Readers write: Letters to the editor, April 13, 2017

Planet Earth 'all stocked up' on crazy, it's commonplace

Michael Carey's meaningful column on "Crazy," brought some thoughts to mind. Crazy being a place? No road signs, true enough. Perhaps crazy is so commonplace that signs would be redundant: Loco (Texas), "Fruitcake Capital of the World" (Claxton, Georgia), and "Home of the Ding Dong Daddy" (Dumas, Arkansas), and "Toad Suck" (Arkansas). And the self-evident Fukushima, Japan. If crazy is the norm, then sane is, well … crazy. Maybe the National Enquirer should change its perspective?

Maybe Carey's friend with a 15th century monk visiting through a hole in the wall was more prescient than thought, what with the proliferation of surveillance and data mining through consumers'
computer-controlled houses and products — no circumspect holes in walls needed. So just who is crazy here? John Paul Sartre had his version of hell in his play "No Exit." Too bad he didn't have Facebook. Things might have really gotten crazy.

Nuke "saber" rattling, hundreds of nuclear power plants riding the edge, oceanic dead zones, methane release, toxic /GMO/GE food, 8 billion humans and their weapons, corporate greed and corruption, racism/misogyny/xenophobia/religious fanaticism, cloning and genome manipulation, fracking, oil bomb trains and pipelines.

Carey muses that crazy is a very small place, the human head. The planet Earth is also a very small place. Human species note (Jack Nicholson line) to Roswell aliens: "Sell crazy somewhere else; we're all stocked up here."
And are we ever. We have cornered the market.

— George Harbeson Jr.
Homer

Why didn't Tolbert wipe out votes from populous Texas?

Bill Tolbert's April 11 letter supported retaining the Electoral College. He writes that if you subtract California, Trump would have won the popular vote by 2 million. Lop off New York too, by 3.5 million, with huge Electoral College victories. So majority rule is good if you're in the majority (Electoral College), but not if you're in the minority (popular vote)? I thought Trump was against elitists? The Electoral College was set up to protect us from riffraff.

And what does he prove by lopping off almost 20 percent of the U.S. population? (California, with 37 million people is about 12 percent of the U.S. New York, with over 19 million is 7 percent of the U.S. population.) Is there a reason why Tolbert didn't wipe out the votes of the second most populous state, Texas? Let me guess. Creating alternative worlds through mathematical fiction.

Tolbert's argument is like saying, if it weren't for the heart attack, he would have lived to 80. And if we don't count his cancer either, he could have lived to 90.

I'd note that House Bill 175 is in the House Judicial Affairs Committee. It's "An Act ratifying an interstate compact to elect the President and Vice-President of the United States by national popular vote."

— Steven Aufrecht
Anchorage

Projects could reduce litter

During tourist season, the public-access lakes on the Kenai Peninsula get the most visitors during the year. Not all visitors take care of their garbage when they leave. Garbage in and around the lakes isn't safe for the environment or people and it takes away from Alaska's beauty.

In order to eliminate the garbage, the schools could set up service projects where the older grades clean up the lakes at the beginning or end of the school year. We could also set up bear-proof garbage cans and have extra garbage bags by a sign that explains what to do when the garbage can is full. Another thing we could do is set up pit toilets with a phone number for people to call when the toilets are full or need maintenance. If we do these things, we could get rid of litter at the lakes.

— Ruth Frederickson
Soldotna

Majority needs to smarten up

To the Republican majority in the Senate: You are truly an awe-inspiring group of people. Throw those old people out of the Pioneer Home! Veterans too! I dare you.

The governor and the House majority recognize we cannot continue to cut our way out of the financial crisis. You need to smarten up.

My husband and I are retired and on a fixed income. We are willing to pay an income tax and a sales tax. Oil companies need to have their subsidies reduced. Everyone has to pay something.

How do you sleep at night?

— Anita Thorne
Anchorage

Bird writes for feathered flock

On April 9, ADN printed a commentary by Bob Bird "Trump, GOP majority trigger mixed emotions." To show his erudition (what else?) the author mentioned "Aquinian Just War Theory."

It would have been even more impressive for the former U.S. senator candidate to mention Hobbesian metaphor and Cartesian argument. It would have led the readers of ADN to more scratching of their heads. That is what happens when people are writing for the birds.

— Rudy Budesky
Anchorage

Orthodoxy is blindly followed

Orthodoxy is from Greek, meaning "right opinion."

You can't argue with an orthodox person whether he or she be Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Republican, Democrat, etc., ad nauseam.

The orthodox have always been willing to disown their own children if the kids refused to follow the family creed. What worse form of torture could there be?

The orthodox are always the last to accept overwhelming scientific evidence. They would just as soon watch faithfully, blindly, as species after species disappear while we humans wallow in more and more of our own filth.

The orthodox hold tenaciously to their faith, spouting Scripture from their outdated texts, and to what end? They won't be satisfied until they rapturously bring on their just desserts: Armageddon.

Today we have orthodox communists, Jews, capitalists, (Christians?) and now Muslims with their fingers on nuclear buttons. You don't have to be a genius to figure this one out. Hard to imagine they would all rather destroy the world than admit, just maybe, they may not have "the right opinion."

— D. Kevin Dunham
Seward

'Pothole hotline' really works

Thank you to the street maintenance workers for the Municipality of Anchorage.

Their "pothole hotline" is the most reliable thing in the municipality. I call in potholes all of the time, and within 24 hours they are filled. It is the most amazing and gratifying thing to see as a taxpayer. I know the street maintenance team has a thankless job and probably only hears complaints, so I want to thank them.

You can report potholes by calling 907-343-MEND (6363); be sure to give all of the information about the location. If you hit a pothole on a road maintained by the state of Alaska, there is a different number to call.

— Lindsey Spinelli
Anchorage

Use vessels, not pipe for LNG

The photo "Ice No Problem For Russian LNG Vessel" printed in ADN, April 7, for me, was very informative. One of the obvious questions that could be asked is: Why is a trans-Alaska gas pipeline needed when one of these LNG vessels could dock close to one of our gas locations on the North Slope? Hopefully, one of my legislators has a good answer.
— Doug Bartko
Palmer

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