ITEM: “A false sense of insecurity” grips the nations, experts say, despite the fact dangers from terrorism are scant, compared to other risks. Political scientists and terrorism advisers at a number of universities blame war rhetoric from President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that in the same year that nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks, 43,788 died in motor vehicle accidents, 30,622 by suicide, 20,306 were murdered and 14,078 died by accidental poisoning. And additional 700,000 Americans died of heart disease, the No. 1 killer, while 553,768 died of cancer. The climate of danger and concern, they said, is out of proportion to the reality of terrorist capabilities.

COMMENT: Maybe so, but for the first time in our history, we are at war with an enemy who has no home address, which makes it difficult to counterattack. An enemy who wants to kill us just because we don’t believe the same as he does. An enemy who not only is not afraid to die, but looks forward to it. I’d say that justifies concern.

 ITEM: Muslim mosques in Washington state are participating in a national campaign to encourage Muslims to register to vote as a first step in becoming politically active. “We think Muslims have a lot of positive things to contribute to the political process,” said Michaela Corning for the Council on American-Islamic relations, a civil rights and advocacy group. “The first step is registering people to vote, then it’s becoming a delegate or affecting policy.”

 COMMENT: I’d say the first positive step would be for them to publicly condemn the terrorism by their fellow Muslims. They have had little to say since 9/11 except to complain about racial profiling when they were singled out at airports and such. If they now are or want to be Americans, prove it by standing with us against Muslims who have been identified as or whom they know to be anti-American, instead of maintaining the old Sgt. Schultz routine of “I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing.”

 ITEM: After spending big bucks to replace 794 slot machines with 675 new electronic games earlier this year, the Colville Indian tribe says their three casinos will likely go under if voters pass Initiative 982, expanding gambling to non-tribal businesses. They cited the possible loss of 400 jobs and millions in profits.

COMMENT: Since they pay no taxes on their profits, I find it hard to sympathize with them. And what are they doing with three casinos anyway? I’m sure the original writers of gambling legislation for the tribes had in mind that each tribe would have one casino. Has it occurred to the Colvilles that if every tribe in Washington has multiple casinos, they’ll drive themselves out of business with their own peer competition?

ITEM: Indian leader Billy Franks Jr. marked the 30th anniversary of the Boldt decision by praising the late federal Judge George Boldt for “reaffirming tribal treaty reserved rights to half the salmon in his famous 1974 decision.”

COMMENT: The tribes did not have treaty rights to half the salmon, only the right to catch fish in their usual and accustomed places. When the Department of Fisheries offered to give them a third of each year’s anticipated catch, Judge Boldt, fresh from touring reservations where he and his wife were showered with gifts, jacked it up to half. No other state has been forced to give up a resource belonging to all of its people to a select few, a decision more infamous than famous.

 ITEM: A suspicious package found strapped against a pillar on the car loading dock at Seattle’s downtown ferry terminal stranded hundreds of riders for two hours before officials determined it was harmless. The box contained wiring and a conduit left over from a renovation project there.

COMMENT: So much for beefed-up security for the ferry system when someone with such intimate access is unaware of it or stupid enough to create such chaos.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA 98340.).