Readers write: Letters to the editor, August 28, 2017

Evangelicals fine with Trump

By supporting Donald Trump in his run for the U.S. presidency, the evangelical community cast doubt on its claim to represent Christ and to stand for morality in America.

In its wholehearted approval of the president's actions in the last week, that community removed all doubt.

— Leif Simcox
Anchorage

Let's talk about statues

In fear of being misunderstood, I have hesitated to voice an opinion on the issue of removing historic monuments and statues that represent persons who stood for ideologies with which I disagree. This morning I heard my position voiced quite articulately on CBS' "Face the Nation" by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. A small part of his message follows. His whole message can be found CBSnews.com.

"The way we sort of looked at this issue, and I think it's important that we look at it this way, it's not just about subtraction, it also has to be about addition. So, our mayor, Levar Stoney, has convened a commission in Richmond to look at all of the statues and decide whether they should stay, or be removed, or be reinterpreted. But a point I would also make is, let's also talk about whose stories haven't been told and what buildings or monuments we might think about erecting in the future."

— Bernadine Raiskums
Anchorage

Good pay attracts good people

The Municipality of Anchorage has recently increased the annual salaries of some of its top-level executives to $130,000 per year. I also understand that some cost-conscious Anchorage residents are protesting such salary levels as excessive. I'd rather suggest that it is entirely appropriate to pay Anchorage's upper-level municipal managers $130,000 annual salaries. I recently retired after spending nearly 50 years working in both the private and public business sectors, and can say with some confidence that any private or government office today expecting to attract, and keep, managerial talent had better expect to pay those individuals, at the minimum, $130,000 yearly salaries.

— Stephan Paliwoda
Anchorage

Protect EPA for our health

I'm old enough to remember when Ohio's Cuyahoga River caught fire because of the industrial pollution floating on its surface. I'm old enough to remember when Pittsburgh was called the "Smoky City," because the air pollution was so bad — and it was so dark, streetlights would come on during the day. People understood pollution was bad for their health; laws were enacted to control air and water pollution, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created to enforce those laws.

Fast forward to today. We still haven't fixed all the pollution problems in this country — but we're a lot better off than we were in the 1960s.

The president isn't much older than I am. He should remember these things too. But apparently not. That must be why he's proposing devastating budget cuts to EPA that threaten our drinking water and clean air. If these cuts are approved, no one stands to lose more than Alaskans — especially rural Alaskans. We could lose:

• Safe drinking water and sewage treatment in rural Alaska.

• Air quality monitoring and "Code Red" alerts that tell us when the air pollution is too dangerous for children with asthma to go outside.

• Cleanup of Alaska's 10 Superfund and brownfield hazardous waste sites.

• Funds that pay for Alaska's Indian General Assistance Program (IGAP) environmental coordinators.

• Protections for the most vulnerable Alaskans: Pregnant women, children and people living in the Arctic.

Millions of dollars and many jobs are on the line. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan need to hear that Alaskans care about clean air, clean water and public health.

Please write or call today and ask them to protect EPA's budget.

— Patti Saunders
Anchorage

To those who labor for ADN: Thanks for keeping hope alive

Almost every morning of my long life I have started with a hot cup of coffee and the morning newspaper in hand. In the days of the Anchorage Daily News and the Anchorage Times, I religiously read both papers every day.

Sometimes I agreed with the columns and editorials or the "slant," and just as many times I did not. I was often irritated and even angry, but I trusted my critical thinking to discern truth from fiction and right from wrong. I learned from the writers I disagreed with, because they made me aware of what the opposing views actually were.

I fed my habit when traveling, by buying papers in the hotel gift shops and bringing them with me to the coffee shops. Sometimes papers were provided free — slid under the door early in the morning. It's more difficult today. On a recent visit to Seattle, I was told the hotel no longer sells or provides newspapers.
In the lobby of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., is a tall stack of newspapers, all examples of defunct publications. It's really too bad. I think we spend too much of our time looking at lighted screens both big and small. I want the actual paper in my hand, to read or scan or reread.

Newspapers provide a valuable community service. We discover what is happening with our government and our friends. We learn of world events, scientific discoveries, art openings, music, book reviews and tomorrow's weather. It's where we sadly note the passing of an old friend or celebrate the welcome addition of a new baby. There are photographs of our environment and of the world. There is an education in reading the paper as valid as a classroom lecture or a documentary film.

I wrote about 100 art reviews and features for the Daily News, Dispatch News, Anchorage Press, F magazine, Art Matters, and other local publications. I got paid peanuts. But I loved being a small part.

I think we were, and are, damn lucky to have had these printed papers in our lives. That includes the Pulitzer Prize winners and the snarky letters and even the not-so-wise editorialists.

We were recently reminded, once again, that what we have taken for granted for so long is now economically threatened. We learned again that people we complained about and criticized so often have had real struggles of their own keeping the paper afloat.

Today I lift my morning coffee and toast those who labor to keep hope alive. I am hoping to read tomorrow that my reading ritual is safe, at least for a while. If so, I am free to be mad or glad, and maybe face the day a little more informed.

— Don Decker
Anchorage

Propped up by military, rulers continue to wage fake wars

My reply to Don Neal's outstanding letter ("Juvenile name-calling must not lead to bloodshed," ADN, Aug. 18):

As incompetent as President Donald Trump and his opposite number in Pyongyang appear to be, (both are nonetheless propped-up by vicious professional police and military organizations that will kill on command, without question or conscience), starting wars on false pretenses is nothing new for the U.S., nor was it "invented" by Trump.

Saddam al-Tikriti didn't have weapons of mass destruction and he had nothing to do with the 9/11 atrocity. The Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened — it was fabricated. Spanish saboteurs didn't sink the USS Maine in Havana Harbor — its coal-bunker ignited and set off the ship's forward magazine. Our ruling criminals knew it at the time.

I recommend: "War is a Racket" by a two-time Medal of Honor recipient, U.S. Marines Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler (1881-1940).

He wrote: "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for" (U.S.) "Big Business … I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street … Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

It should be required reading for every middle or high school student.

— Al-Hajji Frederick H Minshall
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 under 200 words 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.