Alaska, the 49th state, is back in the news, and not in a positive way.
We had to deal with Governor Sarah Palin running for Vice President last year, and scaring millions of Americans at the thought that she might be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
We had Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator in history, facing corruption charges and being convicted, and losing his reelection race to Nick Begich.
Now the Justice Department has decided to drop the charges against Stevens and withdraw the conviction.
As a result, the silly season has begun with suggestions by Palin that Senator Begich resign, and a special election be held between Stevens and Begich for that Senate seat. Additionally, Congressman Don Young, himself a subject of federal corruption investigation, suggests that the idea of Begich resigning is ridiculous, but that Stevens instead run in the GOP primary against Palin for the next term as governor in 2010, at a time when Stevens would be 87 years of age. Young and Palin are political enemies of each other, which explains this line of thinking.
The public record of Palin, Stevens and Young are an embarrassment, and only Democratic Senator Nick Begich offers hope for a rational future in Alaska politics at this point of time. The concept of Alaska statehood, now fifty years old, makes one wonder: Could we revisit the idea and maybe negate what has happened in the past fifty years? :) LOL