"I think Casey Sheehan would have been damned proud of his mother."

Sheehan's withdrawal

No respect for her

Cindy Sheehan was not your ordinary idiot. She continued to inspire idiocy in others, which is why she became and remained such an icon ["Weary of politics, Sheehan resigns as anti-war leader," News, May 30].

It's very hard to have respect for a woman who exploits the death of her own son and doesn't respect her own son's life. This young man volunteered twice. This is not a draftee. This is somebody who volunteered, did a tour of four years and volunteered back for Iraq, and volunteered for the specific mission.

I haven't heard one word out of Cindy Sheehan's mouth that respects what her son did.

I, for one, am happy she'll be crawling back into wherever it is she came from.

— Ron Sapp, Mukilteo

Son would be proud

Cindy Sheehan,

Thank you for trying and for your great personal sacrifice in taking on the war machine. I think Casey Sheehan would have been damned proud of his mother.

— Darrel Weiss, Bellingham

Spam deterrent

E-mail execution might work?

Re: "Arrest could bring big drop in spam" [Page One, May 31]:

I have long opposed the death penalty for violent crime because it hasn't been proved to have a deterrent effect. I'm open-minded, though. Let's execute a few convicted spammers and study the results.

— Bruce Taylor, Seattle

Numbers first

Thanks for the math help

As a reader and parent, I'm thankful for the leadership role The Seattle Times editorial page has taken in trying to coax the Seattle School Board into our current century.

Your editorial "Do the Math First" [May 30] and the excellent pieces by Bruce Ramsey expressing the need for strong math and outlining the failures of the feel-good "reform" math, have brought the light of common sense to a critically important subject ["Calculating the effects of 'discovery' math," editorial column, May 16].

The fuzzy math of the past has failed our children. A big thanks to Ramsey and The Seattle Times for trying to save our children from the school district's passion for the ineptitude of feel-good "Every Day Math."

The question remains: If the parents can see the need for real math, and if The Times can see the need for real math, what dogma is obscuring the vision of our school district and School Board?

— Grant Fjermedal, Seattle

Replace senators

Reject vote to extend war funding

As more and more Americans call their leaders fools for getting us into Iraq and for being unable to extract us, it may be useful to remember that we together are the fools who elected them.

We can begin undoing that mistake by finding replacements for our two Democratic senators who just voted to extend Bush's war, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.

They made a craven and mistaken judgment that they would be re-elected if they gave the appearance of supporting our troops, while in fact they have condemned hundreds more of America's youth to death in that civil war.

Surely, Washington state can muster two candidates in time for the 2010 and 2012 elections with common sense and courage, rather than the dim, ignorant and negligent who permeate our government.

— John Polich, Seattle

Winning package

Student's victory in geography bee

Way to go. You included the winner of the National Geographic contest along with "Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars" winners ["The winners," Weekly Review, May 27].

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for recognizing the young student and all the efforts of parents, teachers and other students that she represents.

Our democracy depends on an educated public, and I was thrilled to see an intellectual contest given the prominent attention it deserves.

— Ellen Smith Konopaski, retired Spanish teacher, Hanville

Abortion revisited

Analyzing words

Every once in awhile, abortion-rights activists will tip their hand.

If you're paying close enough attention, you can observe what they truly believe about the procedure.

Nancy Herbert's letter is an excellent example ["Clear talk provided," Northwest Voices, May 31]. After working at an abortion clinic for more than a decade, it is not too outlandish to presume that Herbert supports a woman's right to choose. My guess is that she is also of the ilk that tells us ad nauseam that the fetus is not a baby, it's just tissue.

Why, then, would seeing such tissue be "necessary to fulfill an individual's grieving and goodbye process?"

Does anyone grieve the removal of their gallbladder? Must we be granted a moment to say goodbye to our appendix? Please, I need time to shed a tear for my wisdom teeth.

Then Herbert, in perhaps a rare moment of candor regarding abortion, calls it a "truly life-and-death decision." Aye, there's the rub.

Regardless of the endless rhetoric and euphemizing of baby-killing — whoops, I mean "abortion" — facts are facts. Even clinic workers with years of experience agree — abortion is about life and death.

— Eric Pilon, Kirkland

Every one counts

I just read Nancy Miller Herbert's letter and cannot believe my eyes. She claims that "Harvard-educated Shaunti Feldhahn is wrong, wrong, wrong!"

Really? Did Herbert not read her own letter? She claims that in her clinic, when women viewed the ultrasound of their baby, that "hardly anyone" changed their minds.

This is the crux of Feldhahn's argument — a more full disclosure will reduce the number of abortions.

Herbert admits that there is at least one woman in her clinic that has chosen not to abort her child — how fantastic!

One can quibble about the statistical success of this, but I have a question: How can anyone think that fewer abortions is a bad thing?

— David Reeve, Issaquah

Making a difference?

A yes vote for Rep. Smith

Your headline on the story about Rep. Adam Smith asks, "Can raging moderate make any difference?" [Local News, May 27].

Answer: Yes, and, in fact he does.

He is smart, hardworking and very straightforward. As to making a difference, remember that anthropologist Margaret Mead said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Rep. Smith is one of those thoughtful committed citizens making a huge difference for his district, and for our government.

— Bob Dickerson, Seattle

Information in this article, originally published June 1, was corrected June 1. A previous version of this story incorrectly identified U.S. Sen. Patty Murray as Sen. Murphy.