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Glass Half Full

Bill Clinton has a masterly way of making an issue clear without making it simplistic [“The Case for Optimism,” Oct. 1]. I appreciated the information as well as the positive tone. Yes, we have much work to do, but it’s not all gloom and doom.

Ann Johnson, OAKLAND, CALIF.

There was a great deal of talk in Bill Clinton’s cover story about green energy, middle-class expansion and the empowerment of women. Nowhere was birth control mentioned. President Clinton’s optimism may be unrealistic without significant advancement in third-world birth control.

Andrew Colyer, BEL AIR, MD.

Big Coal Fights Back

In “Coal, Hard Truths,” mine owner Robert E. Murray is pictured in front of a mountain of mine tailings so high, it obscures the wooded hills behind it [Oct. 1]. What better testimony to the cost of “cheap,” abundant coal? Today’s coal-mining methods, which destroy the environment, have advanced little since the 19th century. Coal need not be dirty and damaging if mine owners and utilities focus more on their responsibility to posterity and less on obstinately defending the ways of the past. There are cleaner and better alternatives. We should promote them.

Edith Neimark, PRINCETON, N.J.

Who can blame the coal industry for fighting against being replaced? But more and more citizens believe that pollution from carbon- and methane-based fuels threatens our future. Wind, solar and biothermal sources create jobs, protect lives and preserve land, air and water.

Terri MacKenzie, CHICAGO

We Are the 47%

Re Joe Klein’s “The Imaginary Campaign” [Oct. 1], on Mitt Romney’s recent comments: My husband and I are educated and successful 70-year-olds who worked 40 years or more as professionals. We raised educated and successful children, one a high school teacher of English literature and one an industrial electrician, who are raising their own educated and successful children. We have all saved and invested in this country and contributed time and money to our communities, and we all support the current President. But we are now deemed by a plutocrat to be people who view themselves as irresponsible victims.

Rita Kidd, CATHEYS VALLEY, CALIF.

Our family has always been middle class, and I agree with Romney. His words were taken out of context and have been lit on fire by the news media. I have never been so frightened for our country as I am at this time. Come on, America, this election is a wake-up call. We can’t take four more years of huge debt, doom and gloom.

N.D. Hawkinson, GREEN RIVER, UTAH

Anger Management

Recent deadly protests in the Middle East should not stop the U.S. government from being willing to work with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt [“Flash Point,” Sept. 24]. Religion is central to the identity of Muslim nations; the principal organization trying to marry religious identity with human rights is the Muslim Brotherhood, which denounces violence and is, overall, a liberal group.

Ali Khan, ELGIN, ILL.

The actions of two presidential candidates amid the recent deadly protests in the Middle East revealed much about each man’s character. As President Barack Obama dispatched troops to secure U.S. citizens overseas, former governor Mitt Romney dispatched surrogates to politicize a human tragedy. Romney’s actions are sadly illustrative of a campaign strategy in which no tragedy is too great to exploit if it will help please the base.

Brad A. Hoffman, SOLON, OHIO

Reality Television

James Poniewozik’s piece on lying was spot-on, especially his observation that “the lie gets a prime-time slot and the truth gets a blog post the next day” [“Check, Please,” Sept. 24]. Our journalists have failed us by letting lies go unchallenged. I guess they forgot that “keeping them honest” should be their full-time job. I’d love to see a network run video of events on a tape delay and superimpose the facts over the lies being told.

Tim Neumark, COLUMBIA, MD.

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