Unexpected Free Afternoon

I believe I've mentioned before that my ahem retirement cough, cough covers the bills, but leaves little pocket money left over. To that end, I work part-time as a cashier at local grocery-slash-department store.

The point of this rambling narrative is that my old Navy injury, three crushed lumbar vertebrae resulting in permanent weakness and a galloping case of traumatic arthritis, decided that today was a great time to flare up. So after a few hours at the register, I decided to exercise a bit o' discretion and take the afternoon off.

I'm glad I did: it's a partly-sunny day, with broken overcast here and yonder. The temp's 49°, roughly normal for this time of year, and it's a beautiful day to sit in a chair with appropriate back support and read a book or two.

This evening another contractor will come by to provide a quote on drywall repair from the earthquake damage. The wheels of "disaster recovery" turn slowly, and we've just now finally been approved for our recovery loan. Strangely enough, it comes through the Small Business Administration, only after FEMA approves the original application for disaster assistance.

It's probably a good thing that the President declared the 7.1 magnitude 'quake a federal disaster, or we'd be stuck with whatever pocket change the State might have had available. Given the state of the State economy, I'm not sure we'd have gotten enough to fix anything.

Yes, Alaska by rights ought to be a wealthy place, given the abundance of oil. But successive Legislatures have spent like the proverbial drunken sailors, spreading the wealth far faster than it came in. When one combines that with our lack of a State income tax, and no sales tax, we're "suddenly" hurting.

The "suddenly" came as a surprise only to our Legislators; everyone has seen it coming down the middle of Main Street for years.

So I'll enjoy the quiet, the glimpses of sun, and the books. All y'all have a great day, too.

It's Unpossible

There's no local news of any import beyond the usual left/right schism in reporting the State budget. The new governor, who ran on a platform of cutting the budget by liquidating parts of that government, intends to keep his promise. 

The local fishwrapper, er, "news"paper, says 

a) he can't do it, 

b) it's impossible (the same thing as a, above, but it's never stopped them from repeating themselves before), and 

c) when he does it (I thought it was impossible..?) it'll hurt the old, the young, the poor, the sick, state government employees, and the schools. 

If they left anyone off that list, it's not because they ran out of ink.

Mysterious Mysteries & Budget Woes

You remember a story I mentioned, about a guy found beaten and bloody? Police and medical personnel first thought he had been stabbed. Then they decided it was a bear, but the injuries weren't consistent with bite or claw marks. Then they opined that perhaps it was a stomping attack from a young moose.

The plot thickens: now it's possible that he was beaten with a hammer or some other type of tool. A witness reports seeing the guy leave home with an unidentified second man. A couple of hours later, the victim was found unconscious, and doctors say he may never speak again.

* * * * *

Alaska, like many of the other oil-producing States, watches its budget deficit grow. The Governor first proposed budget cuts, but promptly announced that "we can't cut our way out of this." So then he duly proposed several draconian measures to stem the tide of red ink, but the Legislature refuses to do anything at all.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a fan of most of the things the Governor proposed: an income tax, a sales tax, and allowing the State to dip into the oil revenue savings account, which is specifically ear-marked as belonging to the residents of the State. A small percentage of said savings are divvied out to the residents each year, after they've been here for awhile.

But the Governor is a good modern-day politician ... that is to say, neither terribly reliable nor particular innovative, relying on traditional liberal tax-and-spend policies instead of budget cuts.

So the Legislature stonewalls his proposals, and now - in their second consecutive "special session" - refuses to do much of anything at all.

The local fishwrapper decries the whole mess, of course, and declares that the deficit will continue to grow. It's probably one of the few predictions they've made in recent times which will come true.

Short Attention Span

I remember when Ronald Reagan said, "I used to be a Democrat, but the Democratic Party left me", and now I wonder how long before conservatives are tempted to say, "I used to be an American, but ..."  It certainly seems as though the inmates are running the asylum, these last few years.

Remember when the will of the people was enough to cause Congress to reverse course on unpopular issues? I miss those days.

I recall instructions in boot camp about how sailors were not obligated to follow an unlawful command. What no one specified, however, was the procedure to follow if we decided that an order or command was indeed unlawful. To whom were we supposed to turn?

I suspect that the average sailor was too used to following orders, after awhile, to give it much thought. That in itself frightens me now, as we contemplate the possibility of a nation-wide repetition of the 'Great Louisiana Gun Grab.' As various members of Congress debate how many bodies they'd be comfortable with, before a lunatic runs out of ammo in his/her first magazine, the State Department proceeds with the U.N.'s treaty to disarm American citizens.

Molon labe, y'all.

Will our military remember that such a thing is unconstitutional, and must not be obeyed? Or will they do as the National Guardsman in Louisiana who said sheepishly, "It made me feel a little weird," but did it anyway?


What I expect would happen, though, is the incremental approach as they begin to disarm individuals and small groups, in isolated areas. Despite the popularity of T-shirts which read, "The Founders would be shooting by now", it's pretty obvious that there won't be any widespread uprising. That leaves individual resistance, unless the level of unconstitutional tyranny gets ratcheted up sharply. Given the progressives' approach, I suspect they'll continue to move just slowly enough to allow the heat to die down before the cross the next "line in the sand".

And while we hear stories about this group or that being raided, the majority will sit back, forgetting the urgency because of their shortened TV/internet attention-deficit. They won't take it seriously until a squad of black-clad soldiers/police (and what's the effective difference, these days?) show up at their front door & turn the house upside down, looking for now-prohibited arms and ammunition.

And then, of course, it will be too late to do anything except stand around, bleating ineffectually.

Don't look to the courts for any help. 

It will fall to the several States to effectively nullify any federal actions in this regard. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said about hanging together?
* * * * *

In local news, we watch gaggles of politicians (State and municipal) debating the sudden need for fiscal conservatism due to budget shortfalls. It would be amusing, if it weren't so serious, how it seems to be an unfamiliar concept to them. They're more interested in pointing fingers at one another, debating whether it's the previous Governor or mayor, or the current ones at fault, all the while talking about which programs need more money. Then they debate, without apparent end, about how many bond issues to place on the next ballot.

It never seems to occur to more than one or two of them that perhaps the issue isn't how many, but whether to place any at all.

I don't want to get depressed, so I'll move on to other things today. The weather is warmish this morning (24 degrees) with scattered areas of dense fog, and we only received about a half-inch of wet snow yesterday. There are probably slick spots, but yesterday afternoon's sunshine melted most of what fell on the roads. There's no snow in the forecast at all, as AccuHunch calls for a warm, rainy period over the next week. 

We could use the snow: the Iditarod's re-start on March 8th has already been moved from Willow to Fairbanks, and the Tustamena 200 on the Kenai Peninsula has been canceled due to lack of snow for the second year in a row.

Oh, well.

Thanks for stopping by, friends. Happy Friday!

Big Changes Coming

Big Wind on the Way Dept.: No, not political debates.


It's -7° this morning, and the winds are calm - for now. However, the weather service predicts that

Winds will ... expand to the Matanuska Valley and Anchorage Thursday afternoon into Saturday. No warnings are expected at this time...but this will be the first significant wind event this winter for many locations. Wind chills could reach as low as 5 below to 20 below in the upper Cook Inlet region [That's us - Ed.] ...and as low as 45 below near passes along the along the Alaska Range and Thompson Pass.

We're three feet below normal on snowfall, and there's no mention of it in the local forecast. But it's hardly the first time we've been cold, nor will strong winds be a unique occurrence. Still, after the lackluster winter we've had so far, truly cold weather is a welcome change of pace.

At least it feels like winter for a change.

* * * * *

Big Layoffs Looming: Because of falling oil prices, Alaska faces a severe budget shortfall. Our new Governor is actually doing something about it, though:

As Alaskans await the release of Gov. Bill Walker’s budget Thursday, he’s warning state workers the proposal will result in reductions in both services and the public employees providing those services.

Wow: no pie-in-the-sky promises, no proposals for any sort of tax (from him, anyway; the Legislature is another story), just belt-tightening.

That's refreshing, too.

* * * * *

Finally, we have some reader-submitted photos from Alaska for your viewing pleasure.

Anchorage

Hatcher Pass at the old Independence Mine, some 60 miles northeast of Anchorage

Thanks for stopping by, friends - I hope you all have a great Thursday.

Alaska Stubborn

It's a nippy 2° below this morning, here at work, but there's not nearly the frost we had yesterday. I guess the continued cold air has finally decreased the humidity. That, or that cold has sublimed as much of the remaining snow as it can.

* * * * *
As our new state legislators and the administration settle into their roles, Alaska (like most States) faces a significant budget shortfall: some $3.5 billion, this year alone. The budget process, a year or two back, predicted that $120/barrel oil prices would be around for awhile - and it's down to $50/barrel now.

Yes, we have a $50 billion-with-a-b savings account, and some savings in the Constitional Reserve fund, but we're using it faster than it can be replaced.*

While the Governor has suspended some major projects that have been lingering on the books for years, Alaskans are busily disagreeing on how to address the problem.

Like the old joke, if you lined up all us Alaskans end-to-end, we'd point in all directions.

But Alaskans are, at heart, good solid folks who'll lend a newcomer a helping hand ... once. After that, they expect you to learn from your mistake(s) & not do it again.

Meredith Wilson's "Iowa Stubborn" (from "The Music Man") applies to Alaska, as well:

Oh, there's nothing halfway
About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you
Which we may not do at all. 

There's an Iowa kind of special
Chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.
We've never been without.
That we recall.

We can be cold
As our falling thermometers in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so by God stubborn
We could stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.

But what the heck, you're welcome,
Join us at the picnic.
You can eat your fill
Of all the food you bring yourself.

You really ought to give Iowa a try.
Provided you are contrary,
We can be cold
As our falling thermometer in December
If you ask about our weather in July.

And we're so by God stubborn
We can stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.

But we'll give you our shirt
And a back to go with it
If your crops should happen to die.

* For the record, Alaska has neither a sales nor income tax. I suspect we won't be able to put off one or t'other (if not both) for much longer.

Another Day in the Life

It's cloudy, 48 degrees, and will be windy & 56 this afternoon. I'm not complaining (except about the lack of sun), as these are fairly normal temps for early June. It does make our evening walks more enjoyable to have a nice breeze blowing.

∙ Alaska Governor Sean Parnell, who has line-item veto authority over the State's budget, recently vetoed an increase in funding to Denali Kid Kare, which provides coverage to uninsured children of families up to 175% of the poverty limit.

The increase would have raised that to 200%, but also provides funding for abortions. Governor Parnell, who had previously supported the measure, said that he will not use any State funds for abortion - and most of us support him for so doing.

Four Dimocrit state senators have filed a request for a special session of the Legislature, wanting to override the veto because it "hurts the children". Three (I think) of the four are those running against the Governor in the fall, so obviously no hidden motives ... nothing to see here; move along, sheeple.

∙ The local news is reporting that an APD officer was shot multiple times during an early morning traffic stop, today. She is apparently able to talk to investigators, and police have recovered the vehicle but not its occupant(s). The officer's condition and prognosis have not yet been released, but she's in our prayers.