I must have been dreaming
How sad that the money machine has slowed down, with the price of oil at basement levels. Legislators have wisely concluded that we're spending way too much money coddling all those school kids and overpaying teachers, some of whom deliver "fluff" (who needs music and art?), and counselors who sit in their comfy offices offering useless advice which students ignore — let's cut $47 million of fat from education funding, and ignore the base set in previous years. Times are tough.
Getting to what is really important, let's buy the lush new office space downtown for $30 million, rather than rent it. Granted, we already own space downtown, but it's pretty primitive — what the heck, the bathroom trash cans in the building we already own are way out of fashion — you actually have to work the lids manually. And the speaker of the house needs to revive his area fertilizer plant — $30 million should handle that nicely. There are some who facetiously suggest that enough fertilizer is already being manufactured in Juneau, and who needs more?
Doing the math, one finds that $30 million plus $30 million amounts to $60 million, then put $47 million of that into education and you'd still have $13 million that could restore other cuts being made to schools. But that's just dreaming; the people didn't send legislators to Juneau to waste time and money on practical stuff like the future (and present) of Alaska's children. Sorry, I lost my mind there for a minute, must have been dreaming. Forget it.
And some — actually most — of the misguided citizens of the state voted to get in on the Medicaid dollars. Our recent governor announced that government is not to be trusted, referring to all but the one of which he was part. Those no-good freeloaders who can't afford medical care should get better jobs and make enough money to get free of dependence on government handouts. Or get elected to public office and get coverage that way. Three hundred and fifty members and friends of AFACT rallied Thursday night at Cuddy Park, and a bunch spoke out in Juneau for the 40,000 or so people Medicaid would help.
Representative government is an excellent idea — we should try it sometime.
— Don McDermott
Anchorage
Gov. Walker gets it
Gov. Walker's willingness to pardon those five bears up in Government Hill is an intimate clue as to why he won the governance of this beautiful state.
We as Alaskans, (my parents being the ultimate expression of) are people that don't accept that something "can't" be done.
So, even though the saving of a few bears might seem a little thing, I don't think it is.
So, I'm going out right now to clean up the garbage along side the road I live on. Nothing new. I've been doing it for years. It's not a big thing. But. … like (I believe) Gov. Walker perceives, a lot of little things together become a really big thing.
— Lillian Staats
Wasilla
Ax oil company tax credits
In view of the budget cuts the schools and other Alaska entities are expected to absorb, I think it's time to address the tax credits the state is extending to the oil companies. With the budget deficits the state is looking at this year, and in the near future, it's not rational for the oil companies or members of the Legislature to continue extending $400 million to $500 million dollars in tax credits above the monies they pay us for the oil. This Legislature needs to draw up legislation dropping those credits to zero, until the price of oil rises substantially on the world market.
— Albert Bowling
Anchorage
What rights struggle?
If Mr. Blanas is right about the struggles of the middle class being tied to the demise of unions and therefore loss of wages in his commentary, "Local tribute to May Day honors constant struggle for worker rights" (April 22), then why for the first time in history is the public sector being paid more than the private sector for the same jobs?
— Greg Svendsen
Anchorage
People demand expansion
An open letter to the Alaska Sate Legislature.
I don't give a rat's — how many GOP caucuses in the state Legislature are against Medicaid expansion. The overwhelming majority of Alaska's citizens have spoken, albeit informally: Expand Medicaid. Who in the heck do the concerned GOP caucuses think they were hired to represent? Time for a change in my humble opinion.
— Juliana Bickerton
Anchorage
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