I'm feeling again like I did in late 2004! Anyone else?

[cascadiance]

http://virtualcanadian.org/

I had fun visiting Vancouver a month ago. Maybe next time I'll go there to stay if I can in a place that still cares about its people...

Anyone else want to join me? Anyone else want to give us a reason to hope that our country will EVER care about us again more than it's corporate elite?

[colt equalizer]

1. When I graduated from HS, I still remember my one teacher explainging the facts of life

He stood in front of the class and warned us life has been easy in HS and get use to the fact that when you are on your own out there in the big world....nobody gives a shit about you....except your loved ones....and watch out for them. He was right. Life is and always will be kinda like that.

[whistle]

2. Yes, it certainly feels that way...everything spinning out of control

...and turning to shit once again. It feels like disaster is right around the corner

[notadmblnd]

3. yep. it occured to me last night

they're going to try and steal the election again.

[bdamomma]

5. we have to prevent this from happening again.

we have to much at risk now.

[Demeter]

4. This Time I Get the Feeling It's Spinning Out of the Corporate Elite's Control

and a good house and Senate cleaning will finish them off for a few years at least...longer, if we can get a good body of regulation implemented in the next year or two.

[Cleita]

6. Yes, I felt that way visiting Victoria, B. C. last August.

My friend and I sat in a pub talking to young Canadians and we told them not to let the conservatives take over their government or they will find themselves in the same pickle we are in. They all agreed, but didn't realize how easily a government could be destroyed once they got in power. I hope we were enough of an influence to inspire them not to take anything for granted, nor believe everything that their politicians told them.

[cascadiance]

8. Even in the hotel in Vancouver I could watch channels like BBC news and a show on "Bush crimes"...

on another channel which I think was featuring none other than San Diego's own Marjorie Cohn talking about them.

You'd NEVER see that in a hotel room here in the "sanitized" U.S.!

At least there's a shot that those other two parties could unite again and toss those bums out! But here, it just feels that by hook or crook (and I think it's "crook"!) the minority elite maintains all of the levers of power here.

Is there any way to do recalls of those in the House and the Senate in any states? If they aren't protected by federal law from this, I move that we should move quickly on doing so for any of these bums that supported this FISA bill and other "criminal" and not Democratic Party actions when 2009 rolls around. For some of these bums, I'd rather take a chance on a special election with a *fresh* and perhaps non-corrupted new Democrat facing off a Republican than maintaining a Republican-lite in office that beat a Republican in November. Somehow though, I think federal laws protect this from happening. It is one of those laws though that should be overturned. Even if it requires something like a 60% or 66% majority to throw someone out, that would give us an avenue to get rid of the more egregious jerks!

[Cleita]

9. I don't know.

Short of voting them out of office, I don't know how they could be removed unless someone came up with irrefutable proof that they have engaged in criminal activities like taking bribes and stuff like that. It's how it was done in the past but now no one seems to think that is even a crime today.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. A relevant LTTE in this morning's Anchorage Daily News

Republic of Cascadia awaits those who are ready to secede

Nels Anderson is right on in suggesting secession but wrong in the area that needs to secede ("Perhaps secession would solve rural Alaska problems," June 15). It's not only Northwest Alaska that suffers from resource exploitation, is forced to subsidize other areas, has high rates of rape and suicide, and is stuck with a poor education system.

The Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington, along with Northern California, suffer from the same issues as a result of political allegiance with D.C. From San Francisco to Barrow, foreign and Eastern U.S. companies and interests dictate what happens.

We pay more in taxes than we receive, we are not allowed to pursue foreign trade deals due to federal regulations. Federal criminal laws focus on nonviolent crimes instead of pursuing violent ones, such as rape. Our vote for president in the current electoral college is almost meaningless.

However, there is a solution. A group of dedicated individuals along the northwest coast seek to create the Republic of Cascadia. It would be free of foreign entanglements, have a large focus on sustainability, subsistence, and resource management, raise education to the priority level it deserves, and promote trade and investment within Cascadia, according to the interests of Cascadians, not others. If you desire to live in a country that represents your interests, not those of multinational corporations or those on the Eastern Seaboard, the choice is yours.

-- William P. Nye

Anchorage


I think I like it. :)

[Cleita]

10. I visited Alaska shortly after it became a state.

Many Alaskans weren't happy, but all agreed that they needed statehood to survive. I don't know why things would be any different if they broke away. They need the lower 48 and federalization.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Oh, I doubt that there's any danger of us making the break,

but I would much rather be part of Canada, frankly. It seems we have much more in common with our neighbors to the east than the ones to the south. I'm still seething over the EXXON VALDEZ decision, so maybe I have a darker view on things today than normal.

[Cleita]

13. How come you guys didn't consider Canada to begin with?

It would have seemed a more natural fit. Also, I always meet a lot of Canadians when I'm there. It seems there could have been a vote majority there. I don't know if the USA would have wanted to give up one of it's territories, but they have in the past so it would have been a better fit. IMHO.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. I don't know, I wasn't here then.

I came to Alaska in 1975 after it had been a "done deal" for 17 years. I suspect it did have a lot to do with the fact that we'd been a US territory for almost 100 years, and I doubt that the US would have given up Alaska's resources without a fight. I'm sure deals were made. Many days, though, I long to be a Canadian.

[AndyTiedye]

11. Vancouver Will Be Completely Overrun if McInsane Win/Steals It

Canada still has a reasonably sane government, but most if it is so cold.
Most California people would freeze to death anywhere in Canada except Vancouver.

It could get a bit crowded in Vancouver.

[Cleita]

14. Oh, c'mon most of us in California know what snow is.

We have mountains that we visit and that many of us live in. The climate there isn't that much warmer than Canada.

[cascadiance]

16. Unfortunately fires are also getting worse each year now, and global warming will make it worse!

Fire season is getting heavy early this year, and we just survived those bad ones in October from last year when I had to evacuate my mom from her house to mine in Rancho Bernardo for a few days and stay home from work there.

She's moving up to L.A. shortly near my sister, and I'm thinking about moving up now to Cascadia (to either the U.S. or Canadian side of the border there).

[Cleita]

17. They have forest fires too.

I used to live in Idaho and we had some spectacular ones that never made the news because it was too remote for the MSM to care.

[cascadiance]

18. But at least if your house burns, its a lot cheaper to replace up there!

I really can't see me getting in to the housing market here now.

I've heard that home insurance rates have skyrocketed since the October fires here, so you'll be spending most of your money on that rather than building equity.