Pat Bender of Rancho Bernardo, Calif., wins todays prize with this howler in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

I refuse to be silenced when I oppose the war in Iraq or criticize our president. It looks to me as though the latter is bent on his policy to allow free speech to Iraqi citizens while labeling our right to free speech as treason.

Any report of our soldiers being killed gives me a heartache and the families who are left are heroic too. As a former corporate wife, I have the utmost respect for those left behind.

PAT BENDER
Rancho Bernardo

A former corporate wife? Yeah, there's a real comparison there between being left for a trophy wife and having a son/daughter/husband/wife/father/mother killed serving their country overseas.