Quotes of the Day

Slaughter in Mumbai
The media keep telling us that mass murders of innocent people around the globe are just isolated incidents committed by marginal groups of Muslim youths unable to find a place in society [Dec. 15]. This ignores the fact that Muslim fundamentalists have declared war against all who disagree with them, regardless of their nationality, religion or race. Their goal is to establish sharia law worldwide, if need be through terrorism and murder. How many more deaths will it take for us to understand that we face a cruel, well-coordinated and determined enemy? How long will we in the West allow open terrorist propaganda in mosques and religious schools? Muslim terrorists use democracies' freedom of speech, association and movement against them. It is time we abandoned political correctness and started calling things as they are.
Alan Carpenter,
Cairns, Queensland

Your cover stories suggest that Muslims, who make up 13.4% of India's population, are underprivileged and that Hindus and Muslims are polarized. In fact, most Indians see themselves as Indian first, not Hindu or Muslims, and Muslims are well represented at the most prominent and influential levels of Indian society. Some of the most popular Bollywood stars are Muslims, including actor Sharukh Khan. Mumbai's Police Commissioner, Hasan Gafoor, is a Muslim. India is and always has been a multi-faith society. The media needs to calm down and stop its wild speculation and its hunger for Pulitzer Prizes.
Siddharta Mehta,
Auckland

From the beginning of the massacre, Indians in India and abroad never doubted Pakistan's hand in the ghastly attacks. President Richard Nixon's famous "tilt" toward Pakistan, decades of American support for Pakistan's military dictators and America's turning a blind eye to Pakistan's involvement in a long series of terrorist attacks against India have borne fruit in the form of worldwide Islamist terrorism. These dreadful attacks will continue unless international pressure is brought to bear on Pakistan's government to bring its military under control.
Chuncha Mel Ramakrishna,
Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Another heinous act of terrorism has been committed in India. A great tragedy, apart from the loss of a large number of innocent lives, was the killing of the chief of the local Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare. He had been leading investigations into earlier bomb blasts that had uncovered evidence suggesting the complicity of Hindu extremists, including politicians and a serving Army officer. His investigation, which had given a new twist to the discourse on terrorism in India, is another casualty.
T. Maryam,
New Delhi

The terrorists struck Mumbai while election campaigns were underway in four Indian states. The long queues of voters and the results — victory in three states for India's ruling Congress party — are a clear message to the terrorists that their cowardly killing of innocent people cannot make Indians afraid. India's government is working to make the country a safe and prosperous place for investment. The international community should do its part by putting pressure on Pakistan to eradicate its schools of terrorism.
Jacob Sahayam adelaide,
South Australia

Neither Borrower nor Lender Be
As a person interested in reality, I much appreciated Michael Kinsley's Essay on the government stimulus package [Dec. 15]. The media regularly say the "taxpayer has been hit again." I don't recall my taxes being affected. Rather, we have borrowed again, and not from fellow Americans — but from China, Japan and other countries. Have we come to the point that we may have more clout in the world militarily but others have more clout economically?
Bill Brouwers,
Middlebury, Indiana

Retirement Jitters
Re Justin Fox's article on pensions and retirement plans: allowing individuals to invest their savings in real growth opportunities is the best path to financial security [Dec. 15]. The government cannot guarantee a 3% return over inflation. We already have a national pension system called Social Security, which is going bankrupt. All pension plans, regardless of the form, depend on real economic growth. You would better serve your readers by educating them to these realities rather than indoctrinating them with the obfuscations of self-serving Democratic politicians. There are real solutions out there. TIME should uncover and report them.
Thomas Maskell,
Poland, Ohio

Bailing Out the Big Three
I am unmoved by the plight of the Big Three automakers [Dec. 15]. For decades, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler fiercely opposed corporate restructuring and green technology while egregiously mismanaging their businesses. The only reason they've recently gotten religion is that they're teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.
Mark Stuart Ellison,
Brooklyn, New York

I was amazed that TIME's story made no mention of the Big Three's most obvious and most easily remedied failure: clueless marketing. Consider that GM, arguably the world's biggest car company, is worth far less today than Harley-Davidson, the world's fourth largest motorcycle maker.
Dexter Ford,
Manhattan Beach, California

While U.S. automobile companies have some responsibility for their current predicament, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have unclean hands as well. Each of the car companies had adequate capital entering the fall, but when Treasury and the Fed "brought down the house" by letting Lehman Brothers fail, worldwide credit markets froze, preventing Americans from buying cars, since most people use loans or leases to do so. Financial markets and the lack of available consumer credit — not a lack of appealing car designs — are the reasons for this crisis, and piling the blame on Detroit is simply not balanced.
Steven M. Friedman,
New York City

No one disagrees that all these bailouts are giving the American taxpayer heartburn, but why are the automakers under such tight scrutiny when AIG quickly received about twice as much as the Big Three are asking for? In both cases, awful management created the need for a bailout, but suddenly Congress is getting a conscience about spending our money? Yes, one might say that financial companies are more important, but letting automakers fail could push a bad recession into a depression.
Jason Toney,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Utzon's Legacy
In his milestone item on Jorn Utzon, architect Richard Meier wrote that "a disagreement with the Australian government" led Utzon to resign from the Sydney Opera House project before it was complete [Dec. 15]. The Australian government was not involved in the project. The government of the state of New South Wales was in charge. When a new government took over in 1965, it complained that the project was taking too long and costing too much. Utzon's authority was usurped and he was made to sit in the corner. How could he possibly have stayed on under such humiliating circumstances? He resigned and left the country, never to return. But his memory is revered by Australians, who are grateful for his wonderful building.
A. Meikle,
Tascott, New South Wales

The Upside of Junk Mail
Regarding Jeremy Caplan's article "De-Cluttering Your Mailbox": there are many reasons we should encourage instead of discourage direct-mail advertising [Dec. 15]. Among the most important: stop your direct mail and watch the cost of a postage stamp soar.
Jim Elliott,
Lemon Grove, California

The advice Caplan offered would remove only a small portion of the junk that arrives in my mailbox. While I have not found a way to eliminate junk mail, I have a tactic that at least makes me feel a little better about receiving it. When I get any unwanted mail with a prepaid return envelope (so long as it is not from a charity), I stuff that envelope as full as I can with junk from a different source and put it back in the mail. This does not relieve the real problem, but it gives the postal service much-needed business.
Steve Block,
Dunnellon, Florida