Anchorage Daily News

Somebody was a turkey in Palin interview, but it wasn't the bird

I'm sorry, but someone should be fired over the Palin turkey interview.

It seems that everyone out there is reacting as though something was wrong with Sarah for not having eyes in the back of her head. In fact, there was something wrong with the producer and the camera operator. I am an amateur photographer, and I know that your picture is only as good as your background. It's like hunting -- you always need to be aware of what's behind your target. This is Photography 101, and even I could have made Sarah look better than this.

But the producer is even more culpable. At least the camera operator managed to get the picture. The producer made Sarah look like a complete buffoon. This is clearly a case of media incompetence, or worse, yet another instance where the media has maliciously tried to make Sarah look incompetent.

It did not work on me. I know Sarah, and I also know how it works on the "safe" side of the camera. KTUU should fire someone, or apologize, or both.

-- Gracen Patterson

Palmer

Low mortgage rate would help

A headline in today's ADN says that housing woes are likely to get worse. Just one simple thing will get the economy back to normal: a 4 percent fixed-rate mortgage for the next three years only.

Of course, it would have to be done artificially. A common accounting practice is to buy down points. The government could buy two points of a 6 percent mortgage.

So what would this 4 percent interest mortgage do? The mortgages that are in trouble could get refinanced. People with mortgages that are not in trouble and people who had paid off mortgages would get refinanced, since 4 percent money is a very good deal. This would be money pumped into the economy.

Housing inventory would begin to shrink. Prices would start to go back up, providing even more incentive to buy quickly.

-- Ken Mackay

Anchorage

Send Palin off to Tinseltown

Alaska no longer has a governor. We do have a media-darling celebrity off on another photo op. I suggest Alaskans pitch in and get Sarah Palin a ticket to Hollywood, where she is meant to be, and start searching for an intelligent, ethical governor.

-- Eric Taylor

Kodiak

Palin was breath of fresh air

It must really tick some people off that Gov. Sarah Palin doesn't seem to ever take a bad photograph, or that she appears to have a valuable and quite rare mind of her own, at least sufficiently detached from party-hack politics and opinion polls that she may be capable of functioning as a real leader -- a rare thing in this day and age.

Her appearance in the McCain campaign breathed new life into a dead horse, and John McCain knew this.

The Republican ticket would never have gone as far as it did without her, despite the efforts of failed advisers trying, in the bitter end, to cut losses by blaming failure on their best asset.

Give the governor some credit. She has to be a smarter person than she was before the trooper fiasco, the wardrobe "issue," the country of Africa thing. She has my support to see where what she has to offer will take her. I doubt Alaska will get shortchanged in the process.

-- Dennis Lattery

Eagle River

We've got our directions switched

A megachurch pastor asks Republican and Democratic candidates whether human life begins at conception or at birth. Meanwhile, Catholic bishops and priests threaten to withhold the Sacrament of the Eucharist to anyone not conforming to their politics.

Seems to me the more we get our moral direction from politicians and our political direction from clergy, the more backward a nation we become.

-- Geoff Kennedy

Anchorage

Now we have a chance to unite

It's been a long time since I felt good about Alaska's election results and it's been an even longer period since I felt that my vote really made a difference.

There is a certain similarity about Barack Obama (president-elect) and Mark Begich having both won their races. Both are honest and good men and both campaigned on change and hope. Both created a historical significance for the election by having the first African-American president for our country and having a Democrat in an Alaska U.S. Senate seat that had been held by a Republican for 40 years.

It's no coincidence that this year's election turned out the way it did, especially if you believe that there is a purpose or reason for everything.

Obama and Begich both said they would cross party lines and work on common ground for the best interest of our country. I believe that this will happen. Perhaps the importance of the election was to learn from it and stop dividing ourselves as Democrats or Republicans so we can focus on healing our state or the country as a whole. Congratulations and good luck, Senator-elect Mark Begich. I have no doubt that you will make Alaskans proud.

-- Deborah D. Williams

Anchorage

Public trails should be multi-use

I am sick and tired of the attitude of entitlement that I find on the ski trails around town. I happen to enjoy nordic skiing and I happen to enjoy it much more when I can take my dog along. The problem lies in the detail that I cannot use the majority of the decent ski trails in the Anchorage area because somehow my 50-pound dog, which leaves much smaller indents in the trail than my ski pole, will irreversibly damage the ski trails beyond use.

I have a serious problem with public land being set aside for one exclusive small population. Now, yes, people should stay off the groomed classic tracks, but besides that 2 feet of trail, these trails, or at least the large majority of them, should be open to use by everyone, especially such trails as Spencer Loop on Hillside, among others that serve as the only good means to get from one point to another.

Bottom line, the large majority of maintained trails should be multi-use and a small segment set aside for serious skiing and racing, not the other way around. So next time you think about yelling at someone for skiing on your trails with an evil, trail-destroying dog, think about whether or not they are actually doing any harm whatsoever.

-- Daniel Dillehay

Eagle River

State discourages investment

Concerning the egregious taxation of the Alaska goose that lays the golden egg, the frivolous Point Thompson litigation, the non-something called AGIA, the Point Thompson ice road not-permitting, etc.: Why is the Palin administration employing the full power of the state to discourage producer investment and to ensure that the natural gas pipeline is not built in the foreseeable future?

As we inexorably slide into a severe worldwide economic recession, we can take comfort in the knowledge that the state (government) got its "fair share." And take heart too that we have not only the messiah, but our own mini-messiah to shepherd us through good times and bad.

-- Larry Larsen

Anchorage

If you love her, set her free

Alaskans, let Sarah go! Who are we to insist that she be fettered by the chains of gubernatorial responsibilities while the world of celebrity clamors at her door? Should she be restrained from spreading her maaaaverick ways far and wide? Should she be denied the opportunity to appear on a whim on entertainment TV, at rallies around the country, national political powwows and turkey-pardoning ceremonies? She needs time to coordinate the many pending million-dollar book deals.

If we truly love Sarah, we need to give her permission to leave the governor's desk to someone more mundane. To hold back this rising star would surely be a travesty -- to her and all of her devoted fans. Let her go, Alaska, let her go.

-- Elliott Barske

Anchorage

Watch out: Your pet may be next

If Fish and Game has nothing better to do than harass pet owners, their budget needs a drastic cut.

So now two varieties of cats cannot remain in Alaska. What's next? Chihuahuas? Pit bulls? Poodles? Your pet?

Their only solution is to have someone's beloved pet sent Outside? What about those forbidden pets who were born here? They are to be euthanized?

Those who think this is a stupid, useless waste of time and money should write or call F&G and advise them to back off this policy of monitoring pets or suffer a really bad PR issue with all pet owners, who are also at risk of being harassed and deprived of their pets.

-- Joann Hodd

Ninilchik

Governor's House had bad pipes

In response to Wednesday's letter, "Palin's refusal to live in Juneau," I would like to remind readers that the Governor's House has been closed for substantial periods of time for a massive plumbing project.

When the first family moved to Juneau in December 2006, major leaks were discovered in the residence's wastewater lines, which affected the first-floor ballroom and library, the second-floor master bedroom and the third-floor bedrooms. Several historical pieces such as the grand piano, artwork and rugs were being exposed to irreversible water damage. The first family's main living areas were also exposed to water damage from the leaks.

This project was complicated and slowed by many unknowns, including the absence of any known blueprints for the structure's water lines, requiring project planners to make educated guesses about the location of pipes before opening walls to begin work.

The Governor's House was closed from Sept. 19, 2007, through Jan. 18, 2008, as work commenced on Phase One of the project. It was closed again Aug. 11, 2008, and remains closed during Phase Two. Completion of first-floor work will allow the governor to welcome guests to the Annual Open House on Dec. 9. The governor and first family look forward to returning to the residence when the remaining work is completed by late December.

-- Sharon Leighow

deputy press secretary

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