the alaska health care task force. specifically in this legislation to deal with our medicare provider issue in alaska but also our tricare making sure we deliver the right kind of hospital and medical care to our veterans. and more physician assistance. we inserted a specific language to make sure we allow loan repayments for physician assistance in teaching facility, faculty to be also included in loan forgivenness. last year we had 375 p.a.'s that handled 1.2 million office visits in alaska. after 21 years the indian health service is in this bill to be reauthorized. 21 years it has not been reauthorized. there are many great things in this piece of legislation. from a broader perspective as i mentioned earlier in my comments but also very specific to alaska. could it be better? absolutely. but do we think we have a piece of legislation that's going to make an impact to people's lives? yes, we tkofplt if we want to keep it the same old business as usual, i guarantee you 5 years, 2 years, 10 years from now we'll be i

now, alaska is a little bit unique. we are one of two states where medicaid is actually a better payer or better in terms of the reimbursements than medicare, but even still the economists that we have at the university of alaska, the institute for social and economic research, the economists have said that medicare patients will lose access, and as they have suggested kind of go to the back of the bus if we expand medicare. and i -- i want to -- i want to use their language specifically. this is from the -- the analysts at iser. he has stated that we can continue to be concerned that the newly enrolled through the medicaid expansion and the new exchange will create a big surge in demand that could easily create a traffic jam in the health care system and send the medicare beneficiaries to the back of the line in alaska due to medicare's low briewrmt rate -- low reimbursement rate. so expanding medicaid is bad for alaska. now the chief actuary at c.m.s. is saying that medicare and medicaid patients will both face limite

reform add to alaska's appeal." the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, madam president. the bottom line that the alaska state medical association provides is that the cumulative result of alaska physicians advocacy has been a success for physicians and their patients. again, we've seen positive impact in alaska because of the laws that we have passed. i think it's unfortunate that we didn't take that opportunity as we dealt with health care reform these past many months. madam president, at this time i will yield to my colleague from kansas and thank the chair for her attention. mr. brownback: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. brownback: thank you very much, madam president. i'm glad to join my colleague from alaska and florida in talking about the health care bill. you can look in "the new york times" today. there was a full-page ad put up describing the bill. i'm putting it up here, the same thing that was in "the new york times" today. and it starts

interagency task force to assess and improve access to health care in the state of alaska. "(a) establishment. there is established a task force to be known as the 'interagency access to health care in alaska task force' (referred to in this section as the 'task force'). "(b) duties. the task force shall- authorization of appropriations. there are authorized to be appropriated $4 million for each of the fiscal years 2010 for 2013. m1, section 768 of the public health service act, 42 u.s.c., 295c. is amended to read as follows. section 68, preventive medicine and public health training grant program. a, grants. the secretary, acting through the administrator of the health resources and services administration and in consultation with the director of the centers for disease control and prevention, shall award grants to or enter into contracts with eligible entities to provide training to graduate medical residents and preventive medicine special siz. -- specialties. "(1) assess access to health care for beneficiaries of federal health care systems in alaska; and "(2) develop

you know, being from alaska, we see a lot of winter storms. we saw a great blizzard here that just occurred and dropped a lot of snow. i see a lot of blizzards and storms in alaska, but i have to be honest with you, i've never seen a blizzard like i've seen here in washington of the misinformation about this bill. hopefully in the next few minutes, i want to talk about the general bill and what it means for all americans, including alaskans, and then specifically about the effect and what it does for alaska. first, i want to walk through a couple things and some large issues. i know people who are watching hear this over and over again on this bill and the details of it, but i think it's important that we repeat it enough for people to be reminded of the positive impacts that this bill will have on americans and again from my state, on alaskans. it's not a perfect bill. there are pieces that i would like to have improved and i'm sure everyone in this chamber would, but it's a step in the right direction, a significant step. just on the financi

the clerk: the senator from alaska, ms. murkowski, for herself and others, proposes an amendment numbered 2836 to amendment number 2786. ms. murkowski: i ask that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i have ten unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. and they have the approval of the majority and the minority leaders. and i ask consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: mr. president, just -- i'm just going to speak very, very briefly on the pending subject and then let the sponsor of the amendment, that is, the mikulski amendment, finish up here. i think it's very. i know this point has been made before but i think it bears repeating. the american heart association, the american stroke association has a written -- rele

it is an insider's view it of alaska. it is a great book.e talks about growing up in alaska and being sent to kentucky for high school. host: what does the title mean? caller: he dropped 50 miles from the international dateline the separates alaska and russia. by any readers of sarah palin "going rogue," i invite him to read this book. host: thank you. 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. here is a book that is called " tear down this wall." clorox. was a report of the year? -- little rock. caller: the book was reissued in paperback. host: that is ok. caller: "professor and the madman" by simon winchester. the thing i got from it was a tremendous amount of work and time, people who put together all these words and a half to keep doing it all the time. host: and we did cover that. you could go to our web site and take a search for that. good morning to david in tulsa, oklahoma. caller: "a fiery pieeace i an a cold war." i found it in lightning. it brought many things about the cold war that i was not aware of. it upda

i want to thank senator begich from alaska for his work. this is bipartisan. a broad number of democrats and republicans work on the reimportation of prescription drug bill, giving the american people the freedom to acquire low-priced drugs. senator begich has been a significant part of that. i wanted to say thanks to him on this amendment. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. begich: i appreciate your comments. i think you're right. out of all of the complex bills, this seems so simple. when i was mayor, we worked on this issue, it seems logical, since we border canada, it seems logical. i know you stated these comments before, i think it is important for, especially my viewers, who are watching from alaska, because there is a four-hours difference. there is a savings to taxpayers very clear here. there are savings to the consumerrer, which is important. remind me of the numbers. but i want to be sure i have them as i talk about this bill. mr. dorgan: mr. president, this amendment will save $100 billion in 10 years. ne

>> the senator from alaska. >> mr. president, maryland, and accept her gracious offer to continue to work on this issue as it relates to women's health and women's health services. as has been noted by the senator from maryland and senator from washington this is an issue that we women of the senate have come together repeatedly to work cooperatively, and while we do have some would say duelling amendments if he did is important to recognize that the goal we are both seeking to attain are certainly right in alignment. we are just using different means to get their. but i appreciate it and the civility and the cooperation from all only senator mikulski but the women on the important senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i ms. mikulski: mr. president, i ms. murkowski: let me try it here. ms. mikulski: that's so much better. i want to hear the amendment and continue our conversation. ms. murkowski: and you just missed all the kind remarks that i addressed to your attention. ms. mikulski: could i ask unanimou

he grew up 50 miles from the date line that separates alaska and russia and i would invite any readers of sarah palin's going rogue to look into this book, 50 miles from tomorrow, by william hensley. >> host: thank you, ron. to those in line marked 20 the anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. here is a book by romesh ratnesar and it's called quote code hair down this wall is the president and speech that ended the cold war." little rock, good morning, on the republican line what was your favorite book of the year? >> caller: it wasn't written this year, it was reissued in paperback. cresco that's okay. we will take that. we will bend the rules a little bit. that's fine. >> caller: it is the professor and madman. a tale of murder and say and that he and making of the oxford english dictionary. by simon winchester and it was a wonderful book that i think the thing i got from it mostly with the tremendous amount of work, tremendous amount of work and time and people that put together all those words and they have to keep doing it all the time. >> host: we did cover that. thank you.

it is alaska.we do not have providers in our state's largest city who are willing to see new medicare patients. anchorage alaska -- anchorage, alaska has half the population of the state and there are 13 providers who are willing to take new medical -- newt medicare eligible individuals. -- new medicare eligible individuals. one provider said that in view of what happens with reimbursement and in view of what you all are discussing back here, i cannot afford within my family practice to take on newt medicare eligible individuals. she is dropping out and that puts us down to 12. this is a crisis. when we look at proposed legislation that does nothing to expand access and an insurance card that gives you access, there are no providers that are willing to take you on, what have we done? we have gone beyond what is coming out of cms. we have gone to our states think-tank -- our states' think tank and ask them, give us an analysis of the house bill. what it comes to is nothing good for alaska. this does

groves will be going to alaska to participate in the first enumeration of a remote alaska condition villaged that's on january 25th. so, again can, look for some of these key dates, and we'll keep you posted on all of the developments. if we didn't get to any of your questions on the telephone, please feel free to e-mail or call the public information office, and we'll get those in front of dr. groves or respond as quickly as we can. once again thanks very much for attending, have a great day. [inaudible conversations] >>reporter: american icons, three original documentaries from c-span now available on dvd. a unique journey through the homes of the three branches of the american government. see the detail of the supreme court through the eyes of the justices, go beyond the velvet ropes of public tours in the white house, america's most

i can only tell you from a personal experience, someone who has to fly a lot to alaska. most recently on a small eight-seater coming out of a small town into anchorage international. volcanic ash closed it down for a period of time. we were circling multiple times because the fog was so thick. i had never seen and i was born and raised here. the stations were giving us the right information and we were also getting a little concerned about fuel because it wasn't intended to go further. we end up cutting through the fog and visually based on the service center's recommendation where to and in a different airport, the person that was with me from washington, d.c. and had never been in a small plane had an experience of a lifetime. i don't want to discount what goes on in the lower 48 but what we have done in alaska has been a very good job. we have the capacity to train these folks in alaska but the concern is they are not filling the vacancies with the rumor mill ripe with -- this is how they are going to contract it out. i want to make it very clear, we are not intereste

the perma frost being destroyed up in alaska. the personal emails in question -- the gentleman will have his time. the personal emails in question do not in anyway disprove or undercut the mountain of scientific evidence on global warming. the republicans are now attacking the scientists who have worked decades on this problem so far as to accuse them of scientific fascism. this is an insult to america's best and brightest scientists. the science that we are relying upon is the science of nasa, the science of noaa, the national academy of sciences and our united states military. that is the evidence that we are relying upon. men and women who had nothing to do with the emails and whose work has shown climate change is real and a danger to public health. the science activities have -- scientists have used a rigorous approach to come to consensus that evidence of global warming is unequivocal. the emails were transparent and debated in open literature at that time. additionally, the american association of advancement for science h

he was the guy that lbj turned to for the alaska earthquake recovery. it was the biggest earthquake in north american history. dwight told me he was watching the news of the earthquake at home with his wife. two days later he got a call from lbj and he said he was going to alaska. he helped johnson also create the department of housing and launched the war on poverty. he was in charge of the new federalism for richard nixon and civil service reform for jimmy carter. ronald reagan came in and actually put the whitdwight in . he was kidnapped once by colombian drug lords while leading the war on drugs in the state department. soon after he retired. one story i love about dwight, he was in a meeting when kennedy was first elected. they did not have the national security council. he was sitting in on the limited nuclear test ban treaty. in that meeting, arthur schlesinger was there, the president's historian, very close to the kennedy family. dwight was arguing for the limited nuclear test ban treaty, and schlesinger was arguing against it. they got into re

this is a big alaska bald eagle. it looks like one. they're much larger than the florida bald eagles that might live in ohio. >> larry: the bird of america? >> exactly. the whitehead appears after four years. a lot of eagles are shot thinking they may be a buzzard or something but they're an immature bald eagle. look at the talons. it's very important to see those talons. if melanie were here without a glove on if that were a wild bird, larry, those talons would go through her skin, break her bones and in a second. the pressure on the arm is beyond anything you can imagine. >> i work out. >> look at that beak there. it's used for tearing. >> when he does that, what is he doing, is he refreshing herself? or he wants to take off? >> exactly. she's just getting comfortable on my arm. she's stretching out her wings like we stretch our arms. >> larry: i got to get one more. >> thank you. a lot of them hit power lines. thank you for bringing that, melanie. >> larry: and now we have a red-crested turacao. >> look at the colors on the screen.

and i -- i wish you'd go into a little bit some of your background from alaska because you and alaska have been very involved in breast cancer for a long time, and people ought to be aware of the kind of services that are available throughout and what cost those are. ms. murkowski: well, i appreciate the question from my colleague from wyoming. you know coming from a rural state that our health care costs are -- are typically higher, and it's not just an issue of cost but it's an issue of access. and particularly in my state, where most of our communities are not connected by road, it is very difficult to gain access to a provider. it's even more difficult to gain access to, for instance, the mammography units. i have been involved in this issue just in terms of -- of women's health and cancer screening for -- for many decades now, primarily because my mother got started in it back when i was still in high school and saw a need to provide for screening, breast cancer screening for women in rural areas where they couldn't afford to fly in to town, as we would call it, for the screening

it is an insider's view it of alaska. it is a great book.e talks about growing up in alaska and being sent to kentucky for high school. host: what does the title mean? caller: he dropped 50 miles from the international dateline the separates alaska and russia. by any readers of sarah palin "going rogue," i invite him to read this book. host: thank you. 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. here is a book that is called " tear down this wall." clorox. was a report of the year? -- little rock. caller: the book was reissued in paperback. host: that is ok. caller: "professor and the madman" by simon winchester. the thing i got from it was a tremendous amount of work and time, people who put together all these words and a half to keep doing it all the time. host: and we did cover that. you could go to our web site and take a search for that. good morning to david in tulsa, oklahoma. caller: "a fiery pieeace i an a cold war." i found it in lightning. it brought many things about the cold war that i was not aware of. it upda

he talks about growing up in alaska and been sent to kentucky for high school. >> host: what does that title mean? is it about the dateline? >> caller: that's right. he grew up 50 miles an international date line that separates russia. and i would invite any readers out there at palin, going rogue, to look into this book. 50 miles from tomorrow by william hensley. thank you. 2009 march the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. here's a book i've were mashed rottenness sired and it's called tear down this wall. the city, a president, and the speech that ended the cold war. good morning to gail on a republican line. >> caller: it wasn't written the theater. it was reissued in a paperback. >> host: that's okay. we'll take that. then the rules a little bit. that's fine. >> caller: it's a professor in the madman, a tale of murder and vanity and the making of the oxford english dictionary. by simon winchester. and it's a wonderful book. i think the thing i got from the most was the tremendous amount of work, the tremendous amount of work and time and people that put together all o

we are concerned in alaska about access to care.i've stood on this floor many times and talked about how in -- in alaska we simply do not have the medicare providers that we need to see the people in my state, particularly in our largest community. we just learned that one of the medical clinics in anchorage has has -- has made an announcement, issued a letter to their patients. northwest medical has four practicing physicians that were seeing medicare patients earlier this month. three of the four physicians opted out of medicare, resulting in 550 medicare beneficiaries being without a physician. so what's happening? they're calling us. they're calling us for a doctor's appointment. and the problem is that we can't get them in anywhere either. we have got one facility in -- in anchorage where they are taking new medicare-eligible individuals. when we did a count, the institute of economic research did a count as to how many providers in anchorage, alaska, were taking new medicare individuals, it was 13. well, we heard from a provid

rangel: the gentleman from alaska is correct. i look forward to working with him on this important legislation for the alaska native community and when the committee considers this and other provisions that have a later termination, all the other provisions we plan to take up with priority and thank you for bringing this to my attention. mr. young: thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to thank you and your commitment to work on this provision for the support of the alaska native people. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: it is the tradition of this house to annually extends certain tax relief itemless. everything from a research and development tax credit to incentives for the manufacture, purchase and use of alternative fuels, to credits that help offset out-of-pocket expenses for teachers

nothing has been done to utilize the vast resources of alaska. okay, if you can't use coal plants, can't afford wind or sun, alaska doesn't exist, and nuclear options just got flushed, what should we do? i know, let's gather up half of the overzealous geniuses who supported the decision and put them on giant hamster wheels hooked to generators and then take the other half and utilize their hot air to turn the turbines, makes as much sense as anything in the cap-and-trade bill. she goes on to say my grandkids can't pray in school, but other kids are provided with prayer mats. so no wonder so many terrorists are found right here in our very country they've sworn to destroy. how many radicals are walking among us undetected? she talks about the 9/11 conspirators in our court system. says it is a travesty. these murderers have already pleaded guilty in the military tribunal. they're not entitled to our constitution to a trial. u.s. citizens are entitled to a trial before a jury of peers. i hate to see how this is going to come out. she does move on t

alaska has done a great job. we have the capacity to train these folks in alaska. concern is that there are none of doing the vacancies with the rumor mill. i want to make it very clear. we are not interested [unintelligible] made you can give me an update on what the vacancy levels are and what the plans for training our. those are critical people for their can -- air conditions in alaska. it reassures me the quality people we have working here. it would be good. >> you have a very high quality team up there. it is a unique environment. let me assure you that year of looking at this. we recently had a new federal ruling that allows us to do two things. we can continue with people that would otherwise be looking at retirement. if they like to say, and they may. it allows us to go back. we can bring into a jet. we will get back to your office to make sure we have the staffing levels that are required up there. i have no intention of making any change in that environment. i think i can assuage that here for you. >> we had to get waivers for oxygen. your deputy helped

that is critical for conditions in alaska. this was about a month and a half ago. it reassures me the quality of people would have working there. >> you have a high-quality team in a unique informant. we are looking at this. we recently had a new federal ruling that allows us two to us things. we have people that would be looking at retirement. they can stay if they want. people think that they would rather be working again. the new federal rule allows us to go backward to something which was previously prohibited. i do not have the full details. a look at back to you in your office to make sure we have the staffing levels that are required up there. i have no intent of making any change in that environment. i think at cannot assuage that fear. >> we had to get waivers, for oxygen to be moved. deputies administrator helps a great deal on that. we were in some cases two dazed from people losing their capacity. we have quavers. one thing that was not granted there are waivers for oxygen tanks for construction. they're using them for welding and so forth. there are tr

alaska, 462. arizona, 329,157. arkansas, 70,137. california, 1,606,193. colorado, 1898,521.connecticut, 94,181. delaware, 6,661. the district of columbia even has 7,976. how about florida? 946,836. almost a million people on medicare advantage. good reason -- it works. georgia, 176,090. hawaii, 79,386. idaho, 60,676. illinois, 176,395. indiana, 148,174. iowa, 63,902. people enrolled in medicare advantage. let's proceed further. kansas, 43,867 people enrolled in medicare advantage. kentucky, 110,814. louisiana, 151,954. maine, 26,984. maryland, 56,812. massachusetts, 199,727. michigan, 406,124. minnesota, 284,101. mississippi, 44,772. missouri, 195,036. montana, 27,592. nebraska, 30,571. nevada, 104,043. new hampshire, 13,200. new jersey, 156,607. new mexico, 73,567. look at new york, 853,387. north carolina, 251,738. people enrolled in medicare advantage, who love the program. north dakota, 7,633. ohio, 499,819. goo geewhiz, that's a lot of people who are satisfied with medicare advantage. oklahoma, 84,980. oregon, one of the most liberal states in the union, 249,993. pennsy

that is critical for conditions in alaska. this was about a month and a half ago. it reassures me the quality of people would have working there. >> you have a high-quality team in a unique informant. we are looking at this. we recently had a new federal ruling that allows us two to us things. we have people that would be looking at retirement. they can stay if they want. people think that they would rather be working again. the new federal rule allows us to go backward to something which was previously prohibited. i do not have the full details. a look at back to you in your office to make sure we have the staffing levels that are required up there. i have no intent of making any change in that environment. i think at cannot assuage that fear. >> we had to get waivers, for oxygen to be moved. deputies administrator helps a great deal on that. we were in some cases two dazed from people losing their capacity. we have quavers. one thing that was not granted there are waivers for oxygen tanks for construction. they're using them for welding and so forth. there are tr

i didn't take it, and i found it in an alaska stock photo organization. but it seemed to me to be indicative of the fate of the polar bear. this is, obviously, taken from some sort of a veses -- vessel. the bear is swimming, the bear looks somewhat disturbed at being chased by a boat of some sort. and the bear is in the water. and so from this photograph i essentially designed a jacket. this is not the jacket of the book. this was my design. but you can see that i wanted to call it the book, the polar bear and global warming, but my editors -- always wiser than i about things like this -- decided that this probably wouldn't, it would probably scare people off. it would sound too pedantic, it would sound too threatening to think they were going to read a lot of graphs and things about the disappearing icecap. so while the book doesn't have very many graphs in it, it has a whole lot about the disappearing icecap. and in recent years, the book was finished about a year ago, and it takes that long to put something like this together, but in recent years nothi

how dumb to quit your job in alaska.we calculated her book advance how long she would have had to be governor -- we calculated about 2049. she has a big family and now taken take care of them all. host: will her influence extended into the next decade? guest: perhaps, one not? guest: i think the question is not if, but how far. when you have carl and i back, will we be talking about her as a dominant figure of the decade? host: robert, in addition to being an editor, you also blog. you can find information on usnews.com. tell us about why you wrote about those four people. guest: this is our annual list of most admired men and women. not surprisingly, the president was the number one most admired person in the country, which happens every year, even when president bush was very unpopular. on the women's side, it was hillary clinton. she just edged out sarah palin. hillary clinton has been the number one person the last 14 years or something. this is an important exercise in name recognition. the reason tiger woods was in

i sent my family back to alaska this morning bright and early at 1:00. i'm here to do what i can to do the business of congress and what the american people expect us to do. i will again emphasize it somewhat shameful to see the press conference that was done this morning and they acknowledged absolutely there will be votes. the fact is they're just going to cause the 30 hour delay for no other purpose than to drag it out as much as possible. and who they are putting the game or making upon and this is our military and our armed soldiers. and i think that's just outrageous. i will additionally comment that i want to thank the three republicans collins, snowe, and touches them for stepping up the line and coming over and be part of 63 votes to support the troops. i will tell you the visual i saw "after words" in the discussion they had but i'll say that i'm glad they did. they did it for the right reasons. we just hope that more will come and move this forward. well, and i'll make as he watched the debate today it's amazing how many and this again is beca

i don't want to discount what goes on in the lower 48 but what we have done in alaska has been a very good job. we have the capacity to trade these folks in alaska but the concern is that they are not filling the vacancies with the rumor mill with this is of their qanta contract it out so i want to make it very clear we are not interested in contacting and i would like to get to the point, not do it now but to the point where you can give me an update on what is happening and what the vacancies are, what the plan for a vacancy as. those are critical people for conditions in alaska and my experience was about a month and a half ago, and it reassures me the quality of people we have working there, so if you could. >> yes, sir. you have a very high quality team up there and it is a unique environment. let me assure you we are looking at this. we recently had a new federal ruling that allows us to do two things. one continue with people who would otherwise be looking at retirement. if they would like to stay they may. we can go back to people who thought they wanted to retire and thought

as we look across alaska's landscape in civic engagement, we see a terrific sign ahead including muchtivity in all sector levels. in gauging the public sector because of the leadership and geared up to a different structure to help carry the movement forward. i'm glad you talk about millennial site and that we have a lot of them in the audience today. we have a lot of money lost because in the last 20 years, we have seen a doubling of volunteers. when we talk about millennial, which typically talk about young people between the ages of 15 and 30. they are printing all kinds of renovation to this movement. in the area of social media, we're seeing self organization and all kinds of innovation. they see the same old problems (new solutions to the problems. we're very excited about technology, but not just social media. a lot of the technology -- they are thinking about them by their products. i spent my career and technology. when ibm was first developing computer, nobody was thinking, how can this be used to drive civic engagement and drive of volunteerism? it is sort of in the dna to

the state of alaska has had a loser pay system since 1884. tort claims in the state of alaska constitute a smaller percentage of total litigation than the national average. florida which applied a loser pays rule to medical malpractice suits from 1981-1985 saw 54% of their plaintiffs drop their suits voluntarily. it does make a difference on frivolous suits. in the state of florida during that same period of time, the jury awards for plaintiffs rose significantly, and just as in our situation anybody who had a legitimate case in florida during that period of time had the right to have their case adjudicated by a jury, those that made a decision to do so received more significant awards, and that's the way the system ought to work. this is a win-win situation for the cost of health care delivery. it's a benefit to the physicians, sure, because they eliminate part of their significant costs of delivering health care services, but it also is a huge benefit to those individuals in america who are subject to negligent acts on the part of physician

i think of myself as being born in kenya, a name that may not show a lot in alaska, and i wonder if she is talking about denying me my american citizenship. when people talk in those kinds of terms, it is almost a declaration of war. that is very provocative and i find it to be a challenge. they have a more inclusive idea of what it means. they are still committed to ideas that i find very compelling. >> the the name omar wasow, is there a middle name? >> tomas, yeah. they saw that this was a name that showed up over the world. it was int'l and it had a local appeal in kenya. my uncle was thomas wasow. wasow could be confusing. my grandfather was adopted. my father's father was adopted by a wasow, so waso is an adopted name. >> what kind of social world to you then? i fell in love with social media, not in the last decade or 15 years, but as a student in junior high, using bulletin board systems where you would take a modem and call another local hobbyist or enthusiast in your area. it was like a nesmall aol. when i came out of college, i became fascinated with this idea that i could cr

i was dismayed when she quit as governor of alaska. she is running -- she has had executive experience but why does she cut it off? why does she chopped off and foreclose a? because she is seeking the toughest executive job in the country, arguably in the world. how do you explain that? what are you offering that can possibly compensate for that? having that thing, i do not think that is enough in and of itself. we're going to have to see more and we will have to seek a lot more because of the decision she made. >> one last question and we will open it up. we have seen one book written declaring conservatism dead. how troubled is intellectual conservatism at the moment? >> there are always winners and losers. in my other life as a historian, i spend a lot of time in the 17 nineties and the early 19th century, up to the war of 1812. some historians call that the age of passion. i have said that from this stage in a different context. if you really want to feel not so bad about politics now and level of discourse, go back and read about

are real americans, and i think of myself, to going in kenya, a name that may not show up a lot in alaska, and i wonder, if she'd talking about denying me my american citizenship, some out getting written out of the story? it is almost like a declaration of war. that to me is very provocative, a real challenge. so it is a definition of who was american, who is in the party. without some of the more and elusive and gennady -- identity politics. i was going in kenya, as i mentioned. my parents have a lot of friends who were muslim. they also saw that omar was a name across the world, so they like that it was international. and have an uncle tom, tomas was a homage to him, my middle name. and waso is a bit confusing, also. my grandfather was adopted by waso, so my father's father was going with another name. waso is an adopted name. >> back to social media, what social media world do you live in? >> one thing that has been most fun to me, i fell in love with social media not in the last 15 years but as a student in junior high school, using bulletin board systems where you would take a modem

2008 election, i was working for a candidate and one of the big things we saw in rural states like alaskarepublicans in certain issues. they are for gun-control. do you seek similar things happening with the tea party? i am starting to see that in florida. they are becoming different republicans, i guess. >> for republicans, dealing with the tea party movement is a challenge. what you see is a real anger against washington on spending and other issues that if republican candidate does not voice that, there is usually 80 party candidate to do it. you will see that more in 2010. it could impact the impact the republicans will make. >> what do you think the first step for the gop challenger should be if they had those kind of numbers? >> if i'm in the gop campaign? >> where do you think the gop should go from there? >> what happened in this campaign, they attacked the incumbent. their first advertisement, our candidate said he has never run a negative ad an hour upon its very first ad was a contrast that against us. they started off about going contrast. that is what i would do. i mean that

i was dismayed when she quit as governor of alaska. chopped off and foreclose a? because she is seeking the toughest executive job in the country, arguably in the world. how do you explain that? what are you offering that can possibly compensate for that? having that thing, i do not think that is enough in and of itself. we're going to have to see more and we will have to seek a lot more because of the decision she made. >> one last question and we will open it up. we have seen one book written declaring conservatism dead. how troubled is intellectual conservatism at the moment? >> there are always winners and losers. in my other life as a historian, i spend a lot of time in the 17 nineties and the early 19th century, up to the war of 1812. some historians call that the age of passion. i have said that from this stage in a different context. if you really want to feel not so bad about politics now and level of discourse, go back and read about the 79 days and 1800's and 18-teens. they were foaming oat the mouth. jefferson thought hamil

and what it comes down to is nothing good for alaska. doesn't help us in a state where our medicare reimbursement rates are lower than medicaid reimbursement rates. we are only one of two states that are in that situation. there are all kinds of unique factors, but the bottom line is, this increases the premiums for individuals, 10% to 13%. it crowds out those who are on medicare. it decreases access. it increases your taxes and at the end of the day, there's nothing good in this legislation for alaskans. they are saying we want to see change and reform, but this is not acceptable to us. we've got to start over. >> any questions? >> senator, if as expected, the democrats attach the increase in the debt ceiling to a defense spending bill and don't allow you to have a stand-alone vote, will you vote against the defense spending bill? >> well, the issue of raising the debt ceiling is something that senator gregg knows a lot about and i know there is unrest among democrats about raising the debt ceiling without some mechanism to address this

. >> larry: let's turn to the former governor of alaska. palin continues to provide fodder for the late night comics. here san example. >> a man was arrested at the mall of america yesterday for throwing tomatoes at sara palin. as she calls them, italian aps. he threw two tomatoes, neither came close to hittinger and instead they hit a cop. they released his mug shot today. he looks familiar. i cannot figure out where he is from. >> all right, palin's mem ra, "going a blockbuster hit acres tracking huge crowds, popularity going up, not at 50% where obamasome but he is sliding a little. what do you make of her? >> she is an amazingly charismatic character to some but i must say i can't take her seriously. i think her position on issues are extremely correct, to me at least, but not to many others but doesn't sound lick a serious person and i don't take her seriously. >> tanya, how big a threat is she? >> not a threat. >> larry: said that about ronald reagan. >> sarah page, granted. the other side of the aisle. sarah palin is no ronald reagan

guest: i have been up to alaska, in your beautiful place on earth.you have beautiful landscape and a lot of development. i think the two can go hand in hand very well. the way that the science shows that there's probably a contribution of humans to an excess amount of co2 -- you are right, there's a lot of naturally caused co2 -- is getting out of bonds. -- out of balance. we can make real progress in being sure to prevent something that from happening if we do it on a reasonable time lines, and we can be aggressive over a long time for income over 40 or 50 years. i look at this like insurance. the science tells me a lot and it is worth taking action. i think that is what the company in talks are focused on now. at the end of the day, the politicians are going to be very careful that we have reasonable goals that are ambitious, but also that we can keep our economy's sustained. i cannot build a nuclear energy and less i've got a strong economy to pay for it. these things work together. i need a strong economy first in order to pay for the clean energ

guest: there is jeffrey skilling, conrad black', a formr media executive, and a public official in alaska. basically there is a law that says you cannot -- it is against federal law to deprive someone honest services. the law fits -- it makes the most sense applied to the public context. if a public official is supposed to being doing some difficult public and instead doing something else, that person can be prosecuted. in the case of skilling and conrad black, the court was considering how about all it applies in the corporate context. in a private context. of those men were convicted of other things as well. they were convicted of either taking money either from their corporation or in the case of conrad black, getting -- i am sorry, i misspoke and jeffrey skilling. but basically accused of profiting from looking out for the loan interest when they should have been doing the job for the company. there is also a public official who was convicted of honest services fraud, even though he didn't violate the alaska state rules. basically the supreme court is trying to figure out how broadly

in the "washington post," former governor of alaska, sarah palin, has a piece, copenhagen's politicalng point. the revolution of appalling actions by so-called climate change experts allows the american public to finally understand theç concerns of so many of us haveç articulated o this issue. she goes on to say the scandal calls into question the proposals being pushed in copenhagen. i always believed policy should be engaged on sound science not politics. as governor of alaska i took a stand against politicized science when i sued the government over the list to enlist the polar beer as anw3 endangeredw6spám)qj despite tha the population has more than doubled. a different tactics, tom friedman writes in the "new york times" today, he weighs in on his perspective on what's going on right now. he said, be serious, the evidence that ourç planet sinc the industrial revolution has been on a broad warming trend outside the normal variation patterns@m%q! periodic microcooling phasesç has been documented by a variety of independent research centers. as this paper just reported, despite

so everybody here -- >> from what we've seen in greenland, alaska, and africa, the earth's climate is clearly changing. it's not a theory. it's a fact. but what's causing those changes? the majority of the scientific community says it's mankind. but there are powerful voices who say otherwise. >> with all the hysteria, all the fear, all the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the american people? i believe it is. >> if you thought the debate over what's causing the earth to warm was settled, think again. >> sir, i don't want to be rude. but from now on i'm going to ask -- >> james inhofe, republican senator from oklahoma, is the loudest voice with probably the biggest platform to question whether man is responsible for climate change. his influence has led to intense political theater. >> if i can complete my answer. >> if you do, my time is expired. >> i can't help that. you went on for a long time. >> no. i have 15 minutes. you had 30 minutes. i have 15. >> in 2007, scientists on the u.n. sponsored intergovernmental patter

she was for alaska's bridge to nowhere before she was against it. she had to pay for her own vetting to be the republican vice presidential nominee, ex-except of course she didn't. and she opposed aerial wolf hunting except if you count the fact she passed the bill to make it easier to gun down defenseless wolves from an airplane in the alaskan state. the lies are too numerous to cover in a single hour. the latest falsehood, however, is so outrageous, it needs to be added to the list. she implied that president obama might not be a natural born citizen of the united states, then denied the very same kay that she had ever done so. put another way, she can see kenya from her house. governor palin has joined the ranks of the birthers, telling a right wing radio host that the conspiracy theorists are correct to question the citizenship of the president. she even seemed to suggest that the mccain campaign should have raised it as an issue during the 2008 campaign. >> by nightfall on her facebook page, where else, governor palin tried to put the toothpast

the oregon territory when up to what is now alaska. polk boldly said in his inaugural address that we basically stake our claim to all of oregon. the british went crazy. in london, they were saying that it would lead to war. and a lot of americans were worried that poehl would get us into a war. but at the last minute, he had an iron nerve and a lot of ways and at the last minute he offered a compromise to draw the border at the 49th parallel, and then down around vancouver island, so that the british could have all of vancouver island. and that broke the logjam -- a 26-year log jam. >> who came up with the slogan? >> most of the midwesterners. the people from around the great lakes, who won it all or again, because they saw a natural trading relationship between that part of the country in their own. they wanted all of the oregon territory, which went up to 54- 40. so they wanted it all. 54-40 or fight. it was very deft diplomacy. >> that congress was controlled by what party? >> it was controlled by the democrats for the first part o

we have over 4000 of our troops across the state of alaska.rn and had become veterans. this is very important. i want to emphasize last night when i came in, a reporter asked me, what is like coming in. it was early for me. the fact is that we had to be there at 1:00. what i decided to go into this office to serve, the reason that i did so is because i believe that the system has to change. this is another example of why americans are outraged by what is going on in this important piece of legislation. the system here, this is a very simple piece of legislation. secretary gates is concerned that if if this is not passed, what the impact would be. it is critical that our troops have the resources. in this bill, i want to emphasize not only is it important for the troops on the ground. for me, this is a very frustrating time. senator durbin tried to get people to move forward on this legislation. earlier today, at a press conference that was done by a minority leader, it was made very clear. why not just do it? let's do this for our troops. let'