Letters
Let India-US nuke deal serve as a model for energy cooperation
Regarding Charles D. Ferguson's Sept. 19 Opinion piece, "Security is vital in US-India nuke deal": It must be understood that human and material resource utilization in India is greatly impeded by energy scarcity, which is based mostly on oil and gas. If nuclear cooperation materializes, followed by more nuclear energy infrastructure in the next 10 years, India could generate a huge trade surplus. In that position, further integration of US technology and industry – and even US agriculture – with the Indian economy could pave the way for further globalization and full-throttle reform in India. Let Indo-US nuclear cooperation develop into a model for similar cooperation between the US and other Asian countries such as Pakistan, Iran, and even North Korea. It is easy to imagine that such cooperation could unleash unprecedented energy for the world economy. President Bush has a vision for a new world situation, in which Indo-US nuclear cooperation is the first step.
Ashim Kumar Chatterjee
Delhi, India
The Sept. 19 article, "As US nears milestone, a rising mix of immigrants," about America's coming population milestone of 300 million read like a Chamber of Commerce press release: Growth is good! More growth is better!
The tiny disagreement consisted of American workers' "fear" that they are being displaced by foreigners willing to labor for less, though the "data are inconclusive" according to the article. Now, the reality: The blue-collar middle class has been all but destroyed by massive illegal immigration combined with American industries outsourcing to cheap-labor havens such as China. Real earning power has dropped like a stone for many workers.
And then there are the cultural issues. Americans don't want Mexifornia or Amexica. We don't want a Mexican invasion prettied up and called multiculturalism.
We want to keep our own English- speaking nation with borders and under the Constitution – the country that millions in uniform fought to preserve.
Brenda Walker
Berkeley, Calif.
Many thanks for the Sept. 20 article, "St. Jack hits the religious right." Like former Sen. Jack Danforth, I am a retired minister and also a 35-year registered moderate Republican. I think Senator Danforth is dead-right about his concern for the right's intrusion into politics. Religion has hijacked the Republican Party, and there is absolutely no place for me – or any other moderate – there anymore. The Party of the Big Tent has become the Party of the Tent Revival, much to the detriment of moderates everywhere. In all my voting years, I have never seen our country so politically divided (done so intentionally, by the way). Unless congresspersons stand alongside Danforth and let in some light to Congress, the Republican Party I knew may be lost for years to mean-spirited, punitive Christian zealots who know only my-way-or-the-highway relationships. Until something changes, I may never vote Republican again!
Margaret Stortz
El Cerrito, Calif.
Regarding the Sept. 20 article "Just how far can CIA interrogators go?": I have a simple test for the acceptability of interrogation techniques: Send a video of the session to your mother.
Robert L. Schoenwald
Middleton, Wis.
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