AKJ3

Legislative conservatives have complained for several years that they could get none of their more-extreme bills through the Bi-partisan Senate, and they eventually gave no more than lip service to those measures by which the right-wing is measured.

This year, with Republicans running the Senate,  the brakes are off and the lawmaking machine is on its way. Continue reading →

The National Rifle Association this afternoon said that it isn’t ready to comment on the Newtown shootings.

It sounds like they’re getting ready to defend themselves from a possible backlash … when all I want to hear is the association apologize for what they have done over the years to enable murder.  Continue reading →

It is Evil to kill a classroom of kindergarten children.  It is Evil to kill half a dozen adults.

Details are still breaking in Newtown, Connecticut as I write this, and so far no one is making any sense of it.  But the details will come, and there will then be attempts to stop the sort of thing that happened there this morning.

I won’t guess what those attempts will be,  but the part of me that is not numb right now says I will support them,   The people will support whatever Good emerges.

But the old reporter in me also knows that opponents exist.  Evil is strong and will have a goal of preventing change.

The solution will become political.  Many people have shown that the partisan elements will form,  and they will be heard.  Don’t go there. Don’t listen.

To argue against change is to encourage future shootings in a shopping mall in Portland or a movie theater in Colorado.  There is a line now being drawn between Good and Evil.

Don’t support that Evil.

Don’t cross that line.

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National Public Radio this morning (Monday) had a story on the Orange County Register’s strategy to avoid the problems – okay, failures – of many newspapers in the digital age.  The arrival of new management at the paper was accompanied by a sense of optimism – and a willingness to look at the product from the eyes of a potential reader and advertiser. Continue reading →

I mentioned this in the election night live blogs I did for KTOO,  but it needs repeating.

There is a very real chance of having NO Democratic organization in the House next year.  I keep hearing people say they anticipate 25 Republicans will be joined by 5 Democrats in a huge majority caucus.  There are also a couple of races that are a little too close to call right now. Continue reading →

The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) has refused to allow itself to be drawn into a tightly contested Senate race this year. Continue reading →

I voted in person this week and noticed that the ballot given to me for my Juneau district was partially printed on the back.  I am sure that other districts will have two pages to go through, too.  I almost left the booth without catching the second page.

The back page was the place to vote on the retention of local judges.  Continue reading →

Two issues on the ballot need your attention. Continue reading →

A lot of us – I put myself at the top of the list – are ready for this election season to end, go away, disappear, die, fade, collapse … no, it already did that.   I hope to take the step tonight that will remove me from the list of possible voters.  The Absentee Early and In-person balloting begins today. Continue reading →

There is really only one question  that makes the November general election interesting at all to me:  Will the Senate be run by a bi-partisan coalition again?   Everything else fades — the individual races, the ballot questions, the egos. Continue reading →