The View From ‘Nowhere’

Thanks for sharing your story. As obsessed with politics as I am, this was all new information to me.

Not a one of you can find a sentence where the author is asking for money. He is simply telling you the history of the project and why his town is "somewhere." Why is that information so offensive??

get over yourself "Skippy" - you elected her; now live with it. You still have the road money that leads to where the "Bridge to Nowhere" would be, and to say that "politics of earmarks didn't mean much to us up here in Alaska" is nonsense. You folks have requested and received more money in earmarks per capita than any other region or stat in the US. You taxed the oil companies and "shared the weatlh" in individual payments to Alaska residents, then you talk about "Socialization".

Get a life, grow up and take responsibility for your actions.

Just another fine piece of Newsweak at it's best. Ha Ha Ha

This is the Alaska I've always heard about. Thank you for sharing your story. You left one part out and I see the gentleman below commented on it. He said if you wanted a bridge you should build it. Perhaps he doesn't recall that Ms Palin stated she still accepted the earmark money but chose to spend it elsewhere.

No dice. 14,000 people is an inadequate population for a 200 million dollar bridge.

Mr. Mayor. You want the bridge? You need the bridge? You pay for the bridge.

You know, If Palin had stood up and said "Yes, I support the Bridge to Nowhere because..." and then gave all the arguments the Mayor of Ketchikan just presented, I would have admired her balls. Instead, she tried to pretend that she didn't support it, instead of standing up for her decision and explaining why it was right.

Palin is full of lies. And guilty ethics violations for abuse of power. Why did she abuse power? Was it because she wanted more for Alaska, or because she gave political favors to people who actually contributed to society in some way? No, she abused her power to GET EVEN with her former brother in law.

So petty.

Sorry, I was wrong. It was $600M. But it was still necessary for the people (mostly Native Alaskans) who live in remote areas who are paying hundreds of dollars a month for heating oil and $10 for a gallon of milk due to shipping costs.

The math done on a previous post for the Energy Rebate of $1200 per person in Alaska is incorrect, the total was around $60M not $600M. The money in question was a surplus generated when oil was over $120 a barrel and we in Alaska were paying the highest prices for gas in the country (we are still are paying about $1 more than the rest of the country.) I am not a Palin supporter, I did not vote for her and pretty much disagree with most of what she does, but I do think she saw a huge budget surplus and was simply trying to alleviate some of the financial hardship being experienced by Native Alaskans in remote communities. The money had to be given to each Alaskan to prevent discrimination lawsuits that would have occurred if they had singled out specific groups to give the money to.

Many of you posting comments about this article have been somewhat bitter and insulting to Alaska, I will just say, keep in mind we are a very young state. We are celebrating 50 years of statehood this year. How many of your states had financial help in establishing infrastructure when your state was only 50 years old? How long ago was that? How big is your state? Just some things to think about before you judge.

............................Todays L.A. Times gives new information on how Palin as Governor made more than 100 appointments to state positions and nearly 1 in 4 went to campaign contributors or their relatives. Palin filled 16 state offices with appointees from families that donated $2,000 to $5,6000 to her 2006 campaign. Several of Palin's leading campaign donors received State subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable value. Alaska historians say that Palin's appointees were less qualified than those of her Republican and Democratic predecessors. She gave positions to several of her long time female friends who helped her campaign for office. Palin was supposed to be some major reformer when she appeared at the RNC Convention........not it looks like she is just another "business as
usual" politician. More and more keeps coming out about Palin and it looks like McCain did a poor job in vetting her past political history before he brought her in to pep up his drab campaign!!!!

Cry me a river for your bridge to whatever. Since you all get three thousand a year from oil revenues, why don't you take 15% of the windfall from every citizen and pay for your own bridge. Oops I sound like a Commie.

Of course it's "the bridge to nowhere". Just like the tunnel to Boston's Logan Airport is the "tunnel to nowhere"or the freeway to LAX is the "freeway to nowhere".

To my dear Alaskan neighbors, "nowhere" is always somewhere other than "here". This is especially true if you hail from the east coast.

Votenow, I find it odd that you like to blame the GOP and deregulation for all of the current economic strife. Deregulation would have never happened to the degree that caused this trouble if the Democrats had not pushed laws and policies requiring lenders to give poverty level and non-credit worthy borrower the "right" to own a home. I work in the mortgage industry, and have for many years. For the past 7+ years I have watched loans go through to the poor and irresponsible. Now those same poor and irresponsible people are voting for Obama. It is his fault and the fault of his fellow Democrats that we are in this mess. The idea that giving undeserved benefits to low class people is good for the nation is absurd. Of course if the opponents of the Democrats point this out, despite being correct, they will be labeled racists. Stop trying to make everything "fair", and be responsible for your own actions and mistakes. We have the right to pursue happiness, bot the right to have happiness. Grow up and stop blaming the successful for your own incompetence. Obama's socialism/communism will lead to more of the undeserving poor gaining benefits and perks that have not been earned. The nation will fall further into depression because casting pearls before swine is always a poor investment.