Please fill me in on the state of Alaskan politics

AK is dominated by the pukes, right? Yet, AK also has a reputation as being a haven for mavericks and outsiders. Are the pukes in charge big law and order types who are always harrassing people? Or are they more the libertarian types who are mostly interested in cutting taxes and government?

What is it like to live AK, from a political standpoint?

government cut to the bone and then some. I agree with a lot of their sentiments but not their methods. Republicans use the vilest methods in their campaigning even the libertarians. They also are quite crooked. The head of the Republican party was just found guilty of major ethics violations during last election. It is unimportant now because the election will not be overturned no matter how illegally they operate. They are the same sort of thugs that occupy the whitehouse currently. On edit; An example of their ethics the Governor wants to spend Alaska's Homeland Security Funding on a Private Jet for himself. Every state is given money to help protect the state from terrorism or to fight the aftermath of a terrorist attack Governor Murkowski thinks the best way for Alaska to support first responders is by having his own private jet.

Is there a 'blue part' of AK, so to speak?

How much oil money does each person get in AK?

Originally when the oil started flowing Alaska decided to take the revenues from the oil royalties and create a "Perminent Fund" ( Huge Bank Account) and invest the fund into the market. Alaska distributes the earnings from those investments to all residents as dividends. It re-invests fifty percent of the earnings back into the fund to grow it. It started out as a five billion dollar fund and is now over twenty-four billion dollars. Alaskans get a share of the "interest" from our {bank account} Perminent Fund. It really no longer has much to do with oil money though that is how it was created. It is a difficult concept for Americans to grasp that Alaskans share in the return off our Natural Resources as we are the legitimate owners of them. As far as Liberal areas not many as a whole. Juneau is more liberal than the rest of the state and it is about fifty fifty.

So AK will never have a deficit then?

Does each person get the same amount?

it doesn't matter if you are one day old or one hundred years old you receive the same amount of money. Oil revenues go to help run the state and now that oil prices have sky rocketed the deficit is declining but it is still there. The Government can not tap the Perminent Fund for State use. Our current Governor is trying to change that. He wants half of our dividend to go to fund state government and half for dividends. Because of the way it is set up the people will have to vote on that and I doubt they will approve it. The state also gets revenue from raw fish tax and user fees like license renewals and moorage fees etc. No income tax and no state sales tax (yet)

how much does each person get from the fund?

$1500. Last year it was about $1100. If you are a family of four you would get about forty five hundred dollars right before Christmas and almost every penny is put right back into Alaska's economy. It is at a time when not much else is happening so is a Godsend to local business in November.On edit; It has dropped every year Bush* has been in office and rose every year Clinton was in office.

Do you feel connected to all of the state, or is there a lot of 'regionalism'?

What are Alaskans like? Is it true there are fewer women, and therefore hard to find a wife?

For as huge as it is geographically it is very small people wise. A person can travel to just about any village and encounter someone you know. People are very friendly no matter what party they belong to. I think the women are about evenly matched but don't know for sure. I see no shortage of the gals around Juneau anyway. It is possible that out in the bush there are more men then women as most forms of making a living in the bush are extremely hard labor and quite severe in the roughing it dept. It is impossible to starve here. Even if you decided to lay in bed and not lift a finger to help yourself someone would feed you. The dinner table is set every time the tide goes out. We have as much or more coast line than the continental US does. Alaska is a paradise but it is also very wild and untamed. Come visit us and make up your own mind. I ate fresh king crab and halibut last night and grew up on venison and moose meat. Fish is a mainstay for my family. In just a few days hunting season opens (Aug 1) and we are allowed five deer per household member also one moose per household member. No chemicals added to their food stock so the meat is good. Things could be worse that's for sure.

I like to hunt and fish, I'm sure I'd like AK...

What is the cost of living like?

How many brown bears are there really in AK?

Brown bears are quite abundant. All wildlife is abundant. I see deer every morning on my way to work. I am from Southeast Alaska which is a rain forest so you get far more severe winters in Montana than we do here. It usually rains most all winter. Windy and rainy is the norm in winter but summers are pretty nice. It has been in the mid seventies for several weeks now. Got up to eighty-five yesterday.

winters than most northern tier cities in the lower 48. Lots of wild life, especially if you're a dork and leave garbage around. Lots of bears, especially in Kodiak.

It's so far flung, its like five states in one. I live in Southcentral and this area is called the Naples of Alaska.

Or does it feel like you are way off on the periphery?

Stayed with friends in Ketchikan....I'd say it really depends.

As somebody fairly close to an urban center at home, it felt sort of isolated, but it was the first world.

"3rd World comforts at New York Prices" - seems to be the joke there, but it is a joke.

It is not cheap to live there by any means, but the economy seems very different, and I can say thousands of square miles can feel very small town.

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I would say you are too far from medical help to live there as a retirement unless you are in Anchorage

I would say too, there are no new jobs where I was. People get by, but it is very much a local economy that fixes itself. If you can make your own way, and are resourceful you can eke out a living, which is better than many people can do in the lower 48.

It is also soooo clean, and pure....