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We need to focus on how we drive, not what we drive

Joanne Jenkins is absolutely right in her July 14 letter ("SUV drivers can't just dump them"). The economics of car ownership make it impractical if not outright impossible to just swap out vehicles when a more fuel-efficient model comes along.

Most of the popular hybrid models are prohibitively expensive, and the used market for hybrids and other high-efficiency autos is limited. For families already trying to make the best out of a soft economy, changing vehicles and taking on a new or higher car payment is out of the question.

Environmentalists and budget-smart drivers should be more concerned with how we drive than what we drive. Strategies such as trip chaining, carpooling to work and replacing short car trips with bicycle or bus trips not only reduce vehicle emissions and fuel consumption significantly, but can cut expenses and reduce the strain on household budgets.

Even better, it's something everyone can do right now without having to dump more money into a new vehicle.

The RIDE Solver calculator at www.ridesolutions.org is a great place to go to see how changing your behavior rather than your vehicle can have a big impact on your budget and the environment.

Program Director RIDE Solutions

Lots of reasons to keep the SUV

Carol Pruner asked why people drive SUVs ("Let's leave something in the tank for the kids," July 9 letter). I would like to answer that question.

Because they are heavy vehicles with four-wheel or all-wheel drive, you can get where you need to be in bad weather. You sit higher in them, therefore you can see what's around you, making you a safer driver. There is enough cargo space to carry whatever you may need and have enough leg room to travel comfortably.

As for her environmental concerns, because my Trailblazer is properly maintained -- including tires, emissions controls, motor and fluids -- and because I do not do jackrabbit starts and brake-screeching stops, allowing myself reasonable time to get where I'm going, I get 28 to 30 mpg on the highway and 25 to 27 in town. About the same as most of the gas-saving "little cars" I see advertised.

And it is paid for. Now I ask her, why should I go into debt for a vehicle that won't give me the things I already have and won't do anything more to help the environment?

People need options for transportation

John Burk Moore is overreacting ("Don't give up on cars and freedom," July 14 letter).

I know of no proposals that would ban driving or prohibit people from owning automobiles. Backers of bus and light rail transit, Amtrak and carpooling are merely trying to offer alternatives to driving.

In all too many cases, people are forced to drive because there isn't any public transportation. That sort of coercion is no better than the kind that Moore fears.

Let Moore drive all he wants, but please provide other transportation options to those who would use them.

Keep reporting financial news

The Roanoke Times rightly reported to the public that the luxury Glebe retirement center defaulted on payments it was supposed to make on revenue bonds. Edgar R. Britt objects to the default being aired ("Report was gloomier than warranted," July 13 letter). Nonsense.

These bonds were issued through a public agency. People have a right to know what is going on. Some may buy revenue bonds directly or indirectly for their retirement portfolios. Vigilance about their investments is imperative.

Except for Social Security, most people do not have government-guaranteed lifetime pensions presumably available to Britt, a retired naval officer. I too am similarly blessed.

Hopefully, Virginia Baptist Homes, the bond issuer, will find needed additional capital from the private sector. Meanwhile, Wall Street and other big businesses line up for taxpayer bailouts.

The media should continue to examine and report all kinds of financial news, good and bad. Secrecy in matters of public participation should be used sparingly in a free, democratic society.

Pageant carries some outdated baggage

Re: "I'm Miss Virginia -- no other labels, please," July 11 commentary:

In response to Tara Wheeler's defense of participants in the Miss Virginia/America pageants, let me just say: "I get it." These women are more than pretty smiles wearing bikinis. They have hopes, dreams, histories and opinions, like any other woman.

The issue isn't Wheeler's worth as a woman, the issue is the worth of the Miss Virginia/America pageant. Miss America isn't concerned with presenting those aspects of life; Miss America is about justifying the archaic tradition of the pageant competition with large checks to charity.

As a woman, Wheeler's value is limited only by how high her goals and aspirations are. But as a pageant competitor, she lets her value be dictated by her ability to fill out a swimsuit. Yes, there are sections of the competition for questions about personal and social issues, but they always take a back seat to the multimillion-dollar production values and the columns of flowing dresses.

I'll give anyone the chance to be taken seriously, but don't expect me to give anyone credit for making the world a better place by being able to walk a straight line in heels.

Fascist's work is not worth admiring

I was bewildered and angered by Angela Watkins and her pretentious commentary, "Beauty that stirs ugliness" (July 13).

Watkins asserts that the work of Leni Riefenstal has been unjustly ignored by film scholars, and insinuates that we should revere the brawny looks of the young Aryan men shown in propaganda pieces such as "Triumph of the Will."

What I find most offensive is how Watkins labels Riefenstal as some sort of feminist aesthetic pioneer "shunned by women's studies departments." As a proud graduate of a women's college, I was particularly baffled by this absurd statement.

In contrast, I was unexpectedly charmed by Tara Wheeler's commentary, "I'm Miss Virginia -- no other labels, please" (July 11), published only two days before Watkins'.

Wheeler introduced herself to Times readers in such a friendly manner, and managed to convince this reader -- a gown-phobic tomboy indifferent toward pageants -- that this Miss Virginia cares deeply about other young women, and that her concerns go far beyond wearing heels and a bathing suit.

Beauty is as beauty does. Watkins should cease her admiration for a dead fascist and take a few lessons from Wheeler -- a young woman who, I'm sure, is a very lovely person in all aspects.

McCain's too old to lead in this age

America's economy will continue its downward decline, without any appreciable rectification, should we decide to prolong the policies of the last seven years by electing Sen. John McCain president.

The economy is driven by the globalization of technology. We are immersed in the technological age of the 21st century, and it would be asinine to expect McCain, as our president, to effectively lead us through this technological age. Especially given his own admission that he is unable to use the Internet because he lacks the basic fundamentals needed.

McCain's time has passed, and his ideas are rooted in a bygone era of thinking. America needs a young, robust, intellectually vibrant, patriotic, technologically savvy and ambitious president to rid us of the country's current state, and that president should be Harvard graduate Sen. Barack Obama.