Alan Boraas

ALAN BORAAS

Juneau's Big Men should be scrutinized

Like Viking raiders returning from Lindisfarne, Alaska legislators are plying the fjords north from Juneau, bringing to their constituencies the spoils of the battle for infrastructure also known as the Alaska state capital budget.

ALAN BORAAS

'Prosperity theology' embraces wealth

In 1905 Max Weber wrote "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" in which he described how a religiously instilled work ethic became a moral imperative in forcing capitalist economics. Weber went beyond the surface structure of Protestantism and probed deeper political and economic aspects of how religion became the foundation of pre-corporate capitalism.

ALAN BORAAS

Electronic media become 'game change' in elections

Fifty years ago media scholar Marshall McLuhan predicted, indirectly, the events portrayed in the HBO film "Game Change." For those who haven't seen it, "Game Change" depicts the events surrounding Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy as the poorly vetted nominee copes with the scrutiny that came with potentially being the most powerful person in the world.

ALAN BORAAS

Wolves not key to declining number of Kenai moose; habitat change is

In an effort to enhance the moose population for sport hunters, the Board of Game has authorized killing wolves from helicopters on the Kenai Peninsula. It's a temporary measure that will have little long-term effect other than a lot of dead wolves.

ALAN BORAAS

Dec. 21 end of a cycle, not end of time

As popularly portrayed, the end of the world will occur on Dec. 21, 2012, when the Mayan calendar stops. To late-night comedians and other sophisticates, the Mayan calendar is just another unscientific superstition by an indigenous group.

ALAN BORAAS

Unlike people, corporations keep dragging chains of greed

In 1843 Charles Dickens, 67 years after Adam Smith published the definitive work on pre-corporate capitalism, "The Wealth of Nations," wrote a brilliant critique of its social evils in "A Christmas Carol." Smith defined capitalism as efficiently providing goods and services, not as making money for its own sake. Not everyone listened.

ALAN BORAAS

Atlantic salmon debacle being repeated in the North Pacific

In the 1960s, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic corporations discovered the open-ocean habitat of Atlantic salmon at the juncture of nutrient-rich ocean currents in the Labrador Sea. Over the next two decades, high seas fishing reduced wild Atlantic salmon runs to almost nothing.

ALAN BORAAS

Oil production was always the greedy goal of the Iraq War

The Iraq War is over and we won. We were given many reasons for the Iraq War. We were told the war was to block use of weapons of mass destruction, but there were no WMDs. We were told the war was about terrorism, but the Al Qaida terrorists were not from Iraq and there were no Al Qaida in Iraq.

ALAN BORAAS

Alaskans more tolerant in earlier days

For 30 years starting in the 1950s, Eadie Henderson, or just Eadie, as she was locally known, was one of the last larger-than-life madams of Alaska. Her topless bar north of Kenai, Eadie's Last Frontier Club, had rooms upstairs where the girls entertained clients. Though Eadie never publicly admitted to running a house of prostitution, it was common knowledge that she did.

ALAN BORAAS

Government doesn't belong in marriage

It is time for the government to get out of the marriage business.

ALAN BORAAS

Breivig is not alone in his culpability

The Norwegian killings by Anders Breivig tragically call attention to the enigma of democracy: How does a tolerant society deal with intolerance without becoming intolerant itself? How do we keep from becoming what we hate?

ALAN BORAAS

Yes, you too can become a hero, little girl

Today my granddaughter will be born.

ALAN BORAAS

Trump, birthers wasted our time with frivolous Obama attack

During the first months of Barack Obama's presidency a conspiracy by an amorphous group who came to be called "birthers" raged on the Internet and right-wing talk radio.

ALAN BORAAS

Militia's rapture, Bible scriptures simply don't jibe

The godfather of Alaska's growing militia movement is Commander-Pastor Norman Olson of Nikiski.

ALAN BORAAS

Triumph for Seawolves is one for their announcer

At 16 wins, 18 losses and three ties, the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves are not exactly a powerhouse of college hockey. But their climb to respectability in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association marks a significant improvement over years of sub-mediocrity.

ALAN BORAAS

Evolution of communication continues

In 1973 one of my first jobs at Kenai Peninsula College was teaching Adult Basic Education classes at Wildwood north of Kenai. The former Wildwood Air Force base had recently been transferred to the Kenai Native Association, which was setting it up as administrative offices, apartments and a vocational training facility.

ALAN BORAAS

Palin aims to offend liberals and entertain conservatives

In the wake of Sarah Palin's "blood libel" YouTube comment on the day of President Obama's "Civility" speech in Tucson, conservative columnist David Brooks of The New York Times made the following observation on Robert Siegel's NPR program:

ALAN BORAAS

History books show us the value of peace

The Christmas Story transpired within the broader context of the Jewish insurgency directed against the Roman Empire. While classical scholars extol the wonders of its civilization, it is the morally corrupt first century A.D. Roman world system that is most instructive today.

ALAN BORAAS

Walking the dog? Take a trap opener

All set for day-long ski trip in the backcountry: skis, check; lunch, check; dog and dog biscuits, check; Conibear trap opener ... how's that? It's trapping season and some form of Conibear trap opener is now necessary if you ski or snowshoe with your dog in the backcountry of much of Southcentral Alaska.

ALAN BORAAS

Alaska Citizens Militia, tea party share anger, alienation

The actions of Drop Zone in the case of the handcuffed journalist open a window into the world of Alaska paramilitary organizations and their connection to the tea party.

ALAN BORAAS

'Don't ask' has made military more toxic for gays

As an Army interpreter, Sgt. Jed Anderson served in Mosul and Rawa, two of the most violent locations of the Iraq war. He was trusted with classified intelligence gleaned from prisoner interrogations which he translated into English.