Subliminal Ads

* I wish that Alison Feit, in her Sept. 15 commentary claiming that subliminal messages can have powerful effects on human behavior, had cited peer-reviewed journals. Contrary to her claim, I think such a belief has a perverse appeal to Americans, who are quite superstitious.

PAUL TRACY

Oceanside

*

Re “Media Target ‘Trivial Issues,’ Cheney Says,” Sept. 14: Now Dick Cheney is criticizing the press for focusing on “absolutely trivial issues” that “really have nothing to do with the election or the fate of America”--namely George W. Bush’s vulgar insult of a reporter, Cheney’s abysmal voting record and Republicans’ use of a subliminal message in an ad. Cheney says reporters do this because Medicare, the military and other complicated topics are “hard stuff to cover.”

Is this the same Republican Party that managed to keep one person’s private sex life front-page and center for years? My advice to Cheney: If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

BARBARA SHAPIRO

Huntington Beach