Anchorage Daily News

Vote tells me I'm still one of you

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I grew up in Alaska in the '50s, '60s and early '70s, leaving in 1974 to attend college in the Pugetropolis, where I reside today.

Had Ted Stevens been re-elected, I would have been compelled to conceal my Sourdough heritage in perpetuity. His election, coupled with the spectacular embarrassment that is Sarah Palin, would have guaranteed Alaska a permanent place on the List Of Clueless States.

Thanks again from someone who knows what it feels like to walk to school at minus 52. You guys rock!

-- Sam Browne

Seattle

Begich absence may help our city

I guess I have mixed feelings about Mark Begich getting into Congress. I won't classify it as him having "won" the seat since I truly believe this was one of the dirtiest political campaigns ever run.

The national Democrats put out some awful political ads and Mark Begich did nothing to try to keep the campaign clean. Sen. Stevens was a gentleman all the way and did not refer to the problems caused in Anchorage by the Begich group.

The only good thing is we get rid of him here in Anchorage. Under his leadership, the property taxes have gone way up, parking meters have doubled in price and business fees have increased -- great record!

-- Pauline Potter

Anchorage

Stevens loss will mean hard times

Well I sure hope everyone is happy now that Mark Begich has been elected to the U.S. Senate. Particularly all you folks who have benefited from Sen. Stevens over the years. It will take a couple of years for his earmarks to go away, but then the financial crises for Alaska begins. Native villages, hospitals and military bases will feel the wrath of the current Congress as Mark Begich sits as the lap dog of the Democratic leaders and watches all the financial benefits of Senator Stevens go away. As a freshman on Capitol Hill, Mark Begich will be powerless to assure Alaskans of a safe and secure future. You will find him cowering to the whims of the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer. Sure hope you like what you get: I don't.

-- Roger Penrod

Anchorage

Thanks to Bob Bird for helping give Stevens' seat to a Democrat

Hey, partisan Democrats like Hendrick Hertzberg of The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town." Hey, Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now." Meet Bob Bird, Alaska Senatorial Candidate for the Alaska Independence Party.

He just did rabid Democrats and President-elect Obama a very big favor. He ran for Alaska's Senate seat as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, that "demonic fringe party of domestic terrorists," you warned your readers and listeners about, back when it was smear-Sarah-Palin-time in the big race.

You used the old Red-baiting tactic of guilt-by-association on Palin and her husband, the tactic that is bad only when used against your favored candidate.

Now guess what happened?

Social studies teacher Bob Bird of Nikiski High School did you, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and President-elect Obama a big favor. Bird ran on an anti-war, pro-life, anti-federal government platform in Alaska and took more than 4 percent of the votes in the Senate race, some of which just might have been earned by Ted Stevens. So Sarah Palin won't get a chance to run in a special election after Senator-elect Stevens resigns or is expelled.

This Kenai Peninsula unknown has taken the air out of Ted Stevens' balloon as a federal jury conviction did not. Bob Bird of Nikiski has sung Ted a lullaby (sorry, Uncle Ted).

All of this because Alaska gives ballot space to third parties and independents. Funny how democracy can work things out, if you give it a try.

-- Steve Conn, former Alaskan

Point Roberts, Wash.

Alaska's so-called education puts students and teachers dead last

Once upon a time, my wife and I were young, vibrant teachers in Alaska. I was born there and my wife came from North Dakota. We thought, like so many other teachers, that we would get a chance to change the world. But this is not the case.

Our teaching experience (others will agree, although not out loud) was not the most fortunate. There are a few things that you need to understand about education.

Teaching is not about the kids: Teaching is about Adequate Yearly Progress. If the school does not meet it, the school loses funding. So grades are, for the most part, usually inflated.

We live in an "instant coffee" world: No one wants to make sure that we lay out the groundwork for cooperative teaching/learning, which takes a long time to plan. Politicians pressure the superintendent, the superintendent pressures the principals, and the principals pressure the teachers. Parents believe what they hear and read (education in trouble) and don't take the time to visit or volunteer in the classroom, which is their right and responsibility.

As a teacher, you are a pawn: Depending on an election year, you may have a job, you may not. But the need stays the same.

Values, tough love and morals are not important in Alaskan education. So we left.

-- David Woods

Wahpeton, N.D.

No better time than now to secede

Alaska should secede and become independent. We should put our destiny in our own hands. We have seen the avalanche of Alaska-haters who hate Palin because she's a woman and a Republican who is strong and represents Alaska with integrity in the face of the most detestable of lies to destroy her reputation. ADN has willingly participated in the wholesale slander of the only person who has ever really stood up to crooked legislators, big oil and her own party good ole boys.

Now we know where ADN stands -- with all the opponents of good government. ADN and the rest of the Palin haters deserve a place in the Lower 48, while the rest of deserve a prosperous, independent Alaska.

-- Cecil Rhodes

Healy

ANWR bill may be slow in coming

Now that Alaska has elected Mark Begich as our new U.S. senator, I have to wonder how soon we can expect a bill sponsored by the new senator to open ANWR for oil drilling to make it to the floor of the Senate for a "showdown" vote.

I don't know how long I can hold my breath, but I will start as soon as Mr. Begich is sworn in.

-- Randy Frank

Fairbanks

Wolf kills may well preserve wolves

Is it better to kill big wolves than little wolves? Does it matter?

A recent editorial questioned the practice of "denning" in which little wolves in a den are killed. Maybe we should ask, "Is it really necessary to kill wolves at all?"

This wolf-killing was done to protect a local caribou herd whose young were surviving at the rate of 1 per 100 because of predation. If wolves are not killed, predation will assure the elimination of the herd and will likely kill nearly all the wolves through starvation -- not a very humane approach.

After the wolves were killed, the survival rate of caribou young was 39 per hundred. This survival rate will assure the continuation of both the wolves and the herd. If the writer likes having wildlife available for viewing, this program supports that goal.

-- Phil Wright

Anchorage

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