Entertainment & Politics - But I Repeat Myself

Having been a long-time fan of Red Dwarf, I finally bought the entire series & final movie on DVD. We've made it through the first 3 seasons, mostly yesterday afternoon while nursing the sundry aches & pains left over from moving furniture.

Some changes from the 2nd to 3rd season are rather abrupt, as Holly went from male to female without explanation, Kryten began as one actor & in his next appearance is the guy who has played him since, and Rimmer's uniform changed from rather standard para-military garb to an dark-green version of that worn by Grand Moff Tarkin. But that's enough geekery.

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Speaking of entertainment, there's a pretty good rundown of issues expected to be taken up by the Legislature this year in today's paper.

Some of the highlights:

• The 90-day session begins Tuesday in Juneau as the state's looking at a projected surplus because of a forecast of continued high oil prices, which bring money into the treasury from royalties and taxes on the oil companies. Gov. Sean Parnell is proposing a nearly 9 percent increase in state general fund spending next year. That additional spending appears mostly fine with leading lawmakers, so long as they can add projects for their own districts into the mix.
• The Alaska legislative session begins Tuesday and runs to April 18. The state has a budget surplus and lawmakers are looking to spend serious money on hometown projects. There are legislators running for governor and Congress, and a governor who for the first time is asking voters to let him keep the office. Oil taxes will be a political battleground, with many legislators maintaining that lawmakers jacked them up too high under Sarah Palin and candidates who are staking out opposing positions. Among the issues in play: Gov. Sean Parnell wants to keep the oil tax rate the same, but is asking the Legislature to give more tax credits as incentives when companies drill in Alaska. It's an idea that could cost the treasury hundreds of millions of dollars.
  
• Parnell is also pushing for the Legislature to scrap the state's eight-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax. Democrats in the state House and Senate argue a better way to lower gas costs are with their "price gouging" bills to cap the refineries' margins at 10 percent higher than what is charged in Washington state.
  
• The fight is sure to continue over what the state should do to encourage an in-state natural gas pipeline to bring North Slope gas down to the Railbelt. It's seen as a backup if the line to the Lower 48 doesn't happen.
• Legislators, in an election year, will also decide whether to approve Parnell's ambitious new scholarship program, the Governor's Performance Scholarship. He's proposing the state give scholarships equal to at least half the University of Alaska tuition for high school students who have a "C-plus" average or better and take four years of math, science and language arts. Students with an "A" average could get their entire tuition paid for.

The Legislature is always entertaining, at least to the locals. The corruption that abounded at the beginning of former Governor Palin's term is lessened, but the conflicts of interest, interpersonal clashes, and accusations of favoritism never cease. This year, we have several legislators running for Governor, and the pandering for votes has already begun.

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