Jenkins is predictable R-bot
No rational Alaskan would read Paul Jenkins' diatribes.
His opposition to Medicaid expansion in Alaska is ill-informed. He takes the extreme right stand on anything, without investigation. Alaska has the opportunity to lead the nation in providing quality health care, affordable to ALL. We should do it now. I'll bet Jenkins and the majority blindly saying 'no' to any government expansion of Medicaid already have their health care all figured out. "Let them eat cake" as Marie Antoinette (aka Jenkins) would say.
Most "rational" people investigate and fall on different sides of the "political fences." Not Paul. He is always, predictably on the far right.
No wonder Donald Trump is gaining. Many Americans (Republicans) are sick of party allegiance without informed knowledge.
Time to get a new voice instead of Jenkins.
— Linda Sharp
Anchorage
Baker makes ADN worth price
With 24-hour TV news coverage and instant Internet updates, many people don't need the daily paper for their news information anymore. But, as long as I can look forward to another column from my friend Frank Baker (Aug. 8), ADN is worth the price. Great stuff, Frank!
— Stuart Bunnell
Anchorage
Practicality was agency's forte
Good article about Cold Bay (ADN, Aug. 9). But you left out the significant role the FAA played as owner/operator during the Cold War, after the military left.
FAA had about 100 persons there including families. The agency developed the airstrip to international standards, including a fully staffed fire and rescue station with a permanent staff of firefighters. In fact, FAA provided the school facilities, and when needed, filled vacant positions with the person who had the most dependent children in order to keep the school open.
Practical solutions, now frowned upon.
— Don Keil
Anchorage
Bad karma is personal payback, cannot be wished upon others
Christine DeCourtney wrongly understands Karma saying, "… may karma allow something to happen to you that makes you need the card more than I do." (ADN, Aug. 8)
The law of karma is a special instance of the law of cause and effect, according to which all our actions of body, speech and mind are causes and all our experiences are their effects. Karma means "action," and refers to the actions of our body, speech and mind. Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potentiality, on our mind, and each imprint eventually gives rise to its own effect, according to "Transform Your Life," pp 47-48, by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
In this life, or a previous life, DeCourtney performed an action similar to the theft of the handicap card taken from her vehicle. The wisdom here is that a replacement handicap card is easily reproduced and she has repaid the debt for a previous nonvirtuous action; the punishment always fits the crime. This is Karma 101.
To wish suffering on another living being is unwise, and in doing so DeCourtney is assured of a future suffering equal to that wish. Anger and impatience are never a source of happiness!
Karma is a very personal experience and not something that can be used to wish suffering upon another living being. I hope this helps DeCourtney.
— Clinton R. Hodges II
Anchorage
Majority should value good policy over power and work with Walker
Donald Trump has called the leadership of America stupid. He has a point. Democrats and Republicans in Congress are not working together to solve problems. Both Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are guilty of not working together. That is stupid, because only by working together can government function. We need smart leaders, who value good public policy more than power, who can work together.
The Republican majorities in both the state Senate and House are another example of what Trump calls stupid leadership. The leadership knew the votes existed to pass Medicaid expansion, but they would not allow a floor vote for Medicaid. They value power more than good public policy, and they apparently forgot the basic high school civics lesson, which teaches that in America it is majority rule, minority rights. With regard to Medicaid expansion they allowed a minority within their caucus to rule, because they were too cowardly to stand up for majority rule.
Luckily we have a smart governor, Bill Walker. Gov. Walker is trying to work together with all Alaskans. Walker is expanding Medicaid. I only hope the Republican majorities in the House and Senate learn from their mistakes and begin to work with Walker, for the good of all Alaskans.
— Jed Whittaker
Anchorage
Fiscal reality requires revenue
In Sunday's ADN, Rep. Mark Neuman asks, "Are we going to just jump right out there and tax the working public more?" Which tax is he talking about increasing? There is no state tax on working people; no income or sales tax. There is a very small gas tax.
The real question is, do we want to keep giving ourselves a free ride? Another is, can we realistically expect to be able to?
Good luck answering those, Mark. Also good luck trying to run the state with no money. I hope someone with a more realistic outlook is working on this.
— Paul Thompson
Anchorage
Animals create empathy needed in every part of human world
I had to reply to Al-Hajj Frederick Minshall's letter (ADN, Aug. 9) on people having compassion for animals. He stated his consistent observation has been that the animal rights movements consist of emotionally stunted people who lack empathy for their fellow human beings and value other species as more worthy than humans. He might be right as far as, say, someone who belongs to PETA, but most people I know do not think that way.
Being a Muslim, I imagine, who will not allow a dog in his house because it is an unclean animal, may have something to do with his view on animal rights — even though there are a couple of Quran verses that refute that idea.
I feel if we let human beings do as they pleased to animals, there would be a lot more species extinct than there already are. Animals are abused and tortured every day in every part of the world. Just because someone feels strongly about defending them, does not make them emotionally stunted and overprivileged. As far as having no empathy for human beings, the same could be said about Muslims in the Middle East who indiscriminately kill (well, not indiscriminately, since a lot depends on which sect you belong to) hundreds and thousands of fellow Muslims every year.
If we are only going by observations, I didn't observe Minshall at the Black Lives Matter march I attended last year. That doesn't mean he wasn't there, it just means that my "observations" could be wrong. Just as Minshall's are.
— Michael McKinnon
Anchorage
Government thwarting legal pot
Is it just me, or does it seem that all bodies of state and local government have done everything they could to thwart the will of the people since the initiative to legalize pot was passed?
— Andrew Smith
Anchorage
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.