I'm From Alaska and Running for President

So I hear the crazy lady "formerly" from Wasilla, Alaska is now stating she has some sort of presidential belly indigestion. Well good for her. That makes me, an Alaskan woman, ready to run for president as well.
What does Sarah have that I can't top??

Alaskan address, in "real American" town--got that.
Tan--yes, it's been sunny up here all week long.
Looks--I've never been called ugly.
Loud & Opinionated--very much so, especially with a few glasses of wine, I could speak at the RNC.
Ability to quit serious jobs at a moments notice--this will be tougher for me, but I can do it.
College degree-- got mine and an MS in the same time it took her to get a bachelors, but maybe the masses won't notice my 'elitism'.
Ability to walk in very high heels--I just tried this one--and yes I can!

So there you have it, I am fully qualified. Where do I sign up??

Reading the Red Rags

I somehow stumbled upon some sort of right wing red state website today. It called itself "red" something which I know symbolizes the red conservative states, but I secretly find funny, as the "reds" historically means communists....but I regress.
I read through the conservative drivel mostly out of curiosity, as to their reasons for wanting to eliminate the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture and what have you. Basically all government officials that don't use guns. As we know, only people with guns have any real purpose.
But anyway, what I was most awe struck by, was the last part of this red-writing that stated the Democrats and their liberal social programs are meant to keep people in poverty. In other words, as long as Democrats keep poor people on the public cow of food stamps and "welfare" then the Democrats will continue to have a liberal voting base.
Whoever writes this stuff really needs to meet some of these so called "welfare recipients". In my opinion, real welfare ended in the Clinton era. Having worked with this population, I remember not too long ago in the state of Alaska, a grown man was eligible for $12 per month in food stamps. And a mother with a baby got like $200 a month (but I can't remember exactly). Do Conservatives really feel those small amounts of money change people's view of anything at all?? Quite frankly, many of the impoverished people I met were completely apolitical. It just didn't interest them. And to say something like food stamps or a housing voucher perpetuate the cycle of poverty cracks me up.
People on food stamps are quite aware their situation sucks. They aren't going around bragging and driving fancy cars. Quite possibly there was more of this problem in the 80's, but it's not like that anymore. The impoverished (rural) populations I worked with usually had crappy circumstances such as emotional issues, anger problems, lack of clean laundry, no reliable transportation, lack of plumbing, or missing teeth. None of these problems get solved by taking away food stamps and housing vouchers. The conservatives would never even hire these people, nor would they necessarily make dependable employees even if they did. You would simply be killing people off by taking away their last remaining social safety nets. And I don't understand why that's ok by the party that claims to always be pro-life.

Chickens at the Airport

Upon landing at a tropical location it is always amazing to observe the hot, open air airports. It is quite wondrous to be in a place that never needs to be fully enclosed as the weather is always warm. But I am an unusual creature. Besides relishing the humid air of "not-winter"--I get excited about seeing another thing: chickens at the airport.
I first saw this at the airport in Trinidad and Tobago. More recently I have observed this phenomena at smaller airports in Hawaii. It just came to me, that not everyone thinks this is great. I am sure plenty of people find poultry in public places to be disgusting. Yet I see it and think--"this vacation is going to be good".
I feel the same way about loose dogs , crazy wind gusts, bears, low flying helicopters and turbulence on airplanes. Holy cow-I can't believe that I am so demented, that others just hate these things--- but they make my day. I know in my heart these things really won't harm me--

Recently I returned from Sacramento, California. We drove around the suburbs and it made me depressed. It was so dull. Returning to the Anchorage airport in the baggage claim area, I was happy to see at least 4 dogs (on leashes)--and one that got loose! Nobody even blinked or cared that this canine was free .. Tears came to my eyes as I thought-- yes , I am home again.

The Toughest Guys on Earth

As February is the official "don't talk about you-know-who" month I will refrain from using a certain characters name. It is however, a woman who lives in Wasilla, AK and the name starts with "S"--enough said.
So anyway, "S" was recently quoted on some news show that she feels the Irondog participants are the "toughest guys on earth", forgive me if I get the exact wording wrong. But I do get the message--she feels that men racing around on snowmachines (snowmobiles for the lower 48) are as tough as they come....Well maybe this is something you say when your own husband is one of the monkeys riding around and you need to stroke his ego...but I disagree.
True enough, that compared to most lower 48 inhabitants--who freak out if a snowflake hits their stylish hair---participating in a 2,000 mile cross country snowmachine race in arctic conditions, scores pretty high in the "man pants category". However, did Mrs. "S" forget about the Iditarod??
The Iditarod follows the same course as the IronDog (actually those pesky snow machines help break trail for the doggies) but obviously a musher with dogs plods along a lot slower than a machine that can go about 80mph. Not to mention that the Iron Dog participants travel in pairs to help each other out (?) while mushers are only allowed to hang with their canine companions. Same weather conditions, but you are in it sooo much longer with the dogs (and responsible for more lives). Or how about the difference between filling up a snowmachine with gas vs. feeding 14 sled dogs a hot meal and rubbing their feet with ointment? There is also a little known fact about sled dog racing--some folks may choose to stand on the runners or even sit in the sleds--but there are a whole bunch of mushers who RUN behind their dogs for substantial portions of the 1,200 mile race, to lighten the load. That's right RUN. Try running behind your snowmachine !

So my vote goes to the many tough men (and women!!) of the Iditarod, for doing what I feel is the hardest, craziest sport in the western hemisphere!

Moose and Rainbows!

A while back, a guy posted an emotional double rainbow video on Youtube--here is my version, but it is actually a triple rainbow- take that !

Little visitors, just babies--don't know where mamma is.

This could be dad. He is the size of a small tank.

Societal Oppositional Disorder

This is my new affliction, Societal Oppositional Disorder. The list of things that everyone else likes and I do not, continues to grow at an alarming pace. I am actually worried that I will become a kook hermit living in the woods.
It's like an avalanche of things that everyone wants and likes is falling on my head, but instead of embracing these new societal love interests, I just take cover and actually dislike them more! I am talking about the popular necessities: like cell phones, ipads, Costco, Facebook, large flat screen TV's, trending celebrities and now my email is bombarding me with the movie title: Just Go With It. No, I do not want to JUST GO WITH IT! What an ironic title.
I can't stand the Super Bowl, as viewership continues to increase, nor do I find any new movies to be interesting. I did attend a free symphony last Saturday which I enjoyed more than I expected--maybe there's hope after all. I wasn't alone after all....

Can the Country Actually Head in any Direction?

During the contentious midterm election here in Alaska, I received more pollster telephone calls than any human being should be expected to endure. Some days there would be 2 or 3 calls a day form various polling companies. Some of these polling agencies admitted their alliances to a political candidate or party--others did not. But even when they didn't want to say who was funding them, a dead giveaway was the question: "Do you feel the Country is headed in the right direction?" In other words, I can decode this to mean--"don't you just hate Obama?"

And if they mean: do you like what's happening in the country today? That too is a ridiculous question. At any given moment there are millions of conflicting ideas, opinions and attitudes that vary across every state, town, and household in the US. So is there even a common direction to begin with? I think not. Each political party feels the other yanks everyone in the wrong direction.
Why not just ask people for real examples of what is "wrong" about the country in their opinion?? (Before the biased folks asking this question get a chance to implant their well known sound bites : government over-reach, loss of freedom...blah, blah.)

The same people who have been trained to chant these phrases and misspell them on signs, would be the first to freak out if you really just "allowed" capitalism to happen. In other words, you would have a huge gap between rich and poor (goodbye middle class), economic decline and job loss before any economic improvements were seen. Deregulate everything and you have a country driven by people's darkest desires: greed, porn, fast food and flat screen TV's. Because that's all the people really want and that's what they will buy. Not to mention the splendor of no government over site so we have more contaminants in our products, pollution and other fun greed inspired consequences.
I personally don't like the direction of the country myself. But it has nothing to do with Obama. I feel if Obama had been allowed to let his elitist star shine--then the country would have had a chance to thrive..
I see a country that no longer has the attention span to read good books or listen to a symphony. Culture is quickly becoming a grunting super-bowl party or mass sex-tape viewing. People don't research facts, but listen only to annoying sound bites. They don't foster the arts or garden, they play silly little computer games on Facebook as if all adults have become 14 again. There is general apathy and disinterest for anything intellectual or cognitively challenging. Children no longer want to grow up to be astronauts and doctors, but rappers and basket ball stars.
And who do I blame for this "direction"? I can't say if it is democrat or republican, but instead of fearing a loss of freedom, I feel we have been given too much. Give the people free will and they will choose to be apathetic, unread, wanna be rock stars-- full of sugar and fat.