Sunday, December 28, 2008

Special Bulletin: December 26, 2008

Here is a Special Bulletin from Iditarod News. Whether you're already a Fan or new to The Last Great Race I think you'll enjoy the "2008 Winter E-Runner". If the Link within the Bulletin doesn't work, click on the Subject Title to get to the E-Runner.

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here for a web version. 
Special Bulletin: Important Announcements for Iditarod Fans -- An Official Email of the Iditarod
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December 26, 2008

Your 2008 Winter E-Runner is Here!

Hot off the presses the 2008 Iditarod Winter E-Runner is now available! This edition features exclusive Iditarod Insider coverage of some of Iditarod 's top mushers gearing up for IDITAROD XXXVII. We also take a look at the Rookie Class of 2009 in a special photo essay, and what it takes to 'Make the grade" as a Target Teacher on the Trail!

click here for your 2008 Winter E-Runner

We would also like to say "THANK YOU" for supporting "The Last Great Race on Earth" by continuing your Iditarod Trail Committee membership. Without your donations and your membership we would not be able to stage "The Premier Sled Dog Race in the World." So enjoy your E-Runner, and thanks for all you do to make The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race a reality!

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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Trail Breaker

It's soon that time of year again, for those of you who like to follow "The Last Great Race". This year I will be able to see the Ceremonial Start on 4th Street, Downtown, live and in person! The statue of "Balto" is a short half a block walk from my front door.
Among the links below is "Zuma's Paw Prints". The kids will really enjoy that.
Warm Hugs from Anchorage where tonight's temp will be near Zero!
Mary
Having trouble viewing this email? Click here for a web version. The Trail Breaker: A Monthly Newsletter for Iditarod Race Fans -- An Official Email of the Iditarod
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December 08, 2008
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Let the Training begin!

One of (4 time Iditarod Champion) Martin Buser's athletes in training gets ready for an early morning run at Happy Trails Kennel in Big Lake Alaska. Image captured by Iditarod Insider.

2009 Iditarod Training is in Full Swing!

Iditarod XXXVII mushers have taken to the trails in preparation of the 2009 Iditarod. Teams are beginning the process of building their endurance and honing their skill sets in order to maintain that competitive edge. There are a number of qualifying races that will begin as early as next month (January) that allow teams to fine tune their game plan for "The Toughest Race on Earth" The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Click here to find out more about the races that may be coming up in your area.

The "The IditaRider Auction" is Online Now!

It's become one of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's biggest fundraisers; The IditaRider Auction. This one of a kind interactive auction allows Iditarod Race fans the chance to bid on the sled of their choice, and the opportunity to ride in the basket of an Iditarod team at the start of the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 7th. Proceeds for the IditaRider Auction are a very important part of ensuring the teams who finish this race will have a purse to benefit from. The IditaRider Auction; great fun for a great cause! Log on today and see just how much fun it can be.

Get Your Musher Drawing Banquet Tickets The Easy Way!!!

The Iditarod Trail Committee's most popular event (prior to the race start) is the Musher's Drawing Banquet. This gathering of mushers and race fans sharing in the excitement of the upcoming race is a must for anyone planning on attending IDITARDO XXXVII, and it's the very best way to get up close and personal with your favorite musher. This year's banquet tickets are already on sale on line, and buying your 2009 Musher Drawing Banquet tickets are as easy as clicking here.

Iditarod Insider Special

There is no other event on the face of the planet Earth quite like "The Last Great Race on Earth." And the EMMY award winning Iditarod Insider gives you a "front row center" seat to the latest daily video clips throughout the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, with live coverage, and exclusive video archives, interactive race content, and the latest up to the minute reports from the field. Sign up, or renew your subscription today and you'll receive the Official Iditarod® 2008 DVD of the documentary "Iditarod 2008: Déjà Vu" (a $19.95 value) Free!!!

Featured Iditarod Merchandise

2009 Official Iditarod Hoodie
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You have received this email because you have either subscribed to the Iditarod newsletter, purchased items or subscriptions from the Iditarod Trail Committee, or acted as volunteer during the race. If you don't wish to receive mailings from the Iditarod Trail Committee, click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.View this Newsletter Online 


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Monday, September 15, 2008

It's not just residents of the Last Frontier who favor breaking away from the Union.

The thing is, it's not just residents of the Last Frontier
who favor breaking away from the Union.
JR, Please post this. It was sent to me by 
Kirkpatrick Sales of the Middlebury Institute.
And, is pretty interesting in the fact that
there are more than a few like minded
organizations. All I want to see is Alaska get
the vote we were entitled to. I could approve 
whatever the choice would be
because it would be Alaska's choice,
but we have a vote coming to us to decide it.

Lynette Opinion:

The American secessionist streak

In a recent poll, one in five agreed that states

have the right to peacefully secede from the Union.

By Christopher Ketcham September 10, 2008

Sarah Palin's secessionist sympathies sparked

minor hysteria last week. Her crime was hailing

with round praise the work of the cranky Alaskan

Independence Party, 

which advocates a statewide plebiscite on the

secession of Alaska from the Union. "The fires

of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred

for the American government," the party's late

founder, gold miner Joe Vogler,

once said. "And I won't be buried under their

damn flag."

Palin's husband was a member of the AIP for

seven years, and Palin herself has courted the AIP

for more than a decade. 

In an address to the party convention this spring,

wearing a ski parka and looking like she was about

to decamp into the back country, Palin told the

secessionists, "Keep up the good work."

Dexter Clark, the white-bearded vice chairman

of the AIP, recently explained the motivation

behind the "good work": "Through oppression,

greed, corruption, incompetence and folly, the [U.S. government] is forfeiting its moral authority."

The thing is, it's not just residents of the 

Last Frontier who favor  breaking away from

the Union. According to a Zogby poll conducted

in July, more than 20% of U.S. adults -- 

one in five, about the same number of American 

Colonists who supported revolt against England

in 1775 -- agreed that "any state or region has

 the right to peaceably secede from the United States and become an independent republic." Some 18%

"would support a secessionist effort in my state."

The motivation of these quiet revolutionaries? 

As many as 44% of those polled agreed that

"the United States' system is broken and cannot

be fixed by traditional two-party politics

and elections." Put this in stark terms: In a 

scientific, random sample poll of all Americans, 

almost half considered the current political system

to be in terminal disorder. One-fifth would 

countenance a dissolution of the bond. This is not

a hiccup of opinion. In an October 2006 poll 

conducted by the Opinion Research Corp. and 

broadcast on CNN, 71% of Americans agreed that

"our system of government is broken and 

cannot be fixed."

No surprise that the disquiet finds a voice in 

popular movements. In 2007, a small group

of delegates to the second North American secessionist convention -- the first was in 

Burlington, Vt., in 2006 --  met in Chattanooga, 

Tenn., to discuss how to foment the collapse and

destruction of the United States of America. They 

came representing 11 rebel groups in 36 states, 

under banners such as the Republic

of Cascadia (wedding Oregon and Washington), 

Independent California (forging the world's 

fifth-largest economy), the United Republic of

Texas (returning the Lone Star State

to its aloneness), the League of the South 

(uniting the secession states of old Dixie) and the

Second Vermont Republic (separating the 

Green Mountain State from the U.S.). The 

dominant idea among the delegates was that 

the U.S. experiment had failed; it had become 

impractical, tragically ridiculous, its leaders and 

institutions bought off, whored out, unaccountable 

and unanswerable to the needs of citizens. 

The United States would have to be reborn smaller 

--  our loyalties realigned to the needs of localities -- 

if the American  dream was to survive. 

The convention presented,

in effect, a marriage of progressives, 

paleo-conservatives, libertarians, Christian 

separatists,  Southern nationalists, all united 

"to put an end to the American empire and 

reestablish freedom and democracy on the 

state and regional level," as organizer Kirkpatrick 

Sale (Middlebury Institute) put it.

The delegates settled on a list of principles they 

called the Chattanooga  Declaration. "The deepest 

questions of human liberty and government 

facing our time go beyond right and left, and in 

fact have made the old left-right split meaningless 

and dead," the declaration read. "The privileges, 

monopolies and powers that private corporations

have won from government threaten ... health, 

prosperity and liberty,

and have already killed American self-government

by the people." The answer, it went on, was that 

the American states "ought to be free and 

self-governing." The Declaration of Independence 

250 years earlier asked for a similar dedication

to self-governance: "[W]henever any form of 

government becomes destructive ... " wrote 

Thomas Jefferson, "it is the right of the people 

to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 

new government.... " It could be argued that 

secession is the primal American act, as old as  

the concept of the states themselves.What else 

did our founders accomplish in 1776 but secession 

from the tyranny of England? In other words, 

what the secessionists would argue is that although 

they are anti-United States, they are most certainly 

pro-American. 

Secession worries the staid opinion gatekeepers 

of the major media. Sarah Palin's "flirtation" 

with the AIP should make us "uneasy," as 

Rosa Brooks warned in these pages. Palin's 

secessionist ties raise "serious questions," averred 

the New York Times. A more honest assessment 

is that the separatism of the Alaskan Independence

 Party is not so weird or wacky -- or out of 

keeping with what appears to be a sentiment 

rooted in that loveliest of American predilections, 

our crotchety contrarianism. 

Christopher Ketcham contributes to GQ, 

Vanity Fair, Harper's and many online 

publications. He is writing a book on 

American secessionism.  

christopherketcham.com

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