Inbox

  • Back, Mama Grizzly
    Given TIME's rich history of substantive reporting, I am perplexed by your infatuation with Sarah Palin ["What Does She Want?" Dec. 20]. My success as a CEO is predicated on being able to evaluate senior-management talent. Palin's ability to resonate with Middle America by spewing invective and bromides at the Washington establishment is no substitute for having the economic and geopolitical savvy to guide the world's largest economy.
    Peter Smith,
    Baden, Pa., U.S.

    If I wanted to read a valentine to Palin, I would raid her mailbox on Feb. 14.
    Dewi L. Faulkner,
    Palo Alto, Calif., U.S.

    Palin says her first priority if elected President would be to initiate "true free-market, patient-centered reform" in health care. That would necessarily require the evaluation of the sector's commercial potential and the development of strategies to nurture performance-rewarding undertakings. Heaven help those Americans, disadvantaged by health conditions that indicate a lack of market-valued resources, who must await the market's compassion.
    Gordon McShean,
    Palmerston North, New Zealand

    After a long life of service to his nation, John McCain, it now appears, will leave as a legacy his thoughtless infliction of Palin on the American people.
    John W. DeArman,
    St. Louis

    A nation that can vote in George W. Bush (twice) and Ronald Reagan (also twice) as President, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California, can easily vote for Palin as President. All she has to do is appeal to the emotional state of the average voter. One thing for Americans to remember: You drag the rest of us along with you.
    Greg Landman,
    Cape Town

    A Sound Wall
    "Palestinians, Contained" leaves me scratching my head [Dec. 20]. Basically, you say that after years of suicide bombings in Israel committed by Palestinians, to which Israelis responded by erecting a wall, the Palestinians want the Israelis to come out and play. You then suggest that the youth, the ones who are taught hatred of Israel and Jews in their homes and schools, do not know their Israeli counterparts — and it's all Israel's fault. Your article makes no sense and smacks of your one-sided reporting of this situation.
    H. Alster,
    East Brunswick, N.J., U.S.

    My country has better uses for the funds spent on the defense wall and we wish our sons as soldiers would not have to encounter the humiliating duty of manning checkpoints. However, we have had too many brutal murders from Palestinians, so we inspect thoroughly those who come in and bear the burden of armed guards at kindergartens, schools and public places. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have made themselves unwelcome.
    Raphael Ben-Yosef,
    Ramat Gan, Israel

    Once again, Karl Vick chooses to ignore the underlying reasons for Middle East issues. It's not the separation that is causing younger Palestinians to be more distrustful of Israelis. It's the unremitting incitement, beginning almost at infancy, by their leaders that is turning this new generation into one filled with more hate and distrust than the current one.
    Allan Kandel,
    Los Angeles

    Thank you for your fair assessment of the plight of the Palestinians in the West Bank and their life behind the new Iron Curtain. I wish more U.S. news sources were willing to report on this issue in such an informative and balanced way.
    Dennis Allen,
    Chicago

    Vick accurately concludes that the separation wall Israel erected has reduced suicide attacks to almost nil. Yet in the same breath he adds that "no less important, it has created a separation of the mind" and has made it harder for Palestinians to get to know Israelis. Speaking as someone who lived through the horrific years between 2000 and 2005 of weekly bus bombings and attacks on pizza stores and shopping malls, the words "no less important" are mind-numbing and insensitive. If thousands of murdered and maimed teenagers are the price for getting to know someone, then I think I'll pass.
    Jonathan Rogans,
    Jerusalem

    Why No Love for Anne?
    I found your "Best of 2010" section immediately suspect because of an inexplicable omission from the five best film performances [Dec. 20]. In 2010's Love and Other Drugs , Anne Hathaway proves beyond any doubt that in less than a decade, she has reached the epitome of dramatic expertise on film. And her confidence in her profession shines through — clothed or otherwise.
    Mike Gerald,


    Hattiesburg, Miss., U.S.