Anchorage Daily News

JOHN HAVELOCK

Prevailing culture of war can change

An Alaska columnist on holiday in Spain draws on the literary past to reflect upon the landscape passing by the train window and the news of the hour. Barack Obama has just won the presidency. Spaniards, like almost all Europeans, are ecstatic. The columnist frets over a newspaper review in his lap praising "The Culture of War" by Martin van Crevold, in which Mr. van Crevold argues for the inevitability of war, for the most part because we have always had them. For President Obama, will war always be an "option on the table?"

COMMENT

Pets deserve pats for household health

While many industries are feeling the pain of the current economic crisis, the pet industry is booming.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Academics, not athletics, should be high school priority

Our schools' report cards don't look very good. As we run around trying to figure out why Johnny can't read and Susie can't do math, I think we should peek into a corner that is traditionally left untouched because of its sensitive nature.

DAN FAGAN

She's not your average American girl

I had the privilege of having Stephanie Steele on my television and radio show this week. I just recently met Steele, and to be honest, she didn't make much of a first impression. Once I got to know her, I realized how special she is.

ANDREW HALCRO

GOP needs to appeal beyond the base with real solutions

Shortly after Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to garner more than 50 percent of the vote since the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter, conservative activists were already diagnosing the Republican Party's problem.

MICHAEL CAREY

Here's why many voters stuck with Ted

"What is it with you people up there?" a former professor of mine called to ask.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Auto bailout would be first of many

Finally, the outlines of a coherent debate on the federal bailout. This comes as welcome relief from a campaign season that gave us the House Republicans' know-nothing rejectionism, John McCain's mindless railing against "greed and corruption" and Barack Obama's detached enunciation of vacuous bailout "principles" that allowed him to be all things to all people.

DAN BONNEY

Consumer malaise may force businesses to shape up

As government "experts" and politicians wring their hands over fiscal, monetary and intervention policy to "stabilize the economy," the American consumer is voting with his wallet.

STEVE HAYCOX

Obama's election a watershed moment for US

On Nov. 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln, having thought deeply about the occasion, delivered remarks at the dedication of the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania. They were brief, about two minutes, just 10 sentences, 272 words. Remarkably, the speech has for generations been an icon of American letters because of the message Lincoln expressed.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Obnoxious ads may have backfired on Democrats here

For just a moment there was blessed silence. No one screaming at me, telling me what to think, who to vote for, how many felons were in our congressional delegation. For just a moment, it was safe to answer the phone because there wouldn't be a robo call at the other end pretending to be a personal message.

WALLY HICKEL

Alaska energy a vessel of opportunity

The voters of America have chosen a truly great leader at a time we urgently need one. Barack Obama's shoulders are broad enough, his judgment sound enough and his mind open enough to help us conquer the immense challenges before us.

DAN FAGAN

Obama can send a message to dads

President-elect Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to bring real change to America. No, not accelerate the already slow creep toward socialism, but real change.

MICHAEL CAREY

Young got breaks, but tenacity can't be ignored

Don Young's political career continues. The 35-year veteran of the House of Representatives appeared headed for certain defeat, but it's now clear Democrat Ethan Berkowitz will not catch him.

MARY SANCHEZ

The world now looks to US with hope

Green with envy I was, upon receiving the text message a friend sent me from an exclusive reserved section during Barack Obama's post-election gathering at Chicago's Grant Park.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

McCain was worthy despite mistakes

In my previous life, I witnessed far more difficult postmortems. This one is easy. The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 -- caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) -- although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.

JUDITH KLEINFELD

Espouse the GOP if you want happiness

Look at the bright side, Republicans. Yes, McCain lost the election, and your wealth is spiraling downward, but about a week from now, you are still going to be happier than Democrats.

Palin enthusiastically practices socialism, Alaska-style

I make a motion that we change the name of our state. Henceforth we should be known as the State of Irony, thanks to Sarah Palin's sashay down the catwalk of national politics.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Election joy turns sour over Alaska corruption

I sit here wondering what I can possibly say that hasn't already been said about this historic election. It's probably the first time I've cried listening to a politician since the day I attended Bobby Kennedy's funeral in New York and listened to his brother's eulogy for him.

DAN FAGAN

Obama's redistribution plan will ultimately hurt everyone

What would happen if William Boetcker would run for president today? The Presbyterian minister was a sought-after lecturer in the United States in the early 1900s.

ANOTHER VIEW: FROM THE VOICE OF THE TIMES

Don Young is best choice for U.S. House seat

This editorial appeared Thursday on the Voice of the Times Web site. Voice of the Times, an online journal of conservative Alaska opinion, ceased operations at the end of October. Published by permission.

STEVE HAYCOX

Election is among the most momentous in US history

It is inexorable, yet mysterious. One by one, beginning in villages in Maine, voters step behind red, white and blue curtains and mark their ballots, their solitary, penciled bubbles slowly coalescing into a grand, collective whole.