Cheers — to an art therapy program for abused girls sponsored by the Children's Advocacy Center and Studio Sfumato. Art has the power to heal by helping victims express their feelings without having to put the unspeakable into words. During the five-week, intensive program, the girls produced paintings that were sold in a special showing, with the proceeds split between the girls and the CAC's mentoring program.

Studio Sfumato's mission is to provide art opportunities for those with developmental disabilities such as autism. CAC Executive Director Marlene Mish calls child abuse the invisible disability.

We salute Mish and husband, Dan, Studio Sfumato's art director, for helping give voice to the voiceless.

Cheers — to the Gordon and Mary Howard Family Foundation for its gift of an 84-passenger bus to Kids Unlimited. The new bus will replace two smaller, used ones that were prone to breakdowns. Kids Unlimited transports nearly 100 kids to and from day camps in the summer and throughout the year, provides rides home from school and to basketball practices and games, and on field trips. We salute the California-based foundation's generosity.

Jeers — to former Gov. Sarah Palin, who continues digging despite finding herself in a hole.

Palin began the excavation project by denouncing what she said were "death panels" contained in health-care reform legislation now under consideration in Congress. Plenty of credible people, including Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Palin's fellow Alaska Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have dismissed her characterization. Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who wrote the language about voluntary end-of-life consultations that Palin and others have distorted, said her statement was "a blatant lie, and everybody who has checked it agrees."

On Thursday, in a new statement, Palin not only stood by her remarks but fired back at those who criticized her.

Cheers — In the midst of the flame-throwing over health-care reform, it's refreshing to see the Jackson County Local Action Coalition trying a new approach. The new group of unlikely allies wants to find local issues on which they can agree, though they may be far apart on other things.

The group has agreed not even to discuss hot-button topics such as abortion or gay marriage, but to focus on constructive discussions aimed at increasing local control of goverment, supporting local farming and thinning local forests.

Imagine a group of people who concentrate on what they have in common rather than on what divides them. Brilliant.