You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone

The next time you hear someone say that they will be so glad that campaign season is over, or worse yet that they won't be voting, you might want to remind them that many of our patriots died to protect our free elections and freedom of speech, and that other governments have killed to prevent the same.

I have friends who fled Cuba in the 1960s after Fidel Castro began nationalizing private property and cracking down on political dissent. They will never take voting for granted or forget that freedom is not free.

The Great Land, Part II

Alaska's politics are a product of its nearly a century as a territory, during which it was exploited by a Congress in which it had no representation, and the rugged individuals who sparsely populate this "last frontier."

Although much of the economy is federally subsidized, "Bridge to Nowhere" notwithstanding, Alaska has a relatively flat governmental structure and a strong libertarian streak.

Most of Alaska has two levels of government: state and "borough," roughly equivalent to a county, but no township or city government, and as far as I know no regional transit boards or metropolitan councils. Much of the state falls into the "unorganized" borough and is administered by the state.

Firearms are licensed on a "shall issue" basis, and once licensed no additional license is needed to carry the weapon concealed. Carrying a firearm is illegal in Alaskan courthouses, schoolyards, bars and domestic violence shelters, but you don't see those ridiculous WEAPONS BANNED ON THESE PREMESES signs everywhere you turn as you do here in Minnesota. Alaska smoking laws resemble the pre-Indoor Clean Air Act era in Minnesota, with smoking and non-smoking sections in public places. Earlier this month, an Alaska Superior Court judge struck down a law that criminalizes the posession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use.

The state of Alaska does not have a state sales tax or state income tax. In some boroughs and cities there is a sales tax.

Alaskan politics has been known for its corrupt, good-old-boys ways, but its first female governor, the popular and photogenic Sarah Palin, has largely cleaned house since taking office in 2006. Palin, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, is the former mayor of Wasilla, 40 miles north of Anchorage (home of the Iditarod dog sled race). Her husband, Todd, works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope and is a commercial fisherman. Alaska's first family includes two sons and three daughters.

The nanny party in Denver

If you really want to know the difference between how Democrats and Republicans govern, all you need to do is take a look at some of the machinations underway for the Democratic National Convention. They can't even trust their own delegates to make politically-correct choices about what to eat during the convention. As reported in the June 25 Wall Street Journal:

But Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican convention, looks on with undisguised glee at some of the Democrats' efforts -- such as the "lean 'n' green" catering guidelines.

Among them: No fried food. And, on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white." (Garnishes don't count.) At least 70% of ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel burned during transportation. "One would think," says Mr. Burns, "that the Democrats in Denver have bigger fish to bake -- they have ruled out frying already -- than mandating color-coordinated pretzel platters."

Laura Hylton, general manager of Biscuits & Berries catering, agrees in principle. But she has been testing her recipes using local ingredients for weeks and still can't get the green peppercorn sauce right when she uses white Colorado wine. The state's high-altitude wine industry took off in the early 1990s and produces some award-winning labels, but Ms. Hylton says diplomatically, "It's a little...lacking. Our wineries out here aren't what you'd see in California or France."

Joanne Katz, who runs the Denver caterer Three Tomatoes, will take one for the green team by removing her fried goat-cheese won tons with chipotle pepper caramel sauce from the menu. But she questions whether some of the guidelines will have the desired earth-saving effects.

According to at least one Democrat blogger, this sort of kooky puritanism is leaving centrist Dems squirming under nanny-state correctness:

…this is EXACTLY why my beloved Democratic Party loses elections. The various factions that make up our party spend so much time trying to ensure that each one of their core principles is thrust upon Americans with little or no choice. After all ‘we’ know ‘better.’ … this information only adds to the perception that Democrats care more about engineering society in a politically correct fashion, than we do about helping working families put food on the table.

Fly the flag

Tomorrow, June 14, is Flag Day. If you don't fly your flag every day, be sure to display it tomorrow. Tomorrow would also be a great time to look over your flag and replace it if it is getting faded or worn out (flags can be recycled at your local VFW or American Legion post, and some Boy Scout troops or council offices). Go to USFlag.org for tips on proper handling and showing respect for our nation's colors — and by extension, our nation.

My dad told me that he always got choked up whenever he saw the flag of the United States. Growing up as the son of immigrants and serving in the Army under this flag during World War II taught him to love our country, even while the rest of his family and 110,000 other persons of Japanese ancestry were interned by the federal government by executive order. After the war, he didn't ask much from the government, he just finished college, went to work, raised a family, and flew the flag.

This story from USFlag.org pretty well sums up how the World War II generation feels about the flag:

My Grandfather was a glider infantryman in WWII, an advisor in Korea, and lost one of his sons, my uncle Gary Edwards, in Vietnam. I worked in his auto repair station during high school and he flew his flag in front daily. One day while I was sweeping the oil dry out of the bays it began to sprinkle rain. He told me to go get the flag and I said "gimme a second." He said, "It is raining, go get the flag NOW." Well I popped off my mouth about how he should cool it, it isn't going to melt or some such typical teenage comment.

My grandfather is the toughest man I've ever met. He explained once that he thought basic training was some sort of country club during WWII, because he was used to hard work anyway, and at home he didn't have indoor toilets or hot running water! And when I said whatever it was that I said to him, he turned deep crimson and I thought, "God save me, he's going to kill me for talking back." Instead tears welled up in his eyes and he squeaked out "You don't understand what this family has paid for the right to fly that flag." Then he turned his back on me and went out and got the flag. I just stood there feeling like the smallest person to ever live. Those words cut me so deep. I wish the entire country could have heard them.

Iowa State prof "expelled"

From my friend Dave Eaton:

A few weeks ago a very talented scientist at Iowa State University was denied tenure because he approaches science in the same way as the greatest scientists in history. Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Gregor Mendel, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo ALL approached science with the assumption that they were studying the works of an intelligent creator, God. Historians have observed that it was exactly this perspective that enabled the start and advancement of modern science.

Today when scientists take that approach to science they are ridiculed and stripped of their careers.

Now for a little history. In the 1500's Copernicous' conclusion that the earth went around the sun was enabled by his Christian approach to study and considered controversial by many. However, few realize that it was Christians who rallied to his side, encouraged his work and financially underwrote the publication of his controversial scientific work.

Today, you can be part of history by helping fund the work of Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, an accomplished scientist that has been "expelled" from the public university system for his Christian approach to studying science. A group of ISU alumni have developed a web site that allows you to learn of Dr. Gonzalez's work and make a donation towards his research. Please go to www.freegonzalez.com to learn more.

Note, too that Dr. Gonzalez is one of the persecuted scientists featured in the movie, Expelled, that is opening nationally tonight. You can get more information on the movie at www.expelledthemovie.com.

Freedom: a better idea

There was a time in this country when we kids grew up learning about American innovators. Ford's Lee Iacocca had "a better idea." He captured the youth market with the Mustang, then when Ford scoffed at his minivan, he took it to Chrysler. Decades later, both products and their imitators are still going strong. The race to the moon inspired us and forever changed our life on Earth. Every year, American inventors earn more patents than inventors from all other countries combined.

Today, nanny-state socialist environmentalists who are pushing the compact florescent lamp (CFL), and the lawmakers and bureaucrats who love them, ironically sweep the dangers of the mercury and lead solder in each of the bulbs under the rug (figuratively speaking). These are some of the same people behind the effort to rid our medicine cabinets of mercury fever thermometers, rid our homes of thermostats with mercury switches, warn against consuming too much mercury-laced tuna, and lobby hospitals and clinics to eliminate vaccines preserved with thimerosol (which contains mercury). They justify other shortcomings of CFLs — high costs of manufacturing, inefficiency in frequent on-off applications, unsuitability in extreme temperatures like home ovens and your Minnesota garage during winter, the wastefulness of the disposable ballast — as a "net positive" in light of claimed reductions in greenhouse gasses, which is a whole 'nother adventure in junk science.

These problems should be discussed (the mass media won't), but they are not the worst thing about Congress banning Thomas Edison's incandescent bulb by 2014.

Just like smoking bans aren't really about public health, gun bans aren't really about public safety, light rail isn't really about relieving traffic congestion, ethanol isn't really about energy independence, the incandescent light bulb ban isn't really about reducing the mythical threat of global warming.

All of these misguided public policies in various ways expand government and reduce our freedoms.

Free markets and the profit motive has solved problems and improved the quality of life for over 200 years in this country. A year ago, Thomas Edison's General Electric announced a new incandescent light bulb technology, the high efficiency incandescent (HEI), that it claims is about as efficient as the CFL, but without the CFL's significant environmental, safety, and health hazards. Edison's successor inventors at GE Global Research are also working on a technology called OLED (organic light emitting diode), another low-cost, high-efficiency, "Earth friendly" lighting alternative.

Government rarely leads the way in innovation (except in the areas of taxation and redistribution of wealth). "Congress tends to jump on whatever the current buzz is in the 24-hour news cycle," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6), announcing her "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act," the necessity of which is a testament to intrusive hand of Big Brother.

Government should let the competition of free markets pick the winners and losers, and let the light bulb symbolize American innovation and know-how again.