Comment

JUDITH KLEINFELD

Want to be smarter? Get some sleep

A friend of mine is worrying himself sleepless about getting enough sleep. He is convinced that he just isn't smart after a short night's sleep.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Obama's failure is one of character

Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. The race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with three more execrable characters. Yet let the McCain campaign raise the issue and the mainstream media begin fulminating about dirty campaigning tinged with racism and McCarthyite guilt by association.

MICHAEL CAREY

As Alaska turns 50, we should ask what we have become

Alaskans are celebrating the 50th anniversary of statehood. How strange the moment in which we honor our founders and reflect on the past half-century.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Try to make life more bearable for the less fortunate

Let's put politics aside this week and talk about some realities we will be facing this winter in Anchorage. A public service announcement used to air that pointed out that no one dreamed of growing up to be an addict, or homeless, or alcoholic.

DAN FAGAN

Palin may be an awful president but not an ineffective one

Sarah Palin killed last night. If you don't realize that, then either your liberalism or your anti-Palinism has blinded you.

BONNIE ERBE

Recovery bill is a must for nation

The consequences of not passing the bailout plan -- or as some in Congress and the financial world have renamed it, the "recovery" plan, are pervasive, painful and possibly devastating.

STEVE HAYCOX

Nation's leaders demand license but are unable to drive

The dramatic 228-205 vote in the U.S. House against the bailout of America's finance industry this week should be recognized as a clarion call by ordinary citizens announcing their lack of trust of the country's current leadership. What made the vote dramatic was who proposed it: the secretary of the Treasury and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, supported by President Bush and the Congressional leadership.

ELSTUN LAUESEN

Palin co-opted into a Voldemort world

In a recent column, conservative Pat Buchanan describes a battle for Sarah Palin's soul in terms of a struggle between "true conservatives" and "Bush neo-conservatives."

ELISE PATKOTAK

Speaking up about politicians is a sacred Alaska tradition

Today marks my 36th anniversary in Alaska. I first set foot here on Oct. 1, 1972. I was fresh out of New York City. Until then, my idea of the country was going to a farm in central Jersey. My idea of wilderness was a bird sanctuary in Cape May.

MICHAEL CAREY

Palin losing friends on the home front

Sarah Palin may be making new friends as she campaigns the nation, but at home, she's making new enemies. She better get elected vice president. If she returns to Alaska as governor, the reception will be frosty -- and not because winter has arrived.

DAN FAGAN

Old Palin morphs into something new

What happened to our governor? I don't recognize her anymore.

ANDREW HALCRO

Debates proved twinkle trumps facts

When he faces off against Sarah Palin on Thursday night, Joe Biden will have his hands full. After debating Palin at more than two dozen forums and debates during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, I'll offer some advice to both candidates.

JOHN HAVELOCK

Despised rules made our system work

First Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now we will buy out Wall Street debts at the equivalent cost of a bigger, third war -- two-thirds of a trillion.

JUDITH KLEINFELD

Simple words wield surprising influence

Looking for a gift for my daughter when I was in Nevada this summer, I spotted a turquoise bracelet that cost just $10. I figured it was probably junk.

MICHAEL CAREY

'McCarthyism' charge is hyperbole

George Orwell once said that the word "communist" had become so debased that it had lost its original meaning. In Orwell's England, toffs dining at posh restaurants called inattentive waiters "communists," and on the way home said the same thing about cab drivers who got lost.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Greedy CEOs take the money and run

To the great amusement of friends and family alike, I am going to tackle the issue of our national financial situation. We will pause for a moment while they all laugh hysterically and then wipe the tears from their eyes.

DAN FAGAN

Troopergate is all about getting even, not justice

The reason Gov. Palin has abandoned her truth and transparent, open and honest aura with her foolish and obvious coverup and trail of lies is simple. Troopergate is not about trying to get her ex-brother-in-law, trooper Mike Wooten, fired. It's not even about the firing of her Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Troopergate is about something the public has not yet picked up on.

ALAN BORAAS

Kopp hiring proved Palin's fundamentalist street cred

So far Gov. Palin's handling of Alaska's Troopergate has focused on why Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan was fired. An equally important question is why Chuck Kopp was hired to replace him.

STEVE HAYCOX

Palin support is fueled by emotion, not competence

Sarah Palin's selection as vice-presidential running mate has raised significant questions about her readiness for the job. Critics have raised concerns about her experience, her competence and governing style, and her veracity and consistency.

DAN FAGAN

No one is above the truth, even Palin

You really can't experience the full effect of Monday's news conference featuring Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton unless you hear it for yourself. Stapleton passionately attacked former Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan. Her rhetoric was plain, desperate, and obvious. Her tone, pure shrill.

ELISE PATKOTAK

McCain chooses ambition over the welfare of the nation

There was a time when I thought John McCain really was a different kind of politician, one who would put his country above his personal desire for grandeur. I stopped thinking that the day he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate. The sheer hubris that went into that selection simply takes my breath away.