Last week New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof had this bold idea for prodding Congress into passing health care reform:
"Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is" [...]
Sunday, ADN's editorial criticized then-Mayor Begich for withholding information about the city's deteriorating finances as the Assembly debated approving generous five-year contracts for city unions.
Some readers said our criticisms came about 10 months too late.
On the contrary. We wrote three editorials, two in December and one in January, [...]
Cold winter coming
Natural gas, not so much
Clear-cut neighbor's yard
- Matt Zencey and Frank Gerjevic
Wednesday, we published a 300+ word comment from hunting advocate Rod Arno, responding to an Associated Press story that he believed was too sympathetic to critics of predator control. His response appeared amid that day’s letters to the editor.
It prompted a reader to complain that Arno got a “letter” that [...]
An Assembly committee that has been quietly working on major revisions to Anchorage's zoning code recently took up the question: How much of the front of your house should a garage take up?
Neighborhoods are safer and more attractive if windows and living spaces face the street, the planners say.
I [...]
What do Alaska's members of Congress have to say about the need for tighter rules on the nation's financial industry, to prevent a repeat meltdown of the nation's economy?
The Daily News asked all three members for brief email statements on the subject. Here's what they had to say, in full:
SEN. [...]
Federal Judge John W. Sedwick has issued a written ruling explaining why he summarily rejected conservative activists’ lawsuit challenging the way Alaska selects judges. The lawsuit claimed that unelected lawyers have too much influence over Alaska’s judicial selection process.
From Judge Sedwick’s ruling, issued Sept. 15:
The “one person, one vote” [...]
"Bankers to bet on the lives of others"
That was a strange tale by Jenny Anderson of The New York Times that ran on the Nation & World cover of Sunday's Daily News. Strange at least to those of us unschooled in the ways of sophisticated financial instruments.
Investment bankers will buy [...]
You can decide for yourself whether President Obama's speech to schoolchildren was political or nonpartisan and helpful.
Click here to read a copy of the president's prepared remarks.
Washington Post Columnist George Will, a pre-eminent conservative, wants the US out of Iraq, and he doesn't think much of the other war the U.S. is fighting, either. Here's part of his take on Afghanistan:
"Before launching New Deal 2.0 in Afghanistan, the Obama administration should ask itself: If U.S.'" [...]
The Nunaka Valley 11-12 girls softball team - US western region champs - made a strong impression on Bill Shaw, who watched them play in Portland and faxed this letter-to-the-editor:
"For the past World Series I have been extremely impressed with the Nunaka Valley/Anchorage Alaska softball team. The people and leaders" [...]
Here's a letter writer who isn't afraid to use sarcasm, saying the exact opposite of what he means. Since many readers misinterpret this technique when it appears in print, without a disclaimer, I'm posting it here. It might be entitled, "Health care for all is UNAMERICAN!!"
- Matt Zencey, [...]
At the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Monday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski had this to say about the energy bill passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee:
“Energy is an area where Congress can play a productive role.” She said Alaska is the most “energy-consuming” state – (presumably meaning highest use [...]
Lisa Murkowski spoke to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Monday (8-31) on a range of subjects. Some highlights of her remarks on the House-passed cap and trade bill to reduce greenhouse gas pollution:
In her speech, she said the bill would “be disastrous for the state of Alaska and frightening for [...]
Letter writer Tony Bickert's satirical take ("The jig is up," Aug. 23) on the health-debate prompted letter writer Tiffany McLean's "flabbergasted" response ("Canadian sysem works fine," Aug. 27).
To be flabbergasted, Ms. McLean would have had to take Mr. Bickert's letter as straight rather than satire.
Maybe she did, maybe she [...]
Ted Kennedy said the following about health care in 1980, in his concession speech to the Democratic presidential convention. What a sad commentary that these words from 29 years ago are just as true and relevant today...
- Matt Zencey, editorial page editor
"We cannot have a fair prosperity in" [...]
"I don't want to be in anyone's flock, left or right."
- letter writer Dennis Ahrens
Mr. Ahrens wrote one of the more succinct sentences of the week so far. He was writing in response to Geneva Walters' compass piece about conservative Christians and gay rights.
But I think both his [...]
Sunday we published a satirical piece by nationally syndicated columnist Rick Horowitz, making fun of the outlandish claims being used to attack health care reform. Rick’s column invented 22 more even more bizarre provisions in the health care bill, mocking the lies being used to stop the reform effort.
One [...]
From Rosemary Shinohara:
Former Washington Post writer T. R. Reid travelled the world and checked out other industrialized nations' solutions to health care.
He found all kinds of systems, public and private, and says many of them are already duplicated in the U.S. in one shape or another.
“For Native Americans' [...]
The scientist chosen by President Obama to run the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came by ADN Thursday afternoon.
Here are some highlights from our talk with Jane Lubchenco, PhD.
RE: the Obama administration’s just-announced decision to close arctic waters to commercial fishing, while agencies learn what they need to [...]
ADN recently received this statement from Premera Blue Cross , the large Alaska health insurance company. Premera supports reform, but not a public insurance option, and wants to see more attention on controlling costs by paying for health care results instead of health care procedures.
Hope to publish this in the [...]
The teeny Valley towns of Houston and Wasilla went to court and forced the Knik Arm Crossing back onto a faster track. In honor of their aplomb, trying to tell us in the Big City what our transportation priorities should be, I offer this haiku:
Houston wants Knik bridge.
Lovely Wasilla [...]
The first wave of letters-to-the editor about Mayor Sullivan's veto of the gay-rights ordinance ran about 12-1 against. By Wednesday afternoon, I counted 15-4 against.
Over the years we've sometimes been accused of rigging the letters page. I can tell you that's just not true. We can't run every letter, and [...]
We're in a haiku mood today in the opinion office.
Here's mine. Add yours if you like.
Sullivan at work:
He slashed pools, parks and planners
Green space? Who needs it?
--- Rosemary Shinohara
****
From Matt Zencey:
Sarah warns about
Non-existent death panels.
Can you say “Big Lie”?
*********
From Frank Gerjevic:
Forty-three minutes
To [...]
As you might expect, the most recent city budget cuts (just announced) hit the Parks Department the most, with 13 layoffs out of 27 in the city altogether.
Recreation services are not exactly fluff, but aren't as essential on a daily basis to city government as police and firefighting capability.
In' [...]
Alaska Voices blogger Joann Grimes decided to discontinue her contributions to the feature and asked us to remove her previous work from the Daily News website, and we honored her request.
-- Matt Zencey, editorial page editor
The Alaska Constitution has a built-in review. Every 10 years, voters decide whether to hold another constitutional convention to decide whether to tweak, perfect, reject or overhaul any or all parts of the document that is the foundation of Alaska statehood.
The Anchorage Press devoted a cover story to the question, [...]
If you think the more recent big box stores like Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer are prettier than the old ones, give a thought to Allan Tesche.
If you’re happy that people don’t smoke in Anchorage restaurants anymore, again, remember Tesche.
If you like the $20,000 exemption homeowners can get from [...]
Chuck Reese sent this letter to the Daily News. Anyone care to reply? You can post replies here and directly to Mr. Reese at dexter200870@yahoo.com:
I live just a few miles south of Buffalo, NY. Just recently we had this incident in which a police officer shot and killed a bear [...]
In light of the tumultuous debate here in Anchorage over the gay rights ordinance, this observation seemed worth noting, from the editor of the progressive news aggregator "BuzzFlash":
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/8786
It's entitled, "Gays, Minorities and Liberals Didn't Bring Down Wall Street: GOP White Males Did."
It's a good point, at least as' [...]
At ADN's letters to the editor, we received this query from a woman from Florida:
"This may sound very strange...and I really don't know who else to contact, I have heard that your lovely state will "pay" people to come live there, provide a home, a car, etc.
"I was told there' [...]
Opinion has only one page in today's paper (Monday, June 15) and we'll have only one in Tuesday's paper, too. It's only a temporary contraction, as the paper balances the overall amount of space allocated to ads and to news and opinion content. We'll have more opinion for you in [...]
Congressman Don Young spoke Thursday to a gathering of “Alaskans for Liberty” at an eastside Anchorage café.
Don was in fine form, alternately bombastic and charming. Here are a few gems from his performance:
About House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her dealings with conservative-leaning House Democrats: “I will give the speaker [...]
From Rosemary Shinohara:
I got a tour of the $106 million addition to the Anchorage Museum today (Wednesday).
I like the space agey, glass and metallic facade. But the best thing about the addition is that the improvements to electronic security, climate control and other inner workings mean we can now get [...]
Want intelligent conversation about Alaska issues? Check out our new opinion blog, Alaska Voices. We've recruited a collection of well-informed, thoughtful Alaskans to contribute, and more will be joining them as we go along.
Our bloggers are just getting started this week. Check out postings by Kirk Wickersham, talking about' [...]
The panel that opened the big renewable energy conference in Anchorage Monday morning offered some good answers to skeptics who might ask, “Why get all hot and bothered about promoting renewable energy?”
Ron Lehr, a consultant to the American Wind Energy Association and a former utility commissioner in Colorado, pointed out [...]
As a journalist for 20+ years, I have committed my share of sins against the English language. We write in a hurry for people who read in a hurry, so we cut corners.
We use nouns as adjectives, so we can save a preposition or an apostrophe. (We write “The [...]
News that Sarah Palin signed a book deal has piqued the imagination of an unknown humorist, who produced this list of potential titles that's circulating on the Internet:
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 2009 12:22 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE: Sarah Palin Book Title Poll
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has signed [...]
We recently received a 2-page, single-spaced letter from one Stanley A. Wilson of Honolulu Hawaii, which began this way:
"Dear Mr. C.I.A. Director:
"During my tour of duty with the 3rd Armored Cavalry, a photo was taken of a C.I.A. surveillance satellite radar beam entering my head. The beam paralyzed me... [...]
Maybe I was having a mild case of paranoia this week, but driving to and from work, I couldn’t help notice that just about every intersection has what looks suspiciously like a spy camera. The crossbar that holds the overhead traffic light also has a little box thingy that looks [...]
New York Times columnist Gail Collins wrote in today's New York Times about Bristol Palin's becoming a national ambassador promoting abstinence from sex.
Here's an excerpt:
But surely, when it comes to combating teen pregnancy, the Palin family has done enough damage already. What worse message could you send to teenage [...]
Another letter-writer from Wasilla has come up with the best letters line of the last few days. This is from Stuart Thompson, writing about the U.S. use of torture:
"Does torture work? Burning witches and augury from chicken entrails are historically credited with similar rates of success."
You can read Thompson's letter' [...]
Jack E. Miller of Wasilla wrote this one, in a letter about how elected officials should represent us:
"We do not want you to vote your conscience; we want you to vote our conscience."
One little river fire and they never forget.
The mayor's office wasn't content with the straightforward Earth Day hook for its Anchorage energy savings and conservation projects press release. They just had to remind people that the first Earth Day in 1970 was inspired not just by pollution in general but' [...]
In the waning days of the legislative session, the House took an important vote on protecting the permanent fund. At issue was whether investment rules should be loosened so the fund can invest in an in-state gas pipeline.
It was a reprise of a debate that has run for thirty years: [...]
