Everyone thinks of Alaska as nearly roadless, and vastly "undeveloped", which it is. Every so often, state politicians and the local news media hype about building new roads across the state. A road to Nome from Fairbanks. A road to connect Juneau to the Alaska/Canada road system.
We are fortunate in Fairbanks to have the large, Tanana River, on the southern edge of town. Just about 8km down from the top of Chena Ridge, a nice park/boat launch area allows all manner of access to it, throughout the year. We usually start skiing on the Tanana in late November or December, but just for skating. Which requires, generally speaking, -20C or warmer temperatures, to be enjoyable, along with a packed-down surface, in this case, by snowmachine traffic. Along with a day off, that meets those criteria. This year that didn't happen until last week, but the ice is even twice as thick now, especially since our snow-cover is very skimpy this winter; we've only had 30% of our average snowfall so far. 
The Tanana is very large in this area, sometimes easily 500 or more metres across. It runs very swiftly in summer, so ice safety is essential, to fall through would be fatal, as the swift current would sweep you under it. So we stick to proven snowmachine trails as often as possible out in the middle of the river. Which is what we want anyway, for skate skiing.
It really is a highway, mushers can run their teams between villages, for hundreds of kilometres, if they wish. Similarly, people on snowmachines can visit different villages this way, along the rivers, and across country that is brutally swampy in summer, but smooth and packed, in winter, with hard snow. Ideal for snowmachines, dog teams, skiers, and snowshoers. If we ever had the time and funds, we would ski from Fairbanks to the Bering Sea, preferably in March/April, when the days are longest, and conditions not as cold. It would be at least 900 km, but doable in a month or so. Some cyclists with winterised mountain bikes have done so before, and probably skiers, but we aren't sure.
We decided to hit the Tanana River road this week, on a day when it warmed to about -19C (-2F) in the afternoon. As you can see, the river is quite wide here, over 500 metres, just a few km down from the parking area. And the trail, very wide, about 10 metres in spots, from all the snowmachine traffic. It had just snowed a much-needed 1 cm, the day before, so that helped freshen the surface.
Even though Mattie is half husky, since she grew up on Kodiak, and came from the pound, we don't think she was ever a "real" sled dog, in the sense of serving on a team, and learning the commands, etc.. So she's very curious when she sees the teams running down the river, or on different trails in the region. But she doesn't get too close, I think because she is very independent, and would't want to be in harness.
Which meant we only went down 8 km or so before turning back. With the very diminished glide, and cold breeze, not a very pleasant ski. When temperatures are -15C or warmer, and the snow surface suitable, one pushoff in skate skiing can propel you 10 metres or more. Which then allows us to cover vast distances in a much shorter time, with the same energy expenditure or less, as would be needed, for a much shorter run. We were only getting about a third of that glide this day.
FORWARD TO 1900?
Since the Ray-gun days of the 1980's, a focused assault on worker's rights and conditions in this country has been undertaken by the corporate world. Starting with the firing and blacklisting of the PATCO air traffic controllers by Reagan in 1981, and accelerating during the 1990s, as outsourcing to countries with no labor protections (allowing for deadly low pay and long hours in often unsafe conditions, along with little or no environmental regulations) began in every major manufacturing, and software development firm. Countries like India, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and of course, the giant of them all, China. Conditions for factory workers in these countries is very much what it was like in this, or European countries, in 1900. Which is to say, dismal. There was no workmen's compensation. An on-the-job injury from unsafe working conditions gets you fired, with no medical or wage benefits. Labour organisers are frequently beaten, jailed, or murdered. The workweek is always 60 hours long, or more, at least six days a week. The pollution from all unregulated industrial activities poisons the air and water over vast areas; China's incredible air pollution from it's thousands of coal-fired power plants and factories churning out our consumer items now reaches the west coast of the U.S., in significant, and sometimes unhealthy concentrations.
This is the World that will return to this country, within a few decades, unless organised labour reinvigorates, and all people look in their hearts, and support causes and politicians who will actually work to regulate Capitalism, and humanise our political/economic system. We came across this article yesterday, it puts things in good perspective.
http://counterpunch.org/macaray02102010.html
A Dagger in the Heart of Labor
Congress Nixes Becker
By DAVID MACARAY
Just when organized labor had entered the seventh and final stage of the grief cycle—after having witnessed the death of the EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act), they’d already passed through shock, denial, anger, bargaining, guilt and depression—they get dealt another crushing blow, this one in the form of Craig Becker, Obama’s nominee to the NLRB, being denied confirmation by a hostile congress.
The Becker rejection could hurt even more than the EFCA (“card check”). Why? Because Becker’s chances were infinitely better than those of the EFCA, which, beneficial as it would have been, remained broken down in the driveway. In truth, the ambitious legislation never really got any momentum behind it. By contrast, the Becker nomination appeared to be running on all eight cylinders.
True, the Republicans had played games by stalling the vote for five months, but the Democrats had the 60 senators necessary to avoid the procedural roadblock of a filibuster and, once over that disgraceful parliamentary hurdle, had more than enough votes to carry the nomination. At least they did until Massachusetts elected Scott Brown, a Republican.
Then, to make matters worse, Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced that he would join the Republican filibuster, killing Becker’s chances. Say what you will about Martha Coakley, Brown’s Democratic opponent, she wouldn’t have joined the Republican filibuster. And without the filibuster, Becker gets confirmed.
So what made Craig Becker so unappealing to the Republicans? He was unapologetically pro-labor, an old-fashioned labor advocate. He was a champion of America’s working class, of its struggling middle-class, and of its impoverished bottom-class.
In other words, Becker was all the things you would expect in an NLRB member, all the things the position called for going back to 1935, when the New Deal agency was invented, and all the things that had been missing in the NLRB under eight years of the Bush administration. And, of course, it was precisely these qualities that the Republican party and U.S. Chamber of Commerce objected to.
Despite the Republicans’ attempt to demonize him, Becker, a lawyer for the SEIU (Service Employees International Union), is a recognized labor expert. Becker earned both his law school and undergraduate degrees from Yale University, and has either practiced or taught law for the past 27 years.
On Tuesday I asked the IBT (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) what their thoughts were on the Becker rejection. The Teamsters were instrumental in lobbying for passage of the EFCA, and were very much in favor of Becker filling one of the vacancies on the Labor Board.
James P. Hoffa, General President, IBT, replied: “The President ought to be able to appoint who he wants to sit on the NLRB. Politics should not stand in the way of a well qualified appointee. Craig Becker has impeccable credentials and has devoted his professional career to the field of labor law….Blocking his confirmation is, in reality, just a cynical strategy on the part of people who don’t believe in the statute to prevent it from being enforced.”
How cynical? The Republican minority is using stalling tactics and bogus parliamentary techniques to deny the Democratic majority the goals they were entitled to pursue by virtue of having been elected. The Republicans may have lost the election fair and square, but they are determined to thwart the administration at every turn, which includes not allowing Obama nominees to be voted upon. If you don’t have the votes to get elected, and don’t have the votes to defeat a measure, you embark upon the only strategy left to you: governing via paralysis.
Incredibly, three of the NLRB’s five seats still remain vacant. Becker was supposed to fill one of them. The only thing these three vacancies continue to do is postpone indefinitely hundreds of important labor cases—cases that deserve to be heard. Which is perfectly fine with the Republican minority because that is precisely how they intend to govern.
David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright and author (“It’s Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor”), was a former labor rep. He can be reached at dmacaray@earthlink.net
Labour unions and the struggles (and often-times injury and death) they endured from 1850 to 1940 brought us everything we take for granted in our working experience. The 40 hour workweek. Time-and-a-half overtime. Paid holidays, vacation, and sick leave. Worker's compensation for on-the-job- injuries. Inspection and regulation to prevent injury and fatality from unsafe working conditions.
It's quite clear by now, that if we wish to hold onto these just and beneficial aspects of working experience, we must support labour unions, and oppose any politicians that don't. The Democrats have expressed only tepid support since the 1990s, and their support of NAFTA in 1992-94, decimated the U.S. industrial base. The Republicans of course, are really fascists, who overtly work to bring back 1900s conditions to our society. Both parties still actively support countries like Colombia (which is the only South American country now that will allow a US military base on it) that intimidate, jail, and murder labour organisers. That is why we support the Green party, primarily. http://www.gp.org/index.php
To that end, we at A.P.R. do not support or recommend, generally speaking, supporting or voting for any Democratic politician, unless they meet stringent pro-labor, anti-war, and environmental support criteria. Those that "make our cut" are very few in number, like Congressman Dennis Kucinich, of Ohio, or Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont.
We definitely try to avoid purchasing products from companies that are documented as being particularly sociopathic in their drive for short-term profits.
And of course, we have divested ourselves competely from the profit-driven financial sector. All our financial transactions and loans are with non-profit credit unions.
Everyone should read "The Peoples History of the United States",
http://books.google.com/books?id=P8V7J5qm5-YC&dq=people's+history+of+the+united+states&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=1QN1S-r0EovisQPptPDKCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
which documents the struggles of workers and indigenous people that is not told about in our schools. It is very eye-opening. It's author, celebrated historian and peace activist Howard Zinn, passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 87, a great loss to this country, and for progressive people everywhere.
http://howardzinn.org/default/ Thank you for your inspiring work Howard!
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
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