Cole tells the cold, hard truth
I am so grateful Alaska has a staunch truth teller — Dermot Cole — consistently and ardently alerting us to the state's dire economic situation. The first sentence of his Sunday, Oct. 18, ADN commentary says it all: "Some leading legislators remain in denial, but the state has no real choice but to enact a new plan to pay for government in 2016."
According to Mr. Cole, some legislators are refusing to consider new revenue to cover a $3 billion shortfall until we cut $700 million from the budget.Yikes! Even if it is possible to make cuts in this amount, finding the remaining needed revenue requires immediate attention. Our legislators need to behave like grown-ups and make necessary, grown-up decisions. If one does the math, there is clearly no solution that does not include both taxes and the use of Permanent Fund earnings.
— David Hagen
Anchorage
Chamber concert transcendent
Having attended the Alaska Chamber Singers concert this past weekend, I've been eagerly anticipating an ADN review. There's been nothing to date so I'll offer that, in my opinion, those who were there experienced something transcendent. The ACS performance of Brahms' "German Requiem" may be the high point of the Anchorage concert season.
Let's leave it to an ADN reviewer as to the hows and whys.
— Ken Flynn
Anchorage
Van Gogh show may inspire
The Anchorage Museum's exhibition "Van Gogh Alive" has been criticized for not being "real" and not worth their admission charge. Curators of exhibitions grand enough for a catalog know that the book will get most of the attention when surfacing in libraries and discount tables, and thus become what scholars pore over even though coloration from stretched canvas to glossy print changed. In past centuries, paintings were further damaged as chemicals were incorrectly applied; thus, many today are not the original hue anyway. An actual masterpiece reveals the "trace" of bygone creators. You can discover brush hairs, thumbprints or why an artist chose that particular direction for his knife or even fingers.
But are those new to art going to ponder Van Gogh as a Romantic turned Post-Impressionist or scrutinize his drawing skills in relation to, say, de Kooning? In our Post-Modern world contemporary artists play up imitation — think Jeff Koons. Perhaps this Van Gogh recreation will convince an L.A. traveler to search out "Irises" at the Getty or maybe detour to MoMA when in NYC, pushing through throngs of vacationers to glimpse "Starry Night." Yes, art is at its best when seen in the flesh, but simulacra aren't too bad either.
— Jean Bundy
Anchorage
DOT shouldn't deface park again
I grew up in Anchorage and spent many hours soaking in the views of Turnagain Arm while driving down the magnificent Seward Highway on my way to ski in Girdwood, camp on the Kenai and hike in the Chugach. While I live out of state now, memories of the views from Turnagain Arm and hiking in the Chugach are among some of my favorites of Alaska.
That was why I was aghast and disappointed to learn of the state Department of Transportation's plan to use the state park as a quarry site to obtain fill for their planned expansion of the Windy Corner viewing area. I can appreciate the state's desire to create a safer viewing area, but this should not be done at the enormous cost of turning the state park into a quarry. DOT already created a hideous eyesore when they expanded the Bird Creek parking lot. DOT should not be allowed to further deface the park with another monstrosity simply are to create a better viewing area, when there alternatives to obtaining the fill elsewhere. The state park management needs to step up and protect one of the most stunning and special places in Alaska by firmly rejecting any proposal from DOT to use the park as a quarry.
— Emily Miner
Seattle
Consider source of outrage
Why am I not surprised at the supposed outrage over the cost of hosting President Obama in Anchorage and other locations in Alaska? Simply because it was Obama and not some Republican. For I've not read anything over the years regarding the cost when the late Ted Stevens made those government-paid trips home. Nor is there any outrage over Lisa Murkowski's or Dan Sullivan's trips back to Alaska.
But there again, those are all good Republicans taking from the trough.
— John A. Parker
Kodiak
First Amendment doesn't give the press unlimited privileges
Mike Dingman's piece in Wednesday's (Oct. 21) ADN brought out a few thoughts that have occupied me lately. Being in a position of privilege, influence or power seems to instill the disease of arrogance in many people. This sometimes shows up in those bizarre acts committed by our elected officials that make headlines, but more often in the off-the-cuff things they say that have not been filtered through their public affairs people. Don Young is famous for such unfiltered comments, but of course the disease of arrogance has had nearly half a century to gain a foothold in his system. (Strangely enough, I have found him a friendly, engaging and thoroughly likable person when "off duty.") And I freely admit, during those few years that I held a position of authority and responsibility, I often fought off the urge to throw my weight around. When one reaches a point that he/she isn't accountable for small transgressions, some inhibitions melt away.
But another group that has demonstrated a similar sense of self-importance has been the press. If there is a newsworthy event, no matter how tragic, or the possibility of one occurring, some reporter will poke a camera or a mike into the scene and generally become a nuisance to all. Many reporters seem to think that a press card entitles them entry to any private or government area, and that one is obliged to allow such. Any resistance is apt to bring out words like "unconstitutional" and "freedom of the press." Yes, the First Amendment of the Constitution does address the press, but what it says is often construed far beyond the simple words as written.
The First Amendment to our Constitution consists of only one sentence, and that sentence covers five subjects, only one of which is the press. It states simply (as regards the press):" Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom … of the press …"
It does not require the press to print everything it knows; nor does it forbid the press to print anything. It does not even require the press to print the truth, or to be objective. But it does not give the press any authority or privileges beyond that of the common citizen. If I have been stripped of my shirt and someone is straddling me and pounding on my bare chest to save my life, the Constitution does not demand that I allow pictures be taken and shown to the world on the nightly news, stripping me of any privacy and dignity I may still have remaining.
Unfortunately, over the centuries, the term "abridging the freedom of the press" has been defined to cover situations that bear no relationship to the original words. Of course, the only knowledge the average person has of the original wording, or how it has been defined, has been provided by — guess who — the press.
On the other hand, when a population is governed by a body of politicians, many of whom are selfish, ethically impaired and often not too smart, the only means we have of discovering their ineptness is via the press, bless its arrogant little heart. So I reckon I'll resign myself to our press with all its bias, its rudeness, and its arrogance and its misplaced sense of entitlement, just so I'll have some distorted idea of what the heck is going on in Juneau.
— Don Neal
Anchorage
Spread insurance coverage costs
Preston Rudderow (Letters, Oct. 21) was correct to complain about the incredible cost of health insurance in Alaska, but incorrect to place the blame on the Affordable Care Act. An Alaska couple in their 60's now has to pay more than $40,000 each year for a Silver Plan under Premera, two times or more than what a similar plan costs in the Lower 48. Premiums are high because health care costs are high in Alaska, and health care costs are high because we have a splintered insurance marketplace in a small, isolated state.
The solution is well known: increase the size of patient pools to both spread the coverage costs over more patients and to gain bargaining strength for the patients in those pools. Why not, for example, allow individuals and families to participate in the plans offered to the many state and federal government employees in our state? And why not combine those plans to further increase the patient pool size? Those solutions have been proven to work elsewhere, and our elected representatives should consider implementing them here.
— Randall Plant
Anchorage
Don't drop 1 holiday for another
It is a great idea to celebrate "Indigeneous Peoples' Day" but not on Columbus Day! They deserve a special day in their own right but not by denying a cultural holiday many Americans have celebrated for many, many years. Respect and recognition for both cultures should be acknowledged. Both Alaska's governor and the Anchorage mayor have overstepped their authority.
— Joan Jackson
Cordova
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.