Cisco isn’t the only one who should be suing Apple for using the name, “iPhone.” Apple’s own shareholders should be as well. Apple is one of the world’s most famously creative companies; it is just impossible to believe that “iPhone” was the best they could come up with.

——-

Dear Mr. Jobs,

I retired 2 years ago at the age of 43 to spend more time with my wife and children, and to pursue some other goals. However, because we have 9 Windows PCs in our home — I’m not as retired as I hoped I would be.

Consequently, this last Christmas I became a first time Mac owner when I bought a 15 inch MacBook Pro for my wife, and a 17 inch MacBook Pro for me. As a former IBMer and hardcore IT guy, I thought the transition and integration of our new Macs would be at least a little bit hard, but it has been a blast. In fact, we are so impressed that we’ve decided to move our PCs out and replace them with Macs. Incidentally, I also bought 8 new iPods as “stocking stuffers” for the family and they were more excited about the iPods than their other gifts which cost much more.

At any rate, like the rest of the world (who doesn’t work for Motorola, Microsoft, or T-Mobile), I am excited about Apple’s latest product announcements. However, one thing disappointed me about the iPhone announcement: its name. In fact, I think the world was surprised by it.

Apple is one of the world’s most famously creative companies, and it is just impossible to believe that “iPhone” is the best you could come up with. Not only is it not really that good of a name, it isn’t even original.

In fact, Cisco isn’t the only one who should be suing Apple for using the name iPhone, Apple’s own shareholders should be as well.

As a former marketing major and a former CEO of a small company, I get why iPhone has some appeal to Apple. However, while this product name may fit an overall branding strategy, this product name doesn’t even fit the product! After all, it isn’t just a phone, is it?

Apple, of all companies, should be able to rise to the challenge of coming up with something great and original — it’s what you guys do!

And frankly, it is what we expect.

To get the ball rolling, here are some ideas I thought up this morning.

If you are wanting to stick to the strategy of product names beginning with the letter “i” then how ’bout:

iQuad – it’s a phone, a PDA, an Internet device and an iPod … that’s 4.
iPad
iPaw
iPal
iSay
iNewton

On the other hand, it may be better for Apple to continue with the secondary branding you have already started with products like the iPod Nano and the iPod Shuffle, and go with a name such as:

the iPod Quad
the iPod Pad
the iPod Phone
the iPod Newton

As you can tell, I like the idea of bringing back the Newton. The Newton was a device ahead of its time and it would be nice for it to take a bow now that its time has come.

Anyway, please think about it.

Most of us, if not all, would much rather see Apple resolve the iPhone name dispute with its creativity, rather than its legal department. The latter is just too Redmondian a business tactic.

Cheers,
Tom Pittman

Someone somewhere sometime said, (and a lot of people have said it since), that

1. The first screen was the movie screen,
2. The second screen was the television screen,
3. The third screen was the computer screen, and
4. The fourth screen belongs to portable digital devices such as telephones, PDAs and cameras.

Consequently, portable electronic devices are sometimes referred to as the “fourth screen.”

That sounded good to me, then I figured out that the emergence of screens might not have been so straight forward.

According to Wikipedia articles, the movie screen was born in the 1880s. However, “the origins of what would become today’s television system can be traced back to” 1873. Apparently, the television predates movies. Of course television wasn’t any kind of a commercial enterprise in 1873; if it were, then Regis Philbin would have been famous much sooner.

Meanwhile computer screens were in use pretty much parallel with television screens, it’s just that television screens were prominently placed in front of families in their homes, while the computers of the day (and their operators) were kept in back rooms well out of sight of mainstream modern culture. It wasn’t until computers started coming out of the closet (so to speak) that the public at large began to recognize the computer component of the screen age.

I could muddy murky waters more merely mentioning that the fourth screen could arguably be considered the first! Models of Kodak’s Box Brownie camera, as well as other early cameras, had viewer screens roughly the size of the screens of early digital cameras.

So let’s recap:

• The “first screen” could have actually been the fourth,
• The “second screen” probably tied with the third,
• The “third screen” was tied with the second but people didn’t know it, and
• The “fourth screen” was probably the first.

Is everyone clear on that now?

At any rate, whatever the order of the screens, welcome to the SCREEN AGE.

Speaking of the screen age, when are airlines going to get with the program and replace those “No Smoking” icons in airplanes with icons indicating it is not a time to be using the  electronic devices we’ve brought on board with us?

Cheers!

On the bright side, at least the brawl between the Nuggets and the Knicks has us talking about something other than Iverson.

I’m sure you have probably noticed that the NBA has been diseased for awhile now.

The NBA is infected with an increasing number of people whoare so repugnant that most of us would hate to have to deal with their egos and selfishness in our personal, everyday lives, but because we don’t have to, and because their physical gifts help our beloved teams, these goons are instead adored.

To be sure, there still are some classy people in the NBA who are both good players and good men, but like a cancer growing in an otherwise healthy body, the good players who aren’t also good people are weakening the league, and it is beginning to succumb.

I feel for David Stern on this one; it is a hard nut to crack.

Most businesses don’t want to hire arrogant, self-centered jerks and then lean on them to be nice, they would rather just hire nice people. Unfortunately for professional sports, they have to hire these donkeys, and then hire coaches who not only know the game, but who might also know ways to keep these “heroes” from poisoning their own teams.

But just as the cold tablet that makes our sniffles go away for a time does nothing to cure the actual virus making us sick, the symptomatic treatments the NBA has been applying, such as dress codes and cracking down on poor sportsmanship, are not curing the problem.

A Neanderthal with a tie is still a Neanderthal.

These players are not gentlemen. They are not sportsmen. They are not role models. They are in some cases the lesser element of society who we’ve made rich, pampered, and egotistical because they have athletic gifts. It takes desire, determination and diligence to be a good person — just as it does to be a good player. Unfortunately for their spouses, children, and fans, many players put much more work into being a good player than a good person.

Choirboy Steve Nash is verbally abusive to a rookie reporter, but he is okay in our book because he can pass. Dirk Nowitzki slaps towels to the floor out of the hands of ball boys and treats them like worms, but we cheer him because he is a 7 footer that can shoot 3 pointers. And if Carmelo Anthony can lead Team U.S.A. to an Olympic Gold Medal, how many of us Americans are willing to overlook the fact that after the brawling had subsided, Carmelo Anthony broke away to sucker punch Mandy Collins in the face? Hmm… Hey, Melo, whatever happened to “B MORE?!”

As fans, we’ve decided not see what jerks our favorite players are. So long as they play well for us, we’re fine with that. On the other hand, we have also reserved the right be appalled when we can’t help but see what jerks they are. Until then, we will cheer them, pay to see them, and pay to own their jerseys and sneakers, and beat up total strangers in blogs defending them. That being the case, why should they change?

The NBA is rotting from the inside out. We are all witnesses — and accomplices.

It was one month past our first wedding anniversary and Christmas morning.  As struggling college students, we had spent our year together literally banking on the saying, “Two can live as cheaply as one,” and now that we had a new, one month old baby, we were hoping to stretch that to three.  While I was growing up my mom always used to say, “We’re so poor, we can’t pay attention.” Starting my own little family, we were that poor too.

Most couples had gone home for the holidays, or at least to relatives nearby, but being from Alaska, we made a Christmas for our little family in our apartment.  Having little to give others, we decided to give our Christmas dinner away to the only young couple we knew of who was poorer than we were. However, making this delivery anonymously was going to require planning, luck, and athleticism.  Their apartment was in a building where the front door opened into a long hallway. 

With my wife waiting outside in the getaway car, I carefully set the box of food in front of their door, knocked very loudly, then shot down the hall in a flat out run.  As I reached the stairs at the end of the hall, I heard their door open.  I knew my only chance to not be seen was to leap the entire flight of stairs, so I did a weird jump — crouched over so as to be as low as I could be as I took to the air.

I almost made it.

My right foot hit the last step and I rolled my ankle and crashed in a heap on the landing below the stairs.  I popped up and hopped at hyper speed for the outside door, crossed the icy sidewalk and dove into the car and my wife sped off for home.

I hobbled up the stairs to our apartment thinking to myself, “It is amazing how good you can feel with a severely sprained ankle.”

We could hear the telephone ringing as we unlocked the door.  It was this couple.  “Rats!” I thought.  “He saw me!“

“Merry Christmas, Tom,” he said.

My wife looked at me as if to ask, “Who is it?” I pantomimed that it was this couple.  She gasped.

“Are you enjoying your Christmas dinner?” he asked.

“Why would he ask that?” I thought to myself.

We were so busted, but I tried to play it cool. “Actually, we haven’t had dinner yet,” I said.

“That’s what I thought,” he replied.

My wife whispered to me, “Do they know?” I nodded yes.

“Guess what?” He continued.  “Someone just left a whole Christmas dinner at our door, all cooked up, turkey and everything!”

“Really?” I said, wiping the sweat from my palms.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re calling you.  You guys are the only couple we know of that is poorer than we are, so we were wondering if you wanted to come over and have dinner with us.”

As we entered their apartment bearing the apple pie we held back for ourselves and still unsure if they suspected us, he asked me, “Tom, what happened to your leg?!”

“I cut myself shaving,” I joked.

That was exactly 20 years ago this Christmas.  I don’t remember many of the Christmas gifts I’ve received since then, but I know I will never forget what we gave that Christmas day, and how it felt.

After the Pistons’ loss to Utah, Saunders paraded his ineptitude before the press as he whined about technical fouls.

“My comment is that we might as well play ‘PlayStation’ if we are going to take the emotion out of it,” Saunders said.

Boo hoo. Could someone bring poor Flip a clean diaper?

Anyone who says T-ing up crybabies is taking the passion out of basketball needs to quit embarrassing himself and watch more college basketball — especially in March. Do those teams (whose league doesn’t tolerate whining) seem to lack passion?

Because I like the Pistons, I was pulling for Flip Saunders as their coach, but now I think I understand why the Minnesota Timberwolves choked in every playoffs but one when he coached them. I used to think that Kevin Garnett didn’t have the right players around him, but now I wonder if it isn’t because Flip Saunders lacks championship mettle.

As we all know (I hope), coaching plays a far bigger role in the playoffs than the regular season. Because a team plays the same team several times in a row in the playoffs, there is very in depth analysis and adjustments that need to be made to get by a team.

It takes much more than a good game plan to win though, it takes execution. And execution requires focus (through distraction) and mental toughness (through adversity), and clearly Flip Saunders and too many other NBA professionals have neither.

Thanks to our 65″ high definition television, the multiple angles the TV broadcasts often gives us, and a DVR that lets me skip back and step forward at excruciatingly slow motion, I can say with confidence that the refs certainly do miss calls, but they don’t miss as nearly many calls as get complained about by NBA players and coaches. Time after time reviews show coaches and players complaining about the right call.

However, speaking of the big picture, it doesn’t matter if a call was right or wrong though.

Those of us without multimillion dollar shoe deals have been taught by life that it isn’t always fair. When injustices happen, and they always will, the winners in life shake it off and persevere despite the setback, while the losers wear their excuses like bumper stickers on a totaled, junk yard Lexus.

Once upon a time people used to joke that the NBA stood for “No Babies Allowed.” Now it must stand for “Nancy Boy Actors.” And overpaid ones at that. These guys are far too used to the delicate handling society gives celebrities, to the point that they demand it on the hardwood as well. This disconnection with the real world is embarrassing them and the league.

The NBA’s crackdown on crybabies is LOOOONG overdue. Just like the hand checking rule when it was new, the teams that care most about winning will quickly adjust, while the others just end up showing the world their lack of championship mojo by resisting the new reality.

My family and I are brand new to Utah. We moved to Orem from Alaska to be near our daughter at Brigham Young University, and because our younger children all want to go to BYU. We love this school and everything it stands for. As new residents, we barely know a handful of people here in Orem. On the other hand, I have no doubts that two well established, prominent men such as Dr. Ned Hill and Dr. Steve Albrecht have a lot of friends and supporters here, so I’m bracing myself for a negative response to this, nevertheless, I feel like someone has to say it: BYU needs to discipline Ned Hill and Steve Albrecht for their indiscretion.

To my knowledge, I have never met Ned Hill or Steve Albrecht. Dr. Albrecht was one of the authors of my accounting textbooks, and I read his book, Money Wise, when I was in my young 20’s and really enjoyed it. To me, they both seem to be outstanding men who I know I would very much enjoy knowing. Nevertheless, by all appearances, BYU seems oblivious to how egregious it was for Ned Hill and Steve Albrecht to use University resources to send a political advocacy email, and how these kinds of things may be perceived by people outside of Utah, and outside of our faith.

Here is where I am coming from.

I personally know two state workers in Alaska who were forced to resign over similar circumstances. They were the nicest of people, but one used her work computer’s hard drive to store non-work files, and the other used a photocopier to make non-work-related copies. I know that kind of thing happens in offices all the time, but when dealing with the public’s trust, you need to be on a strait and narrow path, you know, the one with few on it. The path with everyone on it leads to destruction, and BYU of all schools should understand this.

Likewise, the Anchorage Daily News recently reported the story of Randy Ruedrich, a prominent Republican and an Alaska state worker who used state resources to send political advocacy emails. In the end, he was forced to resign, pay a $12,000 fine and admit to wrong doing.

In other words, those of us who are not from this area are accustomed to seeing these kinds of issues dealt with in a manner far different from the actions BYU has taken. I am concerned that BYU doesn’t see this infraction in the same light as others may, and that this disparity may lead BYU to further embarrassment.

To be clear, I definitely do NOT feel Ned Hill and Steve Albrecht should be asked to resign.

However, the lack of any disciplinary action communicates that, in the University’s opinion, nothing too wrong has happened, and that isn’t how many people who aren’t from this area and don’t personally know these two men see this.

There is buzz on the Internet about how BYU’s political neutrality tilts to the right.  If BYU professors have controversial yet legal theories which cast doubt on a Republican administration, they are pressured to retire, but if they break actual laws to promote a Republican, they don’t even get slapped on the wrist. That is utter nonsense and the kind of blatant manipulation the Church often suffers, — but unfortunately a lot of people can’t see that, and they certainly can’t see that BYU is doing anything that indicates it actually disapproves of the political advocacy emails.

It’s not enough to keep publicizing a position of political neutrality when there is a well publicized action out there undercutting the effectiveness of that message, “… for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my words” (Alma 39:11).

After all, it was Texan Alan Gluth who brought the matter of Hill and Albrecht’s email to the attention of BYU; BYU didn’t catch it on its own. And rest assured Mr. Gluth is not the only Texan who sees it as an ethics violation — most Texans would, as would most people in Alaska, Massachusetts, and the rest of the country, including those sitting in IRS offices.

Speaking of Alan Gluth, he was being generous when he wrote that Hill and Albrecht’s e-mail was probably sent innocently. Everyone knows (or at least hopes) that part of their job is to know ethics. And with annual reminders over the pulpit that church resources are not to be used for political purposes, it is too much of a stretch to believe that Hill and Albrecht missed that message. In other words, most of us believe they knew better.

Look at it this way: if the NCAA oversaw business schools as it does athletic programs, you know BYU would be disciplined for these violations. Shouldn’t BYU’s standards be at least as high as the NCAAs?

As a father of six teenagers, I am well aware of the sacrifices people make to send their children to BYU. As a young LDS missionary and many times since, I have observed first hand the great sacrifices made by many destitute yet faithful people to contribute funds to the Church. What a slap in the face it would be then if the careless actions of two comparatively affluent men jeopardized the University’s tax exempt status, and the University didn’t take substantive measures address it.

No one wants to see two really great guys disciplined, including me, but it’s not just about them. Their misstep cast a shadow on Mitt Romney, the LDS Church, BYU, and because of the name of our business school, maybe even the poor Marriott Corporation.

As you know, BYU’s media coverage has been unusually controversial lately, and more importantly, the controversy hasn’t been about athletics or students, it has been about BYU professors!  Same sex marriage opinions, World Trade Center theories, billion dollar law suits and now the newly alleged national covert political network of Mormons probably has people wondering about us. Why leave them wondering why BYU hasn’t disciplined Hill and Albrecht when it is generally the practice to do so in cases such as this? 

Seeing how similar matters have been handled by other organizations, what would YOU think if you were looking at BYU from the outside?  Would you wonder if perhaps BYU has a culture of casual ethics which created a climate where Hill and Albrecht thought it would be okay to use tax exempt resources for political advocacy, and now that lax atmosphere is letting these risky and inappropriate acts off easy?

In another story, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, the LDS church is taking “corrective action” against a church employee for using Church resources to forward a pro-Romney article. This wasn’t a person of tremendous influence using Church resources to endorse a candidate, he didn’t try to organize Latter-day Saints into a nationwide political force, he didn’t even write the article! He just forwarded it, and the Church is taking action.

BYU, why aren’t you doing the same?

Pertinent Links:

LDS Offcials distance Church from Romney, Deseret News, Tuesday October 24, 2006 by Stephen Speckman.

Call to back Romney raises a legal red flag, Salt Lake Tribune, Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by Thomas Burr

LDS Church acts against employee who used his church e-mail account, Salt Lake Tribune, Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by Thomas Burr

It started simply enough.

Pittmans.net was supposed to be our family website, a place for sharing photos, disseminating news and keeping in touch with our loved ones around the world.

Blog907 (.com and .net) was for sharing comments on current events, particularly those of interest to those who live in area code 907: Alaskans.

Then life happened and we found ourselves in area code 801 (Utah) instead!

So, as of today, Blog907.net and Blog907.com have been put out to pasture, and their articles and comments have been migrated to TWO NEW BLOGS.

Blog801 (.com and .net) will continue from this point on and feature commentary on current events of local, national or global interest, including politics, news, sports, music and modern culture.

Journal.Pittmans.net will chronicle the adventures (yeah, I know I’m stretching it there) of the Pittman family.

So this post is the demarcation point. Everything before this post was Blog907; everything after this post is Blog801.

“Maybe there are a lot of snobs in Australia who are embarrassed by Steve Irwin, but I guarantee you, right now there are a lot of feminists the world over who are embarrassed by Germaine Greer. At least I hope so.”

For an alleged intellectual and supposed academic, Germaine Greer isn’t very smart.

If you don’t know who Germaine Greer is, you are by no means alone — I didn’t until I read about her today. Ms. Greer’s claim to fame is as the author of the feminist book, “The Female Eunuch.”

According to CNN, Ms. Greer went on Australian TV’s “A Current Affair” news program, and said that those who mourn “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin’s passing are “idiots,” and she said possibly millions of Australians were embarrassed by him.

“It’s no surprise he came to grief,” she crowed.

When it comes to Steve Irwin, I’m indifferent. I’ve never watched a television show of his and I never saw his movie. I did think he was interesting when he appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I do know that my children and their friends loved to do impersonations of him, and he seemed to have a very charismatic personality. And from what I read, he has done a lot both for animals and for how people think of animals.

I realize the world lost a celebrity of worldwide renown, but to me the loss of a father to a young family is the greater tragedy.

Regardless of how you feel about Steve Irwin though, if a mature human being like Germaine Greer can’t act mature about his passing, she could at least act human!

Maybe there are a lot of snobs in Australia who are embarrassed by Steve Irwin, but I guarantee you, right now there are a lot of feminists the world over who are embarrassed by Germaine Greer. At least I hope so.

By all appearances, Germaine Greer is a bitter, elitist old lady who is as much without heart as she is common sense.

When Germaine Greer’s time comes, she’ll likely go choking on a rogue crumpet at an tea party. And ironically, when that day comes, and I’m sure she’ll hate this, she’s more likely be remembered as the lady who was bitter about Steve Irwin’s fame, than she is to be remembered for any fame she may have otherwise acquired.

What would you do if you were walking around in your house and you came face to face with a bear? I can tell you what Nicky would do, because it just happened to her!

We had just arrived home from bringing our puppy to the vet when I got a call informing me Emily needed to be picked up. As the family got out of the car, I walked over to another car and drove back into town to get Em. While driving, my mobile phone rang and I began speaking to Nicky. Suddenly she gasped. The sound of her gasp sparked instant alarm inside me.

I asked what was wrong but Nicky didn’t answer. Then she blurted, “Oh! OH! Oh my GOODNESS!” I kept asking her if she was alright, but she didn’t say anything. Then she muttered, “Bear.”

“Did she just say ‘bear?’” I puzzled.

“Bear. Oh my goodness, there is a bear — a bear in our garage! Kids! There is a bear in our garage!”

While talking with me on the telephone, Nicky opened the door from the utility room to the garage, and found herself eye to eye with an Alaskan black bear! She was so close to it, she could have reached out and stroked it, and she would have hit it with the door had the bear not jumped back when the door started to open. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, then Nicky went back into the utility room.

“What do I do?!” Nicky asked.

I told her to have the kids get their cameras and wait at the window for the bear to come out. I didn’t say what I thought was obvious … like, “And don’t let them go outdoors.” I guess I should have though. Some of the boys climbed out on to the roof of the house to see the bear and take photos. After a few minutes they figured they missed the bear and gave up. When 10 minutes or so had passed, Nicky went into the garage again, supposing the bear had long since left. Once again, Nicky unexpectedly found herself face to face with a bear. The bear looked up from eating our puppy’s dog food (from the bag) and stared at Nicky.

When the bear finally left, Nicky and Tommy went out to the car to get the puppy out of the kennel. Nicky banged pans together to scare off the bear if it was still close. The dog is usually quite keen to leave the kennel, but they couldn’t coax the dog out of the kennel. Then they looked up our driveway and saw the bear. The bear saw them too and went at them. They grabbed the dog and ran for the front door where Sam was standing with the door open, and promptly shut it behind them.

Gemma was sitting on the couch taking photos of the bear when the bear went onto our porch and pressed its face against our window, about 8 inches from Gemma’s face, leaving snot on the glass. The kids got some great photos and Josh camcorded it, but he accidentally put the camcorder in night vision mode and left it on, so most of the tape is in green and white. Nicky called 911, and I called a nearby neighbor who is a police officer, and he got there first and shot the bear with special cartridges that have bean bags in them. The bear looked annoyed and walked away. We have seen the bear back around our house in the the days since.

While the whole thing ended up to be a fun adventure, it was actually quite dangerous. This is what is known as a “nuisance bear.” It isn’t properly afraid of people. Had the bear bumped the glass harder, it could have broken through and harmed the family.

While I am tempted to turn this story into a life lesson here in this blog, I think I’ll just leave it at this for awhile, and thank my Father in Heaven that my wife has such a great head on her shoulders.

The great philosopher, Anonymous, once said, “Thinking that life should treat you fairly because you are a good person is like thinking a bull shouldn’t charge you because you are a vegetarian.”

Someday I may blog on the lies of liars and the incredible incompetence of those who should have protected our family from them, but probably not. Obviously life is not fair, and apparently it is not even meant to be.

If this life was about fairness, no child would ever be harmed, and all ice cream would be calorie-free.

However, one good thing about injustice is that it forces you to take directions with your life you otherwise would not have chosen, even if God wants you to. Take, for example, Joseph of the Old Testament. If it wasn’t for the cruelty of Joseph’s own family, Joseph would never have gone to Egypt to prepare for an impending famine that would have surely annihilated the children of Israel.

Joseph may not have appreciated the injustices he suffered as he suffered them, but in the end he saw the astonishing love and wisdom of God’s will. Thanks to those very injustices, and Joseph’s great attitude and faith, Joseph found himself in a position to save his family.

As we were online booking flights to Indiana to look at houses, we received a couple of childish, mean-spirited emails. As a policy I keep others innocent to how some people treat me, in the supremely naive hope that keeping above pettiness may one day pave a path to better relations. So without disclosing specifics, what the emails said in essence is that these people currently have no desire to live any gospel principle which might result in things getting better between us, and in children living happier lives.

Conversely, Nicky and I are all about helping our children have happier lives, so we prayed and felt inspired to book flights to Utah instead. You know what? Our family learned that Utah is a surprisingly superb place to holiday.

Then we realized that relocating to Provo or Orem might be a shrewd move. Nicky and I are the parents of 7 children, including 6 teenagers. We have a daughter there at the university now, and we will have two more children going to school there after this coming school year. In fact, the Provo / Orem area is where all of our children want to go to school.

With all of our children headed to the same area, and perhaps someday some grandchildren as well, moving makes sense. And in a fervent companionship prayer, Nicky and I learned that our Heavenly Father agrees.

So, less than 7 days after sitting down to book flights to Indiana to look at houses, we purchased a house in south Orem, Utah. Below is a photo album of the new house in Utah. Click “Play” or the gold colored arrows to view photos of the house.

Life isn’t fair, even for good people, and even vegetarians get charged by bulls… but try not to let yourself worry too much about it.

“Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.” (D&C 90: 24).

Joseph explained to his brothers how life works for those who keep their attitudes well and place their faith in Christ:

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Genesis 50:20)

I am considering moving my family to Terre Haute, Indiana so I’m doing research. Look what Wikipedia says about Terre Haute, Indiana:

• Comedian Steve Martin calls Terre Haute, “the most nowhere place in America” and “the armpit of America”. In his movie, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, actor and writer Steve Martin has the town destroyed by Nazis using cheese mold.

• In 1955, Terre Haute was labeled Sin City by the monthly magazine, Stag. Although Terre Haute has had different nicknames (“The Crossroads of America,” for one), “Sin City” seemed to be its most popular moniker for several decades.

• The city also developed a reputation for being “wide open”, with gambling and a well-developed “Red Light District” only recently cleaned up.

• Terre Haute is notorious in and around the Midwest for its distinct bad odor which is the result of local industry (specifically a paper plant and a poorly located sewage treatment facility).

• Businessman Kevin Burke was elected the city’s mayor in 2003 and vowed to make cleaning up the city’s smell — and image – one of his administration’s top priorities.

• During the second decade of the 20th Century, Terre Haute was rocked by political scandal and that reputation persisted for several decades.

• As the coal mines were spent, and the importance of the railroads declined, the town is now labeled a “bad labor town”.

• It was recently called “A Model of Stagnation” by The Indianapolis Star.

• The city is known to have one of the highest per-capita number of restaurants in the nation. Most of these are chains, however. [For example, Anchorage which has a population of 277,000, has 36 fast food places according to Superpages.com. The 60,000 people of Terre Haute have 53 fast food places, including 6 McDonald's, 6 Burger Kings, 6 Subways, 4 Arby's, 4 Dairy Queens, 4 Long John Silvers, 4 Wendy's, 3 Taco Bells, 3 Hardees. The 53 fast food places does not include places like Applebees, IHOP, Dennys, etc. which they also have plenty of.]

• Terre Haute is the location of a large Federal prison which is the location of the United States Government’s Death Row. Timothy McVeigh was put to death at Terre Haute in 2001 for carrying out the Oklahoma City Bombing.

• A local hotel brags that it is a place where Al Capone used to stay.

I’m sure all that is accurate, but what it was, and what it is, isn’t necessarily what it can be.

I have been visiting with good members of the church in Terre Haute, some of whom have lived there most of their lives, and I am honestly excited about the prospect of moving there — more so than Nicky is at the moment!

“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8)

These next days will be (pardon the oxymoron) filled with fasting, and we certainly will be “studying it out” in our minds. But above all, we will be asking Father if it be right.

The important thing is how would living there affect and shape our family?

And after that, how would living there shape and affect the youth and others of Terre Haute with whom we would associate? Can we be a force for good there? Or would it be like throwing a white glove in the mud in an attempt to get the mud “glovey”?

I have the faith that we will be guided in the best thing to do for our family; this is too important a decision, and children are too precious in His sight for it to be otherwise.

Saturday, May 6, 2006. Today my eldest daughter became someone else’s girl.

I knew this day would come. Over the years I would sometimes think about this day, usually as I watched other people marry off their daughters. But for the most part, I tried not to think about it. I didn’t want to think about it. How could I? I used to miss her when I left the house to play basketball with the guys for a few hours, how much would I miss her when she leaves to play house with a guy forever?

No matter how hard I tried not to think about this day though, still, today was nothing like I ever thought it would be.

Of the countless memories I share with this precious person, tonight one stands out.

Jessica, Tommy, Caleb and I were pushing a shopping cart through Costco in Anchorage when we came upon a former coworker. This person had deliberately harmed me in a very serious way with false accusations, but when I saw her, I had honestly forgotten that momentarily. I approached this former coworker with a warm, friendly greeting. The woman was clearly shocked then apprehensive, and that is when I remembered what she had done to me.

Our conversation was nice but brief, and when the woman was out of earshot, the kids asked me who she was. When I told them, I saw three different reactions on the faces of my three children.

Caleb looked surprised and then slightly scared, and looked at the woman as if to make sure she were moving away from us.

Tommy’s look was one of unrestrained admiration and he said, “Wow! I can’t believe you were nice to her!”

Jessica though, she looked mad at me. “I can’t believe you, dad!” she said, “I could never forgive someone who did that to me.”

I said that I hope she was wrong about that.

I have always tried to teach my children the importance of forgiveness, both by word and by example. However, I’m pretty sure my children have no idea how hard that has been at times for me. Maybe because, so far, I have been successful at forgiving others, they think it is always an easy thing for me. I wish that were true.

Many are the nights where rest never came, where all the injustice of my life erupted like lava inside me and flowed from my eyes and down my face for hours, only to subside then erupt again. Of the trials we face in life, few are as lonely as being falsely accused. Everyone smugly rushes to believe that “where there is smoke, there is fire,” even when we all know that just “friction” can produce smoke as well.

But you have to forgive those who wrong you, and those who judge you for your supposed sins.

“Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

“I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

“And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.” (D&C 64:8-11.)

A lot gets said about the importance of unconditional love in relationships. Not enough gets said about unconditional forgiveness. Then again, what is unconditional love, if it isn’t forgiveness?

As Latter-day Saints, we need to remember that the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, doesn’t just wash us from our sins, it washes those who have wronged us from their sins as well.

On this, her wedding day, I think back to some of the hard learned lessons I have learned about marriage and wonder if there is anything more important I could have taught my daughter than forgiveness, and I wonder if she has grown enough now to never tell herself she couldn’t forgive someone.

In an imperfect world, it is just a matter of time before imperfect people behave imperfectly. Without forgiveness, you cannot keep a relationship alive and healthy. And without a true and complete humility, you cannot truly and completely forgive.

Anyway, as my mind keeps chasing sleep from me tonight, I guess I find myself fixing potholes on Memory Lane. Was I a good enough dad? Even as she becomes someone else’s girl, I want my baby girl back.

Today is one of the happiest days of my life, even if I don’t know it yet.

I love you, Jessica Rose Johnson.

Anchorage Daily News reporter, Cinthia Ritchie, challenged us to come up with “Alaskanisms” such as “termination dust” or “bunny boots” in her Sunday article. That sounded fun, so here are some more Alaskanisms:

o The Lesser 48 (snobbish but fun)
o PFDemons (merchants tempting you for your PFD check)
o Permanent FUN Dividend (Alaskan’s annual budget supplement)
o Pothole Ballet (dodging potholes while driving)
o Bermmed in (snow berm blocking driveway)
o Berm back (sore back from shoveling show berm)
o Berm-a-frost (frozen snow burm)
o April Cruel Day (fresh snow falling in April)
o Spring Creaming (fresh snow falling in April)
o Snow Tire-ranny (obligatory semi-annual tire change overs)
o Yearly Re-Tire-ment (seasonal tire change over)
o Kooters (patrons of “Koots” or Chilkoot Charlies)
o Road dirt tan (a car color)
o Mud Lights (mud-covered headlights)
o No beams (mud-covered headlights)
o Lazy wash (“laser” car washes)
o Taking a warm cut (cutting through a building to get warmer)

There is half a chance others will come to me and be added to list later.

Thanks to Dish Network and NBA League Pass, I get to watch a LOT of basketball. The Suns and the Lakers are two of the teams I’ve tracked all season. Both Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash tend to dominate the ball, with Kobe usually looking to score and Steve usually looking to pass.I like Steve Nash. Not only is Stevie one of my favorite players in the league, but he is one of my favorite people in all professional sports. How I wish more athletes had his character!

But tell me, what is the difference between most of a team’s points coming from one player (like Kobe Bryant), and most of a team’s assists coming from one player … like Steve Nash?

And tell me, what is harder to do: pass the ball to any one of 7 teammates who are all having a career best years? Or score against defenses that focus on you as the only player they regard as a real threat?

And for all the good Nash does on one end of the floor, he pretty much gives half of it back with his token defense. Most offensive players use Nash like a rental car, although Nash really is a first class flopper.

Nevermind the debate about what refs did or didn’t call, and Nash losing the ball twice at critical times in Game 4 of the Suns’ first round series against the Lakers … before any of that happened, Laker Smush Parker shot his clutch 3 pointer over Steve Nash near the end of regulation like he wasn’t there. Had Nash defended Parker, the other two later incidents would not have mattered.

How can a player seriously be considered as THE most valuable player in the NBA who is only good on one end of the floor? That is not a valuable player, that is a valuable HALF a player!

You know what’s most valuable to championship basketball? Defense. Just look at the Pistons and the Spurs! One dimensional basketball couldn’t get Steve Nash’s Dallas Mavericks a championship, and it won’t get the Phoenix Suns one either.

Steve Nash is without question my favorite point guard in the league, but he is just not the league’s most valuable player.

It’s winter. It’s Alaska. To my frustration, my boss made me work late and we were playing a private dance that night. Although we had set up the night before, I still had to drive home to change clothes before I went to the gig and I was running so late the band was going to kill me. Adding to my aggravation, the road conditions were not good making the drive to my house was so slow I was almost ready to pop out of my skin.When I finally got home, I couldn’t get the car up our road, so I left it at the bottom of the hill and ran up to the house. I quickly changed and being a certifiable idiot, I grabbed my beautiful, perfect, 1977 Fender Jazz Bass by the neck and decided to save a second or two and not bother to put it in its case … and took off down the hill.

Now, if the driveway was too slick for a 4-wheel drive car with studded snow tires to make it up, why on earth didn’t I realize it was also too slick for a person in dress shoes to run down?

I take that back: I DID realize it was too slick to run down in dress shoes … the instant I felt my feet were no longer under me.

I started to fall hard, and I was falling on top of my bass. All I could think of was, “Tom, you can heal. The bass can’t.” While falling, I tried to lift the bass as high as I could and rolled hard to try to make it so it would land on me, instead of me on it.

When I got to the gig, the band was all on stage stalling as best they could — praying I was alright with one face and cursing me with the other. As I came up on stage three of them started to lay into me at once. I just raised my right hand and showed them the open, still-bleeding gash on my palm, and my broken pinky finger pointing 90-degrees in a direction it shouldn’t. That shut them all up instantly and I grabbed my tuned and waiting Ric and we went right into our first set. Someone from the floor saw my distress and got me a towel to wipe up blood. I set the broken finger myself on our first break.

I still have that bass, my beautiful, still-perfect 1977 Fender Jazz bass. And if I had that night to do over again, I wouldn’t hesitate to take one for the gear. After all, I DID heal. I would, however, do one thing different: take the extra minute or two to put the bass in its case.

In Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s latest blog, Some Thoughts on the NBA, he wrote, “I’m a purist. The rules is the rules. I don’t care if you call it on us. “That would be a little easier to believe if we hadn’t watched Cuban’s jubilation at and after the three point contest. Dirk Nowitski should not have even advanced to the second round much less won the three point shootout, had the officials done their job as Mark Cuban claims he wants them to.

Since we haven’t read that he has sent tapes to the league office about it, forgive us for concluding that the only time he wants officiating to be spot on is when it is to his advantage.

Of course, it would be blatantly self-serving Cuban to claim that the time really didn’t matter. If it doesn’t matter that the time ran out when Dirk’s last two points of the first round were still in his hand, then why even time the three point shootout at all? Why not just let them launch five racks of balls and see how they do? Obviously, the timer is a big part of the three point competition.

Despite the articulate overtures of noble purity, Mark Cuban’s actions — and inactions — speak so loudly that it can be hard to hear what he says.

Want to leave a noble legacy? Why not redirect the considerable intelligence and financial resources from reforming officiating and put it into something meaningful like reforming the injustices of our legal system?

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that NBA officiating is in need of a LOT reforming, it is just too much of a stretch to believe Mark Cuban champions reform from a non-partisan position.

If you want to see a very thought provoking article on why the Pistons are so good and the Knicks are so bad, check out this aritcle on Thomas vs. Dumars. It takes the teams that former teammates Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars built, and discusses how each of their teams are created in the image of their creator.This article makes me think about the job Jerry West did for the Lakers and how the Grizzlies have done since he went there, and how the former Phoenix Suns GM, Bryan Colangelo, might affect Toronto.

Maybe what Kobe needs most in L.A. is Jerry Krause!

Cheers!

Cuban, unless he wises up, is going to be one of those guys who the whole league loves to see down when he is down.

The Dallas Mavericks are playing excellent ball, and what is more they are fun to watch play. Coach Avery Johnson finally brought a little D to the “Big D.”

Too bad their owner, Mark Cuban, who I normally really like a lot, has opted to act like such a jerk during the streak. It takes away from the enjoyment of the Mav’s success.

“I own Phil Jackson,” crowed Cuban in his blog. “Not literally of course. That thrill belongs to the smartest businesswoman in professional sports, Jeannie Buss. Figuratively however, the coach formerly known as the Zen Master must now be considered my bucket boy.”

Nothing makes a would-be winner more low-class like taunting and crowing. Just as Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Larry Brown aren’t atop the league anymore, the Mavs will someday be rebuilding as well. The difference is that Jackson, Riley and Brown were more or less gracious winners. Cuban, unless he wises up, is going to be one of those guys who the whole league loves to see down when he is down.

Hey, Mark, why not show a little graciousness and class? If they can afford it, certainly you can too.

I’ve lived long enough now to realize that friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.

Cheers!

You gotta love all these BOXSCORE BLOGGERS and their “expert” opinions. Analyzing a basketball game from a statistical box score and highlight clips is like saying you know a girl because you’ve read her measurements and saw her dating video. Can you say s-h-a-l-l-o-w?

I’m not saying that box score bloggers shouldn’t write; I’ve spotted things of value from many of their blogs. And I’m certainly not saying that stats and highlights don’t have their value because they do. But too many boxscore bloggers are like cement: all mixed up and permanently set. Don’t let that be you.

Say the world’s foremost authority on vision were to lecture at a university near you. You attend the lecture, take copious notes and he just blows you away with what he knows. After the lecture you go to shake his hand and thank him, and discover to your astonishment that the lecturer is blind and has been since birth. How much does he REALLY know about sight?

I don’t care how smart you think you are (or that you slept in a Holiday Inn last night), if you haven’t seen the game, admit your limitations — both to yourself and to your readers. You have analyzed data, that is all, not the game. That is an important difference. A medical chart isn’t the patient, it is just data that can help you understand the patient. Before you can definitively diagnose the patient’s condition, ultimately, you have to see the patient.

Case in point: Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game against the Toronto Raptors. If you cannot get your hands on a recording of this game, then at least watch a Lakers game to see how they play together.

Boxscore Bloggers have been looking at the shot attempts and calling Kobe a ball hog.

Watch the game, however, and you see that nearly every possession has multiple Laker fingerprints on the ball. Also, when you watch the game you see that the other Lakers are LOOKING for Kobe and they get him the ball. Why are the Lakers deferring to Kobe for the shots? Because they want to win the game! You do the math:

— Lamar Odom: 1 out of 7
— Kawame Brown: 1 out of 5
— Devean George: 0 out of 4
— Sasha Vujacic: 1 out of 5
— Luke Walton: 0 out of 1

If you want to win a game, where should the shots come from? The 5 guys shooting a combined 13.6 percent? Or the guy shooting 61 percent?

Teams admit all the time that their strategy against the Lakers is to stifle the supporting cast and make Kobe beat them. The Raptors forced the Lakers to make Kobe beat them, and after the Lakers struggled for most of the game, well, Kobe decided to do just that.

Watching the game though, no one could get the impression that Kobe was a selfish player “determined to get his shots.” In fact, the whole history making thing really snuck up on you.

Down by an embarrassing 18 points in the third quarter at home to the team with the third worst record in the NBA, Kobe got frustrated and decided to take over. Two thirds of his shots came in the second half. All of his points were needed to win the game, and it is CERTAIN the Lakers would not have won if Kobe hadn’t played.

Don’t misunderstand. I am not saying that I haven’t seen Kobe on other occasions play very selfishly, force shots, etc. This isn’t really a commentary on Kobe Bryant: this is a commentary on how box scores don’t really tell the whole story.

The bottom line is if a girl’s measurements and her dating video is all you need to go off of, that is your prerogative. However, don’t be angry at us when we read your blogs, groan, and think of you as shallow.

I don’t know if we are all too young to remember or too old to have reliable memories, but before Kobe was the player we all loved to hate, there was another young player who scored most of his team’s points, didn’t get along with his all-star teammate, dismantled a championship-caliber team, and got his coach dismissed in the process: Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq didn’t get along with Penny Hardaway in Orlando then went to Los Angeles to not get along with Kobe Bryant. (Can you say, “Common Denominator?”) In so doing, Shaq ditched a team that had just won their division twice in a row, been to the Eastern Conference Finals twice in a row, and had been to the NBA Finals. Why? According to Shaq himself, he bolted for Hollywood to help his rap and movie career. (Can you say, “Ron Artest?”) Soon after, coach Brian Hill was let go and the Magic have never been the same since.

But look at the bright side, Orlando Magic fans: you may have lost a championship contending team for the next 12 years at least, but at you’ll have “Kazaam” and “Blue Chips” on DVD forever.

When Shaq joined the league, he seemed more into breaking backboards than anything else. He was definitely more about fun than winning. We all were grateful when he “developed” a jump hook from six feet out. When you add that to his other move: bump the defender out of the way with your massive body and dunk, his two-dimensional offensive repertoire was enough to make him unstoppable, so he stopped developing new shots. That’s too bad; I’ve coached many 14 year old kids that shoot free throws better than this “professional” basketball player.

Because of Shaq’s unwillingness to work on his game and grow as a player, you can’t even have him in the game at crunch time ’cause “Hack a Shaq” is so effective it is a league wide strategy in close games. A superstar you can’t count on in close games?! Contrast that to Kobe Bryant at the end of close games. Kobe is the one guy you most want in the game and with the ball in the closing moments when the game is on the line.

I admired Shaq a great deal for deferring to Phil Jackson when Jackson took over the Lakers, but I credit Shaq’s momentary maturity to Phil’s ability to get egomaniacs to play together. I say momentary maturity because it took Pat Riley and Bill Russell double teaming Shaq to get him to set aside his animosity (publicly at least) with Kobe. Again, many 14 year olds know better and you would hope a professional would act, well, professionally.

That’s not to say that Kobe doesn’t have his downside, but it’s not like this site needs more “ink” exposing Kobe’s faults. It is done ad nauseam.

By the way, I don’t buy the “Kobe dismantled the Lakers” hype anyway. Of the two superstars, Shaq has lost more than most people care to admit (especially Shaq), and Kobe had yet to peak. Re-signing Kobe was the right first priority for the Lakers at that time; it’s a shame Shaq wasn’t mature enough to defer to Kobe as Kobe did to Shaq when Shaq was at the top of his game.

But even if it was true that Kobe dismantled the Lakers, at least Kobe stuck around to deal with the fallout. Shaq left plenty of scorched earth in Orlando and left for Hollywood. Then Shaq ran again for greener pastures when the going got tough in Los Angeles.

Shaq is a big kid, and like most kids, he doesn’t want to work and he wants things HIS way. Even now, you get the sense that Shaq rather lose games than lose weight.

(From Blog907.net)

The Governor of AncMatSu, Alaskette

The great philosopher, Anonymous, once said, “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” If we who live in the Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough aren’t careful, we could easily harm Alaska overall by thinking only of ourselves.

The Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday that Sarah Palin will seek the Republican nomination for governor of Alaska in 2006.

There is an old saying about not biting the hand that feeds you.

A person who plans to pursue politics as a profession pretty much needs the backing of one of the two major political parties to pull it off. Although there are 57 political parties in America at last count, of the 50 state governors in place today, 22 are Democrats and 28 are Republicans. For those of us who weren’t math majors, that’s all 50 states.

So unless you are willing to gain fortune and name recognition by dressing in speed-os and pretending to wrestle grown men (like Jesse Ventura did), you really had better be in good standing with either the Republican or the Democratic parties.

That being the case, I admire Sarah Palin for her courage to publicly stand against the ethical abuses of Republican Party of Alaska Chairman Randy Ruedrich, and former state Attorney General Gregg Renkes. [Stay tuned for a blog entry on how the Republican Party of Alaska has lost its soul -- and my membership.]

I like Sarah a lot. But I don’t know that I would vote for her.

Sarah Palin supports moving the legislature to Anchorage from Juneau — at least part time. While that probably draws applause in Anchorage and the Matsu Borough, “AncMatSu,” it draws groans from the rest of Alaska. There is something a large number of the residents of AncMatSu just doesn’t get yet.

In a poignant scene in the movie, Gandhi, Gandhi tells India’s political heavyweights that they gather and make passionate speeches, but the speeches are for themselves; the whole of India is largely unaffected. Gandhi then points out that India isn’t the concentration of people in New Delhi or Bombay, it is a huge, wondrous, vast country and all its inhabitants.

Likewise, Alaska is not the concentration of people in Anchorage or the Matsu Valley.

A Tlingit Elder once told me, “Anchorage is not Alaska. Anchorage is a nest of lower 48ers who come to Alaska but want to make it look, smell and feel like where they came from.”

That is probably true. If Anchorage is all you have seen of Alaska, then chances are you have seen more of McDonalds, Fred Meyer, Costco, Walmart, Taco Bell, Nordstrom’s, REI, ski resorts and hotel chains than you have the things that Alaska is famous for. Like most Anchoragans, even most of the Alaska souvenirs that you can buy in Anchorage are imports.

Anchorage is 1,956 sq. miles (Portage to Eklutna). The Matsu Borough is 25,000 square miles. Combined, that puts the size of AncMatSu at 26,956 square miles. Alaska is 656,425 square miles in size, meaning AncMatSu is just 4 percent of Alaska. Four percent!

The problem is, this 4 percent area plainly wants to dominate the political machines of the state so as to further benefit this more populated Alaskette, even if it comes at the expense of sparsely populated Alaska.

About 331,000 of Alaska’s 655,435 people, or 50.5 percent of the people of Alaska, live in the 4 percent area of AncMatSu, Alaskette. I am one of them. I live over 10 miles out of downtown Eagle River, next to the Eagle River Nature Center. My nearest neighbor, if we don’t count the near daily moose and occasional bears we see out our windows, is acres from me. And like many AncMatSuians, while my freezer may be full of fish, my cupboards are bursting with oversized packages from Sam’s Club and Costco. And yes, my trash contains an occasional sack from McDonalds or Taco Bell.

The great philosopher, Anonymous, once said, “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” If we who live in the Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough aren’t careful, we could easily harm Alaska overall by thinking only of ourselves.

Politically speaking, the majority in AncMatSu is so powerful that if it doesn’t want something to happen, no matter how good it is for someplace else in the state, it just isn’t going to happen. However, for AncMatSu to tell Bethel how their area should be run is exactly akin to Los Angeles telling Anchorage how it should be run. Communities outside AncMatSu are different groups of people with starkly different needs, and we shouldn’t be able to bully anyone in Alaska just because we are bigger than they are.

Because of the tremendous population distribution disparity in this state, if the right thing for Alaska is to ever get done, it is going to take a lot of us who live in AncMatSu to put the interests of the state as a whole ahead of our personal or local interests. We need to acknowledge that we are our brothers’ keeper.

Economically speaking, Juneau is to Southeast Alaska as Anchorage is to Southcentral Alaska. And just as Anchorage is the transportation hub for most of Alaska, Juneau is the transportation hub for Southeast Alaska. Juneau, and all of Southeast Alaska, needs to keep the center of state government to keep that area economically sound.

Which brings me to the real reason to move the capital.

For all the academic and philosophical arguments for moving the capital, the practical reality is that AncMatSu gets plenty from the Alaska’s political system, even though the capital is in far away Juneau.

The truth is, AncMatSu land and business owners stand to benefit immeasurably more by a capital move than the typical Alaskan citizen would. Capital move proponents are pirates, flying the innocent flag of government access over a vessel full of drooling businessmen dreaming of the treasures they might loot from their brothers to the southeast. Moving the capital will without question devastate economies in Southeast Alaska.

Does it make sense to harm a large part of Alaska in order to benefit a part of Alaska that is already doing better than any other part of the state?

Only greed could make a person answer yes.

While moving legislative sessions from Juneau to Anchorage might be good for the concentration of people who live in AncMatSu, Alaskette, it absolutely would be bad for Alaska. The issue should be dropped once and for all and our attentions put to more worthwhile efforts.

India is not just New Delhi and Bombay. Alaska is not just Anchorage and the Matsu. Government is not just for the urbanites.

Sarah had the courage to put the interests of Alaska ahead of those of her political party. However, until Sarah does it again and puts the interests of all Alaska ahead of her local AncMatsu constituents, I’ll be holding out, hoping for a gubernatorial candidate for ALL Alaska.

On the other hand, I’d be thrilled if the Republican ethical champion, Sarah Palin, reconsidered her position on moving the legislature.

(From Blog907.net)

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, October 13, 2005.

(Faxed to Dan Fagan Friday, 07 October 2005 @ 2:41pm)

Dear Dan Fagan,

I enjoyed listening to your show yesterday (Thursday, October 6, 2005). I agree; Paul the intern is a “solid guy.”

I listened with keen interest to the anecdote about the woman who is eligible for health services at the Native hospital but doesn’t take advantage of them because she doesn’t want to be a part of the entitlement mentality. I had my three high school aged children in the car with me as I listened, and I turned up the radio and made them listen as well as you and your guest applauded her for her principles, and thrashed the evils of the entitlement culture. I agree how un-conservative that thinking is. I was glad my children were hearing this.

But then we were all thrown for a loop as we listened to your guest turn around and refer to the Permanent Fund Dividend as “your” dividend check, and then the two of you campaigned for the PFD with indignation. My children literally started laughing as they discussed how can you believe the entitlement mindset is bad, and then hold your hand out and demand “your” PFD check?

For quite a bit of the show, you and your guests criticized Ben Stevens about money he has received putting to Ben the question, “What did you do for the money?” That is a GREAT question! Let’s put it to all Alaskans: what did YOU do for the PFD money? Fill out a 1 page application online?!

It is easy to rationalize and say the PFD is different, I know, because as an Alaska Native myself, having worked in Native organizations for most of my career, I have heard those arguments again and again. Every entitlement thinks it is different, and there are always plenty of really legit reasons for an entitlement — that is how the entitlement gets established in the first place!

But no matter the justification, if we really feel it is our right to be handed money, and that we are entitled to it even though we didn’t work to earn it, then we are without question a major part of the entitlement culture of Alaska, whether or not we like to admit it. A spade doesn’t have to be a liberal to be called a spade, does it?

You know what a true blue Reagan Republican would do with the Permanent Fund earnings? Not give away money like blanket welfare for all Alaska residents, but use it to bring tax relief to actual working people. Take property owners for instance. Where is the politician who will stand up and say the money will be used for villages, boroughs, municipalities … for local governments to provide relief from high property taxes as a benefit for actual Alaskans living and working in Alaska? The trickle down effect of course would be that renters, businesses and even visitors would benefit as well. Or where is the politician who will champion setting aside a huge savings account for disaster relief when that rainy day hits an Alaskan community as Katrina hit the lower 48? And don’t even get me started on people who want to increase property taxes or establish statewide sales or income taxes but not touch the dividend.

Sadly, most Alaskans, including we conservatives, would rather debate political principles than sacrifice for them. That is what makes the woman who declines to take advantage of her Native health benefits special, and a noteworthy example for us all.

At any rate, good show. By the way, if you think Paul the intern is solid in the studio, you should see him on the basketball court! Wow.

Cheers,

Tom Pittman
Eagle River, Alaska