Columns 2008

There are a lot of Alaskans thrilled at the national press we’ve gotten since our governor became McCain’s running mate. But I’m starting to long for the day when most Americans wondered if they needed a passport to get here and weren’t quite sure what continent we were on but thought it was somewhere in the Pacific close to California.

I actually found myself on a San Francisco talk radio show explaining that while we did have an aerial wolf hunt program in place, in actual fact Sarah Palin wasn’t the one who went up in the plane to shoot

Let’s put politics aside this week and talk about some realities we will be facing this winter in Anchorage. A public service announcement used to air that pointed out that no one dreamed of growing up to be an addict, or homeless, or alcoholic.  No one dreams of that, but a short jog down some of Anchorage’s meaner streets shows that it happens more often than we imagine.

Because there are organizations dedicated to helping these people, most of us spend our days without giving them a second thought. They are someone else’s problem; except they aren’t. They are our

(PLEASE NOTE: THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS YESTERDAY, WHICH WAS MY ACTUAL ANNIVERSARY)

Today marks my 36th anniversary in Alaska. I first set foot here on Oct. 1, 1972.  I was fresh out of New York City. Until then, my idea of the country was going to a farm in central Jersey. My idea of wilderness was a bird sanctuary in Cape May. My idea of strange food was anything that didn’t have Parmesan cheese on the top.  Becoming an Alaskan would challenge every one of my preconceived notions of life.

I spent exactly one day in

To the great amusement of friends and family alike, I am going to tackle the issue of our national financial situation. We will pause for a moment while they all laugh hysterically and then wipe the tears from their eyes.

You see, I managed to live through the entire Alaska pipeline boom without saving enough to assure I will never have to wear a paper cap and lean out a window to ask if you want fries with your burger. I did at one point have some money put aside. It was embezzled. Then I put some more aside and

There was a time when I thought John McCain really was a different kind of politician, one who would put his country above his personal desire for grandeur. I stopped thinking that the day he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate. The sheer hubris that went into that selection simply takes my breath away.

Sarah Palin is untested and untried. There were dozens of other people much more qualified to be McCain’s running mate who would not have caused people to question how ready they’d be to take over if something happened to McCain. To my mind, it’s fairly

As the media furor over our Sarah continues, I find myself wondering when people will remember that it’s not Sarah who’s running for president. The reality is that once the election is over, should John McCain win, Sarah will be relegated to photo shoots and state funerals. Proving, as John Nance Garner so colorfully put it, the vice presidency “is not worth a bucket of warm spit.” In the interests of full disclosure, the word “spit” was not necessarily what he actually said but the papers felt the word he did use was not appropriate to print.

The amount of

Here’s the difference between Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Sarah wears skirts. Hillary needs pants suits.  Most women aspire to look like Sarah but on a good day fall woefully short. On a bad day, they make Hillary look like Miss Wasilla material.

Before finding a way to be paid for sitting home in a sweatshirt with no makeup, bra or heels to constrict me, I worked in an office.  Some mornings while getting ready for work, I’d suspect that life was just messing with me. There is not a working woman alive who hasn’t had one of those days,

The primaries are finished, the winners announced. I dance in joy because no matter who won, it means our seemingly endless political season is half way over. I sincerely hope that above all else this means the demise of any and all ads by Vic Vickers; because seriously, even John Lindauer had more credibility. And that is a sentence I never thought I’d write.

Political seasons are like pregnancies. Each time one occurs, you’re surprised by how much worse it was than you remember.  It’s said that God deliberately gave women amnesia about the pain so that the human race

“Insofar as the government has information not generally available about the merits or demerits of the items we ingest or the activities we engage in, let it give us the information. But let it leave us free to choose what chances we want to take with our own lives.” Milton Friedman, Free To Choose.

Yes, this comes from that Milton Friendman, the conservative economist. I found out about his views on our drug war while listening to a speaker from LEAP – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. I was invited because I’ve written previous columns questioning the sanity of the drug

I sat at my computer wondering what I could say that would be fresh or different about the sad news wracking our state in waves. One investigation, indictment or conviction barely makes if off the front page before another takes its place. And whether it is a sitting United States senator or an ex-state representative, it generates great sadness at the way power can corrupt even those who might have started out honorably.

After Senator Stevens’ indictments, I considered simply writing, “We’re Number One!” because I’m pretty sure we have now passed New Jersey for most corrupt politics in the