In Thursday's letters, writers respond to First Lady Maria Shriver's op-ed deriding the "R-word" -- retard -- which has come into the spotlight courtesy of Dreamworks' "Tropic Thunder." 

James Roman, of Los Angeles, doesn't think she has a leg to stand on:

If California's First Lady is so pained by labels, where was her moral outcry each time her husband disrepected our officials as so many "girlie-men"?  More importantly, where were her published opinions that defended the downtrodden when the governor chose to demean state employees with minimum-wage paychecks?  Or when he vetoed legislation, not once but twice, that would have granted equal rights to gay and lesbian couples in California?  Or his empty promise of health-care reform?

The real words and deeds of out First Lady's spouse elicit far more pain than the gags in that fictional movie.

Sticking up for a nude beach, same-sex marriage, and who owns the rights to Mickey Mouse, too.

*Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com