Military moms wield power

The proud mothers who smile through their tears and send their children off to war are, and always have been, a lethal weapon of mass destruction, ready to be used on command. Like the child who murders his parents and pleads for mercy because he is an orphan, women who sacrifice their own children on the altar of an immoral war expect us to grieve with them when their child is returned to them in a wheelchair or coffin.

I grieve with them and I also hold them responsible for our collective grief. They expect to be honored for their "sacrifice" and the majority (now opposed to the war in Iraq), unwilling to hurt their pride, helps them to believe the lie, "their children died for freedom."

Instead of basking in accolades from the trickster-in-chief, more and more grieving mothers are giving up their pride and honoring their children by joining an effort to end this shameful war. These mothers are heroes in their own right, and their children's children and children everywhere will honor them. They have changed a weapon of mass destruction into a powerful force for truth, justice, compassion and peace.

Gretchen Nielson

The Spokesman Review

Spokane, WA

Where is help after Katrina?

It's hard for me to comprehend why people are still dying in the disaster area. Why is there no food, water, medicine and evacuations of the critically ill? The government has fallen flat on its face on this one.

Hopefully, this will contribute to the administration's demise, as well it should! I would bet that if these victims had been wealthy white folks, the relief would have been much more expeditious. Perhaps the voters will think twice about waging war around the world when our own population lives with a crumbling infrastructure and 30 percent of New Orlean's people living below the poverty level.

If this doesn't qualify as a Homeland Security failure, I hate to imagine what would!

Pamela Galloway

The Spokesman Review

Spokane, WA

Keep MAP operating

The situation with the Multi-Agency Adolescent Program (MAP) is a travesty. This school has helped so many kids get through school and live a normal life.

The kids who that go to MAP school would be shoved aside in the regular school system. District #81 is not capable of educating these children. These children don't have just have behavorial problems, they have mental health disorders. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, multiple personality disorder and other mental disorders.

To make any cuts in the way the school operates would be detrimental to the kids it serves. Also, the future of the school remains unclear. This is unacceptable. We need this school in this community; it must remain for the kids that may need it in the future. My daughter was helped a great deal by the MAP school. Julie and BJ helped her so much.

We are casting aside so many kids. Indeed we are casting aside so many with mental disorders. We are shameless!

Helen Wilkerson

The Spokesman Review

Spokane, WA