'Nude' Cover Demeaning to Women

The front page of your magazine this week was disturbing [Cover, 'Nude Food,' Feb. 6-12]. It upsets me and my family and friends because you are using a woman's body as an object to sell something that has nothing to do with what you are selling. It makes me upset that my children/younger brothers would see a woman in such a way for free. People have to pay to see such things, and usually such things are kept behind the counter for this very reason. You should be more careful about what you put on the front page. You need to think about who will be able to see the front page. Usually your magazines are placed where children can easily see them. You need to be more family oriented and not just appeal to the male reader. As a woman I am upset about the picture for different reasons, but I would be satisfied if you didn't breed a new generation of sexist pigs but making them believe early on in life that women are nothing more than sex objects.

Julia Danielle | Via Email

Powell's Flip-Flop Has No Basis

It was very encouraging to read the letters from Sue Hecht, 1st Lt. J. Ashton James and George Riley in the Feb. 6-12 Weekly. The local outcry against war in Iraq is a reflection of the growing outcry globally, and it's heartening. Meanwhile, our government's response this week to our domestic resistance would be amusing if it were not so serious. As support for Bush's terribly misguided policy erodes, they counter by trying to "scare up" some more support. Homeland Security tells us to crank up our terror level to high. The CIA reports that Al Qaeda might be closer to having a "dirty bomb" than previously thought, although they have no certainty of this. Sadly, Colin Powell, until recently the lone voice of reason within the inner circle, now plays the loyal soldier and beats the drum for war before the U.N., though he can provide no "smoking gun." Smoking gun? Seems more like smoke and mirrors.

Michael Baer | Monterey

King's Words Should Inspire Congress

Dr. Martin Luther King said that "This may well be our last chance to choose between chaos and community," and his words are even more urgently applicable today than when he spoke them. Let us all urge our senators and representatives to reflect upon them hourly and do everything in their power to prevent the administration from waging war on Iraq.

Lydia Hunt | Pacific Grove

Bush's War Attacks the World

President Bush needs to be reminded of what his mother surely told him as a child, "patience is a virtue". Most countries around the world are of the opinion that the arms inspectors must be given more time before we send our children marching off to war. Perhaps if it were his own daughters putting their lives on the line he would be less willing to send in the troops.

Every day I hear about the war we are about to wage against Iraq. Whatever happened to the war on terrorism? Why is Osama Bin Laden still at large? Unable to make significant headway in the real war on terrorism, Bush has diverted our attention by fueling fires in Iraq. He seems to be under the impression that he can win this war. More likely he will win the battle and lose the war by alienating us from the rest of the world and by failing to address two of the real sources of terrorist sentiment, namely our continuing military presence in the Middle East and the failure to establish a Palestinian State.

Saddam may or may not have weapons of mass destruction but Bush has most definitely employed weapons of mass "distraction" on the American public. I won't dispute that Saddam is evil, but unilateral war by the U.S. against Iraq is not the solution. Saddam may indeed be Satan but Bush is certainly not God.

Helen Ogden | Pacific Grove