On ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ “The bottom line is that until the horse industry and, in particular, the breed registries take some responsibility for overbreeding, healthy horses will be sent to slaughter and the American mustang will have no place to find a home.” Margaret E. Leighton Redwings Horse Sanctuary Lockwood, Calif.

Thanks for your Oct. 15 cover story, “Women & Power.” As an organizational psychologist emeritus, I spent my career investigating the acquisition and use of power by executives, and I must admit that women are superior to men on the average in constructing, maintaining and employing power by means of elaborate social networks. Moreover, in this new Information Age, these network abilities will be more fruitful than the old boys’ clubs. As knowledge becomes the new driver—and not labor, machines or money—women will gain equality in power by enlisting their carefully woven webs. Sorry, boys. George Graen Bentonville, Ark. Savoring Life at a Slower Pace

How refreshing to see someone cognizant of other people’s time (“A Life Lesson Learned at the Stop & Shop,” My Turn, Oct. 15). I’ve lived, as my Southern kinfolk call it, “up North” for seven years. Once I reveal my background, the most common question people ask is, “How could you stand the slow pace down there?” Although I’ve tried blending in with the fast-paced Northerners, I long for Kentucky, where I didn’t feel guilty about just sitting on the porch at my grandparents’ farm. The slower pace simply means people are more conscious and appreciative of that elusive commodity: time. Matthew T. Patton Phoenixville, Pa. Palestinians and the West Bank

Lally Weymouth’s Oct. 8 interview with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (“Tough Talk From the Top”) concluded with a bit of disagreement. While the?interviewer recalled that President Bill Clinton’s December 2000 Middle East peace proposal would have turned over to the Palestinians 98 percent of the West Bank, the Palestinian leader disagreed. He claimed it was only 92 percent. So who was right? To help resolve this dispute, I pulled out the Jan. 8, 2001,?issue of NEWSWEEK?and?read that the Palestinians?were offered “94 to 96 percent of the West Bank and Gaza, and an additional 1 to 3 percent of land from Israel.” The total,?roughly 98 percent, coincides with Clinton’s own?description of?his proposal—and with Weymouth’s assertion in?the interview. Gilead Ini, Senior Research Analyst Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America Boston, Mass.

Your article about Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s congressional activities and the Defense Policy Board (“Reaching Across the Aisle on Iraq,” Periscope, Oct. 8) inaccurately characterized two important aspects of former secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s service. Contrary to the impression created, Rumsfeld maintained an aggressive schedule of meetings with members of Congress from both parties in groups large and small and in a variety of settings. To specifically correct one point in the article, the customary practice when Rumsfeld met with the Senate’s Republican Policy Committee was to offer to meet with the Democratic Policy Committee, too. To the best of my recollection, during five years at the Pentagon in assignments directly involved in these matters, the Democrat group never took us up on our offer of availability. Further, your characterization of Rumsfeld’s Defense Policy Board as being “staffed with conservatives” was outlandish and misleading. Let your readers decide: Rumsfeld’s board included former Democratic speaker of the House Tom Foley, Nobel Prize economist Gary Becker from the University of Chicago, two former Democrat secretaries of Defense (Harold Brown and James R. Schlesinger), several retired generals and admirals, other former elected officials and former diplomats. Your dismissal of Rumsfeld’s board simply to emphasize that Gates has chosen a Democrat to run the board is unfair to the distinction and diversity of the group Rumsfeld assembled. Lawrence Di Rita Former Spokesman for the Department of Defense Potomac, Md.

“The Miracle Workers” (Oct. 1) needs a few corrections: First, the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church held at Saddleback Church each November is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical event to learn what churches, businesses and governments are doing about the pandemic. Second, the wire photo of Pastor Rick Warren praying with Sen. Barack Obama was cropped, cutting out Sen. Sam Brownback, who was holding Pastor Warren’s hand as the pastor prayed for both. The setting was a conference, not a worship service. Third, the only standing ovation occurred after Pastor Warren noted, “These two men represent compassionate conservatism and compassionate liberalism—and what I like is their compassion.” The crowd affirmed their commitment to ending AIDS, not their political views. David Chrzan Chief of Staff Saddleback Church Lake Forest, Calif.

Correction In “As Pure as the Driven Snow” (Tip Sheet, Oct. 8), we said that Pur and Brita faucet-mounted filters reduce lead but not mercury or copper. In fact, they reduce both lead and mercury but not copper. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.