Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, November 6, 2017

Leave vengeance to the Lord

Representative democracies elect leaders, rather than choose legislators like we do jurors, because we want our representatives to speak to our best nature, not our base nature. And yet Sen. Mia Costello (ADN commentary, Nov. 3) chooses to assert that Senate Bill 91 must be repealed, because it doesn't provide vengeance. Yes, vengeance is what we're talking about here: the desire to inflict harm, so that a misdeed doesn't "appear" to go unpunished.

I will leave the morality of demanding vengeance to those more qualified to speak on it; but it turns out that extracting vengeance is not what reduces the rate of repeat criminality. The bottom line is, we taxpayers can't afford the vengeful measures that don't reduce crime, like jail time for petty theft.
Please, Sen. Costello: We need the measures in SB 91 that are proven to reduce repeat offenses and reduce the cost and prevalence of crime in our city. Leave vengeance to the Lord, perhaps?

— Scott Walker
Anchorage

Insatiable thirst for power

Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Liberals, Socialists, Ultra-conservatives, Ultra-liberals, Ultra-nothings, senators, congressmen, presidents, vice presidents, politicians, wanna be politicians, mayors, council members, any elected person, are all the same. All of them are crooked. All they want to do is line their pockets with money from the lobbyists. All they want is power over the powerless. All they want to do is to stroke their own egos. Rats … I'm really not sure what they want. All I want to know is where is the earth-destroying asteroid when I need you?

— Phil Weber
Cooper Landing

ADVERTISEMENT

Tired of all the hate

It is so refreshing to once again read letters and articles in the Alaska Dispatch News coming from a more fair and balanced perspective.

Kudos to the Letters to the Editor on Wednesday Nov. 1 from M.J. Koskovich "Trump speaks to the people" and M.A. Kuentzel "Climate change is natural." I agree with them both wholeheartedly.

It has been so frustrating to read the local paper this past year with such an overwhelming liberal spin on everything and nothing but anti-Trump messages daily.

I also agree that it would be nice if Alaskans could read more about what's happening in Alaska and our cities and communities and not constant articles from the Washington Post and The New York Times. So tired of all the hate, division and trash that comes from those papers and that part of the world.

— Stella Webb
Anchorage

Presidents shouldn't be crude

Regarding M.J. Koskovich's letter (Nov. 1, "Trump speaks to the people"): I appreciate the clarity of your letter. I get that you were as frustrated with previous presidents as I am with this one. I get that you believe he speaks "directly to the people," not to the "ruling class elite," and not through "the filter and spin of the media." I get that you think he is "entirely capable." I don't agree with you, but I understand and respect your opinions.

But do you really want our presidents, and our politics, to be "rude and crude"? I don't get that. I hope that all Americans aspire to better than that.

— Gunnar Knapp
Anchorage

Tax bill sticks it to sick, elderly

My 91-year-old mother-in-law has dementia and is paralyzed on one side from a stroke. The dementia is severe enough to keep her from remembering she had a stroke 3 years ago. She is horrified every day to discover she can't move the right half of her body. It's a condition I would not wish on my worst enemy. We have been able to provide some comfort by keeping her in her own house. She requires 24-hour care from two caregivers. My wife and I can be the caregivers two days a week. But the cost of care for the other five days uses all her income and is draining her life savings. At least the medical expense deduction kept her taxes low. Until now.

The GOP tax bill eliminates the medical expense deduction. It's a deduction I hope you never have to use, because only expenses exceeding 7.5 percent or 10 percent of your income are deductible. Anyone able to use this deduction is clearly having a terrible, terrible year. The lion's share of the tax savings in this bill will go to the wealthiest Americans. This bill would partially pay for that by raising taxes on the very sick and elderly. Seriously?! That's just mean.

— John Bulkow
Anchorage

Cut property taxes with pot cash

Since the taxes from pot sales are soaring into the millions, perhaps that money could go into a pot to offset property taxes?

— Rolf L Bilet
Anchorage

ADVERTISEMENT

Ruined wilderness is lost forever

In the Nov. 2 op-ed, Sen. Lisa Murkowski made her case for opening up the 1002 Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration and development. Her talking points are familiar: minimal environmental impact, jobs, increased state revenue, energy security, etc. There is a measure of truth in each argument. But there is something she never mentions: that once wilderness is given away to industry, we never get it back. There is no un-ringing the bell of industrial development.

The fact is that only 5 percent of the entire country remains as wilderness. If your retirement account had lost 95 percent of its value I suspect you would be fighting like hell to reverse that catastrophic trend. Murkowski talks about bringing "balance" to the debate on development versus protection (letter from Sen. Murkowski, Oct. 11, 2017). To argue, as Murkowski does, that sacrificing yet another slice of wilderness can be part of a "balanced" plan seems disingenuous given what has already been lost. When will the war on wilderness stop? When we are down to 3 percent or 1 percent or less? If the whole of ANWR isn't worthy of wilderness protection, then I am afraid we have truly lost our way.

— Curt Pollock
Anchorage

With election of Trump, public education has failed

After serving 30 years as an Alaska educator, I never thought I would say this: Our system of public education has failed. Millions of Americans are unable to draw reasonable conclusions through analysis of facts.

We have elected a president based upon his false promises of making America great again. It is tragic that Trump is an avowed sexist, a sexual predator, a racist and a compulsive liar who is disrespectful to our war heroes and their families. He is destroying our environment, our middle class and our credibility among our allies.

Anyone who thinks he represents anyone or anything other than the billionaire class and corporations is sadly deluded.

Hopefully, our teachers and schools will give the development of our children's critical-thinking skills as much or more credence than teaching basic skills.

If our democracy is to effectively function, the electorate must be able to discern the truth from facts rather than from the propaganda of Fox News.

— Glenn Olson
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.

ADVERTISEMENT