Oprah's not perfect, but that's why we love her. She can be full of herself at times—but at least she's authentic and trying to help people. She's done a lot of good.?Julie Coan, Houston, Texas

I've wasted many hours reeducating my patients after the latest pseudoscience sermon by the likes of Suzanne Somers, Jenny McCarthy or even Dr. Mehmet Oz. It's bad enough they are giving out crackpot medical advice, but the singlehanded contribution that Oprah is making to the science illiteracy of America is real cause for alarm. Somers and McCarthy, in particular, like to portray this as a battle between Big Pharma/Medicine and free choice. In fact, the battle is between science, logic and reason on one side and superstition and ignorance on the other.?Michael Melgar, M.D., Great Neck, N.Y.

Whether you agree with Oprah, Suzanne Somers or Jenny McCarthy, the authors could have at least interviewed doctors and researchers who are looking into their claims. Progressive medicine is leaving behind old-school, prescription-based diagnoses.?Kim Abplanalp, Chance, Md.
Oprah to her audience is her ability to own her mistakes. She will read your article, beat herself up over it and then be the better for it in front of a live studio audience. Her ideas may be misguided, her exuberance described as crazy. In the end, she is just seeking the answers to life's common questions and doesn't always get it right. In the cynical times we live in, do we really need to be saved from Oprah? Who doesn't know the difference between nonsense and useful information??April Rainwater, High Point, N.C.

I'm 38 and years away from menopause/hormone replacement. The show with Suzanne Somers on bioidenticals made me think of the dialogue I'll have with my doctor. Knowledge is power. Oprah's best asset is her idea that the audience deserves straightforward information, from a variety of experts, doctors and ordinary people. Why assume that her viewers and those who read her magazine are simply eager to buy whatever's being "sold"? We take what works and leave the rest.?A. Oakley-Moore, Horseheads, N.Y.

How maddening that Oprah is using her influence to encourage the spread of hysteria, misinformation and pseudo-medical quackery. As the mother of a child on the autism spectrum, I'm sick of Jenny McCarthy and her saber-rattling against vaccines. The "dangerous" chemical -thimerosal has been removed from nearly all vaccines, yet autism diagnoses have not fallen. On the other hand, the incidence of children becoming sick with sometimes fatal diseases, such as measles and whooping cough, has been climbing as parents withhold vaccines. Wouldn't it be nice if Oprah, Jenny and others would pour their energy and money into finding better treatments, rather than confusing and misinforming the public??Kathleen Chapman, Concord, Mass.

Your story on the CIA's policy toward the Senate review of past interrogation practices ("To Disclose or Not to Disclose: A Fight Inside the CIA") missed key facts: First, the agency has, in previous inquiries, shared sensitive operational cables with Congress, and there was never any doubt that would happen this time, too. Second, the CIA has worked with the Senate—successfully, so far—to see that classified documents to which Congress is entitled under law are properly protected. Third, the CIA's National Clandestine Service did not—contrary to NEWSWEEK's claim—object to this sensible approach. There was no dispute, let alone a "fight." The CIA's focus remains exactly where the American people expect it to be: on protecting our country from current and future threats overseas.?Paul Gimigliano, Office of Public

Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency, McLean, Va.
Clarification: Poll data cited in "Like Father, Like Son" came from Quinnipiac University.
© 2009