For years, Alaskans have petitioned the State Legislature in Juneau - a city in southeast Alaska, accessible only by air and sea - to move the capitol to Anchorage ... or Fairbanks ... or anywhere on the road system.
In fact, Alaskans have voted three times to move the capitol, and all three times, the Legislature has ignored the will of the people. It would be too hard on Juneau's economy, they tell us. And while that's arguably true, it also leaves the capitol more-or-less inaccessible to most Alaskans. Legislators seem to enjoy having a private playground for ... well, use your imagination. Booze, hookers, and mistresses come to mind.
So we've also petitioned the Legislature to take Alaska off of Daylight Saving time. It's stupid to change the clock when the sun doesn't set.
Seriously. So what are our oh-so-responsive elected officials debating?
There's a proposal on the table to move Alaska to Pacific Time - you know, West Coast/Lower 48 time.
If that's not a solution in search of a nonexistent problem, then I've never seen one.
Hey Texans: wanna be in the same time zone as Pennsylvania? That's more-or-less what our darling legislators are proposing, here.
Makes perfect sense. To them; not to anyone I've asked.
Yessiree Bob, the finest legislature Big Oil can buy.
Psalm 22:27-28: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he ruleth among the nations.”
13 comments:
Legislators are the same everywhere.
Bought-and-sold idiots.
Sigh.
gfa
I'm not real sure just whose payroll my legislature is on, but at present they are in a heated debate about who should have access to public ladies bathrooms.
Sigh.
Reverend Paul, I become more convinced every day that politicians are, on the whole, completely useless.
Gufffaw, I fear that you're correct.
Vicki, it's bound to be some cabal of special-interest groups who are looking out solely for themselves.
TB, you appear to be quite correct.
Alas, we are stuck(stabbed)with a solar panel 'farm' that has run into money problems already. Someone made a fortune on selling that land to them.
I think they use the fall change in time to get people sick and keep them home from the polls.
Chickenmom, there are such boondoggles all over the country. Gifts from our self-appointed "rulers", you see. After all, they're so much smarter than we, right? They know how to spend other peoples' money more wisely than those who actually earned it, don'tcha know.
threecollie, that's one of the many (ahem, cough) benefits (cough, cough). There are others.
To paraphrase a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as regards politicians everywhere:
"Morons, we've got morons on our team..."
True enough, Sarge, but you'll have to pardon me for being reminded of Jurassic Park: the scene in which Dennis Nedry says, "Dodgson! We've got Dodgson here! See? No one cares."
Unfortunately, the ones who don't care are the elected "rulers" who spend our money so freely.
Juneau has that poor of a road system?
Jim, I can't tell if you're trying to be funny, so ... Juneau has roads just like anywhere else. It's just that the city isn't connected to any place else - it's a completely land- and sea-locked location to which you must either fly or sail. You can't drive there: no highway.
Wrote that before I had my coffee!
I looked up Juneau on Goggle Maps, and found out I didn't know where it was.
And the Wikipedia entry also makes a big point about it not being on any Interstate Highway system, and that it's essentially "cut off" from land access.
Back in the days of sailing ships & then steamships, Juneau was a logical port on the Inside Passage, on the way from Seattle/Portland to points farther north and west. But with air travel, it's a location which has outlived it's usefulness as a transportation or re-supply port.
It's still a popular tourist spot, but only because ships sailing the Inside Passage still stop there. It's arguable that, if the State capitol were relocated, it would wither and mostly die. But that alone isn't a sufficient reason to prevent the majority of the residents from traveling to see their legislators at work.
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