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Environmentalists imagine a 1950s sci-fi flick: freakish alien life forms waiting to unleash a plague on humanity. But genetically altered crops aren't very different from their natural counterparts. They have an extra gene or two replaced, a process that happens in nature all the time when plants reproduce.

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—By Brian Hindo

Washington Lacks the Guts to Raise Gas Taxes

When the price of oil pushes gasoline to $4 a gallon, we don't like it. But we pay it—and that economic rent goes to people we don't want to finance ("A primed political pump," News, Dec. 17). We could have tacked on that extra premium as a kind of tax, and demand would drop.

Using CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards is a clumsy and indirect way of dealing with the problem [of consuming less oil] because politicians don't have the guts to tax. Increase the price at the pump, and fleet efficiency and consumer behavior will take care of themselves.

Edward Beardsworth

PALO ALTO, CALIF.

I'm tired of the White House's political exploitation of the U.S. reliance on foreign oil. It incites animosity of average Americans toward the Middle East, and it's working against us. We have friends in the region. But now everyone falls for the line that money from buying a barrel of oil from the region somehow goes directly into Osama's 401(k). What a bunch of hooey. Let's stop repeating lies and start finding solutions.

Ramon Cardona

LOVELAND, OHIO

Corporate Slogans: Cut. Them. Out.

I have one more prediction to add to Jon Fine's list in the Media Centric column ("Media predictions for 2008," Opinion, Dec. 10). O.K., it's more of a wish than a prophesy: Congress and the Federal Communications Commission will pass legislation to ban all those ubiquitous, three-word corporate slogans, thereby putting dozens of lazy Madison Avenue "writers" out of work. Repetitive. Unimaginative. Moronic.

Pierre Devaux

OAKLAND, CALIF.

Why Not Freeze My Teaser Credit-Card Rate?

U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson proposes to rescue troubled homeowners by locking in place the teaser interest rates that were agreed upon when the mortgages were first drawn up ("Help may be on the way," News, Dec. 10).

Many financial institutions give consumers a low introductory interest rate, charging exorbitant rates thereafter. So does this mean that it's O.K. for us to tell our credit-card issuers: "Oh, shucks. I didn't realize I was getting in over my head. Could you please extend my initial 0% APR for an additional five years once the introductory period expires?"

David Schwartz

RENO, NEV.

Got an Opinion? You, Too, Can Be a CMO!

I witnessed firsthand many of the points made in "The short life of the chief marketing officer" (What's Next, Dec. 10). Nobody questions the chief information officer, for instance, as long as the company's e-mail and phone systems are working.

And nobody bothers with human resources: There's no glamour in deciding if it's better to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays."

Being a chief marketing officer is like being a food critic. The feeling is that anybody can do the job because it's more about opinions than right or wrong answers.

Alfred Chow

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA.