Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan on Friday vetoed an Assembly action from Tuesday that he says would hurt his efforts to ease his difficulty of balancing the city budget in a time of tight revenue. The issue centered on $12 million in city debt due next year and $10 million due the following year. Sullivan's budget for 2010 proposes to take on new debt to make those payments. The new debt would carry a much smaller payment-due in 2010 and 2011 than the $22 million currently due, although the full amount would have to be paid eventually.

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This weekend chances are good we will take a giant step toward turning America into a country mirroring European style socialism. Our country will never be the same once government takes over health care and that is exactly what will happen if the Senate passes health care legislation this weekend. 

Here’s the sad part. Alaskans will have ended up playing a major role in ushering in socialized medicine because we elected Mark Begich to the U.S. Senate. Without Begich, Obama Care cannot pass. Begich has made it clear he will go against the wishes of the majority of his constituents and instead be loyal to his party bosses and vote in favor of the Harry Reid written health care bill.

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An investigation by the city's chief attorney concludes that former Mayor Mark Begich knew and failed to tell the Anchorage Assembly that the city wasn't going to have enough money to cover all its budgeted expenses last year and this year.

A 60-page report delivered to Assembly members late Wednesday afternoon by municipal attorney Dennis Wheeler says a section of the city charter "requires the mayor to report to the Assembly when he knows to a reasonable certainty that revenues will be less than appropriations for the fiscal year."

There may be a major silver lining for conservatives and for America's future thanks to the foreign and domestic policies of President Obama and the Democrat-controlled House and Senate: For the first time in their lives, millions of Americans are coming to understand the left.

It is difficult to overstate how important this is. For decades, the left has largely controlled the news media, the arts, the universities and the entertainment media. And vast numbers of Americans have imbibed these leftist messages and the leftist critiques of conservatives. What these Americans have never been able to do is to see what the left would actually do if in power.

Of course, all one had to do was look at California and see how a left-wing legislature brought the country's largest state economy to near insolvency and bankruptcy, chased away many of its most productive citizens, and wasted tens of billions of dollars thanks in large measure to union domination of the state's politics.

But most Americans do not observe other states. Most Americans are preoccupied with their lives and, unfortunately, with what is on television

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At a town hall meeting in Chugiak Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski propped up a foot-high stack of paper next to her at the podium -- the 1,900-page health care bill passed by the House last week.

"We can pull this thing back," she told a supportive crowd.

Murkowski, a Republican and an outspoken opponent of Democrat-led health care reform bills, wants much more limited legislation.

She spoke to 150 to 200 people at Mirror Lake Middle School. Unlike previous town halls in Anchorage, where many spoke on both sides of major health care reform, the Chugiak group was overwhelmingly critical of the direction Congress is headed.

"This is a monstrosity," said Harry Young of Eagle River, who said he served 26 years in the military. "It's spun so far out of control. It's about security for the Democratic Party."

"I think we have a pretty darn good health care system now," said Ron Bauers, in from Dillingham. "I want you to continue the good fight."

Ed Singer of Chugiak, a retired teacher, predicted a mass exodus of businesses out of the U.S. if health care bills like the ones being considered in Congress pass.

George Hines, a disabled veteran and a journalism student, asked where in the Constitution it says the government has a right to be in his health care.

"I agree. The government doesn't need to be in the insurance industry," said Murkowski. Pressed further by Hines, she said, "I will not vote for a law that is unconstitutional."

Murkowski told the Chugiak crowd to make themselves heard in Washington.

The U.S. doesn't need such a big and complex bill to reform health care as the one that passed the House, she said. The House bill is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over ten years, and get insurance coverage to about 36 million people who don't have insurance coverage now.

Murkowski favors multiple smaller bills, such as one that would allow more people to join insurance pools; a measure to allow people to purchase insurance across state lines, and one to guarantee insurance to people with pre-existing health problems.

"We can do this incrementally," she said.

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