Tuesday Morning

Good morning. It's 40 degrees, and AccuHunch guesses we'll get up to 58 today, with partly cloudy skies. I suppose I'm getting into a winter-time frame of mind: any day with any sunshine is a good one. But that's a negative mindset, considering that most of the leaves have yet to fall, and in fact haven't all turned yellow, yet. I don't see much brown, either, so we're still another week - or one good windstorm - away from falling leaves.

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In Your Face Dept.: It's worth noting that Sarah Palin's oh-so-controversial predator control program is proving itself to work. With absolutely no apology to the remaining Elite Liberal Media (or at least the ones that haven't gone bankrupt yet), it seems there has been a 50 percent increase in the moose and caribou herds since she decided to allow wolf hunting. You can read the rest, here.

You may recall that one of the animal rights outfits ran anti-Palin ads during last year's presidential campaign, decrying her inhumane attitude toward those poor, misunderstood wolves. They'd want me to mention who they are.

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A recent editorial in the Daily Worker News opined that the Municipality should dip into funds set aside for marketing Anchorage as a tourist destination, due to budget shortfalls. This seems unusually short-sighted, even for the Noise.

The money spent on trolling for tourists results in tens of millions of dollars pouring into the local economy, including that which trickles into the city's coffers via the hotel bed tax, and inventory taxes on the tourism-based businesses.

Advertise less = fewer tourists.
Fewer tourists = fewer dollars.

Apparently Journalism 101 didn't include basic economics. Tsk, tsk, children; didn't your mothers tell you to think before you put words on that computer screen?

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Ain't Technology Wonderful Dept.: It's wonderful to see all the familiar "followers'" faces & icons when I visit my home page. Except when it's not working, like for most of Monday.

I also notice that the dashboard tells me, about one visit out of five, that I'm not following any blogs. Except, you know, for all the ones I do. But that's nit-picking, eh?

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Money Grows on Trees Dept.: I see that the Anchorage School Board - you know, the one that's always just moments away from insolvency - has voted to add 30 teachers and 23 staffers for a larger-than-expected enrollment. I wonder if anyone will question where they found the money. I know that some of it will be offset by additional funds paid to the district by the State and/or Federales.

I fully expect the Superintendent to appear on local TV before the year is out, expressing her bewilderment at how short of funds they are, and threatening all sorts of dire program closures if people don't pony up more dough.

The first time I saw her do such a thing, it was the same day that then-Governor Murkowski announced he was sending her district an additional $40 Million. The. Same. Day.

Pathetic crisis-of-the-week mentality. And all the while, test scores keep dropping, and rarely is there an improvement in the graduation rate.

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That's enough local news for one morning. I need to go wash my brain out with some quiet music.

Have a great day, folks! Thanks for stopping by.