Madame Vp?

Sarah Palin remains a curiosity for readers. "She came out of near obscurity with no real agenda but to win this for the Republicans," one said. Another questioned the choice given other "smart and experienced women." And one gushed of having a new "Jackie Kennedy in the form of Sarah Palin."

Debating the McCain-Palin Ticket
The most important constitutional duty of the vice president is to take over if, God forbid, anything happens to the president. If John McCain thought that in order to win the election he needed a conservative woman as a running mate, there were plenty of smart and experienced Republican women out there he could have chosen ("McCain's Mrs. Right," Sept. 8). His choice of Sarah Palin casts a very dark shadow over his argument that Barack Obama lacks experience. McCain's decision was highly irresponsible; the United States and the world deserve better.

Ronald Steers McKinney
Coyoacan, Mexico

I am worried. yes, Sarah Palin is pretty, scrappy, ambitious and ultraconservative, but does that qualify her to be vice president of the United States? What is one to make of her academic credentials from five different colleges with only an undergrad degree in journalism, and her only international experience a trip outside North America in 2007, as well as no actual Washington experience? If Palin were a man, she'd be laughed off the ticket! American voters, don't kid yourselves.

Carolyn Hornfeld
Geneva, Switzerland

John McCain has every right to choose a running mate as he sees fit, but the person who attains the second-highest office in the world should lead by example, and by the second column of your article, I started having my doubts about Sarah Palin. I don't know about Alaska's legislation, but most anywhere else in the world it's an offense and dangerous to drive while "talking and tapping on a BlackBerry." What a poor example for others.

Adam Manik
Male, Maldives

Not only does Sarah Palin lack expertise in foreign affairs, but she has also had little opportunity to develop an awareness that the United States is but a small part of the planet. The country has less than 5 percent of the world's population, and its mores are based on a religion that is alien to two thirds of the people on the planet.

John R. Dollar
Shepperton, England

If I had a friend with five kids, including a newborn with Down syndrome and an unmarried, pregnant teen, plus a demanding job and legal problems, I wouldn't ask her to so much as bring cookies to a PTA meeting! What was John McCain thinking when he asked Sarah Palin to take on the responsibility of being one heartbeat away from the presidency? I am a feminist and all for breaking glass ceilings, but not at the expense of the family. A parent who stands for family values has to be responsible to this sacred duty first and to career and ambitions later. Your article says Palin "seems to enjoy that role of strung-out supermom." I don't feel safe with that characteristic in someone serving as vice president of my country.

Ximena Tagle
Houston, Texas

The choice of Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate poses an acute threat to women who've been struggling to assert their reproductive rights. What makes Palin's campaign more worrisome is that her pro-life pronouncements are made in the name of feminism. While much remains to be desired in Barack Obama's positions on reproductive rights, a win for the Democrats is the only way for reproductive justice to be articulated at the White House and to potentially put an end to the "global gag rule." A Republican victory would most likely mean the denial of federal funds for reproductive health services, even for those women and girls who survived rape and incest. The continuation of the gag rule will mean increasing maternal mortality, orphaned children and another long episode of denial and violation of human rights and civil liberties.

Nina Somera, ISIS International
Quezon City, Philippines

Barack Obama has been compared with John F. Kennedy, and now John McCain has provided his own Kennedy factor: Jackie Kennedy in the form of Sarah Palin. We will see which "Kennedy" pulls in more votes in the presidential sweepstakes. Obama may make history by becoming the first African-American president, while Palin has the chance to become the first woman vice president. Obama talks of change but chose a longtime senator, Joe Biden, as his running mate. Palin's fiery convention speech proved that she has what it takes to shine in this campaign, outshining Biden with her charisma. The choice may be difficult, but either way, it will come down to that moment in the voting booth when Americans will decide in what way they are ready to create history.

S. Mohanakrishnan
Auckland, New Zealand

Whether John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin helps or hurts his candidacy, it certainly helps focus on the key questions we should each be asking as we approach the election. Let's keep in mind critical issues like health care, energy independence, the environment, stem-cell research and possible new appointments to the Supreme Court. These issues should really determine the election rather than the distracting peripheral questions about who is more patriotic or whether experience as a governor or a senator is better.

William C. Holmes
Granite Bay, California

The Mentally Disabled, Documented
Your Sept. 8 photo essay, "'No One Much Cares'," which depicts human suffering in psychiatric institutions and social-welfare homes, leaves me wondering what you were trying to achieve. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people with mental disabilities worldwide are relegated to spending their lives in horrific and inhumane conditions is, sadly, not news. It would be informative, and a welcome change, if in addition to depicting the horrors, you would write about what some organizations, like the Open Society Institute, are doing to change this unacceptable situation by supporting the reintegration of people with mental disabilities into their local communities so they can live with dignity like the rest of us. We run such programs in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Judith Klein, Director
Open Society Mental Health Initiative
London, England

Russia ' s Strategic New Commodity?
You report that "like oil, food supply is becoming a strategic commodity" ("As Food Becomes the New Oil, Russia Plans to Seize Control," PERISCOPE, Sept. 8). Well said, indeed. Naturally, the Kremlin's food-control logistics follow those of oil and gas. With a colossal fortune from black gold, Russia is basking in the glow of unprecedented wealth. Now as the global price of grain is surging, Russia is focusing on increasing its output. If funds are made available, Russia could increase its cultivated land use to boost production significantly, given that Russia has the world's largest expanse of good farmland. But all this newly discovered prosperity has a negative impact on world peace. For the Kremlin has been quickly rejuvenating its military prowess, pushing its tentacles of influence over to some immediate neighbors. Georgia could be the first (but probably not the last) test of Russian hegemony. Has the world forgotten the once mighty but cold Soviet Union?

Munti Dann
Georgetown, Malaysia

Can America Afford Free Trade?
Daniel Gross's Sept. 8 article, "Is America Losing At Globalization?" hit a sensitive nerve with me. I own stock in an American company that specializes in intellectual property. Foreign companies have been using the technology developed by this company without paying royalties and are making millions of dollars with their products that utilize someone else's intellectual property. These companies ignore U.S. intellectual-property laws even while selling their products to the United States and have had the owner of the technology tied up in court for years while they go on making profits, probably assuming that a settlement at some future date is cheaper than paying now. In the article, Robert Reich says, "We still lead in building intellectual property—products and services connected with the Internet, computer software." So, what good is that if foreign countries can use intellectual property without paying the American owner? I'd say that the United States is losing at globalization. Not all Americans, of course. Some who own parts of these foreign companies are doing quite well.

Harry G. Gibson
Lebanon, Indiana

You ask "Is America Losing At Globalization?" The answer is yes. With no trade surplus since 1975 and the trade deficit more than $700 billion per year, it's time to admit that "free trade" doesn't work. We need to bring trade into balance with a trade-balancing tariff. When we are in deficit, raise the tariff 5 percent per year until trade comes into balance. If we are in surplus, lower it by 5 percent per year until things even out again. Balanced trade will bring back thousands of factories and millions of exported jobs.

Lawrence Briskin
Centerville, Ohio

Animals in Medical Research
Sharon Begley's "Coddling Human Guinea Pigs" (Aug. 18/Aug. 25) offered a stark analysis of the world of medical research. This excellent article and Begley's previous one on Botox, "A New Reason to Frown" (April 21/April 28), illuminate a very important but oft-ignored problem: animals cannot predict human response. Be it Botox or Vioxx, different species respond differently. Even different humans respond differently. A drug that cures you may kill me. The only way society will ever have safer and more-effective medications is by testing based on your genetic makeup. Fortunately, this is the direction pharmaceutical companies are going. It is time to re-evaluate the scientific validity of using animals to predict human response in all areas of medical research and testing.

Ray Greek, MD., President
Americans For Medical Advancement
Goleta, California

Correction
Our Sept. 1 article "A Respectable Russia" incorrectly identified the capital of Kazakhstan. It is Astana, not Almaty. And the population figures on the accompanying map referred to the total population of each country, not their Russian populations as the label stated. The percentages of Russians living in each country are listed correctly. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.