Supporting Effective Government

Contributed by Stuart Thompson

Senator Ben Stevens is now guiding HB 72, (a bill requiring successful civics testing to graduate high school, through the legislature). All readers should lend support to it through their own legislators. Why?  In answer, below is my telephonic testimony given on April 8th to the Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee about SB 72.

“The testing of graduating high school students to verify effective grasp of civics is critical to posterity.

1.     It is constitutionally justified. Alaska Constitution Article 7 reaches to the implied duty of Alaskan government to enable citizens to ensure our form of government works. There are Article 1 Sections 1&2 that become useless nonsense without each citizen knowing that the entire success of Alaska government is dependent on his knowing how to honor his civic obligations; and how to enforce the People’s Will on and through government. Alaska’s Constitution states it is dedicated (the exact word) to civic rights and corresponding civic obligations of each citizen.

2.     It is philosophically justified. Using Abraham Lincoln’s useful phrase, we have government OF, FOR, and BY the people. The methods of monarchies, aristocracies, socialism, and dictatorships all perform government OF and FOR the People---but not BY. It’s easily proven that modern Alaskan adults are most educated and practiced in the methods of monarchies. The family is a natural monarchy (first observed by Aristotle) and most businesses are the same. Accordingly, some people often show they think that citizenship is just electing somebody who uses desired prejudices and shows willingness to get them government hand-outs; and only complaining when that official doesn’t deliver.

3.     It is strategically justified. America has suffered from long-term decline in quality literacy and numeracy. What was the expected 5th grade literacy quality in the 1800’s is now classed as complex literacy today. See US Dept. of Education’s assessment of US adult literacy 20 years ago---reporting only 13% of Americans are capable of complex literacy. It is better demonstrated in records of US military induction failures from inability of tested enlistees to read at a 4th grade level. World War I saw 2% functional illiteracy; WWII saw 4%; the Korean War saw 19%; and the Vietnam War saw 27%. You also see evidence of mediocre literacy in legislative body dependence on lobbyists, and public dependence on either left or right leaning media explanations of reality. Therefore, under current conditions, if graduating students aren’t made to demonstrate citizen practices to the same quality as they can demonstrate riding a bike or operating computers and phones, illiteracy will provoke escalating government perversion and eventual government collapse.”

Stuart Thompson
lookitover@att.net

Dogs & Shedding

Contributed by Angie Lewis, Alaska Animal Advocates

Why do dogs shed their fur? Most dogs shed their undercoats during spring or fall. This is referred to a seasonal shedding. When the weather is warmer, a dog needs less fur to be comfortable. Of course, the opposite is true when it is colder out. Dogs with double coats shed more. Another reason for shedding is stress. When a dog is stressed, he often sheds more than he would under normal circumstances. Skin issues or allergies can add to the amount of fur that is shed.

Typically, short-haired dogs shed year-round, while dogs like Huskies, shed twice a year.

Controlling your dog’s shedding will make life a bit more bearable. Provide a well-balanced diet, which will help minimize shedding. Brushing your dog is a very important aspect of grooming and lessening shedding. If daily brushing is not possible, at least once or twice a week. Of course, a dog groomer can help make sure that your dog is getting his grooming needs met.

No matter how diligent you are about grooming, you will still have to deal with fur around your house. Getting a good vacuum is very important in this battle against fur. Look into specialty vacuums for dealing with pet fur. Put blankets on your furniture to cover up couches and chairs. In a pinch, don’t forget lint rollers for your clothing and furniture. Air filters can help you deal with this overabundance of fur.

Bottom line is that your dog or cat, for that matter, comes with fur. No matter how much they shed, they are worth any extra work involved in dealing with fur.

Deadline for Budget Fights

Contributed by Wes Keller

I’m guessing you underestimate the angst of your legislators right now. They are engaged in complex and frustrating annual budget manipulations and their options are awful. Believe it or not, very few legislators simply ignore voter demands to reduce spending - rather, they are forced to “balance” them against even stronger demands to spend! The perceived job description and power of an Alaska legislator are warped compared to what we learned in “Civics 101”. The “warp” results from living in an intentionally created “administrative” state where executive and judicial branches are on “steroids” at the expense of an anemic legislature! This becomes obvious when you consider the “legitimate” fiscal influence of the Courts, the Department of Law, Administrative “law” (regulations), lobbying power, and “legal opinions”, all sourced in the Administrative and Judicial branches. The power to appropriate money has actually been legally perverted in Alaska.

Another complication: Alaskan voters almost never vote for a legislator based on what tax he or she may impose! Rather, selection is primarily based on what they will fund! The painful realization that budget revenue must be taken from us (as taxes) is suppressed unlike any other State!  Media “heats up” when interest groups line up in opposition to compete for funding with armies of advocates. None of us like to admit we NEED the dynamics of legislators defending tax legislation! But without it, we cannot realistically define what we “need” to spend public money on. What one “needs” to eat, for example, changes depending on whether hunger must be dealt with for a dollar or with hundred-dollar bill. For example, our compassionate expenditures for children’s education or senior’s retirement programs, have stubbornly continued to grow in spite of good intentions to be frugal. It has not been very convincing for a legislator to say “no, we cannot afford it” when Alaska’s government was constitutionally funded copiously by the one novel granddaddy constitutional “tax” we all seem to have forgotten! 80% of all revenue generated from our natural resources is directly routed into the State checkbook balance. The traditional legislative power to tax is still in the Constitution, probably because it was ratified before the influx of billions and billions from oil sales! We have spent freely for over 40 years! Legislative “duty” simply has not included the burdensome job of levying taxes on citizens to pay for what government spends. Campaign promises to “not support new taxes” are hollow indeed! Now, impossibly high tax loads cannot be imposed to sustain services.

Even more hollow is the tragic belief our savings will get us through! It will instead make our problem worse because it will further obscure where it comes from. It is a terrible option because it expands the “granddaddy” tax by taking the earnings from the restricted 20%, the Permanent Fund - ironically - money set aside to prevent it from being similarly consumed by budget spending. Budget politics has already permitted the “boring of a drain hole” in the Permanent Fund earnings account. Laws, traditions, and policies all combine to prevent legislators from cutting spending to avoid bankruptcy!  Every penny transformed directly into budget revenue reduces our chances of getting through this. If the 16+ Billion goes up for grabs, Alaska’s prosperity from government spending will only get a temporary, comparatively short, extension until it too is gone. If you doubt me, tune in to the weight of the demands of credible doctors, teachers, social workers, state employees, government contractors… all “mining” for state dollars because it is the thing to do - it pays off! Each identity group cannot avoid/resist fighting selfishly for its own cause.

A solution is obvious even if it is a “long shot” politically: Immediate passage of a statute or constitutional amendment to clarify ownership of the PF would properly re-define the fight once and for all: The 20% Permanent Fund, and ALL of the earnings from investment of the PF, must be banned from becoming mere budget revenue. It must be clearly destined to become real property for Alaskans (PFDs). At the same time, we need a “tax” law enabling the legislature to “claw back” (keep) what they dare (a tax) to get us past the crisis and find a proper level of limited government spending determined by the real values of the voters (PFD “owners”). Once the budget is balanced and debts are paid, the offensive “clawback” (tax) would be appropriately moderated politically. PFDs could continue to be generated at a sustainable rate according to the trust model that inspired it. Any professional financial manager can confirm we now have the potential for continuing, much larger, PFDs applying current standards for investment. PFD “check stubs” would confirm who “owns” money in question, and, how much the government keeps for the budget… keeping everyone honest. This is not magic or impossible. If it seems that way, it is only because of the false “normal” we have settled into!

Wes Keller | WesKeller.com

Updates from United Way of Mat-Su: Spring 2021

Contributed by Michele Harmeling, United Way of Mat-Su

As we move into spring, we are hopeful and planning to continue, or reinvigorate, our usual programming and services. We are comforted and inspired by stories from around the Valley of neighbors helping neighbors, friends checking in with one another and Mat-Su residents banding together to help others in need.

Applications for both non-profits seeking assistance and interested volunteer groups are open as we finalize details for “Week of Caring”! If you are either a Mat-Su agency, or a volunteer group leader, interested in our largest annual volunteer event, you can read more on how to apply below.

Other summer projects will be announced as they are finalized, so be on the lookout! It is shaping up to be a busy few months. There will be several opportunities to volunteer throughout the summer. If you are interested in volunteering, visit www.unitedwaymatsu.org/volunteer to get started!

The “Meals for Mat-Su Littles” project will continue through May. Volunteers and delivery drivers are always welcome! Special thanks to Mat-Su Health Foundation for funding this community effort.

Thrive Mat-Su has a full schedule of events for youth, and is adding more every day! You can find their text platform information below. 

The 2021 UWMS Mat-Su Valley Resource Guide and Pocket Guides are available for pickup in our offices, by appointment only. Please call 745-5824 to schedule a pickup! If you are unable to pick guides up, please let us know and we will do our best to delivery some to you.

We are excited to see things improve in our community, especially the weather! We look forward to Summer of 2021 and a renewed energy here at UWMS. Read on for a look at what we’re up to!

We are now accepting applications for 2021 Week of Caring projects and partners!

It's been a year since we were able to engage in our biggest annual volunteerism project, and we are so excited to see it return!

What is “Week of Caring”? Week of Caring engages volunteers from local, community-minded businesses in providing volunteer assistance to non-profits in the Valley who need a helping hand. Past projects include spring cleaning and repairs at the Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center and Girl Scout Camp Togowoods, park and playground clean-ups, donations sorting at turn-a-leaf, grounds work at Family Promise, and more! Our business volunteerism partners have come from establishments across the Valley, like Wells Fargo Bank, MVFCU, First National Bank Alaska, and other energetic volunteers who give their time to assist.

We recently expanded from a single day of activities to an entire week, to accommodate our partners' schedules.

Week of Caring 2021 will take place May 17-21, 2021!

How Do I Get Involved?

Register your project and receive assistance, or register as a volunteer group at www.unitedwaymatsu.org/volunteer.

Messages of Hope Are Springing Up Around the Valley!

Thrive Mat-Su and United Way of Mat-Su have partnered with local artist, Audra Niekamp Reger of Stardust Dezignz to spread some words of hope and encouragement around the Valley. 

Audra combines her whimsical, uplifting style with window paintings and phrases intended to help spread joy and a sense of belonging through art. Her work appears around Palmer at participating businesses, Sutton Public Library and Wasilla Public Library just to name a few.

Funded through grants coordinated by Thrive Mat-Su, the “Messages of Hope” project began as a collaboration between Thrive staff, youth and members of the AK Valley Rocks rock-painting group. We then decided to go a step further, and enlisted Audra's assistance in making Messages of Hope visible around the Valley.

Are you a local business owner interested in participating in “Messages of Hope”? Please call 745-5824 for more details. See more “Messages of Hope” on Audra's business page: Stardust Dezignz.

Thrive Mat-Su is hard at work planning awesome activities for youth!

Thrive is beginning to offer both online training opportunities (Thrive University) and virtual field trips monthly. Please let us know if you would like to be added the invite list for these on-line opportunities

Online Meetings & Training Opportunities:

Thrive Varsity Zoom Meetings
1st & 3rd Wednesday of the Month: 4pm-5pm
Please Click Here to Sign Up

Thrive U - Zoom Training
2nd Wednesday of the Month: 4pm-5pm -
Open to all students: 6th grade-20 years old
Please Click Here to Sign Up

Thrive Online Field Trips

4th Wednesday* of the Month: 4pm-5pm
Open to all students: 6th grade-20 years old
Please Click Here to Sign Up

Upcoming Thrive University Schedule: 

April 14th, 4pm
Resume Building with Yolanda Thomas

May 12th, 4pm
Growth Zone with Colin Courtney

Upcoming Virtual Field Trips:

April 30th, 1pm
Penguin Encounter at Oregon Zoo

May 26th, 4pm
The Louvre Museum

Our interns work hard creating and sharing content on our social media channels. Please show your support by following our pages below:

Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel:
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Do We Deny Evil? Look at HR-1 in Today’s America

Contributed by Doug Ferguson

Last month, many were finding comic relief in the world’s current chaos by listening to all the soap opera prattle that dominated internet podcasts and the media over the Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Since then, there has been even more distracting drivel about Markle running for president!  

Currently any serious talk is about“what do we do next?” by the so-called “middle of the road” and “conservative” media commentators. A few of them are just starting to wake up to the modern Orwellian coup taking place before our eyes in our own country. By the time this article gets into print, the possible passage of HR-1 may well cement this coup in place!

The rest of the media, and the public in general, are refusing to address the evil that is in the process of dominating and changing all of our lives. One of the few that do is Dennis Prager, the nationally known talk show host. In a recent op-ed on his website titled The Denial of Evil: The Case of Communism, he says,

“The most glaring example of the denial of evil is communism, an ideology that, within a period of only 60 years, created modern totalitarianism and deprived of human rights, tortured, starved and killed more people than any other ideology in history.”

He goes on to state facts from The Black Book of Communism by the Harvard University Press to drive this reality home.

“--- the numbers of people murdered — not people killed in combat; ordinary civilians

trying to live their lives — by communist regimes were:

Latin America: 150,000. Vietnam: 1 million. Eastern Europe: 1 million. Ethiopia: 1.5 million. North Korea: 2 million. Cambodia: 2 million. The Soviet Union: 20 million (many scholars believe the number was considerably higher). China: 65 million.”

He goes on to say that this doesn’t even begin to count the suffering endured by hundreds of millions of people due to the totalitarian policies of the communist governments and goes on to describe many of the terrible torture and starvation practices that the various leaders employed to force compliance and loyalty to their regimes.

His final summary of the case presented is that all this is pure evil and references the bible to show if you believe in God, or if you don’t, you at least love people, you have to hate communism.

Why do people deny evil? Praeger explains:

“People associate evil with darkness. But that is not accurate: It is easy to look into the dark; it is very hard to stare into bright light. One should therefore associate evil with extreme brightness, given that people rarely look at real evil.”

People are slowly awakening to this damage of our democratic republic, but unfortunately, they tend to want the federal government to fix these problems. This takes even more power away from the states. Lest we forget, the independence of the states is the basis of our democratic republic as a check on abusive federal power. The result? More power to the federal government to “fix” problems can more easily allow our country to evolve into a single-party ruled “communist style” state as has happened to countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Venezuela.

A good example of this new awareness is our sorely corrupted and vulnerable voting system. In a recent Rasmussen survey taken at the beginning of March this year, just 26% of those polled believe the right person was declared a winner in the last two presidential elections and 56% believe that at least one of the last two presidents was illegitimately elected! Today In both elections only 60% of all voters think that the right person was the legitimate winner. 

With these numbers, no wonder politicians have backing to enact election reforms!

However, the problem is the new totally Democrat controlled congress is using this distrust of our system to push Federal Bill, HR-1 that has been passed in the House and at this writing, is being debated in the Senate. Ironically it is titled in 1984 “doublespeak” language as “For the People Act” and described as a “voting rights” bill!  

A federal bill might help if it put in place features like: 1) voting machines must be independently tested and openly certified before they can be sold in the U.S., 2) voters must prove citizenship in some way, 3) voter marked paper ballots are required in all elections and 4) mandatory certification audits are required in any federal election.

If HR-1 gets passed, it will NOT do these things. It WILL take election powers entirely away from the states and federalize things like unverified mail-in registration and voting, automatic voter registration when getting a driver’s license whether you are a citizen or not, etc. There are dozens of other terrible provisions in this 790-page bill that do this also and most are unconstitutional.

The irony is, increasing public awareness of our voting problems is being used by the radical left in our country to make things even worse! Our only hope starts with large numbers of Americans finally facing up to this actual evil and getting directly involved with local and state reforms and also demand that their senators push back against this federal disaster. There is no doubt: HR-1 would leave our country ruled by a one-party system. Hopefully it is not too late! 

Welcome to the modern version of Orwell’s 1984 and beware!

Doug Ferguson is a retired engineer living in Palmer, Alaska who has had a lifelong interest in science, computer technology, history and, of course, politics.