Comment

JOE CONTRAIRE

Now we've got all that money, greenies won't let us spend it

If there's one thing that fries my bacon, it's these infernal greenie no-growthers that are trying to strangle every strand of progress here in Alaska. The oil money is pouring in and we finally have the chance to build the state of our dreams. But every time ya turn around, those Californicated communists are saying, no, no, no.

WALLY HICKEL

Vote no on TransCanada gas pipeline

We ran an ad last Friday urging Alaska's legislators to vote against the plan to give a license to TransCanada to build a gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope across Canada.

GARRISON KEILLOR

In sweetness of July, little matters

Summer nights! The fragrant dark descends, the night creatures chitter and chirrup, and we linger on the porch, a little wine in the glass, children coming and going, and we inhale the sweetness of life. In Pasadena, people are lined up outside a bank, hoping to get their money out before it goes belly-up, and Mr. McCain's friend Mr. Gramm says we are a nation of whiners complaining about a recession that is only mental, but we are engulfed in summer and don't notice. We're sitting on the porch, inhaling the breeze from the trees, and we are American optimists.

JUDITH KLEINFELD

Family dining useful but hard to arrange

Our family dinners centered on the game "Debating Daddy."

ELISE PATKOTAK

Oil windfall could enrich quality of life

It seems to me that the more money comes pouring into state coffers, the more services residents should be seeing. After all, if we are the owner state, it is our money. While I understand the need to put some of it away for tomorrow, I don't see why that precludes our enjoying a better quality of life today.

JOHN STROHMEYER

No one did more for Alaska statehood than Bob Atwood

In the spirit of the celebration of Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood, many deserving people are hailed for their roles in making it happen. However in those generally good recollections, I have yet to read about the one person who deserves to stand out among the rest.

GREGG ERICKSON

Palin rebate proposal makes sense

Are Alaskans redneck, red-state socialists? I don't think so, but it is easy to see how outsiders could get that impression. Americans across the country oppose government-mandated redistribution of wealth and yet are ready to embrace wealth transfer programs that would make Robin Hood blush.

ANDREW HALCRO

Skip the rah, rah rhetoric on gas line

As fifth-grader at Lake Otis Elementary School in 1975, I elected to do my class report on the construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. I remember riding my bike from my home on Needle Circle to the offices of Alyeska Pipeline on Bragaw Street. I remember the security guard handing me a stack of brochures. I remember thinking to myself, how am I going to ride home with all of this information.

DAN FAGAN

Palin's statements belie promise of truthful leadership

The Palinista movement will boldly tell you over and over how truthful, transparent, open and honest they are. They shout from the rooftops how different they are and how they are unlike any other political movement. New energy for Alaska, putting Alaska first -- they are taking a stand for all things decent. No spin, half-truths or deception coming from Palinbots or their leader.

ALAN BORAAS

Beware of Chuitna River coal proposal

Some Alaska energy projects make a lot of sense: in-state natural gas, geothermal, tidal, wind and small-scale hydro come to mind. But some energy projects make no sense, and topping the list is the Chuitna River development proposed by PacRim Coal.

STEVE HAYCOX

Alternative energy key to Alaska's future

It would be remarkable if Warren Buffett were to solve America's energy problem, and Alaska's. It would be remarkable because Buffett pulled out of Alaska's gas line sweepstakes even before the real contest began. Yet Buffett is a person who thinks "big" and clearly; he wants to free America from dependence on foreign oil, not by more drilling but by getting serious about alternative energy.

COMMUNITY VOICES

Stevens endorses book's prejudiced view of Muslims

A few years ago, I was applying for jobs in the Lower 48 when I came upon a particularly promising one. It was a live-in assistant to a wealthy retired couple. When it looked like the job might be a "go," I sent them a picture that was taken of me holding my 18-month-old daughter.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Immigrants are a welcome infusion to America's lifeblood

It's amazing to me that a country like ours, built on the backs of successive waves of immigrants who came here willing to do the lowliest job for the least wage in order to get a chance at something better for their children, should find itself so divided over the issue of immigration today.

DAN FAGAN

Looking for God? Find him in the hearts of those who love

Who is God? Where can we find him? Seeing as I'm not a theologian, I will not try to answer the first question, but I believe I'll take a shot at the second one.

JOHN HAVELOCK

Film women should wake up and smell the coffee

While enjoying coffee at the City Cafe, I was recently inveigled into seeing a film about -- this being a family newspaper -- the coffee-drinking habits of four big-city women. The lives and conversations of these women, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, revolve around their consumption of coffee: the bean, the roast, the drip and perks, locations and drinking companions.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Obama edges closer to McCain stance

You'll notice Barack Obama is now wearing a flag pin. Again. During the primary campaign, he refused to, explaining that he'd worn one after 9/11 but then stopped because it "became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism."

JUDITH KLEINFELD

True wealth comes to us through experience, not money

My happiest time is Saturday, when my husband and I do mindless errands. We go to the grocery, pick up the dry cleaning, and stop at the pet store to buy dog food for our collies and litter for our persnickety cat.

COMMUNITY VOICES

Carlin was right about workers' plight

Three things happened last week that all juxtaposed in my mind. George Carlin died, I took right-wing radio mouth Dan Fagan to task on the Employee Free Choice Act because he had it all wrong, and the Exxon Valdez verdict came down from the Supreme Court.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Phone-book excess highlights society's wastefulness

I came home one day last week and found yet another plastic bag on my porch filled with the latest overload of telephone books. I took the package, put it in my car and off-loaded it at the phone book recycling bins the first chance I got. As I did so, I wondered once again how companies could be so environmentally insensitive as to continue this practice despite the cries from consumers to stop it.

ELSTUN LAUESEN

School paper teaches real-life lessons

My friend has a peculiar genius for dredging the tailings of the past and finding the good stuff. In this case, he recovered a memory particularly rich to me.

DAN FAGAN

Statehood book touts Palin while snubbing Ted Stevens

Love him or hate him, it is undeniable Ted Stevens has done more than anyone in history to contribute to the development of Alaska.