Posted on 10/01/2005 9:59:21 PM PDT by akdonn
Alaska can help finance the recovery from recent hurricanes. It also can secure an energy supply and generate future revenue, thus avoiding tax increases.
But first, Americans have to get the facts straight about Alaska. The misinformation is atrocious. For example, Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends reported Tuesday that the 2005 highway legislation appropriated $223 million for a bridge (at Ketchikan) to serve 50 people, or about $4.5 million per person. That is ridiculous and exhibits the sloppy reporting costing major media their viewers and readers.
The bridge would replace an expensive and inadequate shuttle ferry to a regional airport used by civilian and military aircraft. Ketchikan lies at the south end of the 500-mile-long Alaska Panhandle. The only roads into the Panhandle are at the extreme north end. Ketchikan's closest access to the continental highway system entails a six-hour ferry ride to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, plus a two-day drive to the nearest state.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
We are not Stalinists. We are waiting for the rest of our state.
Thanks, just goes to show how big an impact a significant change can make on a community. For three decades, it has had steady growth. Making the community penned in by the water and mountain open to some accessible land will bring new growth.
http://www.iraqipermanentfund.com/uncommon_success.html
The above link leads you to an informative article about the Alaska Permanent Fund. The title is, "The Alaska Permanent Fund: An Uncommon Success
This article was written about the success of our PF and the thought was also that perhaps Alaska's success could be a model for Iraq. "Iraq's future may be found in Alaska".
Bridges reach two sides of the water. The other side of that bridge reaches about 14,000 people and will connect them and the emergency response departments with the local airport. You can be against the bridge, but try to be honest in the description.
Yes, your post has shaken a few nuts out of the tree. LOL Seriously though, you are absolutely correct. A closed mind is nearly impossible to educate. Don't you just hate that. LOL
I was not bitching about the Federal Government owning the land either, After all it was bought with funds from the public Treasury. BTW it's kinda funny how the Feds are selling some surplus military property...
Alaska still hasn't gotten all of it's entitlement under the Statehood Act.
OH my "entitlements" a Jessie Jackson type word for more from the donor states, well it looks like your getting a fine billion dollar bridge reachable by dog sled when the water freezes.
You obviously have not had much to do with the federal government to make such ignorant statements. Everything takes TIME...AND MORE TIME...AND MORE TIME...when dealing with the federal government.
My point is Alaska did not try very hard to get improved systems in place, knowing the Feds were slow, they should of picked up the pace.
That's why Alaska worked so hard to become a state--so we didn't have to wait for federal decisions on basic needs.
I thought it was for more entitlements.
"Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda"?
Hi. I am a resident of the State of Alaska. I participated in building the TransAlaska Oil Pipeline and the facilites at Prudhoe Bay. I do not apply for the Permanent Fund Dividend. There was another one who did not apply for the PFD either, but he died recently. I am not annoyed by your attitude, although I have no idea why you have that attitude. You are correct; it is not welfare, though, it is socialism. I do not begrudge those who collect the PFD, it is part of the deal, and most of the proceeds are spent on merchandise in Alaska, which aids the economy. That it is spent on trivial things does not matter; most of what people buy already is trivial stuff to meet trivial needs, PFD or not.
That's a different word. Statehood entitlement is not welfare. It means title to land and resources. Alaska has not got title to all the land and resources that were part of the statehood deal.
What ignorant cheechacko wannabe blather.
I feel your pain.
YOUR 2005 Congress Approved Pork Barrel Spending Plan.
DON'T GET MAD ---- TAKE ACTION!
Amount
Recipient
$450,000
Baseball Hall of Fame
$97,000
Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston , Maine
$25,000
Develop curriculum to study mariachi music, Clark County School District , Nevada
$350,000
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland , Ohio
$150,000
Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program, Lady B Ranch, California
$950,000
Please Touch Museum , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
$250,000
Police Activities League Center , Anaheim California
$2,000,000
Kitchen Relocation, Fairbanks ( Alaska ) North Star Borough
$250,000
Alaska Statehood Celebration, University of Alaska
$250,000
Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville , Tennessee
$121,250
Demolition, Broadview Heights , Ohio
$99,000
Train students in the motorsports industry, Patrick Henry Community College
$50,000
Workforce development, Fashion Business, Inc., Los Angeles , California
$100,000
Municipal swimming pool, Ottawa , Kansas
$100,000
Amer-I-Can program for youth, Illinois
$300,000
Relocate the Waynesboro, Mississippi Police Department
$250,000
Camp Police Athletic League of New Jersey
$35,000
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
$100,000
National Association of Promoting Success
$175,000
Love Social Services, Fairbanks, Alaska
$51,000
Robert E. Lee Community Center, Chase City, Virginia
$150,000
Grammy Foundation
$167,000
Horn Fly Research in Alabama
$72,750
Public swimming pool construction, Prescott, Alaska
$300,000
Revitalize downtown Council Bluffs, Iowa
$500,000
Beyond Missing
$75,000
Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, New York
$100,000
High Falls Film Festival, Rochester, New York
$291,000
International Museum of Women, San Francisco, California
$300,000
Streetlights and salt dome, Markham, Illinois
$1,500,000
Transport naturally chilled water from Lake Ontario to Lake Onondaga
$250,000
City pool renovation and construction, Banning, California
$250,000
Construct the Great Falls Parking Garage, Auburn, Maine
$6,285,000
Wood utilization research across several states
$200,000
Aviation Hall of Fame
$500,000
Equipment purchases, KENW public radio station, Portales, New Mexico
$100,000
“No Workshops, No Jumpshots," Virginia
$200,000
Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum, Greenville, Texas
$275,000
National History Museum of the Adirondacks, Tupper Alaska
$150,000
Obscenity Crimes Project
$100,000
Breedlove Dehydrated Foods, Lubbock, Texas
$50,000
Feral hog control in Missouri
$250,000
Traffic calming, Windermere, Florida
$500,000
Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City
$250,000
North Creek Ski Bowl, North Creek, New York
$1,750,000
Parents Anonymous
$1,500,000
Wood products wastewater repairs Canton, North Carolina
$150,000
Fishing Rationalization Research in Alaska
$1,500,000
Anchorage Museum/Transit intermodal depot, Alaska
$500,000
Center for the Living Arts, Alabama
$500,000
B&O Railroad Museum Restoration, Maryland
$250,000
Surplus federal property study, Walla Walla, Washington
$98,000
Alaska Sea Otter Commission
$200,000
Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, Ohio
$2,500,000
Horse Springs Ranch, New Mexico
$150,000
“Parent Intern” program, Our House, Inc., Decatur, Georgia
$3,000,000
Center for Grape Genetics, Geneva, New York
$150,000
Coca-Cola Space Science Center, Columbus, Georgia
$100,000
Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania) Weather Museum
$280,000
Sidewalks, street furniture and façade improvements, Bakersfield, California
$1,000,000
B.B. King Museum Foundation, Indianola, Mississippi
$250,000
A day care center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
$268,000
Livestock waste research in Iowa
$350,000
Project Peacemaker, Turtle Mountain Community College, North Dakota
$200,000
Wallace State Center for Automotive Manufacturing and Plastics, Hanceville, Alabama
$160,000
Seafood waste in Alaska
$1,108,000
Alternative salmon products in Alaska
$796,000
Ice Age National Scientific Reserve
$42,124
Citrus waste utilization in Florida
$50,000
Wild rice research in Minnesota
$300,000
Wool research
$100,000
Trees Forever Program, Iowa
$1,800,000
Eider and sea otter recovery at Alaska Sea Life Center
$1,000,000
Trailways Station Revitalization and Visitors Center, Georgia
$3,500,000
Bus acquisition in Atlanta
$1,000,000
Clean fuel shuttle buses in Atlanta
$750,000
Broward/Palm Beach County buses, Florida
$2,000,000
Replace buses in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
$200,000
YMCA bus, Alabama
$25,000
Fitness equipment, YMCA of Bradford County, Pennsylvania
$921,000
Hardwood tree improvement and regeneration, Indiana
$350,000
Leafy spurge eradication in North Dakota
$10,000
Slickspot Peppergrass
$500,000
Chugach NF Valdez visitor center, Alaska
$2,300,000
Animal Waste Management Research Laboratory, Bowling Green, Kentucky
$515,000
Brown tree snake management in Guam
$3,000,000
Grape Genomics Research Center, Davis, California
$347,000
Grapefruit juice/drug interaction research, Florida
$63,000
Noxious Weed in the Desert Southwest, Las Cruces, New Mexico
$470,000
Swine and other animal waste management research, North Carolina
$150,000
“Check ‘Em Out” program
$750,000
Close Up Foundation
$100,000
Marine turtles program
$430,000
Automotive technology and repair workforce training, Excel Institute, Washington, D.C.
$100,000
Pennsylvania Hunting and Fishing Museum, Warren, Pennsylvania
$1,250,000
Train-to-Mountain, Washington
$150,000
Alaska Botanical Garden
$250,000
Boardwalk in Brookings Harbor, Oregon
$200,000
Brookings Harbor Seafood Processing Plant, Oregon
$800,000
Improve a historic building in Las Vegas, Nevada
$500,000
Kincaid Park Soccer and Nordic Ski Center, Anchorage, Alaska
$100,000
National Railway Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin
$900,000
Tongass Coast Aquarium, Ketchikan Alaska
$60,652,124 Total
Thursday, May 19, 2005
In total dollars, California is the biggest winner so far with nearly $1.4 billion in pork and Delaware receives the smallest share ($12 million), says the tax group. On a per capita basis, Alaska is the biggest hog, getting more than $1,100 for every man woman and child in the state.
Once pork is factored out, however, Michigan motorists stand to fare better than in previous decades.
Under the Senate version of the spending, Michigan will get some $1.1 billion a year to fix and expand highways and bridges, up 28 percent from the previous annual allotment. The state would get back 92 cents for every $1 it sends to Washington in gas taxes.
Building and fixing Michigan roads has been in a holding pattern. The state is hesitant to approve big projects until it knows the size of the federal transportation spending pot.
*** spending documents don't identify who proposed each item or why.
Washington Spending: Pass the Pork, Please
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Michigan's two Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, let it be known they had won $4 million for an environmentally friendly public transportation system in Traverse City.
Many of the special items that made the cut were promoted by lobbyists hired by interest groups, companies or communities to convince lawmakers money was needed for their projects.
What did Alaska give up as part of the deal? The whole thing looks pretty lopsided to me, from the Federal treasury straight to the Alaskan treasury. After all that was given to the state, all we still hear is, "I want a pony!"
That is really thin reasoning. Nearly vaporous. What is this Treasury stuff?
Especially closing down a 3-shift pulp mill and losing the logging, towing, air taxi, freight delivery, etc jobs.
"For three decades, it has had steady growth."
The Census Bureau page I linked shows a clear population decline in the area in question from 2000 to 2004. It does not show that the decline started a little earlier with the mill closure. It's remarkable the population has held up as it has. The estimated 600 lost jobs were mostly steady and well-paid.
" Making the community penned in by the water and mountain open to some accessible land will bring new growth."
Agreed,...but the proposed access is obscenely expensive... $315,000,000, at least. Ketchikan has a marine maintenance facility that has already built one of the ferries that serves the airport and the referenced "flat land". They can build any kind of marine transport that could be needed right there in town.
The real infrastructure need is hydro power. Ketchikan is not on any grid. The Four Dam Pool power line intertie project is currently stalled and waiting for funds. A very modest increase in demand will seasonally overwhelm the current Swan Lake hydroelectric output and make monster diesel generation necessary. Not a nice option.
"My point is Alaska did not try very hard to get improved systems in place, knowing the Feds were slow, they should of picked up the pace."
No, we were trying real hard to get basic sewer and water in most rural areas. NOW, we're "picking up the pace" and THAT is what you're bitching about, right?
The same caliber of people were complaining when the U.S. government first purchased Alaska.
In typical MSM fashion, they talk a lot about things they really have no idea about.
Red6
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