Straight Outta Anchorage

I'm having the most wonderful cup of coffee, made from  a combination of freshly ground Bolivian Peaberry and Kenyan Peaberry beans I bought at High Rise Coffee in Old Colorado City. Along with Serrano's, they are my two favorite places to get good, freshly roasted coffee beans. Now that I have a source for great cigars, I have no real complaints about this town...

Now, on to some Sarah Palin news: the most interesting item is that the Anchorage Daily News has decided to support Barack Obama for President. It's one of the better written opinion pieces that I've read, did it while showing respect for their native daughter.

When Ms Palin first became mayor of Wasilla, she campaigned as an outsider, wanting to upset the good old-boy network of politics. The debt of Wasilla was one million dollars. When she left to become governor, she left the town saddled with a 20 million dollar debt. But, hey, they had a new sports complex built by the same contractors that helped Todd build their house for free.

It's looking like the much touted Alaskan pipeline deal the governor was so proud of may not be built. It was contracted with a Canadian firm, with the pipeline ending in Canada, not the US. Not a whole lot of benefit for us, we may not even get the oil. And now that her pal Ted Stevens has been found guilty, Republicans may not win an office in Alaska this election, and put her chances for re-election in doubt.

Poor Levi Johnson, the beau to pregnant 17 year old Bristol, dropped out of high school to get a job on the oil slopes so that he can pay for the birthing of his child. If I were the Palin's and welcomed him into our family, I would get him a job in Wasilla, maybe even just pay him to finish high school, and make sure that he would go to college. Maybe they are making life difficult for him so that he will divorce their daughter eventually, or maybe he is a stubborn male and has too much pride to accept a helping hand.

The last Presidential endorsement for Obama comes from the Financial Times from London. They have an interesting analysis of the two campaigns and end their piece with a warning:

 "Rest assured that, should he win, Mr Obama is bound to disappoint. How could he not? He is expected to heal the country’s racial divisions, reverse the trend of rising inequality, improve middle-class living standards, cut almost everybody’s taxes, transform the image of the United States abroad, end the losses in Iraq, deal with the mess in Afghanistan and much more besides.

Succeeding in those endeavours would require more than uplifting oratory and presidential deportment even if the economy were growing rapidly, which it will not be.

The challenges facing the next president will be extraordinary. We hesitate to wish it on anyone, but we hope that Mr Obama gets the job."