Blog Entries

My Rogue Big Toe

editor@esterrepublic.com — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:21:27 +0100

Dose of Reality, a column on health care reform and politics, by Neil Davis

reprinted from The Ester Republic, November 2009

One oft-repeated conservative mantra we hear nowadays is the one telling us that the road to health care reform requires each of us to take on more personal responsibility for our own health care. You have to read between the lines to get the intended message here: each of [...]

Status of the Health Care Wars

editor@esterrepublic.com — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:05:47 +0100

Dose of Reality, a column on health care reform and politics, by Neil Davis

reprinted from The Ester Republic, October 2009

Now, at end of September 2009, the final status of health care reform legislation coming out of Congress is still up in the air, but we can see the way things are going. One thing is clear: no substantive, money-saving reform to our health care system is going to occur this year. Congress lost that opportunity ea [...]

Backdoor Health Care Reform

editor@esterrepublic.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:30:23 +0100

Dose of Reality, by Neil Davis

published 9/09 in The Ester Republic

Health care reform is for real. Like it or not, reform is happening, but perhaps not in the ways we hear much about, and it is occurring in a manner independent of whether Congress passes any health care reform legislation this year. However, any legislation that Congress might pass could modify the pace and direction of the fundame [...]

Proposed Changes to Medicare

editor@esterrepublic.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Dose of Reality, a column on medical finances and health care politics, by Neil Davis

August 2009, reprinted from The Ester Republic

In several past columns I have stated that I think that the only truly rational way to reform health care is to institute a single-payer system operated by the federal government using money collected from the public according to ability to pay. I claim that an unbia [...]

Alaska’s Congressional Stance on Health Care Reform

editor@esterrepublic.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:32:33 +0100

Dose of Reality, a column on medical finances and health care politics, by Neil Davis

reprinted from The Ester Republic, July 2009

According to its own statements, Alaska’s Congressional delegation hopes to kill meaningful health care reform this year.

Anyone with an open mind who has been following the news lately is well aware that meaningful health care reform means, at b [...]

Equinox Marathon 50K

jwardowski@yahoo.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

There is one particularly cruel section of the Equinox Marathon. It comes at the top of Ester Dome. After running uphill for several miles and a thousand feet, you summit only to find a section of out and back off the dome's back side. Needless to say, it's all downhill going out, and every step you take down that hill comes with the knowledge that at some point you will have to turn around and retrace your steps back up. It's hard to think about. Especially since you are barely past the rac [...]

Dirty fuel

seanemcguire@yahoo.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:58:12 +0100

This letter appeared in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner Last Saturday.

June 26, 2009

To the editor:

Coal is the dirtiest of all major fuels. Coal-fired power plants release a toxic brew of heavy metals, just one of which is mercury. Mercury bio-accumulates in fis [...]

Natural Gas Beating Coal in Cost and Cleanliness

swarming@mosquitonet.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Energy economist Michael Giberson (Center for Energy Commerce, Texas Tech University) writes that cheaper natural gas can now lead to underbidding coal in the competition for electricity generation. Citing numerous other energy experts, Giberson’s recent blog argues that the market for cheaper energy is now pushing electricity producers to take shorter contracts for coal and shed their contracts when they can. Though coal as a commodity remains cheaper than natural gas, it is more expensive to [...]

They Go In Threes...

with2ms@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

My ex-husband used to always say "Famous people pass away in threes Pamm." The first time he told me this I replied "Whatever Greg. You're full of it!" but somewhere, back in the recesses of my mind, I held onto that thought. For years and years his philosophy would come true. And today I can honestly say "Greg - you were right!"

Tuesday we lost Ed McMahon. This morning (Thursday) we lost Farrah Fawcett. This afternoon we lost Michael Jackson. 1....2....3....and we're done (hopef [...]

Big Brothers Big Sisters

fwxsca@yahoo.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Early this month I attended a graduation at which I was honored. This wasn't my graduation, but it meant almost as much to me as my high school or college graduations. I didn't go up on stage or wear a cap and gown or get an honerary degree, but I was honored none the less. This was the 2009 GED graduation ceremony. Over 200 students had achieved getting their GED in the 2008-2008 “school” year. Each spring Adult Learning Program of Alaska (APLA) holds a graduation ceremony. Of the over 20 [...]

Go Iran!

jwardowski@yahoo.com — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

I'm riveted by the uprising in Iran. Nothing like it has ever happened before. Massive numbers of technically savvy, well educated, and world aware people have taken to the streets to object to a stolen election. Via Twitter and YouTube, they're telling the world all about it in real [...]

For FMATS, It's not easy being green

jwardowski@yahoo.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

The Fairbanks Metropolitan Area Transport System (FMATS) is required to create a long range plan for managing the transportation infrastructure in the populated center of the borough. The result this time around is the Fairbanks Metro 2035: A Plan to Keep YOU Moving.

In this regard, a consultant was hired to facilitate the creation of "goals" and "objectives" for the Plan. The Plan went before the FMATS Technical Committee (I'm a member) and the concept of Green Infrastructure was added [...]

Enough about Torture Already

fwxsca@yahoo.com — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

“Torture, Torture, Torture”, I am so sick of this so called “Torture Debate”
Can't we just put it all behind us? I mean, I wasn't tortured, We're you? I didn't think so, so what's the big deal? So some other people got tortured by our country, you think that hasn't happened before? We just pretended it didn't happen and said that it was wrong. So now we are just opening up this so called “Torture Debate.” Those other people, they weren't even Americans, I don't think, not even Christia [...]

Talk Radio Simpletons and Torture

swarming@mosquitonet.com — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

In the conservative world the debate about the use of torture for national security is settled by a simpleton’s argument. Right wing talk show hosts and right wing columnists repeat minor variations of the following: What would you do if you knew that an individual had knowledge that could help to prevent a terrorist attack? Wouldn’t you use all necessary means to cause that person to tell you what you need to know. The personalized variation is: would you refrain from using all necessary m [...]

What Have We Become?

seanemcguire@yahoo.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

A host of Republican politicians are pitching the idea that we have to use torture as part of the war on terror. I view this, about the same way as politicians saying that slavery is okay, or that this experiment with women voting has been a failure. Torture goes against everything the USA has espoused. It has sickened me and it has sickened the world to watch as George Bush, Dick Cheny and the neocons begin rounding people up, hooded, shackled, transported incommunicado. Often thousands of mile [...]

DOT vs. the Big I

jwardowski@yahoo.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Nearly four years ago, when Alaska's DOT started planning Illinois St. renovations and the Barnette St. bridge, it was decided that several buildings, including Samson's Hardware, would be demolished as part of the project. For whatever reason, the Big I, alone amongst its neighbors, was to be spared the wrecking ball. ...Until the State of Alaska started to change its mind earlier this year.

In a sudden re-evaluation just weeks before building demolition was scheduled to begin along Il [...]

Mega-Recycling Event

swarming@mosquitonet.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

FOR reported last month on Interior Alaska GreenStar’s electronics recycling program scheduled for May 16. The event has transformed into a massive recycling effort to which you can bring items ranging from compostable materials to #1 plastics. The total list includes: newspaper, mixed paper, cardboard, food cans, aluminum cans, glass, plastic (#1 & #2), building materials, clothing, food, compostable material, and hazardous wastes. Fairbanks Resource Agency is offering a chance to win p [...]

Join the Fight to Bring Single-Payer Health Care to the Table

cjfriar@riseup.net — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

While there may have been some initial difficulty in discerning that indeed the Democrats have no clothes, the corporate shackles that bind them and their Republican co-conspirators to the monied interests are plainly visible now as the Senate Finance Committee continues its glaring omission of single-payer advocates from the current discussion around health care reform. The lobbyists at AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) know that all is well when single-payer is of [...]

We are in the middle of a true revolution!

seanemcguire@yahoo.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

We are in the middle of a true revolution; the internet is rapidly becoming the most powerful media force on the planet. Over a year ago the internet surpassed newspapers in terms of how people get their information. TV and radio will also soon be eclipsed .And this trend is magnified many times for young people. I come from the last generation that prefers newspapers. The speed at which this is happening is stunning. This rise of the internet is largely responsible for the decline of papers, [...]

THIS is what a famous NYC restaurant's website looks like?

jwardowski@yahoo.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Sometimes in Fairbanks when I encounter something that just isn't up to snuff, I assume it's because of where and who we are. We cobble things together on the Frontier, I think. Fairbanksans don't have the population, the mentality, and quite frankly the desire to make things polished.

I find this roughness around the edges endearing. My husband and I still haven't painted the garage that we build 4 years ago. That's what living in a sparse, remote, and harsh climate is all about. S [...]