Odds and Ends: Legislative Reception, Governor’s State of the State, Flu Outbreak, Oil Taxes
Juneau welcomes the Legislature to town this evening with its annual reception from 5 to 7 PM. Normally the city’s volunteers give every member a box of swag donated from local businesses. All of Juneau is invited. I went to Centennial Hall to take a photo of the ice and snow the city leaves lying around for aesthetic reasons, but there wasn’t any. Everyone can actually walk to the show.
I’ve never been to one of those soirees because they always come just before the Governor’s State of the State speech. I always needed that time to prepare for the event at the capitol.
I’m not going this evening because I don’t care.
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I don’t plan to listen to the governor’s speech either. He has already talked about what he plans to do and the speech risks turning into an advertising event rather than a news event. I’ll catch up on it some other time.
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I’ve read a lot recently about nationwide concerns with this year’s flu outbreak. Alaska health guys are saying Not to Worry But Take Your Shots. A piece on NPR this morning was about the tradeoff between employees going to work while sick or staying home. When they are in the office they infect co-workers; when they stay home they are part of the U-S’s $10-Billion loss in productivity.
There’s another alternative that might be worth considering – especially since it is a lethal strain circulating this year. Back in America I worked for a company that actually gave all its employees flu shots. It was more than just sending a reminder about coverage under their health plan…they brought in a nurse who stuck everyone in the building. It was a very profitable company with a very healthy bunch of employees.
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I guess a few people got an advance of the governor’s oil tax plan since we had opposition press releases almost a full day before it went public. The Democratic Party and at least one legislator had e-mails that whined No No No I won’t like it! I didn’t see any details, though. May I refer them here to my post about gun control. It’s a model that works with every subject. And I’ll leave those complainers with some advice from an old man: You don’t need to dig a very deep hole and plant yourself too soon. You may hate the tax plan when you see it, but you won’t look silly criticizing it then.
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AKJ3 