Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, Nov. 30, 2015

Moment of thanks for DOT

Today we are thankful for the hard work of the Alaska Department of Transportation on the Parks Highway. We drove down from Fairbanks last night and the road was great, thanks to the heroic efforts of the plow truck drivers and maintenance crews. To the Alaska DOT crew: Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for bringing our family together for this Thanksgiving. Drive safe out there!

-- Matt Cameron

Fairbanks

All who come to this country should accept our values

In the Nov. 25 edition Elise Patkotak reverts to her same old style of name calling and berating everyone who differs from her very incorrect assessment of reality.

Ms. Patkotak in her typical adolescent name-calling style, labels as cowards those who seek to uphold and protect the safe existence of the American way of life. Her consistent agenda is both incorrect and ruinous to the hard-earned freedom of this great nation.

She inserts her rants about a class of Caucasian males being the most frequent killers. But again she is wrong. That ugly honor is shared by two other groups of our society. One is the all-race young killers in large cities whose elected officials have outlawed gun ownership. But the key takers of life in this nation are those who are paid to perform abortion.

Refugees have a chance at survival even in the countries they want to leave. Aborted children have done nothing wrong yet many are exterminated with no ability to escape.

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The vast majority of Americans have and will continue to compassionately welcome those who truly seek to assimilate into this society, refugees included. But there must be clear and fair rules to pass beyond the welcome mat. All who come to this nation should accept our values without trying to change them. This constitutionally protected system has worked quite well for generations and endured through difficult times. If anyone prefers different beliefs and a different lifestyle, then they should relocate or remain where it exists.

I would ask Ms. Patkotak these two questions: "Do you lock the doors of your vehicle when you walk away from it in the parking lot?" "Do you lock the doors to your home when you are away?" If so, then you are saying it's OK for you to safeguard your material possessions but that it's not OK for America to establish security measures that safeguard all American lives.

Last but not least, Ms. Patkotak says she wants her country back. The American existence has never been her personal possession. America is a shared society of individuals who have every cohesive right to safeguard their beliefs and way of life. Over the years America has created numerous fair and reasonable standards for entry into the citizenship of this nation. America thrives by strength of unity and rules of law; it should never bow nor yield to Ms. Patkotak's consistent, out-of-touch agenda.

-- Ron Siebels

Anchorage

Alaska Christmas tree brings joy

Sometimes a Christmas tree is just a Christmas tree. The beautiful Alaska tree harvested in Seward has made a wonderful journey to Washington, D.C., bringing cheer and happiness to many people along the way.

Efforts to complain about the carbon footprint or use this wonderful event to complain about the president again is pathetic.

Come on, we all deserve a little cheer and magic in these difficult times. The very real tree has brought wonderful free publicity to the state as opposed to the damage done by the very unreal reality shows. Merry Christmas.

-- Christine DeCourtney

Anchorage

ISIS counts on our ignorance

ISIS wants us to stop taking Syrian refugees. ISIS loves it when our politicians, presidential candidates no less, say that we should only help Christian Syrians, not Muslims. ISIS swoons whenever we denounce Islam as a religion. ISIS gets red in the face and bashful when we talk about closing mosques and tracking Muslims in the United States for simply being Muslim.

This is what ISIS wants, and we're doing it all.

Every time one of us does one of these things, every time it hits the airwaves, we are only validating ISIS' narrative, that the Western world is at war with Islam. This is where they draw their strength.

Our ignorance is their recruiting platform.

-- William Culper

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.

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