Re: “Give choice to policy holders” (letter, 3-6).

I believe the writer is mistaken in his premise that policy holders would benefit by insurers not covering birth control. It is far cheaper to pay for birth control than to pay for pregnancy and all of the associated costs.

If we are to make decisions on a cost basis, then women who use birth control would be given cheaper insurance than those who do not.

If we are only interested in saving money, we should quit covering costs of erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs for men. For those who keep injecting …

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Re: “Contraceptives ‘war’ pushes women’s votes away?” (TNT, 3-2).

Yes, in one sense, this was a skirmish over contraceptives. But there is a much larger issue at the heart of it, which is largely being ignored.

Can Congress and the president strip away the right specifically put forth in the very first sentence of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? It says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (emphasis mine).

If Congress can ignore this very plain restriction, then nothing else is protected. The prohibition against Congress enacting …

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Re: “Interior Department plan would benefit Nisqually Refuge” (thenewstribune.com, 2-16).

One of the reasons I love living in the Northwest is easy access to Mount Rainier National Park. I was overjoyed when I heard that the president’s budget requested funding to protect Mount Rainier through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

I’m not alone. Many people and businesses locate in Washington, and choose to spend their money here, because of our unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities.

The LWCF is our nation’s principal funding source for local, state and national parks; trails; wildlife refuges; and working forests, farms and ranches. …

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In 2008, candidate Barack Obama promised to change the tone in Washington and usher in a new era of bipartisanship. For those who believed him, they thought he was just what the country needed. What happened?

Within months, Obama broke many of his promises like transparency, C-Span coverage and posting bills on the web for five days before being signed into law. His stimulus package had virtually no bipartisan support, and he ignored the Republican plan which included more tax credits for small businesses and greater tax cuts for the middle class.

The stimulus worked great for the auto workers, …

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So Norm Dicks is leading the charge to ban pythons (TNT, 1-16).

I have a suggestion for the good congressman: Stop searching in the grass for something to occupy the time of Congress. Do lead the charge through the morass and swamps to bring the country to fiscal responsibility.

Everyone has biases. Unfortunately, allowing one’s bias to dictate the sole source of data one takes in will result in flawed results.

For example, those who credit President Ronald Reagan with lowering taxes and thereby turning around a bad economy during the 1980s fail to take into account the fact that he also signed off on at least eight tax increases during his time in office.

In 1981, he signed one of the largest tax breaks ever. In 1982, the deficit was growing out of control. Reagan was pragmatic enough to realize tax breaks were not going to turn things …

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You’d think by now we’ve been around the block enough to know that politicians will promise anything to get elected. No wonder Congress’ approval rating is only at 11 percent.

Maybe that’s why science fiction sells so well; people are entertained by something or someone unbelievable. Put another way: In politics after all is said and done, more is said than done.

Our elected officials irritatingly bounce from one elected office to the next. With a new congressional district centered in the South Sound, it seems unavoidable that our county will see two seated members of the Pierce County Council running full-time congressional campaigns against each other while also trying to perform their shared responsibility on the council (TNT, 12-29).

This trend of office hopping and campaigning while in office has become a career staple of our elected politicians.

What stands out is that our elected officials are paid, and often paid very well. It begs the question: If elected officials …

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