I was appalled at the misinformation and uninformed opinion by Professor Mark Mansperger's In Focus column about the tea party movement!

The entire column was disjointed and missing its target, which I gathered was an attempt to hang a bunch of labels on tea party members. He calls me a xenophobe. Where did that silliness come from? Xenophobe: A person unduly afraid of strangers and foreigners. In a nation made up of foreigners, he has the audacity of calling millions of patriots xenophobes? I think the professor needs to go find a more obscure name to call us but check out its meaning first!

I "hijacked" the Constitution? As a natural-born citizen, it is my Constitution as it is every other American's! As my Constitution and yours, the tea party movement wants our government to live by its principles. That is our elected officials' responsibility, and we petition them abide by those principles or they will be voted out of office!

I cannot address all the misinformation in Mansperger's 'opinion' but how did I "hijack" Christianity? That's almost laughable if it wasn't so hurtful!

GARY WELLS, West Richland