after Clinton's impeachment. Most other adults I know have experienced a similar politically engendered family separation. Klein's portrayal of a passive neutrality by the majority of Americans is a fiction in his own mind. It certainly doesn't jibe with the real, day-to-day America most of us experience.
Phil Stahl
Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.

Joe, you may not want to hear this, but I have always considered you to be part of the Anger-Industrial Complex. I just never had a name for it before.
Randy Daughenbaugh
Rapid City, South Dakota, U.S.

Cartier-Bresson's Legacy
Thanks to James Nachtwey for his appreciation of fellow photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson [Aug. 16]. Nachtwey's descriptions of Cartier-Bresson's artful shots made me aware of all the details that a single photo, like the one of Spanish children playing on a street, can encompass. About a year ago, I started looking at photographs late at night before going to sleep because I wanted to learn about photography and absorb the information that can be uniquely documented in a picture. This way of learning by contemplating photographs, just as Nachtwey did with Cartier-Bresson's pictures, continues.
Petra von Schenck
Wiesbaden, Germany

Al-Qaeda in America
I was disappointed to see that time gave so much coverage to al-Qaeda's latest "threat" to the U.S. [Aug. 16]. It seems as though every time the government hiccups, the media jump in to play on America's paranoia about another terrorist strike. So the government is telling us that al-Qaeda is going to attack, just like on the Fourth of July and this past New Year's and all last year and the year before that? I'm not holding my breath.
Allan Weir
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

You at TIME, the rest of the news media, Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge, politicians, theorists, commentators, specialists and so forth, just shut up. With your rants about even the remote possibility of bombings, you are doing exactly what the terrorists want you to do: instill uncertainty in American lives. Enough, already! The risk of attacks is a price we Americans must assume — and pay. We must respond to these risks with standard precautions and watchful waiting. Then, if the unthinkable occurs, we will deal with it. We should behave the way our law-enforcement and natural-disaster personnel do: quietly, efficiently — without alarming the public with color codes and "special reports."
Tony DiBiasio
Surprise, Arizona, U.S.

President Bush is right on target. Terrorists are our biggest threat. Forget worrying about the economy. That won't matter if we allow terrorists to destroy our nation.
Rosemary Stock
Strongsville, Ohio, U.S.

Highly sensitive information about possible terrorist attacks, regardless of the public interest, should be revealed only on a need-to-know basis. And that need should be determined by the ability to do something about the threat.
Ben Thompson
Marietta, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Saddam Hussein was a very evil person, and I'm glad we forced him out of power. But shouldn't our focus be on the man who started it all? I can't figure out why we haven't captured Osama bin Laden long before now. We've been so involved with getting Iraq back on track that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are getting ready to attack us again. So once more we're all on pins and needles, because we don't know when or where or how.
Patricia Jones
Reston, Virginia, U.S.

Your article reminded us that every American can do something to help in the war on terrorism. If we keep our eyes and ears open, pay attention to and report suspicious activity, we can all play a part in fighting terrorism. You never know where the next big tip might come from.
Lynette Carrington
Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.

Since the invasion of Iraq, there seem to be more terrorist cells. Anti-American sentiment has reached an all-time high, and President Bush is largely responsible for that. I don't think creating hundreds of new terrorists every day is an effective policy for dealing with terrorism.
Douglas E. McCulley
Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S.

How many times have we heard that al-Qaeda wants to pull off an attack in the U.S. before the elections? Terrorists carried out coordinated bombings in Madrid on March 11, and the Spanish candidate challenging the Prime Minister in the March 14 election — the candidate whom terrorists surely preferred — won. Ask yourself which candidate al-Qaeda wishes to become the next U.S. President — and why.
Phyllis M. Ramos
Calumet, Michigan, U.S.

Seeing G-O-D in DNA
Only James Watson could turn the eulogy of a friend into an excuse to bolster his ego and denigrate religion [Aug. 9]. Francis Crick's "good-natured arrogance," as Watson called it, was nothing compared with Watson's opulent truculence, an attitude he still brings to life and science. Watson referred to Crick's longtime hostility to religious revelation and said his colleague viewed religion as "perpetuating mistakes from the past." Watson wrote that Crick preferred to rely on observation and experimentation. But any conclusion about the nature of truth that relies solely on observation and experimentation cannot be a valid statement if it is based on those two principles alone.
C. Donald Smedley
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

Watson and Crick deserve a lot of credit for their discovery of the structure of the incredibly information-rich DNA molecule. There is a vast difference, however, between its original inspired design and its eventual discovery by humans.
Gideon Thom
George, South Africa

Moore Concerns
If the assertions Michael Moore makes in his film Fahrenheit 9/11 are factual [July 19], then Moore should surely have testified before the properly constituted bipartisan 9/11 commission, where his claims would have been thoroughly investigated and tested, along with the testimony of 1,200 other witnesses. But rather than face such scrutiny, Moore appears to have chosen to use the powerful medium of film to exploit a gullible audience, possibly hoping that his assertions would be swallowed by a majority — at least for a time. The net result of his film could be the end of unity in the fight against terrorism. Was that, perhaps, Moore's intention?
John A. Arkcoll
Lilydale, Australia

The Wrong Side of the Law
The connection between al-Qaeda and Iran between October 2000 and February 2001 that the 9/11 commission uncovered [July 26] is not news to everyone. Thanks to Iran's vast oil revenues, the Iranian mullahs are able to finance Islamist terrorists worldwide. Iran is, in fact, the mother of modern Islamist terrorism, with its truck bombings, suicide attacks, political-hostage taking and international assassinations. Iran has been on the wrong side of the law for a long time, and the world has made only minimal attempts to stop it. Misusing the funds that belong to the Iranian people, the hard-liners in Tehran are waging war against the U.S. in key spots worldwide. The supporters of terrorism see their survival in death and destruction, not in the peace and prosperity of their people. Unless they are defeated, the world will not have peace. Negotiating with terrorists and their backers is fruitless, as they do not honor their promises. The U.S. and other Western governments should not negotiate with the mullahs. Instead, they should help the youth of Iran bring an end to the mullahs' regime and drain the terrorists' source of money.
Sam Savanna
Sydney

German Innovation
In reference to your recent article entitled "Labs Get Down to Business" [July 26], I wish to thank TIME for offering such a refreshing and compelling look at how Germany is pressing forward in academic and industrial life-science research. However, it is essential that I correct any false impression that the Max Planck Society (MPG) was an obstacle to the successful founding of our company. On the contrary, Cenix BioScience would never have come into being were it not for the extraordinary assistance and support from the MPG and in particular from its technology transfer agency, Garching Innovation. The combined start-up expertise of Ulrich Mahr (Garching Innovation), Torsten Mummenbrauer (Garching Innovation) and Ivan Baines (Max Planck Institute-CBG, Dresden), together with the forward-looking and innovative attitude within the MPG toward spinning out companies, are the factors that really contributed to the successful launch of Cenix.
Christophe Echeverri
CEO/CSO, Cenix BioScience GmbH
Dresden, Germany