My buddy Leo's letter.

We ought to be impressed, I suppose, by the attempts of certain letter writers to use ten-dollar words to lend an air of expertise to penny-ante observations.

Although I loathe discountenancing cognitive dissonance, I would instead suggest that there is little, if any, similarity to the protests of grassroots patriots protesting policies of a past presidency which in other, civilized, countries be considered criminal, to the annoying 'astro-turf' theatrics of a manipulated minority preventing honest debate of health care reform.

A reform, I might add, that will benefit even the 'teabaggers' who so adamantly oppose it (obviously I am not referring to the fat-cat heath maintenance organizations that would stand to lose it all).

And while I admit that we are far from perfect, there has not been much from the other side of the aisle to benefit anyone other than Big Business and their deep-pocketed lobbyists.

But I humbly apologize if some of us protesting the illegal invasion of another non-threatening country, acted in a way that was not courteous and/or tasteful.

On behalf of my fellow peace activists, I accept the deserved rebuke and we will mend our ways.

Leo de Vogel, Corvallis

Editor's note: In a political context, "astroturf" refers to orchestrated campaigns by special-interest groups masquerading as a spontaneous "grass-roots" movement.