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Palin hears first-hand rural Alaska's concerns
KTUU ^ | Saturday, February 21, 2009 | Jill Burke

Posted on 02/22/2009 5:47:25 AM PST by curth

NCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin has a long fix-it list to review after her visit to two western Alaska villages Friday.

Palin and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell tagged along with Christian evangelist Franklin Graham and his emergency relief group Samaritan's Purse at they brought food into the communities of Marshall and Russian Mission.

On the trip Palin told the assembled crowds that she wanted to remind them she worked for them, that they hired her and she wanted to hear what she can do to serve them better.

In smaller meetings with community leaders Palin heard how the villages are deeply concerned about poverty, unemployment, the lack of food banks, the cost of flying and freight, hunting rules, and for some an impression that the power players in Alaska politics have lopsided priorities: favoring urban needs over those of Alaska's more remote communities.

(Excerpt) Read more at ktuu.com ...


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: aid; alaska; palin; villages

1 posted on 02/22/2009 5:47:25 AM PST by curth
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To: curth

How have theses remote villages survived historically? What did they used to do that they are not doing now? Surely they have not always been sitting around waiting for someone to bring them food.


2 posted on 02/22/2009 7:59:52 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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To: Mind-numbed Robot

Surely it’s always been a problem, only now it is a big problem because it is another weapon that the haters can use against Governor Palin.


3 posted on 02/22/2009 8:17:39 AM PST by curth (Team Sarah doesn't want me - http://www.conservatives4palin.com/)
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To: curth
Surely it’s always been a problem,

What did they do before Alaska was a state and affected by government? I remember they used to catch and eat seals, just like the sharks and polar bears did but then the animal lovers came in and stopped that. Maybe that was the beginning of the problem.

4 posted on 02/22/2009 8:35:24 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
My wife and I have taught in several villages, we live along the Yukon now, 1/2 mile from an Athabaskan Village. Most Indians I know still live off what the land and river provides; they don't go begging for anything. They pretty much don't want to eat white mans food, prefer porcupine over pizza.

In the 60's & 70's, the money, entitlement structure came to the villages. Good and bad resulted from this. Many of the men of the village (who suffered from alcoholism which caused all the abuse problems in the village)were pushed aside and women took over the roles of village leaders. This occurred because the money made them less dependent on the men. Previous to this, when a father was raping all his dauughters, the mother couldn't stop it. The father would be sent off to prison and family would starve. Once the money started flowing, things changed. The down side was the entire village became lazy in a way. They started believing that the money flow swas just how the govt worked. Now they just expect dollars to appear with no accountability. The Indians refuse to address this issue and it's leading to their destruction as a people from the combined affects of wwelfare & alcohol.

Indians are pretty decent sharing, non-judgemental, fair, easy going people; unlike us greedy white people. They have lost everything they started with 100 years back. If the govt is ever forced to set things right, treaties, ect; it will break the bank. Trouble is they will go extinct before that ever happens; genocide actually.

Most Indians I know never even vote; they kinda want left alone do what they always have done and never pay any attention to fed laws if it goes against traditional knowledge and the way they do things; feds can't lock them all up. Us Whites could learn a little from the Indians 50 years removed from the stoneage.

5 posted on 02/22/2009 8:43:28 AM PST by Eska ( e)
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To: curth

Should we start a countdown for when the Palin bashers on FR question whether she is intelligent enough for this task?


6 posted on 02/22/2009 8:44:23 AM PST by saminfl ( FUBO)
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To: Eska

Thanks for the information. I suspected that was the case.

I saw a documentary years ago, so long ago it was in black and white, that told a similar story in a different environment. It was about a small Polynesian island that the U.S. had occupied during WWII. The were an industrious and happy culture. As part of the deal for use of the island the U.S. agreed to provide for them forever. As you note, after a few years they were a fat, unhappy and sloven society.

However, they weren’t alcoholic. That seems to be a curse unique to the indigenous people of North America.


7 posted on 02/22/2009 9:49:12 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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