Guest Opinion: Les Gara on Medicaid

Walker Is Right: We Need Medicaid Expansion

guest opinion, by Rep. Les Gara (D-Anchorage)

Governor Walker, like other Republican and Democratic governors who have hopped on board, is right that accepting Medicaid expansion will save Alaska money and cut our budget deficit. Turning away an opportunity to get ill people medical care and cut the budget at the same time would be an opportunity wasted.

Here’s a reality check as we look at budget cutting options. Given the fall in oil prices, the budget deficit is so large that you could fire EVERY state employee, and still have a roughly $1.5 billion deficit. Cutting government waste alone won’t fix the budget gap. We need to take advantage of smart opportunities like this, too.

I agree with the governor that we can’t afford to turn up our noses at $28 million in budget savings over the next four years. Yet, under Medicaid expansion we can provide treatment to people who are ill and can’t afford  it, and bring over $130,000,000/year in federal funds to Alaska that will ripple through our economy. Turning away the 4,000 new Alaska jobs that would be created when Alaska is facing potentially serious economic hardship, makes little sense if you are looking to protect the economy.

How does Medicaid expansion save Alaska money? 

First, until 2017 the federal government pays 100 percent of the cost of expansion, and after 2020 it becomes a permanent ninety percent federal match to cover these costs. That’s all instead of the normal, much smaller fifty percent federal Medicaid match. Even at ninety percent federal funding it will continue to cut our budget gap.

It would be a classic political bungle to delay, and miss the early years of 100 percent federal Medicaid coverage.

How will this cut Alaska’s budget deficit? Accepting Medicaid expansion will bring federal funding to cover medical care for which the state now pays 100 percent to cover. For example, current Medicaid generally doesn’t cover you unless you are pregnant or have children. Expansion brings coverage to adults with no children. This will reduce alcohol and substance abuse treatment costs the state currently pays with state dollars, prisoner medical costs we currently pay with state dollars, and other costs the state fully foots to cover adults without children.

And Medicaid expansion requires mental health coverage parity—so we will receive needed alcoholism, drug, and mental health treatment funds the state now covers. That saves us money, saves families agony, puts fewer children into expensive and potentially damaging foster care, and makes our streets and homes safer.

When Alaska receives federal road funding with a ninety percent federal match all legislators jump at it because road maintenance—and the infusion of federal funds—creates jobs and provides better roads. Turning away 90–100 percent federal funding to get people medical care, create jobs, and qualify more people for federally funded private insurance subsidies just doesn't make sense.

And there’s a cost-saving bonus for people with private insurance. Alaskans with private insurance will benefit when hospitals no longer have to pass the high costs of uninsured patients to the rest of us.

Let’s be smart. As a Democrat I’m happy to work across party lines with the governor. I hope some of the undecided or recalcitrant members of the governor’s own party will also agree, so we can work together and do the right thing for Alaska and our budget woes.

—Representative Gara is a member of the House Finance Committee.

(Editor's Note: See also The Lewin Group analysis of the impact of Medicaid Expansion in Alaska.)

Letter to the Editor: A is for Armed

March 6, 2014

To the Editor:

In the news is “Campus gun bill before committee.” There is nothing more important in the world for a student to get an A in their class. An armed student is in a much better position to negotiate with the teacher to get an A in class than an unarmed student. A student has to do whatever they have to do to get that A in class. Alaska needs their students to get as many As as possible and if that means arming students to get an A, well so be it.

John Suter 

Chugiak, Alaska

Ye Olde Independence Day Celebration and Hoo-Roar

Yes,it's that time of year again. The annual 4th of July parade & picnic is about to deluge Ester with gazillions of people who aren't into the militaristic display at Pioneer Park or the (now not-happening) Fairbanks parade. Folks who like a bit of political and social satire (well, okay, a LOT of satire) with their floats come out to Our Fair Republic for a lot of beverage-through-the-nose-snorting fun on Independence Day here where Progress Is Our Least Important Product. For those unsuspecting innocents who don't realize that off-color and politically incorrect silliness is the usual fare at this event, consider yourselves forewarned.

After the parade comes the Park Picnic, put on by the Ester Community Association. A large roast beast (usually a pig) is served up to the public, purchased and cooked by the Ester Volunteer Firefighters' Auxiliary, along with the usual hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, et cetera, from the ECA. Be prepared to bring a large side dish full o' your most succulent potluck food, and to shell out a donation. The money raised at this event (also known as Organized Eating and Fun & Games) is used to help Ester firefighters in the aftermath of a fire, keep the park ship-shape, and pay for all that food and beverage and flatware provided to the public.

Details: parade check-in (for participants) 11 am, Main Street & Ester Loop. Kids on bikes should wear a (preferably wildly decorated) helmet. Getcher paper plate when you sign in so the judges can tell who you are so's to give you a Fabulous Award. Don't forget to bribe the judges early, well, and often.

The parade starts at noon for all you Designated Spectators, and the picnic starts after the parade reaches the park. Be prepared for Silly Games and Water Sports (willing or non).

Rumor has it that the Red Hackle Bagpipe Band will be back and in surprising costume. The Banana Girls will return but may not be as organized as last year. There is also a rumor that actual Republican candidates will walk this year. Let's hope they're not as serious as the Democrats have been. Other than that, the Publisher has no word of the contents of aforementioned parade.

See you there!

The Onion's got it right

Again.

Congress Deadlocked Over How To Not Provide Health Care

"Both parties understand that the current system is broken," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday. "But what we can't seem to agree upon is how to best keep it broken, while still ensuring that no elected official takes any political risk whatsoever. It's a very complicated issue."

"Ultimately, though, it's our responsibility as lawmakers to put these differences aside and focus on refusing Americans the health care they deserve," Pelosi added.

The legislative stalemate largely stems from competing ideologies deeply rooted along party lines. Democrats want to create a government-run system for not providing health care, while Republicans say coverage is best denied by allowing private insurers to make it unaffordable for as many citizens as possible.

"We have over 40 million people without insurance in this country today, and that is unacceptable," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said. "If we would just quit squabbling so much, we could get that number up to 50 or even 100 million. Why, there's no reason we can't work together to deny health care to everyone but the richest 1 percent of the population."

"That's what America is all about," he added.

Thank the gods for the Onion.

Gibberish

This morning on the news I heard part of Sarah Palin's farewell address. It was gibberish. It was full of clichés, incomplete sentences, full of stereotypes of the military, of the media, of government, whiny excuses for why she did or didn't do X, Y, or Z. This transcript is somewhat cleaned up, but it's still a pretty bad speech.

It's all about patriotism, and the military, and driling, and hunting, and the free market, and evil Hollywood and evil government.

I promised that we would manage our fish and wildlife for abundance, and that we would defend the constitution, and we have, though outside special interest groups they still just don't get it on this one. Let me tell you, Alaskans really need to stick together on this with new leadership in this area especially, encouraging new leadership... got to stiffen your spine to do what's right for Alaska when the pressure mounts, because you're going to see anti-hunting, anti-second amendment circuses from Hollywood and here's how they do it. They use these delicate, tiny, very talented celebrity starlets, they use Alaska as a fundraising tool for their anti-second amendment causes. Stand strong, and remind them patriots will protect our guaranteed, individual right to bear arms, and by the way, Hollywood needs to know, we eat, therefore we hunt.

Good god. What a load of pap.

The thing about this is that what she's talking about is in fact important, but she debases all of it: good government, responsible journalism, military service, energy independence, political responsibility, public service, environmental stewardship, subsistence living.

What a maroon.

The fundraiser phenomenon

This year, I've noticed far more fundraisers to pay medical expenses than ever before. Three fundraisers for kids with cancer (no insurance or not enough) right around the beginning of March. Then a couple more. The latest one is for Evan Phillips of the Whipsaws, who is having surgery for an old injury that damaged his hip years ago and lately has been causing him so much pain that he couldn't participate in the planned tour this winter of Tim Easton, Leeroy Stagger, and him.

So now there's a fundraiser in Anchorage, featuring all kinds of musical types. He travels in musical circles, and has friends who are great at graphic design and publicity, so he's likely to be able to raise enough to pay a good bit of the bill.

Doesn't something strike you as horribly wrong with this picture?

While Obama and the Democrats in Congress are moving together on supposed health care "reform," the Republicans are plotting To-Hell-With-The-People obstructionism. But that obstructionism may just save the public's bacon--all the Democrats seem to be talking about is health insurance. Story after story talks about "coverage", "benefits packages," and "insurance". THIS ISN'T HEALTH CARE, you BOZOS!

The REAL health care reform proposal, HR 676, sponsored by John Conyers, is barely mentioned, even in articles that propose things like an expansion of Medicare. Hell, Conyers barely got into the roundtable Obama held earlier this year on the subject of health care reform, and it was only after an e-mail barrage and deluge of protests that they let him in the doors.

So Congress is talking about health insurance and Obama is talking about providing "health insurance to every American that they can afford and that provides them high quality." That's still not the same thing as health care, Mr. President, and I think your route is a mistake.

In the meantime, sick people get to rely on the charity of their friends. Again and again, until their friends and neighbors are tapped out.

What a stupid way to run a country.

There's sanity in Alaska politics after all

Old news on the blogosphere by now, but I'm doing a little happy dance anyway: Mr. Wayne Anthony Ross's nomination for attorney general by Ms. Sarah Palin was soundly rejected today (35 agin, 23 fer). I am, however, utterly astounded that as many as twenty-three members of the legislature thought Ross was sufficiently sober and appropriate to be confirmed. They would be:

John Cohill, R-North Pole (of course!)

Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Anchorage

Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River (are you surprised?)

Carl Gatto, R-Palmer (nah--not him!)

John Harris, R-Valdez

Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage

Carl Johnson, R-Anchorage

Wes Keller, R-Wasilla (ah, yes, Mr. Wingnut. No surprises there.)

Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks (I recall some real silliness from Kelly, but I would have thought he'd have more respect for the law. Well, maybe not.)

Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage

Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage

Cathy Munoz, R-Juneau

Mark Neuman, R-Wasilla

Kurt Olson, R-Soldotna

Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks (Jay! Come ON! I thought you had more sense!)

Bill Stoltze, R-Eagle River

Con Bunde, R-Anchorage (This man's reputation extends statewide, which is too bad.)

Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River

Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla

Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage

Linda Menard, R-Wasilla

Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage

Gene Therriault, R-North Pole (Another one who shows sense from time to time, but still, I remain unshocked that he voted this way.)

So there you have it. The list of people who don't seem to get that when a nominee starts out with an agenda, this is bad; that when the nominee isn't too concerned about what's legal, this is bad; that when the nominee is blatantly bigoted against a group of citizens, that this is bad; that when the nominee has no concern for the needs and legal issues of half the state, this is also bad; that when the nominee is not just colorful, he's insensitive and rude, that's bad. These are politicians who don't have good judgement, I'd say. Apparently the overriding factor for them was that they felt they Must Show Party Loyalty. This seems to be the general pattern for Republicans in recent years: Party Solidarity Above All, and to hell with the country or what's good for the state or the people or the Rule of Law.

Go figure.

Watch them carefully. Look at their records. Decide for yourself. I intend to keep a sharper eye on them than I have been.

Public testimony and a poll on the death penalty

There's an informal poll on KTVA.com on the death penalty bill. So far it's 56 percent against, but of course these things change like mad.

Alaskans Against the Death Penalty has a bunch more information on the hearings for HB 9. Jay Ramras, it turns out, is a co-sponsor. Well, I may appreciate his concern for agriculture in the Bush and villages suffering from hunger and lack of fuel, but I think his judgement is WAY off on this one. This is wrong, Jay.

Vengeance is mine, sayeth Chenault

Ah, yes, in commemoration of our 50th year as a state, Representative Mike Chenault wants to introduce the death penalty to Alaska. As if we didn't have enough stupidity and expense in gummint these days. (Actually, I'm not that generally displeased with Alaska government, but boy, howdy, certain Republicans sure seem to want to muck things up but good.) Sarah Palin, good little bloodthirsty Christian that she is, shares Chenault's absolute faith in the impeccable, color-blind, and utterly error-free operation of our criminal justice system. Ramras evidently also has no qualms about it, either: "Hang 'em high." Or, if they don't think the system is perfect, they're still perfectly willing to sacrifice one or two here and there, or not worry about the disproportionate application of the death penalty depending on the convicted person's race, or the expense before the person even gets to trial.

And to top it off, Chenault is just fine with wasting the legislature's limited time:

It is not my expectation that HB 9 will pass the Legislature and become law this year. In fact, I would be quite surprised if it did.

Nope, Chenault wants us to have a "healthy dialogue" about it. I submit that perhaps the 90-day session is not the best place to do this.

Talk about stupid.

An oil industry bias

I've been rather busy the last week due to the upcoming John Trigg Ester Library Lallapalooza and the Perennial Problem of Paper Production (which ALWAYS takes far longer than I anticipate), so I haven't been posting here of late, despite the fascinating news stories abounding. So I'll try to make up for that in the next couple of days.

First up: after all the brouhaha with certain saurian Republican legislators chastising UA President Hamilton for the supposed 'anti-development attitude' of University of Alaska students who dared to come down to Juneau and (gasp!) express doubts about particular mining projects, I received an interesting press release from PEER about Professor Rick Steiner, who is getting his NOAA grant yanked by Sea Grant.

It seems that last year, Dr. Steiner, a marine scientist, protested a pro-oil industry bias that he saw in Sea Grant programs.

Hmmm.

Here's an excerpt from the release:

Professor Rick Steiner, a noted marine scientist and environmentalist with the University of Alaska Marine Advisory Program, incurred the wrath of NOAA officials by protesting a pro-industry slant in Sea Grant programs to promote oil drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Shortly after Steiner’s March 18, 2008 letter [PDF] and press conference, his dean was approached by National Sea Grant Deputy Director Jim Murray, who according to an e-mail from Dean Denis Wiesenburg recounting the conversation, indicated that NOAA had “an issue with Rick Steiner” because “he was acting as an advocate and asked if he was being paid with Sea Grant funds”, adding that “one agent can cause problems nationally”.

As the basis for urging that Prof. Steiner “not be paid with Sea Grant funds” NOAA’s Murray cited manual guidance that Sea Grant extension agents should strive to be “neutral brokers of information”. Ironically, Prof. Steiner, a tenured professor, had been publicly protesting that the Sea Grant program was violating its own principle of neutrality by stacking a program to favor offshore oil development and improperly minimizing potential resource damage to Bristol Bay fisheries and marine life.

“Under Bush, NOAA programs, including Sea Grant, were ordered to lubricate oil company initiatives,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch whose organization is urging incoming NOAA Administrator-designate Jane Lubchenco to strengthen the Sea Grant role in ocean protection. “The Sea Grant program needs a thorough housecleaning starting with its leadership.”

As a result of the NOAA threat, Dean Wiesenburg recommended in December that Professor Steiner’s Sea Grant funding be terminated because Steiner “has chosen to be a maverick and work independently,” noting that “Mr. Steiner has devoted some of his energy during the review period to publicly attacking the Alaska Sea Grant program,” and that “Steiner regularly takes strong public positions on issues of public debate.” Significantly, the dean did not mention the quality or quantity of Prof. Steiner’s award-winning marine conservation extension efforts.

“The present crisis in our nation’s marine and coastal ecosystems requires a clear and urgent national response,” said Prof. Steiner. “But instead of responding to the ocean crisis, this new de facto gag order from NOAA Sea Grant will have a chilling effect on scientists who want to advocate for greater ocean protection and restoration.”

Flying press releases

ZAP! ZING! POW!

The Immoral Minority uncovered some juicy press releases flung back and forth between Governor Sarah Palin and Representative Jay Ramras. Dermot Cole's got some good excerpts, too. Tssssss! Hoo, they're hot. Palin's complaining that Jay's ignoring her and all the good stuff that the state did for Emmonak and other Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages, and says he's picking on her, just like a good old boy. Jay, in a dudgeon, is "shocked and appalled" and has called the governor's "derogatory comments" "fool-hardy and Clinton-esque [sic]".

Well, this little catfight may be entertaining, but I know that Jay Ramras has in fact been working for quite a few months at the very least, with UAF, on getting the Bush communities a measure of food self-sufficiency. And Sarah and the state executive branch haven't distinguished themselves in the Leaping to the Rescue Department, much less the Preparing for and Nipping Disasters in the Bud Department. Good thing the public at large has been helping out.

Andrew Halcro puts it nicely:

The dire situation in Western Alaska was not a surprise. Former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, warned of impending problems due to a poor fishing season when he was fired by Governor Palin in July. The Alaska Federation of Natives warned of the looming crisis at their annual convention in October.

In response to a growing crisis in villages like Emmonak and Kotlik, Representative Ramras spearheaded a food drive to help gather donations to help his fellow Alaskans. His efforts have been extremely successful.

Dear, dear, dear.

Back to the political grind

Hans snorted out loud this morning when he heard the news about Senator and not-so-honorable Jerry Ward. Yet another corrupt Republican. Ben has yet to be bagged, and Don's still spending money on defense lawyers in anticipation of, well, something he doesn't want to tell us about. The Democrats down south now have their token crook (we've been hearing about that over and over again, too), and apparently he's a foul-mouthed so-and-so. Not a civil servant, indeed not.

And just in case you thought it was cold up here in the Frozen North, Sarah Palin's hometown church was recently torched.

Ah, politics!

Alaska's strategic voters

Hans and I went to the Blue Loon because we wanted to be in the company of the like-minded when the election results came in. And it was a wonderful thing. Both McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech were moving. And I was intensely relieved that Obama won.

It was frustrating, however, to sit there watching the election returns and not hear about the Alaska races. We went to the Eagle, in case they had news, but no, still the national stuff. At this point, it appears that both Stevens and Young have been re-elected, thereby proving that Alaska voters aren't thinking too clearly, yet again.

As one local Republican down at the Eagle put it (at top volume), "I'd rather vote for a felon than a Democrat!" But, of course, now both of those Republicans are going to be in the minority party and Stevens won't be able to be on any committee positions, due to the Senate rules. Said Republican shouted that it wouldn't matter if Bush pardoned him. Of course, it will still be up to the Democrats as to whether Stevens is accepted. He's not going to be the powerhouse he was.

So Alaska will be relegated to backwater status, politically speaking.

But somehow it doesn't it matter to me right now. Obama won, and for the right reasons. This country has a chance to redeem itself now--has already begun to do so.

Whew.

More footage of the RNC arrests

This is a video of the arrests at the Take Back Labor Day concert, narrated by a guy from the Glass Bead Collective who interviewed a bunch of people and then buried his video camera so it wouldn't get confiscated. Good thing, huh?



The Minnesota Independent has continued to cover this story, the most recent development being a forum held by the Society of Professional Journalists. Nick Coleman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has also written about the experiences of St. Paul residents vis-a-vis the protests and arrests.

The latest from Ivan Moore: Palin's popularity slipping

According to the latest press release from Ivan Moore Research, "Sarah Palin's positive-negative rating in Alaska [is] taking a real hit, for the first time since Palin was elected in November 2006." Moore has a margin of error in this poll of 4.4%, but shows a drop as of his most recent survey (Sept. 20-22nd) down to a 68% approval rating (from 82% in January). He breaks it down by ideology and party, showing the most significant drop among progressive voters (-28.5 points) and a small but still notable drop among conservatives (-5.5 points). Republicans show a -2 point drop, but this could be off because of the margin of error, so Moore counts it as basically unchanged and exceedingly positive (around 88 to 89% approval).

What is important here, however, is the drop in no party/other party and moderate numbers: 17 points downward. Palin is not pleasing the middle ground.

And it's pretty clear why: obvious, repeated lies; a negative campaign with little of substance; polarizing rhetoric. Interestingly, I never hear news about McCain anymore--it's Sarah this, Sarah that, and then news about Barack Obama, who certainly sounds like a sensible, thoughtful man who might actually weigh the consequences of his decisions rather than charging into them and then thinking about them. Or, as Bush and McCain both appear to do, rationalizing them after the fact.

Nope, Palin is making McCain look worse and Obama look better.

More on ocean acidification

This is the topic of the moment, apparently. The university is hosting a talk on carbon dioxide in the seas, featuring Richard Feely, chemical oceanographer with NOAA. Here's the press release from UAF:

One of the world's preeminent experts on ocean acidification will visit Fairbanks next week and hold a public lecture on the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels in the ocean.

Richard Feely is an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle.

The public lecture will be held at 7:00 pm, Wednesday, September 24, at the Princess Riverside Lodge in Fairbanks.

According to Jeremy Mathis, a chemical oceanographer at UAF's School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Feely has been a leading expert on ocean acidification for at least twenty years.

In his abstract for the talk, Feely says that today's record high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are the "direct result of the industrial and agricultural activities of humans over the past two centuries."

Feely adds that carbon dioxide levels are "now higher than experienced on Earth for at least the last 800,000 years." Feely believes that these levels will continue to rise.

Feely will discuss the short and long term implications of ocean acidification on marine mammals, fish species and the economies that depend on the world's marine resources.

"Ocean acidification is probably the most imminent threat to the oceans today," said Mathis. He adds that ocean acidification is particularly harmful in Alaska, where cooler waters can speed up the rate of acidification.

Cruising the net, I found a blog all about the problem.

Yup. End times--but only because assholes like Bush won't do anything about it, or, like Palin, sue to prevent protections from being put in place. We HAVE A CHOICE. We can let the world go to hell, or we can clean up after ourselves. Too many religious fruitcakes seem to want to make it go to hell. Don't think the gods, assuming they're out there, will think too kindly of that.

42 journalists arrested at the RNC

According to Anna Pratt of the Minnesota Independent, at least 42 journalists were bagged by the cops at the Republican National Convention:

Of the 800-plus people who were arrested or detained in conjunction with RNC protests, a good chunk of them — 42, by our count — were members of the news media. Media representatives in town to cover the events, from both big and small presses, were slapped with citations and pending charges ranging in severity, including unlawful assembly, obstructing the legal process, misdemeanor interference with a peace officer and felony to riot plus other riot pretenses.

Among them were the managing editor of Variety, two AP reporters and one AP photographer, several journalism students, and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, along with a host of other journalists. People are still trying to get their confiscated items back from the police.

Fluff and lies

Obsidian Wings has an excellent analysis of the falsehoods in Sarah Palin's speech. In condensed form, here they are:

1. McCain shows constancy. Nope: check the Carpetbagger Report on this.
2. "Thanks, but no thanks." Er, she did accept the money, and at a time when Louisiana and Mississippi were in desperate need of money for infrastructure rebuilding.
3. Obama hasn't authored major legislation. Unless you think that the "strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet" is, perhaps, major. Apparently Palin doesn't actually think much of ethics... And all these other bills that Obama sponsored or co-authored don't count with her either.
4. Obama is against producing more energy. Uh, what? That's directly contradicted here, on his website.
5. Under Obama, our taxes would go up. Yeah, right. See my commentary below on this pony puckey. (Pay attention, Mark. You mocked me the other night on this, and I'm not happy about it. )

Many thanks to Hilzoy for this excellent factchecking and analysis.

The Reality-Based Community also has a good refutation of Palin's lies.

And of course, the Daily Show has the word on community organizers. (See this interesting New York Times discussion of the term.)

Sarah, I'm really disappointed in you. Your speech is making me think seriously for the first time ever of actually donating money to the Democratic presidential campaign. I've been a long-time Green, but with this particular election and these particular candidates I might just break ranks. (God, I cringe to say this out loud.) Of course, what's really really annoying is that the Greens are damn good, but are shut out.

The Republicans offered nothing but the same old crap, with more extremism. Given what that's brought us to in the last eight years, I'm appalled that people could possibly think this would be good for the country. Apparently, though, you can fool a chump again and again.

Video of Goodman's arrest

Behold, Alaskans, what your Senators voted to allow: the muzzling of the free press. Or rather, the intimidation and harrassment thereof.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune continues to cover this story. The Minneapolis Post has an interesting article on the civil rights of journalists in this situation.

NPR has finally figured out what's happening.

Observed on Politiker

An alert cartoonist for the Republic notified me of this delightful development in the continuing national Palin agogment: two (count them) two cartoonists for The Ester Republic have been featured in a Politker article on Alaska cartoonists' reaction to John McCain's appointment of Sarah Palin as vice-presidential candidate: Dan Darrow and Jamie Smith. AND the Politiker includes cartoons by them--both of them delightfully rude, of course, and the one by Jamie an (ahem) advance of a cartoon slated for the next issue. (Not exactly kosher practice, there, Jamie, releasing a cartoon for the paper before it's published...ah, well, can't complain on this one—and we know the News-Miner wouldn't do it!)