Letters

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Crisis in Southeast Asia Thanks for the recent coverage about Southeast Asia. We hear about their stock market and economic disaster on the news, but it's just numbers. These articles put a human face on the problem. The article about Thai schoolchildren pretending not to be hungry made my heart break. If anything good can come out of this awful situation, it will be that we finally understand the news is really about people, not statistics. Janice Rosenfield

Indonesia Fires Drive Endangered Orangutans Into Arms Of Wildlife Traders Over the weekend I saw a special on TV about the Organutan's unfortunate problem. The Wanariset Rescue Centre was shown and I was fascinated and touched by their efforts and accomplishments. I would like to find out more about this organization and how can I help? "Kelly Lynn" An Internet search finds several references to the Center, but none up-to-date. The best and most recent information on this wildlife crisis is available from the World Wildlife Fund. Researchers are trying to assess damage now that the worst of the fires are extinguished. -- Editor

Skepticism About Government Increasing Perhaps the reason people trust government less is because it is even more in the service of corporations than in previous years. Karen Howell Deceptive Ads Given Lemon Awards Bruce Silverglade states, "The Federal Trade Commission needs new authority to deal with the ever increasing craftiness of advertisers." I am horrified that this type of "problem solving" is so prevalent. My translation of that quote would be: "A large expensive intrusive ineffectual bureaucracy needs to be made larger, more expensive, more intrusive, more powerful, (and most likely less effective) in order to protect stupid consumers from themselves." There seems to be a paradigm in this country that "all ills can be fixed by throwing more money at some bureaucratic organization somewhere." Decades of doing just this have proven over and over again that this does not work, so why do people continue to suggest it? The awards themselves do more to protect consumers by educating us to the crafty ways of advertisers. The best solution would be to convince mothers to teach their children that everything an advertiser says is a damn lie until proven otherwise. That paradigm has served me well. Mike Higgins Fan Mail... Thank you for reassuring us that journalism is working on its problems. Betty J. Foster Love that your newspaper is here, but just wanted to register the opinion that it's rather hard to read. Why not implement a nested format, with a front page to each subsection, and from there to each article? R. Oshop That is exactly how the Monitor has always worked -- at least, for subscribers. Clicking on the headers for News, Features, or Commentary takes the reader to a separate page, complete with short paragraph summary of each story. -- Editor

...Hate Mail... I read your web page on Internet pornography and filter programs. As a parent, I have the right and obligation to make sure my children aren't exposed to filth. If you don't agree with that, then I can't trust you not to have porn. I am giving your name to the filter organizations that block inappropriate sites for children. "Mike" I am sick and tired of hearing that Nike is bad. I have had their shoes all my life and I am proud of it. You liberals can't stand to see an American company be successful. When Michael Jordan goes to the factory everyone will see that everything is ok. Jason Thompson Michael Jordan is not investigating sweatshop conditions where Nike products are made. That was a joke in the "Doonsbury" comic strip. -- Editor

...And just plain strange mail We were searching 14" monitor manufactured from Phillips Model 7CM5289. Instead of model 7CM52, we received 4CM5289 from vendor. Please provide the details of two models enabling us to differentiate between the two models. Shaffat Ali (Pakistan)