Bear's on the Booze

When Don isn't happy, I generally find there is good reason. And this release from his office suggests that there is more than
a little crazy talk walking down Pennsylvania Avenue. Yep, someone is thinking the Bear Market's been drinking.

Is America ready for a national health care plan? What is the value of having that vs. having whatever else that money can buy? In Alaska's case, a warm spot in the house come winter time. I'm thinking if setting the stage is this expensive, how could we ever afford to fund this proposition?

Seriously, $3.555 trillion? TRILLION? Why not make it BAZILLION, cause that's the level of funny money we will be printing in the future to pay this bill. There is simply no way for me to find this budget morally defensible. Thank you Don for being my voice down there. I hope you stood up on your desk and hollered loud and proud, "Not just no, but hell-no!" when it was your turn to vote.

Rep. Young Votes NO On Budget

Washington, D.C. – Alaskan Congressman Don Young joined all of his Republican colleagues and seventeen Democrats this morning in voting against a $3.555 trillion, Fiscal Year 2010 budget which not only promises to increase taxes over the next ten years, but also sets the stage for a national health care plan.

“This budget is the largest budget we’ve ever been presented with,” said Rep. Young. “It raises taxes on almost all Americans in the midst of a serious economic downfall and legislates on social issues, which is deceptive and underhanded. This budget was brought forth and voted on without any Republican input or compromise making it reflective of the Democrat Majority, not the American people.

“And let’s not forget their ingenious ‘cap-and-tax’ program which by (Congressional Budget Office) estimates could raise up to $629 billion by restricting the energy sources used by the American people. These increased costs would be passed on to the countless Alaskans and Americans nationwide, who already are struggling to pay the ever increasing cost of energy. This national energy tax would cost the average American household an additional $3,128 per year. With hardworking Alaskans already paying a higher energy price than the national average, I simply find this proposal unacceptable.

“I have worked with eight Presidents and seen a total of 37 budgets since taking office, and I’ve never been as frustrated as I am today. It’s time for the Democrat Majority to stop playing games with taxpayer dollars and start working with all Members to do what’s right for our country.”

Father Norman Elliott aka Don Wannabe

Got sent this suitable for framing mug shot of myself and my husband, Don Wannabe. Is he wonderful or what? Father Elliott, man about town, proprietor of the Four Deuces speakeasy, and the best husband a girl could ever hope for.

Catch a Wave While it Lasts

Looks like the Army Corps of Engineers is finally going to have funding to fix a small technical error that has caused some serious wave action inside the Seward Small Boat Harbor ever since the new breakwater was added during the expansion. Seward City Councilman Bob Valdetta complained about the design flaw since day one, but no one listened to Bob.

Locals have been taking advantage of the problem by offering surfing classes inside the first set of floats, where the wave action made tying up your boat a real adventure. Casmir will be disappointed, so much for her starring role in Gidget Goes Alaskan.

You can discover the detail at the Alaska Report.

Flashing Floosey

Over the weekend I had the honor to be in the cast of the Anchorage Pioneers of Alaska Murder Mystery Dinner Fun Night. I was Madam MeMe, wife of Don Wannabe (Father Norman Elliott), the owners of the 1920 speakeasy known as The Four Deuces.

Great cast of characters playing the roles including Ernie Hall, Mike Syzmanski, Eric Croft, Duane Heverling, Roger Storrs, Corkey Dickson, Carol Storrs, Evelyn Wince, Chuck Dickson, Judy Sarber, Greg Dixon, Charlene Conestabo, Ginger Zarobsky, Til Cobb, Gerald Delkettie, Christine Gill, Allan Coward, and Margaret Peterson.

Enjoy the photos at http://pioneersofalaska.org/4_Deuces.html

Stand by Your Man

In this case ninety-year old Father Norman Elliott, whom I joined at the Petroleum Club for the Dan Sullivan/Ted Stevens affair. Elliott played Don Wannabe in the Pioneers of Alaska Night At the Four Dueces Murder Mystery Dinner. I played his wife, Madam MeMe.

Great fun was had by Elliott introducing me to his friends as his wife. For the record, no one raised an eyebrow, no one called us on it, no one made a single disparaging remark as far as we could hear. Not even folks who knew us both. Only in Alaska.

Elliott also had a great time explaining that at the e Four Dueces, his hit man/bouncer Al Capone was played by none other than Dan's opponent in the Anchorage Mayoral race, Eric Croft.

Safety First

I know that Governor Sarah Palin has been really busy while she has been in office, but one would think, hope, pray, that the safety of Alaskans would be somewhere on her priority list. Apparently, not near the top. How else could one explain this recent photo taken of damage in the north span of the Trail River bridge of the Seward Highway.

Seward Highway? Yes, that national scenic byway that is one of the major transportation arteries of the state. I don't think it takes a civil engineer to look at girder number one and figure out something is a miss. Nor is it any surprise that this damage didn't happen overnight, but from years of deferred maintenance.

The crews are closing down the highway this (normally very busy since the grey whale watches would be coming to Seward) weekend from 10 pm tonight to 5 am Monday morning to put in a temporary fix.

Guess we should all be letting loose a sigh of relieve that a bus load of cruise ship tourists and they unregulated heavy luggage didn't go crashing through prior to the structure being fixed. I know the locals really enjoyed the slow the highway down to 25 mph, set up a stop light at either end of the bridge, say two Hail Marys, have everyone take turns driving down the middle of the bridge adventure we have had this spring.

Apparently, I am not the only one who has noticed that Seward's safety hasn't been noticed. Kenai Pen Borough Mayor Dave Carey suggests he had nearly thousand complains on the issue, and suggests some legal action may be following. Read his letter at the Seward City News.

Always wonder what people are thinking

Just did the yearly review of what key words people are searching for when the end up here, and, as always it is disturbing. Of course there are the various searches for Dorene Lorenz and Seward Alaska, if only it started and ended there.

Here are the other things that folks are searching for:

1) Apparently reindeer are very popular. People found me while searching for:
reindeer, pictures of reindeer, female reindeer, male reindeer, reindeer ass, real reindeer, christmas reindeer, reindeer with antlers, reindeer tails, where do reindeer come from, female reindeer antlers, reindeers music, santa reindeers, images of dogs with reindeer antlers on head, large male reindeer, christmas of reindeers, femail reindeers, antlers dropping, and christmas toys reindeer antlers.

2) Friends and associates (although apparently some people aren't as fond of them as I am, what is up with that?)
Leif Olson, Ben Suddath, Bliss Kelly, Brad Snowden, Tylan Schrock, Marvin Yoder, Rhonda Hubbard, Satch Carlson, Alyssa Kashevaroff, Lisa Lorenz, Casmir Lorenz, Jackie Pels, Tom Sawyer, Steve Shafer, Diane Tillion, Deborah Luper, Clark Corbridge, Hilmer Kiser, Wilard Dunham, Keith Lindsey, Andie Blackwood, phyllis buzzini, David DeMordaunt and Walter Blondin.

3) And my favorite category, the completely unrelated searches that must have collected a great deal of disappointment over the last year:

presidential campaign sign generator, pioneer courting rituals, photos+of+the+yukon+bar+seward+ak, chicken road obama clinton, "katherine rager" poetry, bencardino cocaine, "denise baker" arkansas attorney, -pastor -bull -bulls -minister -, "step on the starter" video, mr hamadi hashem, honeywell avionics stock since1997, scotchcap survivors, 1979 duelcab fords, sarge's shack frankewing, mooses tooth pizza artist,howard metzenbaum love of the bottle quote, klimt how to pronounce his name, "stevens favorite" diagram, harawata o tatsu, Bartender Dutch Harbor, "timperlake" locke, global wording smithsonian/march 2006, carpendary works, sarges shack, oklahoma hothouse definition, chris pirillo antitrust settlement, mushers wax costco, cheat at "city of decay", and blonde groped on train.

New Dorene M. Lorenz website

Opening Day

First it is the "Spring" that arbitrarily shows up on a day on my calendar, now it is the boys of summer coming out to play. Remind me again, you Global Warming fans, when it is going to stop SNOWING?

I appreciate that the snow covers the volcano ash, but rain would do just as well. I recall that April showers bring May flowers, and think that it is going to be a weak year for the blooms.