In Bold Move, Alaska’s Governor Stands Up to Chamber of Commerce, AFN, and Obama, Says No to Medicaid Expansion

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Photo Credit: AP/Mark ThiessenAlaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) said Friday his state will not expand Medicaid under President Obama’s signature health-care law after a report estimated it would cost the state about $200 million over seven years.

“I believe a costly Medicaid expansion, especially on top of the broken Obamacare system, is a hot mess,” Parnell said at a news conference on Friday. “The bottom line is: Obamacare failed to launch, is failing to deliver on its promises, and remains in disarray. We simply cannot bail out this failed experiment by expanding Medicaid.”

Groups ranging from the Alaska Chamber of Commerce to the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium had pushed Parnell to move toward expanding Medicaid. But Parnell, who is seeking reelection in 2014, won praise from state Republicans, who oppose expansion.

Expanding Medicaid in Alaska would have made about 40,000 residents with an income of 138 percent of the federal poverty level or less eligible for coverage. The federal government would have initially provided 100 percent of the costs of an expansion, dropping to 90 percent by 2020.

But the federal government would have covered more of the costs in Alaska than in other states, because the federal government covers 100 percent of the costs for Native Americans in Alaska, according to the Anchorage Daily News. About 17,000 of the 40,000 who would have been eligible under the expansion are Alaska Natives.

Read more from this story HERE.

Common Core and School Choice

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Photo Credit: James Sarmiento/flickrOur current public education system is a cognitive dissonance writ large. In it we try to prepare our most precious youth for the rigors of global free market competition in an institution that actively suppresses it. How can a noncompetitive socialist education model- where everyone gets a trophy possibly prepare our students for the real world of intense market competition? It can’t.

Let me ask you a question. Would you buy a car that was rated 17th best in the world for quality? Would you buy a new computer or a iPad that was ranked 17th fastest? Would you go into a grocery store and purchase a similarly priced carton of milk that was ranked 17th in quality? Not likely. However, our public schools were recently ranked 17th in the world and taxpayers have no choice but to go with what is currently on the shelf. To borrow a phrase from the health care debate, we have a single payer education system. In state rankings Alaska ranks near the top in education spending but near the bottom in academic performance. Continually throwing more money at the problem only grows the burgeoning bureaucracy and further diffuses educational responsibility and accountability. Change is in the air. However like a lot of change options, one wears a black hat and one wears a white hat.

Two antithetical educational paradigms are competing for ascendancy in the public debate- Common Core and School Choice. The former seeks to homogenize our underperforming schools through imposing common standards and intrusive teacher and student data mining, while the latter seeks just the opposite by giving teachers and parents more latitude in education and interjecting free market competition into public schools.

The elements of Common Core were recently adopted in Alaska in a most circumlocutious way that bypassed the state legislature’s constitutional authority when the governor signed on to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)- a supergoverment group.

The goal of Common Core is to provide common standards in math and English language arts to better prepare students for college and the job market. Its diverse supporters include President Obama, Bill and Melinda Gates and Governor Jeb Bush. On the surface it sounds like a laudable and commendable idea. In practice however politics, sexuality, and political data mining have been woven into it causing widespread teacher and parent revolts and rejection in many states.

Proponents of Common Core state that the standards are just that- they do not represent curriculum. However, if your read the appendices, textbooks are cited in which to meet the standards. These textbooks are purchased on a six-year procurement cycle meaning they will be around for a long time.

Many of the standards have been criticized for being dumbed down and highly dubious. For example in mathematics, if a student adds 2 + 2 and arrives at 5, the answer can still be regarded as correct if the student justifies how they arrived at the answer. In another example, the political redistribution of wealth is used to illustrate the nonpolitical distributive property of algebra. Age inappropriate sexuality or even pornography is said to be at the core of at least three of the approved books. Perhaps the most disturbing feature of Common Core is the Fourth Amendment crushing imposition of Longitudinal Data Systems (LDS) to compile teacher, student, and family data. Students will have no constitutional privacy rights but will have their education information permanently recorded, shared among federal agencies, and sold to outside vendors. Extra-education data will also be recorded such as health, family political affiliation, religious affiliation, and income level. In Alaska, personal data from the PFD database has already been data mined.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, School Choice seeks to remove bureaucratic burdens from teachers and parents and let free market competition continuously improve the quality of education. For instance, if parents were given an educational voucher for each child, they could choose the best school to educate their child. Public schools, charter schools, and private schools would all have to compete for public funds, students, and the best creative teachers. History tells us that the biggest driver of innovation and technology as well as the best reducer of costs is free market competition.

Where do you find the highest performing schools in the English speaking world?- Alberta Canada. They have School Choice specifically written into their constitution. Parents have the freedom to place their children in any school of their choice. Schools compete, standards rise, and costs are lowered. We should have a strong public debate on amending Alaska’s State Constitution to implement School Choice similar to Alberta. After all it makes sense to copy what works instead of doubling down on what doesn’t.

Will the black hat George Orwellian 1984 model prevail in Alaska? Or will the white hat 1776 educational freedom and privacy model prevail? One thing is for certain, they are mutually incompatible. You cannot have freedom without privacy. Common Core involvement in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) coupled with the Alaska P-20W (pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education and workforce) Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) must be immediately banned by the state legislature during this next legislative session or the data mining of teachers, students, and home schoolers will grow unabatedly. Even if School Choice were adopted without banning Common Core, data mining and federal manipulation will extend into virtually any educational form. The death of privacy is the death of freedom.

I believe that all states in America, “are, and of right ought to be, free.” Abdicating the educational responsibility of our state legislature is wrong. As you ponder these thoughts remember that freedom, privacy, and free market competition isn’t just a metaphysical idea held by a few Americans. It was the belief of those who built this nation from the ground up- many of whom’s sons now lie under lonely white crosses as a result of defending these sacred principles. Freedom is America.

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“Daniel Hamm resides in Palmer Alaska. He is an international airline pilot, small business owner, author, and active in local politics.”

Official: Alaska Looking at Equity Stake in Pipeline to Protect its Interests, Advance Project

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Photo Credit: Arthur ChapmanAn Alaska official said Monday the state is looking at taking a multibillion-dollar equity stake in a major natural gas pipeline project as a way to protect its interests and help make the long-hoped-for project a reality.

Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash said Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration views a potential equity stake of 20 percent to 30 percent favorably. But he said any level of participation would depend on legislative buy-in and the terms the companies pursuing the project are willing to accept.

Assuming the project costs $45 billion — a figure at the lower end of the range previously announced by the companies — the state would be looking at $9 billion to $13.5 billion for such a stake.

Balash said he’s hoping that range narrows significantly over time as the idea gets more scrutiny.

The option stems from a report commissioned by the state to see how Alaska could protect its royalty interest and ensure it receives the maximum value possible for its natural gas.

Read more from this story HERE.

Survey: Palin Generates Beaucoup Bucks for Alaska Annually, Rivaling Revenue Generated by Sports Franchises

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Photo Credit: Breitbart Unlike the contiguous 48 states, Alaska is not exactly a bastion for professional sports. Yes, a couple of minor league hockey clubs play there but it’s not like people are flocking from out of state to see the Anchorage Aces or Fairbanks Icedogs skate. Sports nuts across this land do make the trek to Green Bay, Wisconsin or the Bronx, New York for a taste of sports history. Since Alaska doesn’t have that card to play, they need other things to attract visitors. Fortunately for The Last Frontier they have a unique woman, who all by herself brings in tourists and big money each and every year.

Certainly the beauty of Alaska alone attracts visitors from all over the globe. The scenery, wildlife, and all around majesty is unparalleled. They come on boats, planes, trains, and cars to get a glimpse of God’s handy work. In recent years, the tourism boom in Alaska grew even greater thanks to a wild card. She is an accomplished state championship basketball player, but you probably know her more for her stint as governor and her run for the vice presidency. Sarah Palin alone brings her home state a fortune, just by being herself.

Palin is a big draw on the speakers circuit. Her TV and radio appearances make her supporters and detractors alike stop and take notice. According to a recent study, that popularity also directly affects the economy of Alaska in a very positive way.

US for Palin conducted a survey, Market Research: Sarah Palin’s Impact on Alaska Tourism. In typical Palin supporter fashion it was a grassroots effort. The project was thrown together by numerous donations from several Palin backers. Many of the contributions were small. They added up however to allow the project to happen and the findings were giant sized.

The survey sampled just under 500 people, most of whom paid a visit to Alaska after Palin was a prominent figure. The false meme that Palin is not popular is blown out of the arctic water throughout the findings.

Read more from this story HERE.

Why Participate in the Republican Party Conventions in 2014?

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Photo Credit: DonkeyHoteyThere have been a lot of discussions lately about the role of the Republican Party in current elections; whether it is worthwhile to be involved, and how to actually accomplish anything within the party when this last year the grassroots conservatives were so blatantly shut out. I’ll weigh in here on the reasons for participation in this next year’s convention cycle, and some pertinent details. There is certainly an argument for non-participation, but someone else will need to make that. First, a little short-term history to catch everyone up to speed.

In 2008, at the Republican State convention, the grassroots recognizing the corruption that was running the party attempted to change leadership unsuccessfully. In 2010, with the usual lower turnout and fervency of an off-presidential election year, the conservatives were also not able to change leadership out. In fact, what those in charge did, sensing the end coming, was to institute the “legacy rule”; where, after the leadership would be voted out, they would get to keep running the show anyway.

In 2012, at the State convention in Anchorage, the grassroots conservatives were finally able to accomplish the goal and elect very conservative individuals to positions of party leadership, in spite of the leaderships disenfranchising, lying, and cheating of delegates. Please note that despite what happened afterwards, this was a victory. It shows that the mindset is changing out there, and that people are realizing the rationality of the conservative point-of-view. This of course was dramatically shown, when the Republican presidential candidate played so hard to the middle-of-the-road, that he lost the election that all thought he would easily win.

What followed after that was the leadership, staying in power because of the legacy rule, broke both National and State rules and refused to help the newly elected leaders, and then used that against them as a basis for a charge of non-performance to kick them out, i.e. set them up for a fall. In the end, those hanging on to their power kicked out both the Chairman and Vice-Chair that were elected, and a District Chair that opposed their corruption, and both the Secretary and Assistant Secretary resigned. In the process, the Old Guard slandered all the conservatives involved just like liberal commenters in local newspapers.

So why participate in the party at all, and the 2014 convention cycle in particular? First, understand that the elected leaders were only able to be kicked out because the moderate/progressive wing of the Republican Party controlled most of the Districts, so therefore the majority of votes on the State Central Committee. If conservatives had been more involved at the District level, then due process and justice could have been enforced. Second, the leaders of the Districts elected at the 2014 District conventions, will be those running the 2016 District conventions and Presidential Preference Polls.

Third, on the State level, the real focus needs to be on the 2016 convention cycle. The State convention was denied to Wasilla this next year and placed in Juneau, even though the 2010 convention had been held there. This was done primarily because Juneau is the most expensive venue for anyone who would want to participate, thereby ensuring a diminishment of grassroots participation. The 2016 convention will be in Fairbanks, which will allow many more to be able to afford to make the trip. There is also bound to be some really conservative candidates that will attract people to participate. The reason that the 2014 convention is important to participate in, is to ensure that unfair rules like those the interim rules the party put in place this last year, will be stopped, and so that rules that require people to be treated justly and fairly will be implemented in hopes that the 2016 convention isn’t run like the 2012 convention was.

An important point for those who want to be involved this year was an interim rule passed by the State Central Committee that requires any participants in District or State conventions have to be registered 90 days ahead of time. Most conventions should be in February through April, but in a hurry to keep the grassroots out, some Districts may run theirs sooner.

In summary, if you recognize that most of the conservative candidates are Republicans (check out the US Senate and Governor’s races) then I hope you see that helping conservatives to regain control of their party can only benefit those candidates. Please make sure of your registration, find out where your District conventions will be held and participate.

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Lance Roberts lives in Fairbanks, and is the current Republican chairman of District 5, and on the Fairbanks North Star Borough assembly. The views in this article are strictly his own and do not represent his District or the Borough assembly.

What They Said: Mark Begich and 26 Other Democrat Senators Who Promised You Could Keep Your Healthcare Plan

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Photo Credit: APPresident Obama has taken a lot of heat for promising that if Americans liked the health coverage that they had before Obamacare, they would be able to keep it under the new law. But the president wasn’t the only Democrat in Washington who made that false promise. Many, many other Democratic officeholders said the same thing.

In fact, the keep-your-coverage pledge was key to some Democrats’ decision to support the Affordable Care Act. For example, when the bill was being debated, New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said, “[A] requirement that I have for supporting a bill is that if you have health coverage that you like you should be able to keep that.” For many Democrats, the keep-your-coverage pledge was not a throwaway line; it was a fundamental part of their case for Obamacare.

How many Democrats made the promise? There’s no comprehensive list of all of them, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office has compiled a list of 27 Democratic senators who pledged that Americans could keep their coverage under Obamacare. The list includes the entire Democratic leadership in the Senate as well as Democrats facing tough re-election races in 2014, like Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich, and Kay Hagan. Here is that list, compiled by McConnell’s office:

SEN. HARRY REID (D-Nev.): “In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.8642, 8/3/09)…

SEN. MARK BEGICH (D-Alaska): “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want.” (Sen. Begich, Townhall Event, 7/27/09)

Read more from this story HERE.

Where’s the Outrage?! MSNBC Host Martin Bashir Encourages Defecation, Urination on Sarah Palin

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Photo Credit: MSNBCIn yet another outrageous example of the duplicity of the nation’s leftwing media, MSNBC commentator, Britain Martin Bashir, viciously attacked Sarah Palin during the close of his Friday show, calling her “America’s resident dunce” and then encouraging someone to commit horrific acts against her.

How any news organization could continue to employ someone who made such incredibly unjustified and outrageous statements about any person, let alone Mrs. Palin, is a testament to its moral bankruptcy.

Here’s the shameful exchange (the written transcript follows the video):

MARTIN BASHIR: It’s time now to clear the air. And we end this week in the way it began, with America’s resident dunce, Sarah Palin, scraping the barrel of her long deceased mind and using her all-time favorite analogy in an attempt to sound intelligent about the national debt.

SARAH PALIN: Our free stuff today is being paid for by taking money from our children and borrowing from China. When that note comes due … and this isn’t racist, so yeah, try it, try it anyway. This isn’t racist. But it’s going to be like slavery when that note is due.

BASHIR: It’ll be like slavery. Given her well-established reputation as a world class idiot, it’s hardly surprising that she should choose to mention slavery in a way that is abominable to anyone who knows anything about its barbaric history. So here’s an example.

One of the most comprehensive first person accounts of slavery comes from the personal diary of a man called Thomas Thistlewood, who kept copious notes for 39 years. Thistlewood was the son of a tenant farmer who arrived on the island of Jamaica in April 1750, and assumed the position of overseer at a major plantation. What is most shocking about Thistlewood’s diary is not simply the fact that he assumes the right to own and possess other human beings, but is the sheer cruelty and brutality of his regime.

In 1756, he records that, “A slave named Darby catched eating canes. Had him well-flogged and pickled. Then made Hector, another slave, s-h-i-t in his mouth.” This became known as Darby’s dose, a punishment invented by Thistlewood that spoke only of the slave owner’s savagery and inhumanity.

And he mentions a similar incident again in 1756, this time in relation to a man he refers to as “Punch.” “Flogged Punch well, and then washed and rubbed salt pickle, lime juice and bird pepper. Made Negro Joe piss in his eyes and mouth.” I could go on, but you get the point.

When Mrs. Palin invoked slavery, she doesn’t just prove her rank ignorance. She confirms that if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, then she would be the outstanding candidate.

Fifty-Three Alaskans Sign Up for ObamaCare During First Month

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Photo Credit: WND Alaska is one of 36 states that has relied on the federally run site to provide access to the marketplace, where individuals can browse for insurance to help meet requirements of the federal health care law. The site has been marred by glitches since its launch Oct. 1, and in the first month, less than 27,000 people in those states had selected plans, figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed. Another 79,000 individuals had signed up in states running their own exchanges.

“There is no doubt the level of interest is strong,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a release. She said enrollment is expected to grow “substantially” over the coming months. The open enrollment period ends March 31. That is also the cutoff date to enroll without risk of a penalty.

The federal health care law requires virtually all Americans to have insurance beginning next year. There are exemptions for financial hardships and religious objections, but those who ignore the mandate will face fines.

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the figures released Wednesday show the health care law “is a sinking ship with too many holes to fill.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Duo Announces Bill Protecting 1.56M Acres of Arctic Refuge

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Photo Credit: USFWS HeadquartersA bipartisan Senate duo introduced legislation on Wednesday that would section off 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) bill would protect the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain, which is the last of the original refuge without the wilderness designation.

The legislation would also preserve minimum hunting and traditional uses.

“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure that must be preserved for future generations to experience and enjoy,” Cantwell said in a statement.

Read more from this story HERE.

Begich and Other Red State Senate Democrats In ObamaCare Damage Control Mode

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Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesThree of the most vulnerable red-state Democrats are scrambling to neutralize the growing political threat that President Obama’s health care law is posing to their reelection campaigns.

This week, Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas have undertaken a series of unusually aggressive maneuvers designed to distance themselves from the health care law, whose botched rollout has raised concerns it will become a major liability for the 2014 midterm elections. The defensive steps are a smart political play from lawmakers already preparing in earnest for their reelection campaigns, but also amount to a tacit admission that Obamacare has already become a major headache.

Hagan is preparing to ask the inspector general of the Health and Human Services Department and the General Accounting Office for a full investigation into the health care law’s rollout, Politico first reported Monday. Begich, meanwhile, announced he personally enrolled in Alaska’s health care exchange the same morning, declining to take the federal government’s contribution to his plan. In a statement, he also called for a “full and transparent accounting of how the vendors contracted to build the site failed to launch it successfully,”

Pryor, considered the most vulnerable Senate Democrat next year, took the most aggressive action of the three. His campaign criticized a senior adviser working for Republican Rep. Tom Cotton for supporting a deal to implement Obamacare in Arkansas, according to The Hill. John Burris, who is a state lawmaker, voted earlier this year to effectively expand Medicaid in the state by helping poor citizens buy private insurance.

Read more from this story HERE.