ted stevens won't swim with democrats

[emald]

can you believe this guy? What a moron. the "hulk" is completely unscrewed and should have been out of office some years ago. Anybody see the ADN piece on the vote count being screwed up? I bet this idiots votes were made up because no one, I mean no one, can really be happy with his work.

[cleofus1]

1. ok

i know some people are not gonna buy what i have to say but...i like ted...he is not crazy (maybe cranky)...he is not an idiot...he's probobly the greatest senator alaska will ever have...he's done more for alaska natives than anyone...ever...my kids were born in a very nice hospital that he twisted arms in the senate to get...i cannot begin to list all the wonderful things that have been built in anchorage and the villages that only happened becouse uncle ted put on his hulk tie and kicked some ass...me and my family owe him and so does every native alaskan...anyways...this hatefull rhetoric against ted is uncalled for...if you disagree with his party politics that's ok...so do i...but try to be civil about it...ted stevens is not an evil guy...and for all the good he's done for everyone in this state deserves some respect...i know most people in the native community give him that respect...and so they should...

[emald]

2. to me ted stevens is an idiot, guess we will just have to disagree

As to the money accruing to the bush villages because of his tireless work it's my experience that government money has caused more problems than it's solved. Not saying that good hasn't been done but it's rare. As to how he helps the natives I can only say that my mother in law, an eighty year old inuit native from shaktoolik and unalakleet who now has Alzheimer's and can remember little, has been ignored by good old teddy completely. Repeated attempts to get her the due of her deceased husband vet, who very well may have died from an army induced cancer, has received ZERO replies from said senators vaunted office. We have all quit even trying after thirty years of effort. Maybe he's good to the rich natives, like all good republicans money talks. But for the piss poor he doesn't even exist.
Yes he has brought money to alaska, and maybe thats done some good. But mostly it's cost us the goodwill of other states and now even made us the laughing stock of the senate.
Sorry, this idiot may have had his time but it's now well gone and alaska would do well to replace this shrill defensive old man with some new blood, new ideas.

[cleofus1]

3. i respect your opinion

and i certainly won't vote for him...but i will say that every native i know...respects him and feels a certain gratitude for all his efforts...i don't hang around with white people..so 100 percent of the people i hang with and are related to are native...and i disagree with you that the money that ted has gotten to the native community is wasteful or harmfull...this cartoon like defamation of ted is really uncalled for...like i said...if you disagree with his party politics...there is a way to express that without personal attacks

[Ken Burch]

7. Ted has brought a lot of money home. Fine. I respect him for that.

But it has really reached the point where we have to ask if it's been worth the whole poisonous, venemous, spiteful "anybody who disagrees with me(and Big Oil, and Big Timber, and Big Miner)is anti-Alaska" climate that Ted and the rest of the Trinity created. Senator Princess is more polite than Governor Daddy was, but God those guys have made the whole scene ugly.

And they've wiped out the Dems in doing so.

I hope we can get a generation of mature, rational, non-tantrum throwing leaders in this state.

I also hope some political figures here start having the guts to raise the question no one has dared to ask:

"How do we build a non-ANWR economy"?

Democrats need to have an answer to that, or we'll just keep losing. Because the political reality is, whether or not you think opening ANWR was a good idea, if it didn't go through this time there's a damn good chance it will never happen.

And Democrats can revive our party if we can come up with the next answer, if we can create the vision of a non-boom and bust economy that isn't dependent on whether or not we can get Congress to let us do
1950's-style unregulated resource extraction.

If we can't come up with that, we won't win and we won't stop the Republican tantrums. And we won't stop Alaska politics being a national embarassment.

[cleofus1]

8. i agree with you

on everything you just said...except for the part about what the lower 48 thinks of alaska...was it Nietzsche who said the most dangerous person in the world is your neighbor, because you are more concerned with what he thinks of you....even though your neighbor can never truly know you? most people in the lower 48 think we live in igloos and fight off packs of wolves with torches and six shooters and that anwr is a hilly glade with penguins and reindeer...

if we tie our actions to what the lower 48 thinks...our actions will be based in fantasy and fabrication...

[Ken Burch]

9. The Lower 48 could use better information, it's true.

But the kind of information or delegation gives them doesn't help us much.

Don't you think though, that we would be better off in Congress if our delegation weren't in the habit of showing up for hearings with their hands intentionally stuck in leg-hold traps?

(And I'm not anti-hunting{especially for subsistence}but that was one of Don's sillier moments).

Maybe I'm speaking more of my own embarassment than of what the Lower 48 feels, but Christ, our delegation needs to be sedated sometimes.

BTW, Cleofus, do you know if there will be any more chances before the midterm elections for ANWR drilling to go through?

[cleofus1]

10. yes i agree...

and no...anwr is dead for now...for now...

[Ken Burch]

11. Thanks for the response, cleofus.

(And, on the bright side, at least that'll give the "Voice of The Times
{motto "It Takes Three Of Us To Edit Half a Page"}something to rant about. It's so said to read them when they don't get to be angry.)

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I do not disagree that Ted has done some good things

for the state and for individuals here. I'm a white girl, but his office did go to bat for me in the early '90s when I bought a HUD house that had a leaky roof which I wasn't advised about. Stevens' office in DC put some pressure on the HUD people down there to straighten things out -- got no results, but at least they tried. I just feel that he's losing some of his effectiveness now with the histrionics, which does tend to bring a lot of ridicule to the state. I try to explain Alaska's special needs to people every time the subject comes up here in DU -- and it comes up a lot. I think perhaps he has outlived his effectiveness as a senator.

So I guess I fall in the middle of the opinions here.

[cleofus1]

5. i'm not saying he is beyond reproach

i'm just saying we should treat him with the respect he has earned thru the years...and if there are criticisms to be made (and there are) they should be made with reasoned discourse...not personal attacks and insults...he's an old man who has done his best for all of us...i have been taught that that in itself reserves him the position of elder not idiot...

[Blue_In_AK]

6. I tend to agree with you about the respect...

I disagree with almost all of his positions, but I respect that he has worked hard for what he perceives to be Alaska's interests.

[DenaliDemocrat]

12. Gee

So what about other natives in the lower 48 that got the shaft from Abramoff and Co. that Uncle Ted put the screw to.

So basically Uncle Ted bought your vote at the expense of others? Not exactly a Utalitarian philosphy.

Ted is a pork-laddened crook.

[cleofus1]

13. gosh calm down

i am a native from the lower 48...my main concern was that those fools played with the devil in the first place...buddy i hope they learned their lesson...you play with fire...you get burned...and i did not vote for ted...so knock off the assumptions...if you have an argument approach it with a little more civility next time...and if you are so concerned about the tribes that got screwed maybe you can write them a letter explaining why it is a bad idea to give millions of dollars to lobbyist for the express purpose of screwing over another tribe...maybe if you were a native you could understand the meaning of respect...respect is not trying to politically and finacially undermine another tribe by giving money to white hit men...becouse they did this their path was destined to lead to a dark place...my concern for them is that they have learned their lesson...

[DenaliDemocrat]

14. But that is exactly what Ted has done

to the chagrin of all taxpayers. The bridge to nowhere, all the pork, the highway bills, etc.

People suffering under the duress of Katrina could certianly have used all of that money, more so than up here. How about ANWR? As for me, the idea of drilling in a wildlife refuge, whether there is a ton of land or not, is a dangerous precedent.

As for the tribes in the lower 48, who is more deserving than them? Certianly they have been exploited and alienated by the United States government far more than anyone.

Sorry cleofus, I usually think you are right on the mark, but this is the old Alaska "I got mine" philosphy that drives me crazy.

[cleofus1]

15. too bad it has to be a zero sum game

i'm put in the uncomfortable position of defending a republican...i am from the lower 48 and i know how deserving those tribes are of funding...but instead of opening gambling casinos and trying to undermine other tribes...they should concentrate more on higher education...so that they're children can be engineers doctors and lawyers and not just be satisfied in being a waitress or a cook in a casino...actually many tribes have worked hard on this and many of my pals have gotten their degrees and have moved on to successful lives with whole families and enriching careers...getting sidetracked into mercenary politics that enrich the white man is a hard lesson to learn...

as to the bridges i could take them of leave them...i can't defend them with any passion...tho i will say that the lower 48 has had billions of dollars of infrastructure built for them from federal dollars...and senators byrd kennedy and others have funneled tons of cash to their states too...so the argument against ted appears to be driven by forces other than logic or fairness...

as to the zero sum game...do i choose the natives up here to be funded for health and infrastructure in the villages? or katrina victims and other tribal entities in the lower 48...i view this as a false dichotomy...i refuse to believe you can't have one and not the other...

how many happy healthy native children have been born in the anchorage native hospital? how many elders have had their lives saved extended or enriched? how many villagers have been medivaced in to the native hospital and lived to tell the tale? how should i quantify the lives of these men women and children in comparison to others in the lower 48...i refuse to do it...not for political reasons and not for conscience...

look i do agree with you on most things...and my heart is still in santa fe with all my brothers sister and friends and family...but i can't show disrespect to ted...(tho i still won't vote for him)
i'm just saying that he has had a direct influence on the health and well being of the native community...i'm not even from alaska and i can see that...

[cleofus1]

16. all right,,,

i give up...ted stevens is a moron