Comments by Griff_in_Fairbanks
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Posted on September 8 at 12:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One slight error: Alcohol consumption regulations on U.S. military installations comply with host country or state laws. If state law says an active duty person is too young to drink, then they can't drink on or off post.
It's also worth noting your comment regarding military is extraneous to your main argument.
On Standards
Posted on August 20 at 1:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So, what's the third ballot? You described the Republican ballot and the A-D-L ballot but mentioned "three ballots" in your first sentence, without describing the third ballot.
On A-D-L ballot
Posted on August 20 at 1:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Unfortunately, this is precisely the way some gang members wind up at Fort Wainwright. In case you missed it, the police believe some of the suspected gang members involved in the "shoot-out" might have been active duty soldiers.
In all probability, some judge in the Lower 48 gave one or more gang members a choice: Jail or military service. In almost all cases, the Air Force, Navy, and Marines won't take 'em, leaving the Army as the only military service option. Most gang members don't have the education needed for the more technical specialities so they wind up in the infantry ... typically assigned to a Stryker Brigade.
As a retired senior noncommissioned officer, I can tell you the 'jail or military service' sentences cause tremendous waste within the military. Basic training rarely changes these 'problem children' ... assuming they manage to complete it without getting kicked out. The result is officers and NCOs wind up spending a lot of time dealing with the problems these people cause -- time that should be spent focusing on the mission instead of babysitting a judge's castoffs.
Jail is the place for these criminals. The millitary needs intelligent, motivated personnel, not society's rejects.
Posted on August 3 at 7 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's not Fairbanks traffic that'll drive such a relocation ... a Canadian intertie will allow transportation between Anchorage and the lower 48 states. Fairbanks will can be bypassed, with jet fuel the only real reason for coming near Fairbanks.
The railroad could abandoned the tracks between Nenana and Fairbanks, with the new route less prone to flooding.
Posted on August 3 at 12:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't worry, Alaska59. Any (and all) proposals that don't involve moving the tracks south of the Tanana will be met by one group of naysayers or another. Basically, the railroad has given up trying to improve conditions in the FNSB area because every proposal has been met with extremely vocal opposition and political pressure.
Mr. Thomas seems to have forgotten the outcry brought on by the initial Parks Highway Corridor proposal. Likewise, any route along the north side of the Tanana will probably meet strong resistance because part of that land in now a park.
North of Fairbanks and east of Fort Wainwright will be met with resistance from land owners in those areas. That suggestion has the added disadvantage of making train travel longer without any beneficial offset.
About the only option left for the railroad is to reroute somewhere south of the Tanana, starting at some point between Nenana and Denali and ending in North Pole, Salcha, or Delta Junction. Assuming an eventual Canadian intertie, such a routing has the added advantage of shortening the track distance to Anchorage.
Posted on August 3 at 11:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's interesting GVEA announces another rate increase just before we experience a series of power outages.
Posted on July 27 at 12:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, Mr. Hayden ... your letter may be full of statistics but your argument falls apart due to your unspoken assumption.
The fact that 47 percent of people polled support something does not automatically mean 53 percent oppose it. There could be 10, 20, or even 50 percent of the people who are undecided or didn't respond, leaving 43, 33, or only 3 percent who oppose it.
On ANWR poll
Posted on June 24 at 9:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention ... try driving from Alaska to Seattle or anywhere else in the lower 48. I don't know if it's in effect yet but Alaskans have been told for several years that they will have to have passports or will be denied entry into the lower 48 states. There's your clue ... it called the United States government treating Alaska and Hawaii residents as a different class of citizens.
On another note, our more colorful characters drive lawnmowers across neighbors yards at one am while intoxicated. Kansas elects theirs to the Board of Education.
Posted on June 24 at 9 p.m. (Suggest removal)
KSFLATLANDER - You're talking to the wrong person ... I KNOW what it's like to worry about having enough heat in sub-zero temperatures. As the oldest child, I remember my Mom chopping up the furniture to burn in the stove because we were snowed in and had run out of wood and coal. She couldn't cut any more wood because she had to watch four children, including a baby recovering from major surgery. (And the baby did die due to post-op complications.) My father couldn't help because he was in another city, trying to earn enough to pay my brother's hospital bills and feed the rest of us. And, at five years old, I couldn't help much although I tried.
History lesson: Minnesota, either as a territory or young state, sold large tracts of land to logging companies at pennies per acre. The companies logged off all the usable timber and let the stripped land go into tax forfeit status. (i.e., they took the money and ran.) Last I checked, the state still had some of that land on the rolls as tax forfeit property.
A similar thing happened with the iron and taconite ore on the Mesabi Range. As with timber, the people of Minnesota only received pennies on the dollar for those resources, money that was quickly spent. Now, Minnesota has a steep tax structure to pay for its government services.
Alaska, as a territory, went through something similar with the gold rushes and the salmon fisheries, with salmon situation being one of the primary reasons for pushing for statehood.
When the oil rush started, the state's leaders decided to avoid the mistakes made by other states and charge a fair market price for the resources. The state's leaders also avoided the temptation to spend all the money and instead started a savings account called the Permanent Fund. The state resources and the Permanent Fund belong to the people of Alaska because the people are the state.
The final stroke of brilliance by the state's leaders was the Permanent Fund Dividend, which gave every resident a direct vested interest in the fund's financial health.
For the record, much of the Permanent Fund is invested in lower 48 companies and government bonds, particularly municipal and state bonds. In that respect, the Alaska Permanent Fund actually helps the rest of the country. If Alaska were to suddenly liquidate the fund, it would completely trash the country's economy.
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Posted on September 30 at 12:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Congratulations on your personal beliefs. Now that you've had your say, please leave it be because your beliefs differ drastically from mine.
On Animal free