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Farewell 10/31/08 |
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This is the end of
a great newspaperSAYING GOODBYE to our thousands of friends and readers is hard enough, but it's even more painful to say goodbye to a great newspaper, The Anchorage Times.
The print edition of The Times ended production in 1992 when it was sold to the Anchorage Daily News. The Voice of The Times continued for another 15 years as a half-page of conservative opinion carried each day inside the Daily News. Its life was extended another 17 months with an online version of editorials and columns, but funding eventually ran out and the time has come to cease altogether.
From its beginning in the frontier days of 1915, when railroad work crews first came ashore at Ship Creek anchorage (now known as the city of Anchorage) to today's end, The Anchorage Times has worked to be a voice for the advancement of Alaska and the interests of its people. We would like to think it mostly succeeded, but that will be for others to decide.
As for the remaining four editors, we can only say it has been an honor and a pleasure to work with each other and on behalf of those readers . . . |
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Stevens 10/30/08 |
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Vote for Stevens
to keep balance
in U.S. SenateWE FIND OURSELVES, like most Alaskans, greatly saddened by Sen. Ted Stevens’ conviction by a federal court jury in Washington, D.C., and immensely concerned about what that could mean in the long run, for Alaska and for the nation.
As the Nov. 4 election looms, there are many things to consider aside from Stevens’ 40 years of service to Alaska in the U.S. Senate, or the fact that Alaska is what it is today largely because of his efforts, or the immeasurable good he has done for individuals during his career. There are things to wonder about other than the odd conduct of a trial that occurred at exactly the right time — again — to affect political outcomes in Alaska. All that is for another time.
There are those who will argue that Stevens has forsaken the electorate and embarrassed the state and Alaskans should vote for his opponent. Stevens, they will intone, should resign. They are wrong. They are pressing their own agenda. What they want . . . |
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Young 10/30/08 |
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Don Young is
the best choice
for U.S. HouseREP. DON YOUNG, Alaska’s lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1973, has more than earned re-election.
Now serving his 18th term, Young is the third-ranking Republican member of the House and 7th ranking overall. During all those years, he managed to head several committees important to Alaska, such as the House Resources Committee, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
All of that is important to our young state because for 35 years he was fighting almost insurmountable odds . . . |
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Don't resign 10/29/08 |
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New 10:15 a.m. Stevens should ignore
Palin's foolish call WHAT IN THE world was Sarah Palin thinking when she smiled sweetly into the news cameras and said Sen. Ted Stevens should resign?
Stevens, convicted this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., in a trial that raised eyebrows because of its screwups, has vowed to continue his campaign for re-election and pursue his appeals.
It seems every struggling politician, including Palin, who wants to make headlines now is lining up to climb on the “Ted should step aside” bandwagon. The problem? Palin should know better.
If Stevens were to step aside, Democrat Mark Begich surely would be elected. That would give Democrats . . . |
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Alaskan diva 10/29/08 |
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Palin goes rogue
on McCain teamGOV. SARAH PALIN'S war with staffers in Sen. John McCain's campaign organization is showing a side of her that's familiar to many Alaskans but new to most voters in the national arena. After all, her Wasilla High nickname was Sarah Barracuda.
The simmering feud surfaced last week when a McCain staffer complained (anonymously) that Palin was behaving like a "diva" and was ignoring campaign staff advice to pursue her own political agenda — a future in national politics.
By diva, the man meant "prima donna." He suggested the Alaska governor was trying to position herself . . . |
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Closing time 10/12-13/08 |
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Voice of The Times
to cease operation
at end of October
WE ARE SORRY to report that the Voice of The Times will be stilled after the end of October. Funding for the Voice, an online Alaska journal of conservative opinion, is expiring and no new source of revenue has been found.
The Voice has a fine readership base of about 20,000 largely conservative readers in Alaska and elsewhere, one that generates about 1.2 million hits per month. In ordinary times, that audience would be attractive for a media organization with the ability to attract advertisers and sell space on the site for a profit.
But these are not ordinary times in the media world. . . |
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Presidential race 10/28/08 |
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John McCain
the best choice
for presidentIT IS DIFFICULT to imagine anybody voting for an untested, untried, unknown Sen. Barack Obama on Nov. 4. His lack of experience makes him a weak choice. It is even more difficult to imagine anybody, when offered the tested, tried and deeply vetted Sen. John McCain as an alternative, who would not vote for the Arizona Republican.
McCain simply is the best choice; the only choice that makes sense for the nation, and especially for Alaska. For decades, he has served his country with distinction, even at the risk of his life, and would bring to the nation’s top job the experience, knowledge and ability to work across the aisle for the nation’s good. He understands the Constitution and is able to grasp the concept of a free market economy and the America most of us know and cherish.
Obama, with his myopic “spread the wealth” economic vision . . . |
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Media bias 10/27/08 |
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Majority of reporting
on McCain is negativeHERE'S SOMETHING that should not come as a surprise to you. John McCain has been receiving heavily unfavorable news coverage. Can you imagine? What a stunner.
That conclusion comes from Pew Research, which examined news coverage, not op-ed or opinion pieces, and said the McCain bashing by the media is getting even worse, with the number of unfavorable over favorable reports continuing to grow.
The Pew report says the coverage of McCain has been heavily unfavorable, and has become more so over time. In the six weeks following the conventions through the final debate, unfavorable stories about McCain outweighed . . . |
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Fuel prices 10/26/08 |
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Why are gasoline
prices so high
in Alaska?LET US ADD our voice to the growing cry: Why are our gasoline prices so much higher than the rest of the nation?
On Friday, the average price in Oklahoma was $2.27 a gallon for regular, and in some cities it was considerably cheaper. The price of regular in Texas as 2.49 a gallon. The national average was a bit more, $2.73 a gallon for regular.
In fact, in the 10 states with the lowest prices, regular gasoline was selling . . . |
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Fairness doctrine 10/25/08 |
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Liberals in Congress
want to silence
conservativesIF YOU STILL are wondering whether you should cast your ballot for Barack Obama, add this to the mix: Will he reinstate the onerous Fairness Doctrine to muzzle radio and television debate?
With a Democratic House and a possible supermajority in the Senate, anything could happen. And while you are worrying about what that will mean for your bank account, what with increased taxes, environmentalism run amok, skyrocketing government health care costs, union demands and other, leftist special interest legislation, you can add silenced dissent.
Brian C. Anderson, a New York Post, columnist, reports the Obama campaign says there are no plans to move against conservative talk radio to diminish the influence of the right. But most Democrats — including party elders . . . |
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Headline News |
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Jenkins 10/31/08 |
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An information alternative is goneBy PAUL JENKINSI have always loved newspapers, believing they are the key to preserving our democratic republic. From Colonial times, when they were hastily tacked on trees and tavern walls in the night, they have shown the way. Not always the right way, mind you, but a way that at least could be debated. They would and should always be around, I thought, because they are needed, especially in tense and uncertain times such as these.  Jenkins Not everybody feels that way about newspapers, but really, what’s not to love? Each has its own personality; its own cadence; its own soul. Some are spoiled children. Others stern grandfathers. Some are happy; others grimly gray and stodgy. Each day, despite economic woes nibbling at their bottom lines, they cajole, drag and push for what they think is right. They scream. They yell. They cry. The good ones separate the wheat from the chaff.
To me, newspapers always have been living entities with all the quirks and idiosyncrasies you would expect. Some are smart; others, not so much. There are very good ones and some that go out of their way to be bad. Just like people.
The treat has been that there were always so many of them to read on a dreary Sunday morning while attacking a key lime pie. That has changed. Too many published newspapers find themselves in dire financial straits and their numbers are diminishing. It is sad . . . |
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Letters to the Editor 10/30/08 |
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Last LettersStevens is a patriotic public servantThe list of what Ted Stevens has done for this state and its residents during his career as Senator is far too long to list, but seems so easily forgotten by some. If you haven't lived here long enough to know all the good he's done, then maybe its time for you to do some research before casting him out as a convict.
Alaska's advancement would not be what it is today without him. Nothing is ever perfect, but he's been our rock through all our ups and downs in the last 40 years and for his constituents to turn quicksand on him now when he, for the first time, needs our unwavering support the most, is inconceivable.
Between Begich's newly reported, unreported gifts and Stevens‚ who cares? Have you recorded every single gift in your lifetime?
Who has the track record for putting Alaska and its residents first? Who has held one of the most powerful positions in the U.S. Senate? Who has the knowledge, expertise and experience to deal with the big government in Washington . . . |
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Brennan 10/29/08 |
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Simmering passenger revolt
means liberals won't rule forever
By TOM BRENNANThe problem for 24-hour news channels is there just isn't 24 hours of news every day. There aren't that many significant things happening in the world, so the round-the-clock newsies give intensive coverage to stupid stuff.  Brennan Take the jock-itch scandal that occupied hours of intense focus last week. The big story involved an openly gay lieutenant on the New York Police Department who was charged with lewd gestures by two male heterosexual sergeants.
The lieutenant said he was rubbing his crotch because he had jock itch, but he was found guilty of sexually harassing the sergeants for dealing with his problem in front of them. They felt he was being suggestive.
I watched the scandal unfold while waiting for breakfast at a pheasant hunting lodge in South Dakota. When the female anchor giving the news said she didn't know anything . . . |
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Tobin 10/26/08 |
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It's time to call it a day,
after 63 special yearsBy WILLIAM J. TOBINTHIS IS THE LAST EDITION OF A weekly column that has appeared in The Anchorage Times and The Voice of The Times for 45 years. And Friday will mark the close of a 63-year career in journalism that began in Indianapolis in 1945 and continued in Associated Press assignments there, in New York, in Louisville, in Juneau, in Baltimore, and in Helena, Mont. After almost 18 years with the AP, the last move along this journalistic trail was back to Alaska on a permanent basis joining the Times in April 1963. And now it ends. Call it retirement. Or maybe it's better to call it a moment whose time has come.  Tobin OVER THOSE YEARS it has been my privilege to serve with a host of talented men and women. I have covered as a reporter some of the biggest national stories of the day. As a bureau chief and as an editor I have directed the coverage of major events that made headlines the world over. Outside the newsroom, I have had the opportunity to serve on dozens of community boards and agencies, and worked with wonderful volunteers in hopes of making Anchorage a better place to live and work.
ALONG THE WAY, MY WIFE, Marge, and I have watched a territory become a state, a town become a city. We have helped guide three great sons into manhood, and welcomed daughters-in-law and grandchildren into the family. They are more important . . . |
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Pruden 10/28/08 |
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Good old Joe lifts the curtainBy WESLEY PRUDENThe end of the campaign is finally in sight, and fear stalks the land once more.  Pruden Hillary Clinton has been in Minnesota, campaigning for Al Franken and averting her eyes when he brings out his pornography collection, and sounding the alarm that the vast right-wing media conspiracy is back at work. Evil never takes a holiday.
Hillary sees conspirators hiding behind every pumpkin, as the spooks, haints and goblins newly arrived from the nether world descend upon us for their usual Halloween stalking duty.
The carpenters, plasterers and plumbers working on the set for Barack Obama's victory-night party are afraid, too. Can they get it finished in time for the official laying on of hands?
The Obama campaign considered retrieving the Temple of Zeus from storage in Denver, but thought it not grand enough . . . |
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Walter Williams 10/27/08 |
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Affordable health care
By WALTER E. WILLIAMS One of the campaign themes this election cycle is "affordable" health care. Shouldn't we ask ourselves whether we want the politicians who brought us the "affordable" housing, that created the current financial debacle, to now deliver us affordable health care? Shouldn't we also ask how things turned out in countries where there is socialized medicine?  Williams The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute's annual publication, "Waiting Your Turn," reports that Canada's median waiting times from a patient's referral by a general practitioner to treatment by a specialist, depending on the procedure, averages from five to 40 weeks. The wait for diagnostics, such as MRI or CT, ranges between four and 28 weeks.
According to Michael Tanner's "The Grass Is Not Always Greener," in Cato Institute's Policy Analysis (March 18, 2008), the Mayo Clinic treats more than 7,000 foreign patients a year, the Cleveland Clinic 5,000, Johns Hopkins Hospital treats 6,000, and one out of three Canadian physicians send a patient to the U.S. for treatment each year. If socialized medicine is so great, why do Canadian physicians send patients to the U.S. and the Canadian government spends over $1 billion . . . |
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Krauthammer 10/25/08 |
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McCain still the right choice for commander-in-chief By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMERWASHINGTON — Contrarian that I am, I'm voting for John McCain. I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it's over before it's over. I'm talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.  Krauthammer I stand athwart the rush of conservative ship-jumpers of every stripe — neo (Ken Adelman), moderate (Colin Powell), genetic/ironic (Christopher Buckley) and socialist/atheist (Christopher Hitchens) — yelling "Stop!" I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I'd rather lose an election than lose my bearings.
First, I'll have no truck with the phony case ginned up to rationalize voting for the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory. The "erratic" temperament issue, for example. As if McCain's risky and unsuccessful but in no way irrational attempt to tactically maneuver his way through the economic tsunami that came crashing down a month ago renders unfit for office a man who demonstrated the most admirable equanimity and courage in the face of unimaginable pressures as a prisoner of war, and who later steadily navigated innumerable challenges and setbacks, not the least of which was the collapse of his campaign just a year ago.
McCain the "erratic" is a cheap Obama talking point. The 40-year record testifies to McCain the stalwart.
Nor will I countenance the "dirty campaign" pretense. The double standard here is stunning. Obama ran a scurrilous Spanish-language ad . . . |
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Jenkins 10/23/08 |
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Palin was unaware of Gazprom's visit to AlaskaBy PAUL JENKINSIs it just me, or is it disconcerting that Gov. Sarah Palin was left in the dark when the entire senior management of Gazprom waltzed into Anchorage to meet with an oil company executive and the state? They wanted to talk about their company and investing in energy projects here, perhaps even the proposed gas line from the North Slope to points south — and nobody told Palin? Jenkins How can that be?
Gazprom is not Uncle Bob’s Gas Co. and Hubcap Shoppe. It is beyond huge. It is Russia’s largest company and a market force. In fact, it’s the largest natural gas extraction company on the planet, accounting for more than 90 percent of Russian gas production. It controls something like 16 percent of the world’s gas reserves.
Imagine: Gazprom’s senior management — and several pals of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin — show up in the governor’s conference room in the Atwood Building in downtown Anchorage for a chat with Deparment of Natural Resources officials and Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips’ top executive.
Nobody wonders, “Hey, should we tell the boss? After all, she’s spending a lot of time slapping around the Russians, especially Putin, and the media is nosy and all that.” Instead, the lovely and fashionably dressed Sarah P. is left campaigning . . . |
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Letters Policy |
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The Voice of The Times welcomes letters to the editor. They may contain criticism, praise or commentary on local, state, national or international issues. We would appreciate letters being kept to 200 words or less. They will generally be featured on a letters page, then moved to our letters archive on Page Two. Please include your phone number and hometown. The number is for verification purposes only and will not be published. |
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