JUST DON'T DO IT !

Another Thanksgiving is pretty much done. I hope ya'll had a heart warming day, I hope ya'll took a moment to be grateful.
Me; I am grateful everyday, and every night I take a moment to remember why. Sometimes it's cause I got home safe, sometimes it's cause one of my family did. Sometimes it's because I had a good day. Regardless of what happens I take a moment and thank God for the good that happened that day.
Now I sit here, happy for the time I got to spend at the table with friends and family. Yet, as I watch my wife, who worked so hard to make this day memorable, stumble off to bed I am reminded of my loathing for tomorrow.
Yup, it'd Black Friday folks and I have commented on this twisted international event since I started my little blog.
It rankles me. One year after my first comment, tragedy befell a retail worker in Long Island. There was an outcry, people were amazed, yet nothing changed.
Thanks to ISH I discovered that I was not alone. Ther are thousands of people who share my sentiment.
Buy Nothing Day is an international movement bent on taking back what is ours.
So what is ours? How about the right to relax? How about the right to be deprogrammed from the corporate wish that drives so many, to such extremes, in the hope of savings?
Send a message folks! Unemployment is up, personal debt is rising, yet the corporations that are being bailed out have increased their profits.
Stay home tomorrow, spend your much deserved time off with family and friends. Does that not seem more appealing than standing in line for some "today only" sales specials?
Don't worry, if the sales are down, there will be more. Capitalism will move on.
Oh sure, the economists will fret and worry. Dire market trends and doomsday predictions will prevail.
Maybe, just maybe, the government will get the message. The same government that talked so many into buying a new car, under the guise of economic recovery, will listen.
Yuh, the new car. Dealers sold the vehicles at maximum price and you got a rebate. What else did you get? Another day older and deeper in debt, that's what. You also get to pay tax on that rebate later on.
The big three posted record sales & profit, China got millions of pounds in recyclable steel at bargain prices, and our carbon footprint did not shrink one bit.
So please, stay home tomorrow, go for a walk, read a book, or a blog. Just don't do it! Don't buy anythimg.
It is time to make the government and corporate America know we are no longer duped by their hype.
It is time we started to drive this economy, instead of the other way around.
That's my spin.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, thanks for tuning in.
Do the right thing tomorrow folks, just do it for someone else.
Peace

Accountabilty

Thanks to the weather lately, I have been able to shift out of 4-wheel drive. That is until I get to the former stoplight and the "Y" in the center of town.
What happened there? I see massively lifted 4X4's dodging prestigious potholes and traffic crawling around the frame altering terrain of what should be a relatively flat surface.
Once again our city management let a state funded off-island contractor slide by with substandard work.
I have heard from the city that the new lines were installed above the frost line. At what point did our local inspectors decide that they did not need to monitor and approve this work?
Sure a local contractor stepped in to "save the day" by applying asphalt in the areas that the state funded contractor did not. However; that pavement is failing rapidly. Perhaps the good will of the interceding local contractor should be tempered with with the fact the the asphalt applied was already deemed unacceptable by the state inspectors at a different project.
So what are we left to deal with?
This; poor work at a premium price. There are now lawsuits pending and local officials back pedaling. Where were our local inspectors and the city manager when the original work was accomplished?
Granted we cannot hold hired help directly accountable for their shortcomings and apathetic mentality. We can hold the elected officials whom they answer to accountable. In other words, if the elected assembly members do not hold our public officials accountable, then perhaps we should consider their accountability and their place on the assemblies.
Both assemblies should be addressing this issue, as it affects all residents of this island.
Maybe it is time to really consider unification of the city and borough government. Maybe then we could limit this blame game to the folks that could have made a difference.
Just a thought.
Read, ask hard questions and expect real answers, that will be what makes this island a government for the people.
Lastly: do a good thing tomorrow, and not for yourself.
Peace
Griff

Been huntin'

Thanks to the readers of my little blog. I am starting to get some feedback. Even if I do not agree with all of it, I am happy to have it!
I left on my latest adventure to go hunting. Myself and a few colleagues went out Uganik way to put some meat in the freezer. It was a great weekend.
We cruised out and did a little hunting, told some stories, had some adventure, and returned home safe. What more could a person ask for?
I got to know some folks I knew better, and got to know a new friend. I also gained some more insight into the world and plight of our local fishermen and businessmen.
This strengthened my belief that, at some point soon, we have got to tell the feds to get out!
To often we have let the federal guv lead us down the path of believing what they say is what is good for our community. What has that led to? More boats sitting in the harbor, more deckhands looking for work or changing occupations altogether. What will happen in the long run?
Fishing is hard work, whether you are a commercial fisherman or a charter boat captain is irrelevant. Slowly the feds have imposed various regs and rationalizations that have squelched our American dream. Corporate vessels, home ported down south now control the majority of our fisheries. Every year it seems that a new segment of our local economy is held up to federal regulation and scrutiny.
ENOUGH!
Are we willing to let this go on? The legacy of proud Alaskan entrepreneurs will be watered down until Alaskans will be nothing but menial servants, grateful for what the guv and corporate America is willing to let us share in?
No! It should be the other way around. This state is full of natural resources. It is capable of supplying the entire country with food and energy. It is also capable of giving any person that is willing to take a chance and work hard, a chance to prosper and be independent.
Maybe that is what scares those professional politicians and corporate whores we have put in office. Imagine a state that was willing to say GET OFF!
Get off our back, we can manage our fisheries, our oil fields, our gas fields, our gosh darn fishing & hunting regulations.
That said.
We need to start here. Lets find the folks who will stand up and say what up? Folks who are not afraid to question; look behind the obvious, and hold our elected officials accountable for their actions and in-actions. We need to be a resounding voice that bellows until, unable to bear the din of our resolution, the government must hear and heed our wants.
If this sounds altruistic, think on this. Our founding fathers overcame an overbearing and dispassionate sovereign to build a nation that was based on a simple tenet.
By the people for the people. Simple, yet powerful. If this belief is not true, then why do so many other oppressed and small countries seek to emulate it?
Have we traded security for freedom? Have we sold our beliefs because it is easier to accept the belief that we are no longer able to enact change?
Reality: today.
There are several assembly members suing the borough because of various reasons and they want us to pay for their lawyers. Tell them to go home and do not invite them back. Professional deckhands have lost their livelihood and we supposedly,cannot get that back. Let's stem the tide that seeks to pull the independence of our way of life from under us. Our community needs to focus on what will sustain our community and if the feds or any other group seeks to alter that, then we should be asking hard questions and fighting hard battles, until exhausted, we either get we we need or get the answers we deserve. No aspect of this islands economic livelihood does not die without affecting several others. We are all held accountable in the long run.
Woosh, I am spent. Thanks for letting me vent.
Do one good thing today, but not for yourself.
Thanks to Mike, Doug, Fred, & Mike. I had Reel Fun.
Peace
Griff