On Dec. 22 in Sacramento, Calif., a man grabbed a weapon and opened fire after three armed men tried to break into his home, where children were having a sleepover. He was shot by one of the suspects, but he managed to shoot all three of them, killing one.

Funny how this wasn’t on the front page of every news source: a man defends a whole slumber party of children against home invaders firing guns. Thank goodness he was able to protect everyone. God bless our Second Amendment!

It’s front-page news if a bad guy creates a massacre and then, …

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In your hopes and wishes for a brighter new year (editorial, 1-1), you wanted Republicans to be scientific about global climate change.

Let me add a wish for some real science. Why is it no longer called global warming? Earth is heated by the sun. A little uptick, and we are toast. A little tick down, and we are an ice ball.

Until scientists know what motivates the sun, please put your sledgehammer to some nonpartisan uses.

Regarding the Tacoma Dome study (TNT, 12-21), the consultants missed a critical point.

The question asked by the consultants to Seattle and King County corporate entities was whether they would support a Tacoma professional team, such as the Tacoma Kings. The question should have been would they support the Seattle Supersonics playing in the Tacoma Dome – a totally different question that would of elicited a totally different response.

The concept is not as far-fetched as you may think. During the renovation of the Key Arena in 1994/95, the Sonics played in the Tacoma Dome and ranked 13th in …

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Re: “Concern grows that no-draft society creating warrior class” (TNT, 1-4).

These articles missed what may be the biggest issue in the debate: When and why do we go to war, and why is the draft relevant?

As one who lived through the Vietnam-era protests over an ill-defined mission in Asia, it is clear that without the draft protests the Vietnam War would have dragged on for years more.

At the time of 9/11, when President George W. Bush was asked what the average citizen should do, he responded by saying we should go shopping. And when Secretary of …

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On successive days (1-3 and 1-4), The News Tribune has published letters from writers discussing Israel and a policy of apartheid.

The first writer contended that such a policy was in place, whereas the second writer stated that “to label Israel an apartheid state is false.” Both writers were essentially correct, as they were referring to different political entities.

Within the boundaries that all the world (outside of Israel) accepts as the state of Israel, there reside approximately one million Arab citizens, and these are more or less treated by the state as full citizens, with the rights …

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With the $279.6 million capital school bond on the Feb. 12 ballot, the Puyallup School District was glad to release some good news. I’m just not so sure that the $23.2 million in future savings from restructuring existing 2004 bonds was meant as much for the public benefit as it was for the district’s political gain.

Thinking back to when the school board was dealing with a possible $12.5 million budget shortfall, I had questions.

While the deficit reductions came in around $8 million, 75 full-time staff members, teaching and non-certified, were cut from their jobs. You won’t find any …

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Barack Obama continues to say he wants to reduce the deficit while continuing to do nothing but increase it. Yet no one in the media questions him except for one cable network.

Obama campaigned on more taxes for millionaires and billionaires. In his negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner he sought additional taxes on those making $250,000 or more. Since when is someone making $250,000 considered a millionaire? They settled for extra taxes on those making $450,000 instead.

I still don’t understand how someone making $450,000 fits Obama’s campaign rhetoric of more taxes only on millionaires and billionaires.

All these …

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The Republicans have been the subject of a lot of criticism lately, and most of it is well-deserved. Their leadership in the House was criticized for not bringing to a vote a spending bill that would provide relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy. While the bill no doubt had good intentions, it was loaded with spending for programs that had absolutely nothing to do with helping the storm victims.

Imagine a vandal doing damage to someone’s automobile. With insurance in place, the car’s owner is somewhat protected from the loss caused by the vandalism. Should the same check for the …

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