The Governor's "Plan" for Rural Alaska- ASK CONGRESS!

Office of the Governor, June 12, 2003
Governor’s Federal Efforts of Behalf of Rural Alaska
The State administration is taking a number of steps at the Federal level in Washington, DC to support the funding needs of rural areas and local
communities. These steps can be described briefly as follows:
Fiscal Relief to States and localities:
Pursuant to new Federal law, the State will soon receive $25 million in "Flexible assistance" for use in funding essential programs or to satisfy Federal mandates.
This amount will be followed by another $25 million at the beginning of the next Federal fiscal year, which begins on October 1, 2003.
State Appropriations Request for Rural Alaska
The State has submitted a number of appropriations requests to Congress for programs and services that benefit rural Alaska. These programs encompass a
broad spectrum of activities, including education, law enforcement, and economic development. Specific examples include:
· Rural Law Enforcement
· Alaska Frontier Health Initiative
· Various road projects
· TB Program
· Rural Diesel Fuel Health Assessment
· Rural EMS Training
· Suicide Prevention Program
· Rural Prosecution Support Team
· Community Health Aide Training
· Drug Abuse Resistance Education
· Rural Alcohol Interdiction
· Fishing Industry Assistance
State Appropriations Requests for Specific Communities
In addition, the State has requested Federal appropriations for projects and programs in particular communities. These include:
· Aleknagik
· Chandalar
· Chena Hot Springs
· Chignik Bay
· Chignik Lagoon
· Chignik Lake
· Dillingham
· Ketchikan
· Nome
· Seldovia
State Support for Budget Requests Submitted Directly by Local Communities
Staff of the DC Governor's office has met with representatives of a number of Alaska communities to discuss their local priorities and projects. In almost every
instance, the State has expressed strong support for these priorities and has communicated its support for specific projects to the Alaska Congressional
delegation. Because of the large number, particular projects are not mentioned here. These communities include:
· Aleutian Pribilof Islands
· North Slope Borough
· Ketchikan
· Sitka
· Nome
· Wasilla
· Kenai
· Wrangell
· Juneau
· Mat-Su Borough
· Kotzebue
· Seward
· Craig
· Metlakatla
· Calista/Donlan Creek
Federal Grants
In a number of instances, State agencies submit applications for Federal grants which benefit rural Alaska. In addition, upon request, the State often supports
grant applications submitted directly by local communities/organizations representing rural Alaska. These organizations include:
· Alaska Federation of Natives
· Kawerak, Inc.
· Norton Sound Health Corporation
· Tanana Chiefs

80.1 degrees in Bethel today!

I just LOVE that hot wind.

Cheap Trick to play Alaska State Fair!!!

Talk about exciting news!!!! The WORLDS GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND will play in Palmer Alaska on August 23 at 7 p.m. ONE SHOW ONLY. Do I wanna be there? TAKE A WILD GUESS!!!

Japan ready to open continental shelf treasure chest

Tokyo making case for claim to rich sea floor
The Asahi Shimbun

The government plans to spend up to 100 billion yen on undersea research to establish its claim to the continental shelf around Japan in time for a 2009 U.N. deadline.
Land, infrastructure and transport minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday Cabinet ministers had agreed to cooperate on the project. So far only the Japan Coast Guard has been carrying out the research.
Exploration of the seabed indicates the continental shelf area the government is eyeing contains possibly tens of trillions of yen worth of natural resources of the kind Japan currently has to import.
The government plans to cover the 100 billion yen cost of the project with state budgets, and may give the research work to private firms equipped with the appropriate research vessels.
A Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ship that is capable of carrying out the drilling work will only be available for 70 days this year.
To make matters worse, the education ministry's two sonar mapping ships are not available for the research this year.
Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which took effect in 1994, a coastal nation can claim continental shelf up to 650 kilometers from its coast, provided it establishes that the shelf is geographically continuous with the country's land and shares a similar geological structure.
Japan must meet a May 2009 deadline to apply for U.N. approval of its claim.
The Japan Coast Guard's research so far suggests that Japan may be able to claim about 650,000 square kilometers of new continental shelf-an area 70 percent larger than Japan's land mass. But the United Nations' screening criteria is proving to be more strict than Tokyo had originally anticipated.
Ogi said Japan could possibly become a nation rich in natural resources if its claim to the continental shelf gets U.N. approval.
``There will be gold, silver and cobalt equivalent to 5,000 years (of domestic consumption) each, manganese equivalent to 1,000 years' consumption and natural gas equivalent to 100 years' consumption. In terms of money, the value will amount to tens of trillion yen,'' she said.
Ogi said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had accepted her request that he lead the government in carrying out the ``national project'' of researching the shelf.(IHT/Asahi: July 10,2003)

now, THIS just might work

As long as they train them to gore big game guides....

"$20 million...for radar upgades at Gakona" indeed- How do YOU spell HAARP?

Bill proposes $33 million for Greely airfield

The Associated Press

FAIRBANKS (July 13, 2:45 p.m. ADT) - A draft military spending bill in the U.S. Senate proposes to spend $33 million on the airfield at Fort Greely where the Department of Defense is building a missile defense system.

The money is one of many Alaska projects funded in the fiscal 2004 defense appropriations bill, which the Senate Appropriations Committee recently finished.

Alaska GOP Sen. Ted Stevens, committee chairman, said the bill fully funds the Bush administration's request for missile defense funds.

"This additional funding will greatly enhance the capabilities of the ground-based midcourse missile defense program in Alaska," Stevens said in a news release.

The bill also contains $22 million to continue work on Fort Wainwright's power plant and central heating system renovation.

The Army has been rebuilding parts of the plant and adding pollution control technology in recent years. Another $20 million would go to the Air Force for radar upgrades at Gakona.

Stevens said many of the projects in the proposed defense spending bill support the coming Stryker Interim Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainwright and Fort Richardson. Such brigades, of which there are already two in Washington state, are supposed to be able to deploy anywhere in the globe within four days.

However, a recent Government Accounting Office report noted that the goal remains out of reach. The committee also added $3 million, above the Bush administration's request, for Alaska National Guard counter-drug work.

"Holy One-Armed Bandits, Batman"

Indian Country Today reports Indian Casinos are starting to kick the Maf's butt, in a frontpage story.

Boom times for Indian casinos, says Merrill Lynch
But watch out for rapid growth

Posted: July 10, 2003 - 9:09am EST
by: Mark Fogarty / Today Correspondent

NEW YORK - American Indian casinos will take in $15 billion, 36 percent of national gaming revenue this year, a figure that will rise to 40 percent by 2006, according to a major report by Merrill Lynch.

With this increase and further expansion on the horizon, Indian gaming has penetrated the bond market, with four financings since December, the investment banking company reported.

With stagnant markets in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the dynamic growth in gaming is all in Indian country, wrote Merrill analyst Kurt van Kuller. But he also warned "rapid growth can be a mixed blessing."

Casino bonds often come with "a gusher of revenues," according to van Kuller. But, "investors need to ponder market saturation and the impact of potential new competitors in a fast-changing environment."(more)

New website from Alaska Legal Services- check it out

from their e-mail:
"This is a project of Alaska Legal Services Corporation and a number of
other justice community partners throughout the state. We would like
your help in letting your listeners know about the availability of the
site. We think this is particularly important in rural areas of the
state in which there are few, if any, sources of free or low-cost legal
help."

Good analysis of the Senate field by the News-Miner's Sam Bishop

Yes, kiddies, I KNOW he "announced."

Does anyone really care?
All this means is that we will see the REAL mean spirited, vindictive Tony Knowles. Do we REALLY want a (freshman) U.S. Senator who flies into rages that drive staff to hiding, literally hiding, under their desks?
I'm gonna take to calling him "Daschle's Dachsund."

Pity poor Dick Gephardt

The guy gives it up in the House of Representatives to take a swipe at the exalted Presidency.
Classic Liberal, bleach blond couif, the whole nine yards.
I would have held onto the Leadership gig. Nice pension and plenty of free tee vee time on weekends.
But no, he wants to be President of the Unted States.
Good Luck, hotshot.
In a desperate attempt to look hip, he's using the Internet, to no avail it would appear.
Today drudge shares that "Online supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt appear to have trouble organizing"
Ummmmm, yeah. I'd say so. Look at this pathetic attempt to harness the power of the World Wide Web.
Pick a zipcode, any zip code. I tried mine and was told that there just aren't enough dick g supporters in Anchorage to bother callng a "meetup" meeting to discuss the upcoming campaign.
The best part,though, is here.
Hey Dick- you don't need a campaign manager, you need a frickin' moderator hahahahahaha.
The dropdown menu is hilarious. I wonder how many supporters he has in Romania? Actually he appears to have some in Vancouver, B.C. Whats up with that?

First, some kind words for the City of Bethel Utilities Department

I ran out of water. Duh. Fourth of July Weekend. Wife, coupla kids, father in law, sister in law all here in the shack. Duh. "Can I take a shower?" every few minutes (well, not quite....). I knew I was running low and as soon as I walked in the house yesterday and heard my pressure pump and smelled it burning I KNEW I was low. Not just low, Mind you, bone dry!
So I called the Utilities Department this morning, asked for an extra fill-up and lo and behold not ten minutes later the water truck appears at my front door.
All I can say is, THAT's customer service.
Thanks, guys!

Good, accurate booze advice from Ray Smuckles

Lying on the floor of my bedroom is a bottle of Jim Beam my cousin gave me for my 21st. I'm not a drinker of wide experience but it turns out I hate bourbon. I'm now 22 and short on funds for what I DO like (scotch, guinness.) So how do I get this damned bourbon down me as pleasantly as possible?
Anonymous, Internet

A-ha! You say you hate bourbon, but you do like Scotch! I think we have the keystone which will unravel this puzzle.

Jim Beam is a good bourbon which you can drink straight, along with the other name brand American whiskeys such as Jack Daniels, Knob Creek, Ancient Situation, etc. I’m guessing that if you like Scotch but don’t like bourbon you are turned off by its relative sweetness. Certain palates find the extra sugar in bourbon medicinal. Drinking it over ice reduces this sensation somewhat, but if you still find that you can’t stomach its extra sugar we’ll do something counter-intuitive and mix it with three parts of cola. I think you’ll find that anyone on earth can enjoy a nice, sweet bourbon and Coke.

I DEFINITELY helped you with this advice.

I used to be a big vodka martini man (Belvedere or Grey Goose [are] my preferred labels) but I've moved to another country where it's tough to get anything better than Absolut, which I personally find very over-rated. I like gin and tonics, and am considering a move over to gin martinis, i.e., with Bombay Sapphire or some other top-shelf brand. Is it possible - or wise - to make such a big switch? I love the whole martini experience, but won't do it without top-flight hooch.
-JM, Sydney

Dear JM,

You would be surprised to hear how many people scoff at such a question. Not me, though. It’s all about the sugar, and boy do I hate a big-bodied gin or vodka. Crisp is the name of the game, and I am ready to slap anybody who does not belong in the game, completely slap them on their faces and the sides of their heads/ears. I will slap them.

It sounds like you’ll need to move over to an extra-dry gin martini, and the down-low on gin is that the ~80 proof Plymouth or Gordon’s are the best ones going. Tanq and Bombay are way too strong at like 95 proof, tasting too harshly of alcohol. Either way, take these shaken with a twist in a chilled glass.

Note from your Editor: Ray's Place, a weekly advice column (or column about whatever he feels like writing about) appears every Wednesday on Achewood.

Adventures in Spell Checking

I have fans, dear reader, I have fans. Believe it or not! In fact, I have one special fan who never hesitates to point me to spelling and grammar errors and for this I am always grateful cuz i am too darm lazy to proof my own work sometimes. Well, tonight I decided to try out the spell checker on the blog-o-matic and much to my amusement found that artificial intelligence can really be funnier than the regular kind.
When the blog-o-matic got to the name of our good, if old and addled governor murkowski, it suggested, accurately I might add, the seldom used but delightfully thoughful "morasses."
Better still, when it encountered the name of the high priest of pissing contests, massa limbaugh it suggested, wistfully perhaps, the archaic medical phrase, "lumbago."

Frank's first can of worms. Hope he has some ketchup.

Troopers raid Native pulltab operation in Barrow

By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE (July 1, 5:15 p.m. ADT) - Authorities have raided a pulltab operation owned by the Native Village of Barrow, fueling a long-simmering dispute between the state and village leaders who say they have a federal right to conduct gambling without an Alaska gaming permit.

Alaska State Troopers and a gaming compliance investigator seized 2,500 pounds of pulltabs, a cash register, business records and other items Monday from the tiny wooden building housing the operation. Troopers said the state has received complaints about illegal gambling conducted by the Eskimo tribal group.

Village officials said Tuesday the shutdown is temporary.

"We plan to open right back up in a couple of weeks," said gaming manager Mabel Kaleak.

The raid followed a May 21 letter from Attorney General Gregg Renkes to the village that it stop the pulltab operations or face legal action. The investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed, said Richard Svobodny, senior assistant district attorney in Juneau.

The state contends the pulltab operation is illegal because the village has not had a state gaming permit since 1999. It pays no state gaming taxes or fees and it offers prizes exceeding the allowable limit.

Village officials said the issue is one of sovereignty.(more)

Who says Canada is a nation of automatonic Liberal lingually-confused technocrats who worhip political correctness? Not I, Sir!

Yukon employees protest porn investigation

The Associated Press

WHITEHORSE, Yukon - More than 200 demonstrators turned out Friday for a union rally protesting an inquiry into Yukon government employees who sent or received e-mails deemed pornographic.

Participants at the Yukon Employees Union held up signs such as "Welcome to Salem" and other witch-hunt references.

"The government should realize the effects that this has caused people," said Brenda Hansen, an 18-year government employee.

The government has investigated employees whose names have appeared as either senders or receivers of e-mails it has discovered with pornographic pictures. The computers of the people have then been checked for explicit materials.

The government has sent letters to employees being investigated.

The first meeting is an initial interview. If the government decides the person should be punished, there is a disciplinary meeting.

Hansen she's been affected even though she has not received a letter or suspension.

"Morale is totally down. The fear, the apprehension is so high that it gets to the point where you don't even know whether to say 'Good morning' to someone for fear that they're going to fall apart to tears."(more)

Here are a few things worth looking at

I may not have been blogging, but I have been browsing.
Here's a guy who is the closest thing to Hemingway our times may have, yet. I found his recent piece in the New York Times magazine about the terrorist prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba compelling. Better still is his first person reportage from inside the walls of Sing Sing.

And one of my all time favorites (from when I was a kid and he was writing in the NatLamp), P.J. O'Rourke takes a good, hard look at "Hillary's" new book in the Weekly Standard.

Let see if we can get some traffic back to this sucker

It's nearing Fourth of July weekend, and that can mean only one thing- the elites fishing in the shadow of the oil rigs off Kenai. Lisa Murkowski and Commerce Secretary Don Evans are planning to interrupt their river trip to dedicate a Home Depot store in Kenai. I couldn't be prouder to be an American.

ADN Letter of the Day

Governor's rural police cutbacks are not merely staffing decisions

Last October you opined editorially that courts were not the place to decide "staffing levels" of rural police protection, applauding a trial judge's rejection of an Alaska Native suit charging that both the structure and delivery of police protection to off-road Native villages were racially discriminatory. The state funds and deploys para-police, not troopers (or other credentialed and empowered officers), to Alaska's Bush.

Village public safety officers (VPSOs), used nearly exclusively in rural villages, are products of an Alaska version of Canada's long-abandoned "native constable" program. Canadians now prepare Native applicants (like non-Native) to be full-fledged police, capable of deterring and handling all crime, whether urban or rural. Alaska persists in offering less deterrence to the same alcohol-related violence that you once documented in the Pulitzer-winning series "A People in Peril."

Gov. Murkowski has just cut 25 percent of VPSOs, adding no troopers, for 15 villages (13 Native). Do you still view rural police cutbacks as merely "staffing" decisions, inappropriate for court scrutiny for signs of race discrimination in the very different structure and delivery of police service to village Alaska?

-- Steve Conn

Seward

Senator Ulmer?

A few of us cronys were sitting around the cracker barrel, sippin' scotch and smokin' seegars when one of us, I forget which, piped up "Screw Tony Knowles," to whcih we all offered a hearty "Hear, hear," and waited for the next political profundity to emit.
"I thnk I know who can beat him AND Lisa Whats-her name," he went on.
Another round was poured, smoke puffed and we sat back to listen.
'"Lookit. Knowles is turning into Tom Daschle's puppydog and if Mark Begich hired David Ramseur to work for HIM, imagine the crew Knowles would bring to Washington if by some stroke of fate or disfavor of the gods he won election to the United States Senate..."
We all nodded our kjnowing assent to this scenario.
"And Lisa whatshername doesn't stand any more chance of re-election than her aged and clearly disoriented father does. Talk about name recognition. P.U.," the pundit continued.
This was making sense, if we weren't quite sure where it was going.
"Who can be an instant national Demo fundraiser, and we wouldn't begrudge it a bit," he asked. "Who can take on Knowles, with impunity, and play him like the pike he is?"
OK, we all said, "WHO?"
"Fran," he replied simply.
We all looked around, pulled on our scotches and pondered. "Hmmmmmmmm," we all hmmmmmm'd.
Fran indeed.
Instant national party credibility. Instant access to the same resources that put other notable women into the US Senate. No political loyalty, on the face of it to Tony Knowles (he Clintoned her in the election, right?) and certainly no reason to NOT take him on in the primary. Broad statewide support and far higher name recognition and credibility than the "incumbent" appointee.
Best of all, it by no means obviates another run for Governor in whatever glacially long wait we have until the aged and clearly disoriented incumbent's term is over.