Wasilla, Alaska -- The Worst Place In The World
Forget storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. From this point forward, all nuclear waste and other radioactive material should simply be sent up to the Mat-Su Valley in Alaska, a place that appears to have the worst values, the worst people, and the worst environment to grow up in in the United States. I'd rather be living in a box on a street corner.
The Mat-Su Valley is north of Anchorage. It's known for being perhaps one of the most conservative places in America. It's home to towns such as Palmer and Wasilla. The latter gave us Sarah Palin.
But why does the Mat Su Valley suck? Answer, it's people, culture, and environment.
In the Mat Su Valley they believe that as right wing Christian nutcases, they can do as they please to others. People of other religions are not welcome nor people of more mainstream Christian denominations. If you are black, you may get called Mambo and if you are a woman, you are automatically a bitch.
The Mat Su Valley has far more depression and suicide than the average rate in America. And we are not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
The Mat Su Valley has far more alcoholism and drug use than almost anywhere in America. And we're not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
The Mat Su Vallley has far more rape and domestic violence than almost anywhere in America. And we're not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
The Mat Su Valley has far more murder and violent crime than almost anywhere in America on a per capita basis. And we're not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
Imagine waking up an hour early each day to look out at utter darkness, spend an hour shoveling merely so you can bundle up in 5 layers of clothing just to travel an hour to work in a city like Anchorage. As you drive through Wasilla you see no beauty. Your lake is dead because of some mayor you had back from 1997-2002. All you see are a few storeboxes. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. It's ugly as sin. You sit at work in some lousy job or you are out in cold weather. The sun comes out around 10 in the morning but it's an ugly sun. By 2 o'clock you want to go to lunch across the street and you do, as the sun has already set. Your endorphins are deprived of enough sunlight so you are chronically depressed and angry.
So you seek out the angrier version of a religion, you beat up women, you beat up others in bar fights, and of course you get the crap beat out of you. You are miserable 24-7. Your values are that of hate and exclusivity. But it's the Mat Su Valley. You are not alone.
And then there are just very few good looking people around. You need beer goggles 24-7. So you rape, you smack, you abuse. You hate life. It's the Mat Su Valley. And you hate yourself.
They grow people with good values in the cities of America as well as most suburbs and small town. They just don't grow them this way in the Mat Su Valley. Being a good person there with good values is the exception, not the rule.
The Mat-Su Valley is north of Anchorage. It's known for being perhaps one of the most conservative places in America. It's home to towns such as Palmer and Wasilla. The latter gave us Sarah Palin.
But why does the Mat Su Valley suck? Answer, it's people, culture, and environment.
In the Mat Su Valley they believe that as right wing Christian nutcases, they can do as they please to others. People of other religions are not welcome nor people of more mainstream Christian denominations. If you are black, you may get called Mambo and if you are a woman, you are automatically a bitch.
The Mat Su Valley has far more depression and suicide than the average rate in America. And we are not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
The Mat Su Valley has far more alcoholism and drug use than almost anywhere in America. And we're not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
The Mat Su Vallley has far more rape and domestic violence than almost anywhere in America. And we're not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
The Mat Su Valley has far more murder and violent crime than almost anywhere in America on a per capita basis. And we're not talking by a slim margin. It's a country mile. It's because the place sucks.
Imagine waking up an hour early each day to look out at utter darkness, spend an hour shoveling merely so you can bundle up in 5 layers of clothing just to travel an hour to work in a city like Anchorage. As you drive through Wasilla you see no beauty. Your lake is dead because of some mayor you had back from 1997-2002. All you see are a few storeboxes. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. It's ugly as sin. You sit at work in some lousy job or you are out in cold weather. The sun comes out around 10 in the morning but it's an ugly sun. By 2 o'clock you want to go to lunch across the street and you do, as the sun has already set. Your endorphins are deprived of enough sunlight so you are chronically depressed and angry.
So you seek out the angrier version of a religion, you beat up women, you beat up others in bar fights, and of course you get the crap beat out of you. You are miserable 24-7. Your values are that of hate and exclusivity. But it's the Mat Su Valley. You are not alone.
And then there are just very few good looking people around. You need beer goggles 24-7. So you rape, you smack, you abuse. You hate life. It's the Mat Su Valley. And you hate yourself.
They grow people with good values in the cities of America as well as most suburbs and small town. They just don't grow them this way in the Mat Su Valley. Being a good person there with good values is the exception, not the rule.
Friend Dave, welcome to the blogosphere. While I'm not likely to opine on the DKos comments (I will keep my own counsel, you should pardon the expression), I did want to add to this thread an idea I've had for some time. See, the challenge with nuclear power is that the plants themselves *can* be better for the environment than, say, coal-burning ones (particularly with the newer pebble reactors), but the waste is, well, toxic for millennia. Yucca Mountain is an interesting notion, but getting the waste there is not half the fun.
So why bother transporting it from anywhere? My thought is to build a reactor farm of small, relatively safe pebble reactors *at* Yucca Mountain, so that the waste needn't be trucked across the U.S. to store it. Instead of building new plants throughout the U.S., we'd have one, more defensible spot for the plants, and just have to build (or supplement) the electricity distribution grid. No muss, no fuss, no meltdowns and no new greenhouse gases. What do you think? {ProfJonathan}
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thanks for coming friend and I appreciate it. I just put up some of what I hope to do. I think the "Thank Good It's Friday" series is something you really might enjoy. The idea is to truly create a link to ALL good news or wonderful things people are doing in this world. The more anonymous the better.
Two stories that put tears in my eyes this week was the football team in Texas that plays kids from a correctional facility. They had half their fans cheer for the other team the entire game.
The other story was the reuniting of Dr J and his daughter, tennis player Alexandra Stevenson. Inspiring.
Thanks for stopping by.
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Thanks for such a nice blog post....i was searching for something like that.
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