Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 I seldom buy the local news paper, The Juneau Empire. I find it to be increasingly a liberal rag that I strongly disagree with. Like so much of what passes for news now, it's become more of a medium of left leaning commentary.  However, a week or so ago, I bought a paper because there was an article concerning the ferry. For those of us who live in Southeast Alaska, you already know what I'm talking about. The lack of ferry service has severely impacted us in terms of getting groceries and other supplies into the smaller towns which are serviced by the ferries. In any event, since I already had the paper, I figured I would see if there were any other articles that might be of interest to me. There on the front page was a picture of a teen aged girl and two women who I guess were mothers on a mission to pass a red flag law here in Alaska. I read it with concern and promptly sent an email off to my state representatives. For those not familiar with it, the red flag law...

 With the lack of ferries, we're starting to experience less variety on our grocery store shelves. There are still groceries there, although there are more and more gaps showing up. Today there was lettuce in the produce cooler. It had dropped two bucks to $6.09 each. I know it's ridiculously high, but at least they have it. It's hard to make a salad if there isn't any lettuce. Jan and I walked up to the post office last week and since we didn't have the stamina or the desire to walk all the way down to Hoonah Trading and then back home, we opted to shop at Brand X. The selection of cereal was a little thin. I didn't really want a bunch of sugar coated kids stuff in my bowl, and I'd already finished a box of Cherrios, so I decided to opt for the Shredded Wheat. I rather like the flavor, and it has the added advantage of lots of fiber. I'm not real sure what fiber is good for, but judging by the way that cereal sometimes catches in my throat on the wa...

  For the past few years Alaska has been suffering with a budget crisis. There hasn't been a state tax since I believe the first year I came here, back in 1976 or somewhere around then. When oil was discovered on the North Slope and Prudhoe Bay, the state was swimming in money from oil revenues. There was so much money that the governor at the time, Jay Hammond decided it would be a grand idea to share the state's wealth with it's citizens. Hence the Alaska Permanent Fund was born. It was a tremendous blessing to receive, and was doable because to this date I believe there are less than a million people who live here. So many folks find themselves out of work in the winter months because of the harsh conditions, so having an extra source of income in the fall really makes a difference. Some years back the price of oil started dropping, from over $100.00 a barrel to around $60.00 or so. The state for years has lived off that oil revenue,and when the prices st...