Gov. Chris Gregoire, after two years of struggling with the gay marriage issue, has finally decided to throw her Catholic faith and thousands of years of social law under the bus of political correctness.

And (no surprise here) the editorial staff of The News Tribune agrees with her (editorial, 1-6). Of course they think it should be done by a democratic process, but if that fails they assure us it will be crammed down our collective throats by our social engineering courts!

The ramifications of same-sex marriages are huge for our society, and yet we are told that “it …

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Gov. Chris Gregoire’s response to the Washington Supreme Court ruling that that our state is not adequately funding education is a temporary increase to the sales tax. Although most people are not particularly fond of increased taxes, I believe this funding is a necessity for our state’s public school system.

Our schools can use this funding to initiate peer tutor systems and/or after-school tutoring sessions. This offers students the opportunity to ask the questions they did not get to ask during class and gives them a space to study without distraction. Having been a tutor during high school, I know …

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Re: “Gay marriage gains traction” (TNT, 1-5).

It’s about time that our state stops discriminating against a portion of our citizens. The rules regarding marriage should be the same for everyone. After all, it isn’t a church ceremony that makes a marriage legal. It is the license received from the state.

Kudos to the governor, and here’s hoping our Legislature will do the right thing. “Equal” rights are not “special” rights.

Instead of the governor’s usual solution (tax, spend, regulate), how about eliminating waste and fraud? With this in mind, start with the biggest money sump in our state budget: education.

• Stop taking money from the feds with strings attached. The strings always cost more then we gain.

• Eliminate all programs with political and environmental agendas.

• Get rid of redundant administrators and unnecessary buildings.

• Get rid of bad teachers and give good teachers a bonus for taking on extra students.

• Decertify all public unions because of an obvious conflict of interest that is draining our coffers …

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Another proposed tax increase by our governor when so many are out of work and consumer goods have skyrocketed. I guess Washington voters forgot the huge deficit she had incurred in her first term of office. Then came the economic downturn and we have a major funding issue in this state. Maybe next election voters will be more thoughtful as to who they vote into office.

The congressional committee couldn’t agree on how to fix the deficit. Is that surprising to any of us? Before Medicare or Social Security get cut, maybe our leaders in the other Washington shouldn’t get …

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Re: “Efforts to clean up Puget Sound get a new push” (TNT, 8-29).

I read this article with great interest. Correcting poor septic systems and farm runoff is necessary. The campaign to clean up dog waste is noble. Waste from 1.2 million dogs is a huge addition to the millions of wild animals that make Puget Sound home.

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s comment that she does not want to “flush” 4,000 acres of prime shellfish growing area down the drain is hopeful until you look at the photo accompanying the article. It reveals the massive concentration of shellfish in farms …

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Re: “It’s a little late to plead ignorance about pot shops” (editorial, 8-28).

Dude, chill. The dispensary issue is too weird already. Check out Rob Carson’s most excellent piece in the May 29 News Tribune. The “legislative session … threw the state’s marijuana supply business into disarray.”

Disarray? Whoa. Or this: “After Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed large chunks of a bill intended to clarify the state’s medical marijuana muddle, what remained of the law was in tatters.”

Tatters, bro. Like seeds and stems, but worse.

No wonder you’re uptight. We all are. Are dispensaries illegal? The Man says …

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Re: “McKenna campaigns with faulty data” (TNT, 6-20).

Reading the anti-McKenna article brought back memories of the debate between Dino Rossi and Chris Gregoire, televised live. Rossi claimed our governor was close to $3 billion in debt. She hotly shot back that was a lie, and in fact we had a $2 billion surplus.

A few weeks later she was elected, and we found out she was indeed in debt, but not $2.8 billion, but over $3 billion. She openly lied to the people of our state, and not once did the media hold her feet to the fire for …

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