Are not liberals those willing to spend tax dollars liberally? Blood has streamed liberally as well as the tax payer's treasure to this ancient site of Babel. Is Chuck Hagel liberal? He lines up with many pronouns employed by Bresnahan. Is it not Hagel's conservatism that requires asking "how long" and "how much"? We have no answer from Petraeus.

Bresnahan says "when you're winning you keep fighting and when you're losing you quit the fight."

He is invested in a liberal understanding of winning. We have changed our goals for fighting this war liberally. It seems to me that the "liberals" are those spending without questioning goals and consequences. Can anyone define defeat in Iraq and not be labeled "liberal"? In Mr. Bresnahan's usage, liberal is synonymous with enemy. His lexicon flaws his reasoning and displaces his focus.

Richard M. "Monty" Nelson

Aurora

Bresnahan wrong with use of labels

In "Another Opinion" column (April 12, 2008) BrianBresnahan insists that General Petraeus' testimony on capitol hill regarding the situation in Iraq "will not support a liberal desire for our defeat." Liberals, he says, are defeatists while Iraqi forces in the Basra area are showing us how winners stay and fight and losers quit and go home. Having done his best to label persons with other perspectives as losers, quitters and defeatists, Mr. Bresnahan goes on to sing the praises of "fighting and winning." Again, in reference to the fight with several Shiite groups, he says that Iraqi government forces "kept fighting and winning, forcing both major insurgent groups to negotiate a settlement."

To me, this kind of "winning" sounds like a shotgun wedding. Of course the old man with the shotgun "wins" in the short run by forcing a get-together. But, such winning can turn sour in the long run. Sometimes, in the words of a song, "the winner loses all ..." It just might be that those labelled "liberal defeatists" by Mr. Bresnahan really have some realistic ideas that might, in the long run, produce some positive results. Winning may not be everything and all who disagree with Mr. Bresnehan's take on the war in Iraq may not be liberal losers.

Clifford W. Reynolds

Central City

Retired teachers still contribute

National Retired Teacher Volunteer Week is April 27 through May 3. Last year our members of the Grand Island Area Retired School Personnel volunteered over 1,567 hours to our local communities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics places a value of $18.77 an hour for volunteer work.

The estimated value of the reported volunteer hours is $28,000. Some of the areas our GIARSP members volunteered for are: library work, reading to children, tutoring, judging scholastic, science and athletic competitions and working with church youth groups. They have also spent numerous hours awarding scholarships from our local unit. Our teacher volunteers have worked in hospitals, churches, the Red Cross, in government through legislative lobbying and roadside cleanups.

Some have entertained in care centers and delivered meals. They have quilted and clerked in thrift shops, delivered needed goods to an Indian reservation and helped at aid station during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

We also have members who have served on the state and national level with AARP, National Retired Teachers Association and Nebraska Association of Retired School Personnel. Teachers know about giving and our retired teachers do a terrific job giving of their skills and time.

"Service is the rent you pay for room on this earth," Shirley Chisholm

Gwynne Kuhn, President of the Grand Island Area Retired School Personnel

3450 S. Stuhr Road