SOLdotna Rules

Good Time Charlie's and Bristol Palin made the the show Real Time with Bill Maher last night.  In his New Rules piece, Maher noted: "There's got to be an easier way of teaching the rhythm method. Oh, I'm just kidding.  Lay off Bristol Palin.  You know, her mother's a dingbat, but she's just a young girl having fun and the skills she learns on the dance show will serve her well in her future career at Southern Alaska's finest strip club, Good Time Charlie's".

It's about time a Palin dealt with the naked truth.

Election Selections

The editorial staff here at SOLinSoldotna realizes that by coming out in favor of something/someone just might be that icy kiss-of-death for the issue/candidate.  With that in mind, the reader will just have to wonder if the endorsement is meant to promote or distract.

First up and despite having picked on the poor guy, SOL gives the nod to Kyle Fisher for Soldotna City Council. Rather than point out hypocritical political beliefs, there is no doubt that Kyle cares about SOLdotna.  He's on the Kenai Watershed Forum Board and has been behind some local quality of life issues.  His opponent seems like  one-issue guy with a grudge against the police department.

SOLdotnans should also consider backing the bond issue for the library expansion.  Its a fine facility that could be even nicer. I hope they increase the bandwidth for wireless internet access.

For the SOLdotna seat on the Kenai Borough Assembly, Linda Murphy gets the nod.  She's smart, approachable and even if you can't agree on all the issues, Linda would have an open-mind about them.  Her opponent is a militia 5th columnist who has taken a middle-of-the-road approach, but belies these stances with his membership/leadership in the AIP.

Maybe it's about time to have a borough manager making the big decisions and relegate the mayor's job to ribbon-cutting and other such innocuous duties.  It might provide stability and consistency to the management of the borough and keep politics out of practical matters.

Taking Back Conservative (and Joe Miller is not one)

The world is so neat and tidy when people can put others in categories that fit their own agendas.  I hope that I'm less concerned about labels and more about having integrity: that one can defend one's own actions because of rational thought, good conscious and even change one's mind when presented with reasonable and sound alternatives.  You can't have integrity if you don't have an open mind.

So, it's been a delightful political season here in Alaska and things are becoming more and more interesting every day. 

I'm especially curious about Joe Miller, with his populist Tea Party support and his chest-thumping conservative label.  But what a scam that all is.

The latest news this week exposed that Mr Miller, who has railed against sucking on the teat of big government, has been caught in a big white lie.  Yes, he too has sucked hard.  While he blows on about the deficits, he has admitted taking farm subsidies for his fallow land in Kansas.

Nothing illegal of course, but just plain slimy. And dishonest.  And hypocritical.  And self-serving.  Just the sort of political qualifications we want in DC, I suppose.

So, Mr and Mrs Soldotna T. Bag, help me out here - just what is a real conservative?

Is it one who conserves?  That would be what I'd think.  And I think I am one of the most conservative people in SOLdotna. Really.  If cutting back on spending is one of the solutions for over-spending, cutting back on consumption is one of the solutions for the energy crisis.

I think a conservative doesn't believe in being wasteful - yet Joe Miller parades around Alaska accompanied by Hummers - the very symbol of wastefulness.   Shouldn't we have leaders who are willing to lead by example? We are never going to break our addiction to foreign oil if we think it is our god-given right to buy and use the biggest gas-guzzlers on the planet.  When Al Gore preaches about conserving resources and cutting down on our carbon footprint (all fine conservative principals), but lives in a huge and energy-guzzling home, that too is hypocritical.

I was at Fred Meyers the other day and saw a big Ford Excursion (Excruciation?) with a Don't Tread On Me decal on it.  And just what is the message? That you'd rather put American soldiers in harm's way risking their lives in the middle east so we can guarantee the right to be wasteful?  And of course, don't even think of making anyone pay taxes to cover the trillion dollar costs of the wars. 

And then Joe Miller wants to do away with Social Security and Unemployment, both insurance-type programs that we all pay into, but then he has no problem cashing in on farm subsidies that is nothing but a giveaway program. 

Joe also wants to do away with the National Park program that was brought about mostly under Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican that knew that conserve was the root word of conservative.  How do we preserve our natural wonders if we don't conserve?

Lisa Murkowski is going to run as a write-in and both are tripping over themselves as being true conservatives, but the only thing either really wants to conserve are the tax breaks for the super-rich and the sweetheart deals given to the most powerful in the country.

I hope that readers will seriously consider voting for Scott McAdams for senator.  He's a working guy without an ivy league law degree.  He doesn't come from a connected background - he has earned everything he has from actual work. He doesn't say things to pander for votes and has an open-mind for practical and needed legislation.  And he is not funded by the Koch Bros.

Big Time

We got an off-hand mention in the Alaska Ear section of this past Sunday's ADN.  Nice.  Well, it was about a post more than two years old, but news out of SOLdotna does travel slowly I suppose.

Agreeing to Disagree With Kyle Fisher

I received an email from Kyle this past week and he took exception to the things I posted about him  last week.  To be fair, no matter how unbalanced either of us may be, the following is a point-counter-point exchange.

Kyle:You base your entire blog on the fact that I am a member of the Tea Party.  The clip that you reference I added the caption "Check out this trailer.. you will love it."  I posted it strictly for its entertainment value, and similar to your blog, to insight discussion.  Nowhere did I say I agree, endorse, or encourage the message in the trailer.  The subject matter of the clip has to do with national spending policy, and has very little to do with a local election.

SOL: (This is in reference to a post on his FB page) Well, you don't really have any post from a sane point-of-view.  What you don't say in your response to me is if you sort of agree with the caricatures that are presented in the clip.  If you didn't, why would you post it?  If you are so easily hoodwinked by the message of that clip that you posted, why should you get the vote of people who are looking beyond partisan politics to find solutions to very real problems here on the local level?  So, is you is or is you ain't a TP sympathizer?

Kyle:  You reference Beck and Rush.  I agree with you that just because Beck or Rush say something enough, it doesn't make it true. The fact that you elude any of these entertainers would persuade my deductive reasoning or civic logic is offensive.  It would be the same as equating George Clooney and John Travolta as source of your political views and opinions.  I seriously doubt that you are that shallow.
SOL: Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt.  I jumped to that conclusion because of that clip on your FB page.  By posting it, you seemed to have swallowed the propaganda of those who would rather make stuff up rather than engage in serious debate and offer real solutions to problems.  Once again I ask - what the heck do you really believe?


Kyle:You question my motivation for running and infer I will cut quality of life expenditures.  First, I'm not sure where you got the idea that I would do that.  Second, as you probably already know, as a member of the Soldotna City Council, you are required to live within the city limits.  Would it be logical to cut the quality of life that me and my family enjoy?  That doesn't make sense. 
 
SOL: Well, none of the tea bag philosophy makes any sense to me.  If that is your real political point of view, they are all about cutting back government services and cutting back quality of life expenditures.  Except when it benefits them.  And only if someone else will pay for it.  So, once again, the question that must be asked, is have you really swallowed the TP/Beck/Rush/Palin kool aid, and if so, just how will that affect how you vote on the things that make SOLdotna a livable place?

Kyle:You question the sincerity of my pledge to protect the Kenai River for all of the users groups.  I don't know why you question this, but I will address it.  This year I was approached by the Kenai Watershed Forum to join their board of directors.  I believe that speaks for itself.  If we do not protect the river, not only will we lose a great treasure, but will lose the biggest economic engine in our region.  To be frank, I doubt Soldotna would survive a major permanent catastrophe in the Kenai River.  We must all do our part to protect the Kenai, but I would be naive to think it could be done without governmental regulation.  

SOL: Yes, I am aware that you are on the BOD for the KWF.  And I am glad that you are sincere that the river must be protected and the only way that will be done is with government regulations. Without those, we would quickly over-fish, use the river as a toilet bowl, fill-in feeder streams, and cut down all the riverside brush. Maybe you are a closet progressive liberal? 

One last question, are you going to vote for Joe Miller?  You do know that he would say to screw the river, and make it easy for pig farms on the peninsula and vote against all fed $ and money to help protect the Kenai River and all other salmon streams in AK.

The Tea Party and the Militia Want To Represent SOLdotna

There are two candidates wanting to represent SOLdotna that perhaps are being somewhat less than honest about their views on politics and about what their agenda is.

Take JR Meyers, the candidate for the borough assembly.  JR and Linda Murphy answered some questions about their views in a recent forum and, according to the PC, their views were the same for the big issues.  But sometimes people sometimes say more by what they don't say.  Myers is the vice-chair of the Alaska Independence party and that party's most notable other candidate, is his buddy, Ray Southwell, the anti-government militia-man from Michigan that now wants to represent us in Juneau.  Hmm...does Myers pal around with terrorists? The AIP, aside from wanting to secede from the states, is against regulations, especially environmental regs and wants to end property taxes (sounds good?  OK, then, just how do we pay for stuff?).  Do check out the AIP's platform before you vote.

And then there's Kyle Fisher who is running for SOLdotna City Council.  If you are on FaceBook, check out his page  - it's got this Tea Party animated clip comparing Obama's and St Ronald's economic policies.  Ah, history is just so easy to reconstruct.  Just because Rush and Glen say things a million times, it doesn't make so.  Just for the record Kyle, when Reagan took office in 1981, taxes were $517 billion and outlays were $591 billion, for a deficit of $73 billion. When he left office in 1989, taxes were $999 billion and spending was $1.14 trillion, for a deficit of $153 billion. The deficit went as high as an 5 percent of GDP during Reagan's term. As a result, the national debt soared by almost two-thirds.In contrast (despite the cameo by BC in the animation), Clinton cut spending 3 times as much as Reagan (and left us with a surplus). W, by not funding his two wars and by cutting taxes for the richest 2%, turned that surplus into a deficit of 9% of the GDP.  Obama now has increased that by another 2% - a smaller increase than either RR or GWB.  We still have not paid for the wars and then this little problem with the economy erupted at the end of the W years. And what brought the country out of the Great Depression?  The massive amount spent on WWII - that was paid for by a modest tax increase. But why let facts confuse us?

So, as a tea-bagger, just what is Kyle Fisher's real agenda?  And how will he go about it?  Of course, a seat of the city council is far removed from the problems we have as a country, but if Fisher's viewpoint is what it appears to be, will he cut all quality-of-life expenditures?  Does he really care about protecting the river (that means regulations, Kyle)? His FB page has his slogan displayed: It's time for Soldotna to be more concerned with the living residents.  I dunno, is he suggesting that we ignore what the people want?