What is America?

On Sept.11, the United States was confronted with horror unlike any it had ever experienced. In an attack as audacious as it was malefic, unknown persons seized control of four commercial jetliners and slammed them into both towers of New York’s famed World Trade Center, as well as the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

Women endorsing 2nd Amendment rights

I share my suburban Seattle ZIP code with four high-level sex offenders. My ZIP code (98107) stretches several blocks, and I walk through others on my way to work. The ZIP code at my bus stop and the grocery store are different too, and I wonder how many sex offenders and other criminals live there.

Appropriate/inappropriate cultural behavior

Mr. Akimoto, who has lived in Hawai‘i for the last 12 years and who is the father of a 10-year-old boy, attended a parents’ day meeting at his son’s school. When the teacher praised his son, Mr. Akimoto started criticizing the boy, referring to his poor time management, his failure to study enough, and other flaws. He didn’t stop it until he saw that the teacher was mystified by what he was saying.

For more than a decade, scientists have engaged in a debate about the Earth’s climate, and except for a die-hard few who have self-serving agendas, the consensus is that “the greenhouse effect is causing long-term changes in the Earth’s atmosphere,” (CNN News). It was a recognition of the reality of global warming that led the United States to sign the 1997 Kyoto protocol, pledging with Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia to reduce greenhouse gases.