Letters to the editor (8/4/09)

I would like to suggest a solution for the Professor Gates / Police Officer Crowley's altercation about whether the policeman had been racist when he arrested the professor. President Obama tried to help by having the two over to the White House to share a beer and have a friendly chat, but they went away "agreeing to disagree."

To really understand where the other is coming from, they should job swap for a week. If the professor saw and felt the tenseness the average policeman feels every time he is sent out on a call, maybe he would understand why the cop was so quick to arrest first and ask questions later. If the policeman had a chance to work with responsible, good, thinking people on a daily basis, maybe he would remember that not everyone in the world is a bad guy out to do harm.

It would be like "Wife Swap" only better! Maybe we could even turn it into a reality TV Show! That's what they get for turning it into a National Incident.

-- Denise Yancey

Anchorage

Physician is key coordinator when it comes to health care

I want to clarify remarks attributed to me in the July 26 editorial on health care reform. The sentence reading, "much of the treatment could best be delivered by a nurse, nutritionist or other health professional," implies that health care is best delivered by practitioners other than physicians or that physicians are responsible for escalating health care costs. The full context of the discussion was support for the "patient-centered medical home," a care model in which a physician leads a multi-disciplinary team of professionals delivering care to a large patient population.

We must reform health care -- and increased support for primary care should be a priority of any reform effort. Health care reform must also improve the affordability of care. An essential element of lowering costs is ensuring that physicians are appropriately reimbursed for services associated with care management and coordination -- not currently a reimbursable service. Providence values physicians as both partners and providers. As in the "patient-centered medical home," physicians are at the center of an efficient health care delivery system -- not obstacles to it.

-- Joel Gilbertson

chief strategy & administrative officer, Providence Health & Services Alaska

Anchorage

Documented history supports Cronkite editorial on Vietnam

I take great exception to August Cisar's characterization of Walter Cronkite ("Cronkite was a leftist, elitist and cunning hypocrite," July 31), especially regarding Mr. Cronkite's views on Nixon and the Vietnam War.

I found his editorial concerning Vietnam aired Feb. 27, 1968, to be spot on. It is well documented that Nixon seriously considered the use of nuclear weapons against North Vietnam.

As to the North's resolve, a meeting in Paris on December 4, 1972, substantiates this. Hanoi's chief negotiator, Le Duc Tho, told Kissinger that "we sometimes think that you would also use atomic weapons because during the resistance against the French, Vice President Nixon proposed the use of atomic weapons. If we do not achieve [our] goal in our lifetime our children will continue the struggle. We have been subjected to tens of millions of bombs and shells. The equal of 600 atomic bombs. The simple truth is that we will not submit and reconcile ourselves to being slaves. So your threats and broken promises, we say, that is not a really serious way to carry on negotiations."

-- Don Malherek

Girdwood

Lice don't recognize borders

I recently read in the ADN newsreader that William Shatner has spoken out about fish farming in BC. Being a commercial fisher, I say three cheers for him.

The BC government has long denied that the lice not only infect farmed fish but also the wild fish migrating through the northern Vancouver islands. Our neighbors to the south need to have more respect for the assets the ocean provides us. They not only jeopardize "their fish" but the rest of us who enjoy wild fish.

-- Diana Bauman

Anchorage