Doctor's survey methodology was less than professional

As a pediatrician with medical-staff privileges at Providence and Alaska Regional, I attended both meetings where Dr. Farr spoke. ("Proposals bad for our health," letters, Nov. 2) Her slanted presentations about health reform shocked me.

The methodology of her survey was shocking also. Her survey was left on tables and didn't indicate where to leave the survey. Many people -- like myself -- attended both meetings, so there is no way to get an accurate count of the results of the survey.

At the second meeting, more than half the people left before Dr. Farr spoke. It may be safe to say that they voted on Dr. Farr's survey with their feet.

What is troublesome about Dr. Farr's letter is that she claims to speak for doctors by conducting a survey that is neither scientific nor valid. The important point is the opinion of one doctor cannot and should not represent all doctors affiliated with Providence or Alaska Regional.

If you read Dr. Farr's letter to the editor, I think you need a second opinion. My opinion is health reform can't wait.

-- Monique Karaganis, M.D.

Anchorage

Maine voters chose right way

Hooray for pro-life and traditional family values!

I wish to congratulate the voters of Maine -- one of the most liberal states in the union -- for rejecting the counterfeit and oxymoronic notion of "same-sex marriage."

The vote is significant because we are dealing with forced affirmation of homosexuality -- under penalty of law.

This is a historic battle for the minds and souls of our children.

Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which the question has been put to a popular vote.

The time has come for a federal amendment banning homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

-- Gerry Jones

Anchorage

Show all 'rogue' definitions

More on the definition of "rogue": I think that "10-pound, unabridged Random House Dictionary" Dona Corey cited ("Interesting meaning for rogue," Nov. 3) must have been the large-print edition. My little puny half-pound pocket dictionary gives three definitions, only one of which she used in her letter. An innocent oversight from a dictionary too large to handle?

1. A dishonest and unprincipled person: rascal.

2. One who is innocently mischievous.

3. A fierce and dangerous animal, as an elephant, separated from the herd.

I understand that we all will have our own views, and welcome to them. But please take care not to spin the facts through omission. Some of us may like our innocently mischievous, fierce and dangerous elephants who have been separated from the herd.

-- Larry Witham

Anchorage

Tale of barking beagle hardly deserved lead-story status

Thanks to Steve Carson of Anchorage for his letter "Barking Beagle Not News" published Nov. 4. I'm a devoted defender of the ADN, but seeing that as a lead story nearly made me howl like that stray.

Our city faces a number of crises -- deaths of the homeless, a budget cut by 30 percent, pedestrian deaths -- and somebody decides to put Julia O'Malley in the lead spot. Please don't do it again until she writes a news story.

Great job with the Goldman Sachs series this week -- even though it's McClatchy content, not ours. Why couldn't the ADN do a similar series on Anchorage's budget situation? The mayor's Darwinistic "competition for grants" program could use some explaining. Or how about word from the Anchorage School District's students about what budget cuts will mean to them? I'd love my newspaper to convey the voice of the people in this town, not the dogs.

-- Rebecca Barker

Anchorage

City slow to haul junker away

Why should someone need to call the city three times just to get a junked vehicle towed out of their neighborhood? Our property taxes are high enough that one call should suffice. I submitted the model, color, physical description, exact location and fact that there were no plates and an indecipherable vehicle identification number. This is not acceptable service.

-- Esther Jurasek

Anchorage

Time to get back to basics

Here we go again. The poor school district needs more money. Let's hit up the property owners again! Why is it that we have such a high rate of kids not finishing high school? We keep shoveling more money down a black hole year after year with the same results. I have a simple solution. Get rid of the incompetent employees, stop the "Kumbaya" warm and fuzzy basket-weaving classes and start teaching the basics that the kids can use. Pretty simple, huh?

-- Bob Hoak

Anchorage

Name-caller takes cheap shot

I am appalled at "my" Assemblyperson's representation of Sheila Selkregg as "communist" for the amendments she offered to Mayor Sullivan's six-year plan. Government has an obligation to provide basic services to all citizens.

Inflammatory name-calling and labeling do not promote civil discourse or a reasoned budget process. Starr need not have done that to make his point. His behavior cheapens our Assembly and city.

-- Sherry Eckrich

Eagle River

Arrest deserves applause

Kudos to all the law enforcement officers who got the suspected serial rapist off our streets. Thank you for caring and doing your jobs so well.

-- Sheila Higgins

Anchorage

Youth zoned out elections

With the recent elections in New Jersey and Virginia being decided overwhelmingly in favor of Republicans, one has to wonder where the voters were when it was time to vote for the Democrats, considering the fact that Barry Obama easily carried each state in the '08 elections. Were those voters simply "Obamacrats"?

Hopefully the youngsters who showed up in droves to elect the president will now go back to doing what they know best: playing video games and smoking pot. See what happens when you use drugs?

-- Robert A. Scott

Anchorage

Free cell phones is bad call

I find it amazing that our government is supporting free cell phones for millions of users. This is the "Lifeline" program. We currently pay every month to fund the program through the "universal connection" charges levied on our phone provider, which I am required to pay.

Would it not be cheaper for the government to provide instead a discounted wired phone in the applicant's home?

People, look at the demographics of who are receiving these services and tell me this is a fair and equitable dispersal of your tax dollar.

I believe the working poor do need help; so we should help them as well as the job seeker until they are on their feet, not the rest who are pariahs of the social system.

This government program is way out of control and needs to be reined in.

-- Richard L. Erickson Jr.

Palmer

Electric cars produce less carbon per mile than gas cars

Brian Tomlinson claims it's absurd to think that an electric car can reduce greenhouse gas emissions if the electricity comes from coal or natural gas (letter, Nov. 1). I'll use the example of a Toyota RAV-4 Electric Vehicle (EV) made in the late 1990s.

A natural gas power plant generates 1.3 pounds of carbon per kilowatt. The RAV-4 EV uses about 310 kilowatts per mile. That's about 0.4 pounds of carbon per mile.

The RAV-4 gasoline version generates about 0.8 pounds of carbon per mile, based on a 24 MPG rating. That's about twice the carbon of the electric version.

Even with an old dirty coal power plant, the electric vehicle beats the gasoline version by spewing out 0.15 pounds less carbon per mile (0.65 vs. 0.8 pounds per mile).

The reason for the difference is the electric motor is 90 percent efficient; the internal combustion engine only about 20 percent efficient.

The future of the automobile is electric because it's a quantum leap in efficiency and takes us off foreign oil.

-- Eric Skidmore

Chugiak

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