Oh.My.God. Don Young, Congressman for All Alaskans (who voted for him)

[Blue_In_AK]

This just in from Shannyn Moore:

http://shannynmoore.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/congressman-don-youngs-50-60-wetbacks/

In an interview with Ketchikan’s KRBD, Alaska’s one and only Congressman, a Republican, Don Young in comments regarding the economy and employment, was able to include a racial slur. Congressman Young said, “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” he said. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

Congressman Young is again under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. The fresh charges are that he failed to report gifts, misused campaign contributions and lied to investigators.

The National Republican Party has recently acknowledged their lack of outreach to the Hispanic population, and have vowed to repair and reach out. Something tells me this wasn’t part of their new program.

The colorful Congressman, in 1994, waved an Oosik (Penis bone of a walrus) around at a US Fish and Wildlife Service hearing. When speaking to students in Fairbanks, Young was answering questions about cutting federal funding for the arts. He said (the program) had underwritten, “photographs of people doing offensive things,” and “things that are absolutely ridiculous.” Asked for specifics, Young answered, “Buttf**king.”

Congressman Young has represented Alaska since 1973.

[MADem]

1. I'd say Young's schtick is getting a bit old.

He needs to take his walrus penis bone and his racism and go home.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My goodness, he sure has the male organ on the brain, doesn't he?

And this choice bit of Republican manhood has represented Alaska since 1973?



Who's voting for him? Are there that many idiots?

You have my sympathies, my dear Blue. I know you would never vote for him.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. We've had some good candidates against him,

but they all had the dreaded "D" behind their name. Alaskan voters are lazy, and they like their incumbents. Ted Stevens was in office for 40 years and now Don Young. The irony is that both of them came into office because of the death of a Democrat.

From Wikipedia:

Don Young

Alaska's at-large congressman, Democrat Nick Begich, disappeared in a plane crash on October 16, 1972. He was re-elected to the House that November, but was declared dead on December 29. Young, who had been the Republican candidate against Begich in November, ran in the special election in March 1973 and won with just 51% of the vote against Democrat Emil Notti. He won a full term in 1974 with just 54% of the vote. He credits his victory to his leadership of the fight for the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System.

Ted Stevens

In 1968, Stevens ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, but lost in the primary to Anchorage Mayor Elmer E. Rasmuson. Rasmuson lost the general election to Democrat Mike Gravel. In December 1968, after the death of Alaska's other senator, Democrat Bob Bartlett, Governor Wally Hickel appointed Stevens to the U.S. Senate.[34] Since Gravel took office 10 days after Stevens did, Stevens was Alaska's senior senator for all but 10 days of his forty-year tenure in the Senate – a unique distinction.

In a special election in 1970, Stevens won the right to finish the remainder of Bartlett's term. He won the seat in his own right in 1972, and was reelected in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996 and 2002 elections. His final term expired in January 2009. Since his first election to a full term in 1972, Stevens never received less than 66% of the vote before his 2008 defeat for re-election.

[Laurian]

3. Disgusting. Amazing that such a person can remain

in office so long. Any hope of dislodging him and not ending up with another Neanderthal?

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Highly unlikely.

He will die in office (and not soon enough, in my opinion). That is, unless they can ever make any of these corruption charges stick. He's been in trouble since 2006.

[ljm2002]

4. Reminds me of an old joke regarding Alaskan men...

...back when there were all these news articles about women who were over 30 and unmarried. The articles always talked about the states where there was a good male-to-female ratio and Alaska always came up high on the list.

One woman made a t-shirt about it that said:

Alaska: The odds are good... but the goods are odd.

[Auntie Bush]

5. he sure has the male organ on the brain, doesn't he?"

That's because he doesn't have one between his legs. At least he can't find it!

[madinmaryland]

8. Tomatoes do not grow in Alaska, do they?

Maybe in a hot house.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. No, he's from California originally.

Sutter County. He went to Yuba College and Chico State. Be proud, Californians.

And as for the tomatoes, yes, you generally need a greenhouse. I've grown some. There are varieties made especially for northern climates. My favorite is called "Siberian."

[madinmaryland]

10. Kind of ironic. All those "self-made" folks from the lower 48 calling themselves that!

Especially since it was his 50-60 laborers that made him a "self-made" man.

What a douchebag.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Well, not to defend him or anything,

but he did come here in 1959 when he was 26 years old, and, believe it or not, was a teacher in the very small village of Fort Yukon.

Again, referring to Wikipedia:

Young moved to Alaska in 1959, not long after it became a state. He eventually settled in Fort Yukon, a 700-person city on the Yukon River, seven miles (11 km) above the Arctic Circle in Alaska’s central interior region. He made a living in construction, fishing, trapping and gold mining. He captained a tugboat and ran a barge operation to deliver products and supplies to villages along the Yukon River. He still holds his mariner's license today. During the winter, he taught fifth grade at the local Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school.

I wonder if he had the same low opinion of the Athabascans he taught at the BIA school that he did of the "wetbacks" of California. Somehow he manages to take the Native vote every election.

(Incidentally, Wikipedia, to call Fort Yukon a "city" is pretty funny in and of itself.)

[madinmaryland]

12. Hmm. So he lived off the government teat during the year, and then during the summer played

the "weekend warrior". And for the last forty plus years he has lived off the government teat as the representative of Alaska. Given the corruption allegations, I would suggest it was a life of "luxury".

[eShirl]

14. my cousin was an Alaskan farmer years ago

Short growing season, sure, but really long days on both sides of the Summer Solstice.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. You just have to choose your crops wisely.

All lettuces, cabbage-type vegetables, peas, carrots, potatoes, string beans (some years), rhubarb, strawberries, zucchini, etc. do great here. I've even seen artichokes, although I haven't grown any myself.

[madinmaryland]

16. My sister and BIL grew those for several years. They did great.

Tomatoes just don't do well. They need lots of heat.

[Solly Mack]

13. Damn