These are my five favorite reasons to look up during the downturn (as published by Details magazine):

5. Pennies are cool again
4. You can notify your African child you sponsor that you’ll no longer be able to afford his daily rice ration
3. The financial collapse finally gives you something to talk to your Grandparents about
2. Fewer Hummers
1. The hunch that someone you hated as a child is now ruined.

People fear rising food prices as bad - pushing the poorest into starvation and exerting downward financial pressure on all but the wealthiest consumers — further dampening the global economy. But are higher food prices inherently negative? Increased food costs help farmers, and farmers provide one of humanity’s most basic needs. If farmers do better it stands to reason others will benefit too. Will rising food prices push the agricultural industry to develop safe and genetically modified foods that can withstand draught or grow in marginally fertile areas - thereby helping developing countries become self-sustainable? Finally, land once earmarked for food growth increasingly is being used to develop bio fuel crops. Is the potential for temporary food shortages worth experimenting with unproven bio fuel technologies, particularly if the goal is to lower transportation costs and ease food prices in the long-term?

Dear Sirs:
While I agree that high food (and oil) prices do place a new concerning conversation on the table that would otherwise be ignored (and should not be), the average individual currently living on $1 a day suffers while we have that conversation. Further, the food industry is not one that can turn direction on a dime - and so the suffering will not soon be over once adjustments are made. How many will die during that period?
SN

SIR- I am pleased that you had taken on the topic of the death penalty - as it was argued by the highest court in the land this past week. In the accompanying photo (of a bed with straps) you had printed beneath “It’s not unusual.”

I was a bit taken aback by that tag line, as your article so rightly reminds us that only in America and partly in Japan do developed countries practice this barbaric method for reducing crime and seeing “justice served”. That puts us in the less than third percentile of developed countries that find this acceptable. Despite the context relating to the method of injections, I ask that you look more carefully at the words you select to accompany your photos, as so many of the voters in this country read nothing more than the bold text and images.

SIR - Thank you for your accurate portrayal of John McCain’s tax cutting dreams for our wealthier brothers and sisters. I think you have nailed one of the biggest concerns Democrats have with the prospect of having him in the White House.

I also think that you identified his most recently flawed idea of giving a tax break on the very thing we should be working to eliminate - petrol. I wish we could get him and the others in his party to recognize that we have three very large hurdles to overcome in the coming years: 1) national credit card debt we must pay for, 2) a technological and scientific endeavor to take on much greater than landing on the moon, and 3) a public relations nightmare crossing the globe. These all will cost a great deal of money and a morally acceptable sacrifice by all. Seems like the Republicans once again have plans to cut taxes while