Quotes of the Day

The Debate on Clean Energy
While Michael Grunwald's cover story on the emerging ethanol industry was both chilling and truthful, it's damaging to demonize the global effort to develop clean fuels as "myth," "scam" and "hype" [April 7]. It is no myth that thousands of scientists and their teams are working feverishly to create biofuels from nonfood plants grown on land unsuitable for food production. The science is still young. We could not have landed on the moon without first launching a primitive plane at Kitty Hawk. But we will succeed.
Mark Beyer,
Detroit

Face it: there's no one fuel panacea, and in the final analysis, humans will have to scale back their numbers to live within a finite-fossil-fuel (or even renewable-fuel) world. And good luck with that.
William L. Seavey,
Cambria, Calif., U.S.

If politicians were really serious about tackling climate change and reducing dependence on oil, they would help bring electric vehicles to the market. Providing enormous subsidies to corn ethanol has little to do with addressing climate change; it is another giveaway to the powerful farm lobby and agribusiness. We need bold and tangible solutions to the interrelated problems of climate change, energy and food.
Surabhi Gupta,
Natick, Mass., U.S.

A Kingdom's Shame
Your report on Bhutan's experiment with democracy paints an incomplete picture of the real political situation in Bhutan [April 7]. Democracy and the pursuit of "gross national happiness" sound ludicrous when nearly one-sixth of the population has been languishing as refugees in eastern Nepal for nearly two decades. The international community's indifference to the situation is a sign of how the ruling establishment has successfully diverted the world's attention.
Adwait Silwal,
Kathmandu

So It Goes
Vice president Dick Cheney's monosyllabic response of "So?" to a question regarding the two-thirds of Americans who don't support the Iraq war [April 7] suggests he is more committed to forcing democracy on Iraq than in practicing it in this country.
Roy Hartzler,
New Paris, Ind., U.S.

SMa Is No Messiah
Zoher Abdoolcarim's essay "Taiwan's New Promise" is too flattering to Taiwan's newly elected President, Ma Ying-jeou [April 7]. Ma is more like a celebrity than a President, and his rosy policies announced during the election will be harmful to Taiwan and helpful to China's ambition to annex Taiwan. Even though the Bush Administration is satisfied with the peaceful results of the election in Taiwan, it ignores the tragedy that a pro-China Ma could bring about on the island.
Ni Kuo-jung,
Hsinchu, Taiwan