Anchorage Mayoral Candidate Paul Honeman And APD Chief Mark Mew Respond To Forbes Report On Anchorage Crime

The recent Forbes report which named Anchorage, Alaska the fifth most dangerous metro area of 200,000 or more people in the United States has attracted attention and criticism from two local public officials.

Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew questioned the accuracy of the report because not all cities classify crimes the same way. Anchorage prosecutes some crimes as felonies instead of misdemeanors to combat high local rates of sexual assault and domestic violence. He insists that if other cities used Anchorage's classification standards, Anchorage wouldn't have even made the list. Good response by Chief Mew.

East Anchorage Assemblyman Paul Honeman, who's just launched his third campaign to become elected mayor, chose to turn it into a campaign moment. A critic of Mayor Dan Sullivan's decision to delay a police academy class in 2010, Honeman linked the city’s inclusion in the report to a 2010 budget amendment he offered authorizing funds for a police academy to train more APD officers, which passed the Assembly but was vetoed by Mayor Sullivan. Sullivan vetoed the amendment in an effort to reduce a budget deficit; most city departments were required to share somewhat in the sacrifice.

Paul Honeman officially filed for election on October 5th, 2011, charging at a press conference that Mayor Sullivan hasn't run an open administration or managed the city's taxes well, and questioning how the city ended up with a surplus. Among Honeman's four priorities is a more vigorous fight against crime, to include zero tolerance for gang violence in particular, stiffer penalties for violent and property crimes, and to hire and deploy more cops. Anchorage is still somewhat underpoliced for a city of its size and extent.

Honeman previously ran for mayor in 1987 and then, after a 22-year career with APD, ran again in 2009, finishing sixth in a field of 15 candidates with 4.53 percent of the vote. Honeman then ran successfully for his East Anchorage Assembly seat in 2010, earning 51 percent of the vote. Previous posts from February 24th, 2009 and March 10th, 2009 and April 4th, 2009 and April 5th, 2009 provide some additional background on his 2009 mayoral campaign; there's also an ADN story from March 31st, 2009 which includes a link to a Q & A.

The only other declared candidates to date are Mayor Sullivan himself, and Jacob Seth Kern. The election takes place on April 3rd, 2012.

Did "Occupy Wall Street" Disavow MoveOn.Org? Occupy Anchorage Rally Attracts 100 Participants

The neocons who dominate the conservative movement are waging an all-out propaganda campaign to discredit the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Glenn Beck Propaganda Machine on The Blaze is deliberately presenting videos of fringe participants to portray the Occupy Wall Street movement as a bunch of neo-Communist kooks all dancing and swaying to the Obamessiah. One video shows a black woman demanding "affordable broccoli", and another video shows a man denouncing Jewish control of Wall Street (not necessarily "fringe", but neocons characterize any criticism of Jews as "anti-Semitic"). Many neocons have also used expressions of support for the Occupation by George Soros, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and MoveOn.org to try to further discredit Occupy Wall Street.

But Occupy Wall Street may be fighting back, and at least one participant has apparently disavowed MoveOn.org, as indicated by this poster I found published on Nimbusters.

I tracked this back to a post on The Daily Bail. On #OWS Twitter, Glenn Greenwald referred to it saying "Without endorsing this sign, my guess is that ongoing efforts to co-opt #OWS will be met with sentiments like this one." However, there is no official reference to this poster on the OccupyWallSt.org website, so the poster could be the independent product of one participant. As of 24 hours before this post, MoveOn was planning to officially join this protest. It would certainly help the credibility of the Occupation if they would publicly warn outside groups against trying to hijack their cause.

Meanwhile, Occupy Wall Street reached Alaska. A group called Occupy Anchorage suddenly organized on Sunday October 2nd. Three days later, on October 5th, they put 100 activists into Town Square. Brian MacMillan, a 45-year-old National Park Service employee who started the Occupy Anchorage Facebook page, and one of the coordinators for Wednesday's event, said the activists had come from all walks of life, from university students to libertarians to older people. The Anchorage Daily News has a photo gallery HERE. MacMillan speaks out on the video embedded below:

Occupy Anchorage: Wall Street protest arrives in Anchorage from Kyle Hopkins@adn.com on Vimeo.

Occupy Anchorage plans their next event on Saturday October 8th at 3:00 P.M. in front of the Performing Arts Center at 621 W. 6th Avenue in downtown Anchorage.

Don't buy off on the neocon spin that these are just a bunch of Commie hippies. While there is a strong and somewhat disproportionate leftist presence, Occupy Wall Street does represent a reasonable cross-section of America itself. To blow these people off as a bunch of Commie hippies risks driving them right into the arms of the George Soros/MoveOn cartel.

Sarah Palin Announces She'll Not Be Seeking The Presidency In 2012, Does Not Rule Out Becoming The Running Mate Of The Eventual Nominee

After months of speculation and feinting, Sarah Palin finally disclosed her political plans on Mark Levin's radio program on October 5th, 2011. In a statement read before the interview began, Palin announced that she will not be seeking the Presidency of the United States in 2012, which also rules out a third-party candidacy. She also added that she would support the eventual Republican nominee, assuming that the nominee would be the right person. However, Palin did not specifically rule out the possibility of becoming the running mate to the eventual nominee.

Alaskan reaction is documented in the Anchorage Daily News, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and Alaska Dispatch and KTVA Channel 11.

The statement is replicated below (go HERE to listen to the full interview):

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.

From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.

Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country!

Later, Palin further explained her decision on Greta Van Susteren's program on Fox News:



So for the time being, it appears that Sarah Palin will continue her role as a motivator and agitator, promoting candidates in a multitude of races who, in her opinion, best exemplify her values. To her credit, she did not cite any of the anklebiters by name who may have propelled her into remaining on the sidelines.

The Washington Post recorded reaction by some Republican candidates. Rick Perry wrote "Sarah Palin is a good friend, a great American and a true patriot. I respect her decision and know she will continue to be a strong voice for conservative values and needed change in Washington", while Michele Bachmann said "Governor Palin is a dear friend of mine and I think the world of her. She has been a strong voice for the conservative movement...She has a lifetime of opportunities ahead of her".

Politico didn't seem too surprised at Palin's decision. They noted that GOP operatives have long expected her to pass on a 2012 race. Furthermore, she did not build an infrastructure that could have been used as the foundation for a campaign, her political action committee did little to build a staff and she remained on the Fox News payroll as a contributor while 2012 candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich saw their contracts terminated.

In the final analysis, it was a good decision by Palin. While she had the most fanatical core cadre of supporters, Palin also showed chronically high negatives, even among independents. In head-to-head polling vs. Barack Obama, she consistently graded out worse than other prominent candidates. There was also too much personal baggage -- much of it contrived and exaggerated by Palin's critics. A Presidential campaign would have focused far too much upon her personality and family, and not enough on her platform. Finally, she suffered the humiliation of being out-polled against Obama in her home state in June 2011 -- and I guarantee you, most of us Alaskans think Obama sucks.

It might seem improbable that Sarah Palin would consider becoming somebody's running mate in the future after she was on McCain's ticket in 2008. But Sarah Palin is unpredictable, if anything. Palin also believes in responding to what she considers a call to public service. If a demand for her inclusion on a ticket grows, it is entirely possible she might accept. It's a long time between now and next summer, and anything can happen.

So before you conclude we won't have Sarah Palin to kick around any more, remember than in 1962, Richard Nixon said "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more". We all know how that worked out.

Forbes Rates The Anchorage, Alaska Metro Area Fifth Most Dangerous In America; Rating Appears Pessimistic

Update October 7th: APD Chief Mark Mew and Anchorage mayoral candidate Paul Honeman respond to the Forbes report.

Alaska Dispatch calls our attention to a Forbes crime study which shows Anchorage to be a dangerous city. Forbes has published a slide show of what they consider the ten most dangerous cities, or more precisely, metro areas in the United States.

Some of the entries were expected. For example, they rate Detroit the most dangerous city in America. No surprise here; Detroit is a de facto Third World city with a propped-up showcase downtown section. Flint, Michigan is rated number 4; Flint is just a smaller version of Detroit.

But some entries are surprising, though. Lubbock, Texas is ranked number 6; Lubbock has never been characterized as "crime-ridden". Particularly surprising is Forbes' designation of Anchorage as number 5. According to the specific page on Anchorage:

With 813 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, Anchorage has a somewhat higher crime rate than cities of comparable size, and a rate that is double the size of Alaska as a whole. It is the largest city in the state, but it also has the largest rate of forcible rape, which contributes to Anchorage’s high crime statistics. Property crime, while not factored into our survey, is also double Alaska’s rate. Methamphetamine use has been a perennial problem in Anchorage and elsewhere in the state, and although laws have been passed to limit access to the pharmaceuticals necessary to manufacture meth in the state, a steady supply of the drug is still flowing in from Mexico.

Methodology: Forbes used the FBI’s uniform crime report for 2010, which tallies crime data for each of the country’s metropolitan statistical areas, regions that usually consist of a large city and its suburbs or clusters of closely linked smaller cities, and metropolitan divisions, which are core areas within some of the larger MSAs. They only considered areas with 200,000 or greater population. They used the FBI’s numbers for four categories of violent crimes: murder and non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; and aggravated assault. They do not factor in property crimes. One must also remember that crimes have to be reported in order to be tracked, so a study alone cannot discriminate between whether there is a genuine upsurge in crimes committed, or a mere increase in crimes reported.

However, based upon my 19-year residency in Anchorage, I question whether or not Anchorage truly is the fifth most dangerous city in America. To get a broader perspective, I turned to a reliable source which publishes their own rankings each year: CQ Press. CQ Press's 2010 Crime Rankings show Anchorage ranked number 115 highest out of 400 cities. But to my surprise, CQ's ranking of metro areas does show the Anchorage MSA ranked number 18 highest out of 347 MSAs rated. The Anchorage MSA also includes the southern part of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (the Palmer-Wasilla-Meadow Lakes corridor), so maybe there is an upsurge in crime in Mat-Su which distorts Anchorage's statistics. A recent survey by the Justice Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage does indicates that more than half of all Anchorage women have been the victims of domestic or sexual assault during their lifetimes.

So while I'll admit that Anchorage does have more crimes than the median, it is a gross exaggeration to claim that it is the fifth most dangerous city in the United States. Here's a more candid assessment of crime vulnerability:

-- Neighborhoods: Most neighborhoods are safe. Even the two riskiest neighborhoods, Fairview and Mountain View, have safe areas; use the Anchorage Police Department's official crime map to find out what parts of town are most susceptible to specific categories of crime. Anchorage does not have the hard core minority racial ghettoes which are specific breeding grounds for violent crime in Lower 48 cities; most neighborhoods are either majority-White or are multicultural, meaning no one particular race constitutes 50 percent or more of the neighborhood's residents. In addition, there have been no incidents of flash mob violence which have plagued cities not making Forbes' list, such as Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

-- Parks and Trails: Many of our parks are infested with chronically-homeless people. While most of them simply want to be left alone, a number of them prey upon users of our parks and trails systems. Unaccompanied women incur the greatest risk, but Anchorage citizens have a tradition of intervening to stop such attacks. One has almost as great of a risk encountering a moose or a bear in our parks as a human predator.

The bottom line: It is still relatively easy to avoid being a crime victim in Anchorage without becoming a hermit and hiding in your house.

Alaska October 2011 Local Election Results: Fairbanks Smothers Proposition 2, Mat-Su Approves Costly School Bond, And Juneau Rejects Plastic Bag Tax

The official results for the October 2011 Fairbanks North Star Borough election are in, and with 98 percent of the vote counted, Proposition 2, the hotly-debated Healthy Air Protection Act, is going down to a much greater defeat than I believed possible; 60.3 percent voted No, with a 21.8 percent voter turnout.

Comments to news stories leading up to the election indicated a reasonable possibility of rejection, but the defeat was foreshadowed by an exit poll at Woodriver Elementary School in West Fairbanks, one of the "ground zero" locations where wood smoke becomes so concentrated during the winter that pupils are not allowed outside for recess. Of 50 respondents to an exit poll survey conducted by the News-Miner between 5 and 6 P.M., 26 people said they voted Yes and 24 people said they voted No.

If Proposition 2 could barely squeak by in a customarily "smoky" area, it had little to no chance in other parts of the borough. The fatal flaw in Prop 2, as evidenced by post-election commentary in the News-Miner, was the fact that an entire class of heaters would have been outlawed, regardless of their emissivity. A last-minute video showing an outdoor wood boiler which would have been banned under Prop 2, outperforming an indoor wood heater which would not have been banned, also swayed voters against the measure.

Sylvia Schultz, who chairs Healthy Air Now, said she was disappointed by the results, feeling that misinformation may have gotten the better of some voters. But she believes the night wasn’t a total loss. “I believe there was a lot of misinformation that was intentionally trying to mislead people and that was unfortunate,” she said, “but there was a lot of correct honest information, so I think a lot of people learned more about the hazards of air pollution to our health, the rising levels of pollution in our community and the options we have to bring those levels down to safe levels.” She’s not sure if she’ll continue to lead the fight for clean air, but said that she’s bolstered by the number of people who spoke out against air pollution.

Fairbanks Borough voters agreed to open their wallets for the school district. Proposition 1, which sought approval of a $9.9 million general obligation bond for Ryan Middle School capital improvements, was approved with 59.3 percent of the vote, while Proposition 3, which asked for the issue of $10.39 million in general obligation bonds to fund capital improvements to Salcha and Woodriver elementary schools, North Pole Middle School and North Pole High School, was also approved with 61.2 percent of the vote. The Fairbanks-North Star School District made an effective case for the bonds and wasn't afraid to pare them down in advance as much as possible.

YouTube Video: Fairbanks Resident Demonstrates How Proposition 2, The Healthy Air Protection Act, Would Outlaw His Efficient Outdoor Wood Boiler

Update October 5th: Proposition 2 fails; details in this post.

Non-attainment area enclosed by purple line; click HERE for larger version

On October 3rd, 2011, Judge Paul Lyle rejected a suit filed by a trio of hydronic heater owners asking that Proposition 2, the Healthy Air Protection Act, be removed from the ballot because they considered it unconstitutional. Judge Lyle ruled that since Proposition 2’s effects are scheduled to take effect on Oct. 29, 2012, a day after the two-year time limit, it didn’t violate state law and can go to voters tomorrow.

Proposition 2 seeks to improve air quality in an area of the Fairbanks-North Star Borough that doesn’t meet federal air quality standards. It would ban hydronic heaters and coal-fired devices, along with creating emissions standards for all wood burners in the non-attainment area. Read a more specific analysis of the issue and the primary players in my September 26th post.

But of even greater interest was the following comment posted to the News-Miner story:

pursuit_of_freedom wrote on Monday, Oct 03 at 04:55 PM:

I plan to vote no on proposition 2. Although we all want to breath pristine air, this is a bad proposition.

I own a wood boiler (EPA phase 2) and researched before my purchase. I invested almost $20,000 for my system not to mention installation by myself. I may have to put a little physical work into keeping warm but I can purchase wood and heat everything for about 1/3 the cost of heating oil (4400 sq foot and all domestic hot water for a family of 7).

My boiler has the capability to run on natural gas (maybe someday?) also. It can also burn as clean or cleaner than many indoor woodstoves. I am posting a youtube video contrasting my boiler and the woodstove of my neighbors to show the problem with this proposition.

Here is the link:

http://youtu.be/saxBWZncRrc

And here is the video:



The person starts out by showing his outdoor wood boiler fully engaged, but emitting virtually no smoke. Then he turns the camera to his neighbor's home, showing the neighbor's indoor wood stove emitting noticeable smoke. Yet the outdoor wood boiler would be banned under Prop 2, while the indoor wood stove would NOT be banned. The person points out although he's invested nearly $20,000 in his system, Prop 2 would only authorize FNSB to give him $7,500 to remove my boiler, imposing a $12,500 loss upon him.

Therein lies the fatal flaw of Prop 2 -- it outlaws an entire class of heating systems regardless of their emissions. The authors of Prop 2 presume all outdoor wood boilers are bad. Prop 2 deserves a NO vote on October 4th.

"Occupy Wall Street" Movement A Genuine Grass Roots Movement Spreading To 47 States Nationwide, Now Includes Alaska

Note: All posts about Occupy Alaska available HERE, with the most recent post displaying first.

The Occupy Wall Street campaign, which began on September 17th 2011 with an encampment of people protesting against corporate greed in the financial district of New York City, has gone national -- and viral. Although there have been efforts by professional agitators such as MoveOn.org, the SEIU, and certain celebrities to hijack the movement, it is, at its core, a new generation of Americans, a generation looking forward to finishing their education with no jobs, no future, but still saddled with astronomical debt. Many are of working-class or otherwise modest backgrounds, kids who did exactly what they were told they should: studied, got into college, and are now not just being punished for it, but humiliated – faced with a life of being treated as deadbeats, moral reprobates. And while their tuition was rising, university officials were being given windfall pay hikes for the purpose of "normalizing" their salaries.

This core is now expanding to become a grass-roots coalition of union members, students, teachers, veterans, first responders, families, the unemployed and underemployed. They constitute both sexes, all races, and many creeds. And they are not all progressives or anarchists; most are responsible people encompassing the entire political spectrum. Tea Party activists have even been involved. One formally-declared Republican Presidential candidate, Ron Paul and another possible candidate, Sarah Palin, both echo many of the frustrations of this coalition; Palin recently launched a sharp attack on "crony capitalism".

Occupy Together has become one of the clearinghouse websites to document where the action is taking place. And they now record Occupy Wall Street movements in a multitude of cities located in 47 states; Alaska is now one of them. And it has spread to several foreign countries. Another good resource is OccupyWallStreet.org.

The Guardian describes the problem quite well. Everything we'd been told for the last decade turned out to be a lie. Markets did not run themselves; creators of financial instruments were not infallible geniuses; and debts did not really need to be repaid – in fact, money itself was revealed to be a political instrument, trillions of dollars of which could be whisked in or out of existence overnight if governments or central banks required it. And then, to add insult to injury, when it went wrong for the bankers, we were asked to bail them out. We did -- and the bankers rewarded our generosity by using our money not merely to unstop the lines of credit, but to pay their executives even more bonuses. Senator Bob Bennett lost his job for voting for TARP, and Senator Lisa Murkowski came within a whisker of being fired by the electorate herself.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that the real priority of those running the world for the last few decades has not been creating a viable form of capitalism, but rather, convincing us all that the current form of capitalism is the only conceivable economic system, so its flaws are irrelevant. The careful balance between Wall Street and Main Street which assured access to prosperity for the greatest number systemically shifted to Wall Street until Wall Street completely hijacked Main Street. Prosperity theology so infected mainstream conservatism that superstar compensation for executives became the norm. Instead of growing companies and their respective workforces, the objective of CEOs increasingly became staging hostile takeovers of rivals, downsizing their workers, and getting richly rewarded for the results.

And because of the surplus of labor, corporations are now free to fire workers for nitnoid violations unrelated to job performance, and to increasingly reject prospective workers for issues unrelated to job performance. Prospective job seekers are now rejected in advance because they smoke, have low credit scores, or even because they are currently unemployed. Many job seekers aren't merely finding the job market too competitive; they're being preemptively precluded from competing in the first place.

Oh, and let's not forget the predatory behavior of corporations towards consumers. We've seen the banking industry and the airline industry increasingly "unbundle" various services and piling on an endless nitnoid and indecipherable schedule of fees and surcharges. At one time, when I bought a plane ticket, that was the end of it, unless I wanted an alcoholic drink on the flight. Now there's differential charges for different seats, charges for carry-on bags, charges for meals -- one airline, RyanAir, is even considering coin-operated bathrooms. The new plutocracy has made our lives more complicated and expensive.

This is what Wall Street has done to us -- and Wall Street needs to pay! While the specific objectives of Occupy Wall Street are still emerging, what's important is that Wall Street is facing the righteous wrath of the American people for the first time since the Great Depression.

This is not just a liberal fight; this is a conservative fight as well. Plutocracy and feudalism are NOT conservative values. Conservatism means smaller, less redundant, and more accountable government -- it does NOT mean corporate fascism. The conservative movement has been hijacked by neocons who pander to the rich and favor big government; they mindlessly spend our country's strength and means warring in foreign lands. Paleoconservatives must pry the movement loose from the neocons and, after the manner of Joe Miller, who almost defeated Lisa Murkowski, purge the RINOs from the Republican Party who helped get us into all this economic trouble in the first place.

Occupy Wall Street is a worthy cause for conservatives.

Highlights Of The LDS Church's 181st Semiannual General Conference; Five New Temples Announced

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has just concluded its 181st Semiannual General Conference held in Salt Lake City on October 1-2, 2011, preceded by the General Relief Society Meeting on September 24th. A variety of Church leaders delivered inspirational and informational addresses intended to keep Church members informed and on the straight and narrow. In this post, I will reference the more important stories from the event, particularly those attracting mainstream media attention in Utah.

-- LDS Church News has photos and reports on each speaker's presentation through this portal

-- Video and audio archives of each talk available on the LDS Conference Page; written transcripts will follow later in the week.

(1). New Temples: During the Saturday Morning General Session, Church President Thomas S. Monson announced the planned construction of five new temples in Provo, Utah; Barranquilla, Colombia; Durban, South Africa; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Star Valley, Wyoming. The proposed Paris Temple had been previously announced by the Church in July after the media first broke the story. The proposed Provo Temple, which will arise from the ashes of the burned-down Provo Tabernacle, will be the second temple in that city. And the announcement of a temple in the Congo is remarkable, considering that some parts of that country remain ungovernable and outbreaks of mass rape and murder in the eastern part of the country still occur to this day. The announced temples bring the grand total of temples either in operation, under construction, or planned to 166.

President Monson also announced the creation of the General Patron Assistance Fund to provide financial assistance towards a one-time visit to the temple for those who otherwise would not be able to go. Those who want to contribute to this fund are instructed to write in the information on the normal contribution slip which is given to the bishop each month. KSL Channel 5 news video embedded below:

President Monson announces six new temples and program for temple patrons | ksl.com