Leaders need to value our gas
Recently there has been a slew of proposals by distinguished Alaskans on how to best market our natural gas reserves that sit untapped on the North Slope. In the immortal words of Wally Hickel, this gas is owned by all the people of the state of Alaska. What I would hope is that our leaders keep an open mind and closely analyze all proposals for moving the resource. With oil spewing in the gulf it only increases the long term value of our Alaskan gas resources. Iron-clad contracts with legitimate partners, firm delivery dates and local-use options are what is needed.
-- Brian Whittle
Anchorage
Criticism of Pitts unfounded; continue running his columns
After reading Chuck Orr's angry letter of May 12 concerning a recent Leonard Pitts column I had to go back and reread it because I remembered it as being very well written and entertaining.
Describing how the American Spectator is preying on contributors by using the loaded word "liberal" to elicit a negative reaction was a factual description of what the very conservative magazine was doing. Newt Gingrich actually composed a document loaded with negative words to use against Dems and positive words in reference to Republicans.
Mr. Orr may label Mr. Pitts' writing "sophomoric screeds," but Pitts' peers think very highly of him. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for Distinguished Commentary and won awards from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and Society of Professional Journalists. He gained national recognition for his Sept. 12, 2001, column titled "We'll Go Forward From This Moment" in which he described the toughness of the American spirit in the face of the 9-11 attacks. More columns from Pitts, please.
-- Robert Atkinson
Seward
Alaska was bound by law to file suit over health care
I support Alaska's lawsuit over the new health care law's constitutional defects. Inherent in practicing Rule of Law is that any law can be improved by citizen-supported processes.
However, the major defect of Rule of Law government is that, in isolated cases, Rule of Men government can invariably produce better conditions. This is because the first delivers predictable stability, and the second delivers unpredictable brilliance. So citizens desperate for brilliance (as in addressing health care) are vulnerable to well-meaning politicians interpreting the Constitution to justify government assumption of extra, illegitimate power. But the Constitution's 10th Amendment was established to guard against such conveniently exaggerated interpretations -- regardless of attractive benefits.
Last year Alaska's Legislature almost unanimously passed a resolution directing vigorous state enforcement of the 10th Amendment on federal government laws and regulations. So the governor and attorney general were legally impelled by bipartisan Alaskan unity to file the lawsuit they did. This alone discredits the charge that Alaska's lawsuit is a GOP obstructionist tantrum.
Let our system work.
-- Stuart Thompson
Wasilla
Schools get too much money
I just received my property tax, and I am appalled in the amount given to the Anchorage School District versus the Anchorage Police Department and Anchorage Fire Department. I do not have a child attending school, and from what I have seen of the children in my neighborhood, I sure am not getting my money's worth.
I would much rather see the APD and the AFD get what was given to the ASD and let the ASD receive the combined total of the APD and AFD.
I cannot believe that the city is so afraid of Carol Comeau that it bows to her every wish and it ends up costing the taxpayer more each year. Perhaps it is about time for a new school superintendent.
-- Pete Rasher
Anchorage
Students, use a trash can
Imagine my dismay when coming home for lunch today I witnessed a car full of teenagers headed back to Dimond High throw their Taco Bell trash out the window and into the yard of my neighbor.
Does Dimond High not provide trash receptacles for the students? Did their parents teach them it was OK to 1) break the law by littering; 2) be disrespectful to other people's property; 3) harm the environment? Part of me wanted to chase them down and throw their trash back at them, but what lesson would that teach?
-- Corinna Smith
Anchorage
Air Guard standards lacking?
My sons both decided to serve our country. They looked at the Air National Guard, Army and Air Force. Both spoke to recruiters who explained the high physical standards that each branch expected you to maintain.
My older son chose the Army. He had no problem with his height-weight ratio and left for boot camp rather quickly. My second son chose the Air Force and although he was not overweight needed a 10-pound cushion to prove he was committed to the Air Force's physical training goals. Both made the commitment to the high physical standards.
When visiting the Air Guard's facility we noticed quite a few overweight individuals. I am left wondering ... Are the Air Guard standards not as high as the rest of the military? And if they are, who is counting their push-ups?
-- Kevin Burns
Anchorage
Protect Kenai headwaters
That was a nice article about the Kenai River getting tender loving care (Our View, May 13) and it makes sense: Restoration is good news. We certainly don't have to go the way of the Lower 48's once great salmon rivers. Maybe now the headwater lakes of the Kenai system could use some TLC and attention also.
Considering the effects the Cooper Lake hydro dam had on the king salmon run in the 1950s before such environmental impacts were of concern, perhaps it could be considered a bit risky to add more hydro dam projects to the upper Kenai watershed. The benefits of these new dam projects are apparently not significant; boosting transmission ability to slightly lower electricity costs might be accomplished in other ways.
The Kenai River watershed is supposed to be protected from further industrialization. Bottom line: Maybe not?
-- Ken Green
Cooper Landing
'Birthers' are wrong to question Obama
The state of Hawaii is still getting requests from "dead-ender" birthers requesting proof that President Barack Obama was born in the USA.
Birthers, listen: Even if he were born outside the country (which he wasn't), his mother was undeniably an American citizen, and therefore he was a natural-born citizen at birth (that is, NOT naturalized later).
My own son was born in Sweden. We promptly filed a request with the U.S. Consulate that his citizenship be recognized because I am an American citizen, and it was promptly granted. He's a natural-born citizen and, God willing, he'll grow up to be president!
-- Rick Wicks
Anchorage
Immigration reform is due
I am a true conservative. Being one, I have followed many findings from the Cato Institute. A recent report from the institute states that immigration is a true engine of our economy.
According to their findings, reforming immigration will mean more support for the honest business. Comprehensive immigration reform will also raise wages and in turn open our economy to millions of new customers.
I urge support of a comprehensive immigration reform plan so that we can bring the undocumented into an economy that is transparent, taxable and productive, enabling them to better purchase our goods and services.
-- Stephan Patterson
Anchorage
Gulf spill is a wake-up call
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is yet another wake-up call. It is not "gobbledygook"; it is not the EPA trying to enforce regulations on air quality; it is not political partisanship; it is not an example of the "evil environmentalist" trying to stop economic growth.
It is, however, the very sort of thing we have been repeatedly warned would happen and does happen. The wake-up call is for us to make the significant and immediate change away from our dependence on fossil fuel. It is possible, and advances in the fields of alternative energy sources are available, along with innumerable jobs at a time when jobs are desperately needed.
Do our politicians have the courage to step away from the big oil lobby and make the change? Or will they go back to sleep and hope another massive environmental disaster doesn't occur.
-- Dean Campodonico
Anchorage