Boeing V. Union

When Boeing recently decided to build the second assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner plane in Charleston, South Carolina, the politicians and union members in Washington State howled in protest. ‘How could they?’ ‘Was there no loyalty to Seattle?’ Boeing explained the decision by saying it came down to labor stability and long-term competitiveness. Translation: No more costly strikes and more flexibility from its labor force. Company officials decided that those goals were not attainable as long as the jobs were held by members of the International Association of Machinists. And after getting huge tax breaks from the South Carolina Legislature, Boeing bolted.

The IAM says the company was only negotiating with the union in order to get a sweeter deal from Charleston. They point to the fact that Boeing hired a lobbyist months ago and bought land adjacent to an existing facility where the new plant will be built. The union, however does not acknowledge that it would not give Boeing everything it wanted in exchange for the 3,000 jobs. The company wanted a 10-year, no strike contract. IAM offered an 8-year contract. Boeing wanted to give 2% annual pay raises. The union wanted 3% plus $15,000 worth of bonuses over the next 6 years. Also, the IAM was asking for a guarantee from Boeing that it would build all future new planes in Washington state and demanded that Boeing remain neutral when the union tried to organize in plants that are currently non-union. In other words, the union wanted to tie the company’s hands for years to come. Boeing would have none of it.

And so a trend that we have seen in the auto industry and the aerospace industry continues … manufacturing jobs leaving strong union states for the non-union South. Did the union shoot itself in the foot? Perhaps. The new assembly line in South Carolina makes it more likely that when Boeing has to build a replacement for the 777 or the 737 it will leave Seattle for Charleston or elsewhere.

The move by Boeing does come with substantial risk, however. While it would not have to build much in the way of new infrastructure in Seattle, Boeing does have to construct a 600,000 square foot plant for the 787 assembly. That will cost an estimated $1.5 billion. In addition Boeing will have to train a whole new workforce to build it’s most important new plane in over a decade and a plane that is already 2 years behind schedule.

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I’ve covered enough high profile search and rescues to know that if the missing would have had some kind of a GPS locator beacon they probably would still be alive. James Kim, the San Francisco techie who got stuck in the Oregon mountains during a snowstorm could have been saved by technology. He left his family in the car while he went for help only to die of hypothermia while teams looked for him. Cases like that, led many people to buy the latest locator gadget. And now authorities are starting to see some abuse of the products by people who have little experience in the back country. They call it Yuppie 9-1-1.

Mostly it’s people hitting the S.O.S. when they’re tired or cold and don’t want to work to get out of the woods. Another abuse takes the cake. A father and son were camping in Arizona. They initiated a search three days in a row. The last time was because they drank water from a stream that tasted salty. Irritated rescuers finally yanked them out of the woods. Over a 15 year period search and rescues in national parks alone cost taxpayers more than $58-million. Beacons can actually reduce the cost of legitimate emergencies by giving rescuers an exact location to pinpoint the search. But abuses are frustrating sheriff’s departments and the many volunteers who conduct these operations. There’s no substitute for preparation. And if these novice outdoorsmen continue to be the ‘hiker who cried wolf’ they could end up getting charged for their ‘rescue’. Currently New Hampshire is the only state that allows for a rescue bill, but if the Yuppie 9-1-1 trend accelerates look for other states to follow.

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One of a handful of key national debates right now is over the stimulus. Is it working? We traveled to Oregon for an answer because the Beaver State was the first in the nation to report how the money is being spent. So far about $1.1 billion has flowed through the state as stimulus. But a vast majority of that, roughly $700-million, has not gone toward job creation. Instead, state officials decided to spend the money to avoid deep spending cuts and shore up the social safety net for those who are hurting right now.

Most of the money has gone to education. That means teacher and professor salaries. It has allowed the state to avoid a lot of layoffs and the prospect of having to close schools early.  The second biggest chunk of spending has gone toward social services. The state increased money for food stamps, Medicaid and unemployment benefits. It has also increased some agencies such as the Department of Human Services. DHS has hired hundreds of new case workers to deal with the higher number of families on public assistance. We interviewed one of the new hires. He himself had been out of work and on food stamps before getting the job.

Government officials in Oregon say the stimulus is working because the money is getting directly into the hands of people who need it most. But critics say what’s really happening is the growth of government and the creation of jobs that are unsustainable when the stimulus money dries up. Oregon’s unemployment rate is still at 11.5 percent, well above the national average which is just under 10-percent. 3 out of every 4 jobs that has either been saved or created in Oregon is in the public sector. Private companies, the engine of job growth in America, have added precious few positions. So back to the original question, ‘Is it working?’  If you’re that new employee at DHS you’d no doubt say it is. Government officials say the recession would be far worse if they had not propped up the struggling. But if you’re a private business owner who is still laying off workers, you’re likely wondering when if ever you’ll see light at the end of the tunnel.

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Have you ever been hiking through a national forest and stumbled upon a small, quaint, old cabin tucked in the woods? Chances are that cabin owner is essentially leasing the land under the cabin from Uncle Sam. Well, now those bucolic cabins may be driven to extinction by the very same government that encouraged them to be built. Back in 1915, people either lived on the farm or in big cities. Few Americans recreated in the national forests let alone live there. Congress wanted our public lands to be used by the public so it lured people to the woods with the Recreation Residence program.

Turns out it worked too well. Thousands of Americans built their tiny vacation cabins, but then others started scooping up adjacent private land and building mcmansion cabins. That has led the feds to think their cabin tenants were getting too sweet of a deal. Congress passed a law calling for new assessments. The result has led to sticker shock. Take the Minard family in Lake Wenatchee, Washington. On top of local property tax and a state tax, they have been paying $1,400 year to the U.S. government. Now that fee has spiked to $17,000 per year. The Minards can’t afford that and nobody wants to buy the cabin when they learn of the fee. So they’re left with only one option…pay to have the cabin demolished, return the forest to its natural state and walk away from five generations of memories.

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It’s something people who fly don’t like to think about. ‘What happens in the event of a serious crash?’ But federal safety officials are increasingly looking at improving crash survivability and new regulations kick in October 27th aimed at improving the odds that more passengers will walk away from serious accidents.

We wanted to see what these new guidelines will look like so we went to AMSAFE, an airplane seatbelt manufacturer based in Phoenix, Arizona. Over the last several years AMSAFE has been testing and producing airbags that they install in their seatbelts. They demonstrated the airbag in a crash test complete with two dummies, one with an airbag and one without, and a hard crash into a plane’s bulkhead. The violent crash was equivalent to a head on car collision at 30 MPH. The dummy without the airbag lurched forward even with his seatbelt on and smacked into the bulkhead suffering what would be a fatal head injury. The dummy with the airbag survived the crash without any injury.

Airlines will not be required to have airbags, but the devices could actually save them a lot of money. In order to comply with the new regulations airlines have to show that every passenger can survive a crash up to 16 times the force of gravity. With stronger seats throughout the aircraft most passengers will be fine. The exceptions are the rows directly behind the bulk head and exit rows. That’s because the bulkhead and seats in front of the exit row don’t move forward during a crash. Airlines will have to either move seats further away from these immovable objects or install airbags that greatly cushion the blow.

Federal safety officials estimate that over the last 14 years fifty lives could have been saved if these new requirements had been in place.

So the next time you fly check out your seat belt. It just might come equipped with an airbag.

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So you’re a state employee in Washington State and you’re lying there on the operating table waiting for your heart surgeon to unblock a clogged artery with a stent. That doctor may think the best kind of stent for you is one that is drug coated. Studies show it improves the quality of life for recipients. But it also costs about $2,000. more than the standard bare metal stent or BMS. A panel of 11 health care professionals has decided that the state will only cover the cost of the drug coated stent in the worst cases where re-blockage is deemed likely. So your doctor doesn’t have a choice. You’re getting the BMS.

This scenario is a glimpse into what some would like to see happen across the United States. In fact, in the stimulus bill Congress set aside $1.1 billion to create a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. Supporters say it’s good public policy and will reduce the spiraling cost of health care. Opponents call it rationing and government interfering with the doctor-patient relationship.

In Washington State the Health Technology Assessment group has made a half dozen binding decisions and several have been controversial. The panel decided to not cover a virtual colonoscopy because it is more expensive and no more informative than a regular optical colonoscopy. Many health care professionals believe that because the virtual test is less invasive it would encourage far more people to get screened for colon cancer. But the panel went with a survey that showed only a marginal increase and decided that wasn’t worth the extra cost.

One of the doctors on the panel compared it to grocery shopping. “You may want filet mignon, but you can’t afford it,” says Dr. Brian Budenholzer. “At some point, we will have no choice but to look at health care services and ask, ‘Are they good value or not?’ Around 750,000 Washingtonians; those state workers, Medicaid recipients and people on workers comp are now officially eating chicken.

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Medina, Washington is a place unlike any other. Not only is it home to the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, it’s taken security to a new and some say frightening level. The city of 3,100 residents just across Lake Washington from Seattle, has installed cameras that are videotaping every single person who enters the town. Other cameras take pictures of every license plate. The information is instantly transmitted to the police station where it’s run through the state patrol database checking for outstanding warrants and stolen cars.

Residents in this city, which has an average income of $220,000.,  are largely supportive. They see the cameras as a great crime deterrent. The program was approved unanimously by the city council even though most cities would love to have Medina’s “crime problem”. In 2008 there were no murders, no assaults or robberies and only 12 burglaries or attempted burglaries.

Other cities have installed cameras in high crime areas and those programs have withstood legal challenges. Courts have ruled citizens don’t have an expectation of privacy in public places. But critics say Medina is going further. The police store all the images in a server for 60 days allowing them to develop patterns and conduct ongoing investigations of people suspected of no crime at all. Opponents say Medina is acting like a police state. The police in Medina say they can be trusted with the information. But when we asked to see the system, the police chief turned us away. He compared it to him showing me his gun.

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The Port of Tacoma is quiet … for now. But every few months the port has exploded into a nasty standoff between anti-war protesters and the U.S. Army. That conflict has led to dozens of arrests and now an allegation from the protesters that the military unlawfully spied on their activities. The Port Militarization Resistance  or PMR accuses the Army of sending a mole into their group for the purpose of collecting information on them and sharing it with local law enforcement.

For two years they thought John Jacob was a peace activist interested in stopping the war in Iraq. Recently they claim they learned that John Jacob was really John Towery, a civilian employee at Fort Lewis in Washington state working for the base’s force protection division. Neither Towery nor Fort Lewis would speak with us, but Public Affairs did confirm Towery worked on base charged with gathering intelligence aimed at counter-terrorism and protecting base personnel.

Legal experts say the Army appears to be on shaky ground. For 130 years the military has been barred from acting like a domestic police force.  There are some exceptions such as if a domestic group is thought to have nuclear weapons or is linked to a foreign enemy or terrorist group. Fort Lewis has launched an internal investigation. Military law experts say the Army needs to find out who ordered Towery to infiltrate the PMR and what exactly was his mission.

PMR is convinced Towery, gthe U.S. Army and all the police agencies that received Towery’s information were breaking the law and violating their constitutional rights to free speech and association. They say there group is non-violent and is planning a lawsuit. Meanwhile they’d like to have all the charges of civil disobedience dropped against their members. The military does have their supporters on this. Retired military and military moms we spoke with think the PMR does pose a threat to the troops and they believe it is the military’s job to protect their own not local police.

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The weather in Fairbanks was unusually hot Sunday in Fairbanks, then Sarah Palin kicked it up a few degrees with a farewell speech that scorched critics in the media, Hollywood and Washington D.C.

But before Palin took the stage, a large crowd had already gathered at Pioneer park to get a closer look at her. It seemed everyone had a camera and people were crowding around trying to get a picture as she served up hot dogs. Her line was well over an hour wait, while people could step right up and get a dog from incoming Governor, Sean Parnell.

Palin stood there greeting people in the food line for around 90 minutes then she made her way to an old paddle wheel boat that used to run the Yukon river. There she changed clothes and hung out with family and close friends until the big handover of power.

Most of the crowd was eating up the attack lines in Palin’s speech, but there were a few hecklers. They didn’t seem to bother Palin.

Almost as soon as Palin was finished speaking and Parnell was sworn in, the crowd started to thin out. Parnell’s first speech as Gov.  was to a smaller, less enthusiastic crowd. Palin shook a few hands when the whole thing was over then disappeared. I don’t think she plans on leaving the national limelight anytime soon. She certainly looks like she enjoys giving speeches and working a crowd in her folksy way. But just what is her plan for the future? Even she may not know.

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Alaska Governor Sarah Palin broke her silence following her announcement she was stepping down. Her spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton offered FOX News along with ABC, NBC and CNN a chance to interview the Governor in Dillingham, Alaska where she was fishing with her husband Todd and daughter Piper. Palin wanted to set the record straight concerning her shocking decision. She told me that she’s been considering the move for months. Palin says the attacks both in her home state and the media coverage she’s endured outside of Alaska led her to conclude she could get more done outside the governor’s office.

At times Palin appeared bitter about her treatment in the press. She called attacks by bloggers “bull crap”. She’s been hit by 15 ethics complaints, most of which have been dismissed. She won’t say if she’s ultimately planning a run for the White House, but did tee off on those in the Republican party establishment who have criticized her move. She says she’s an unconventional politician who doesn’t feel she needs to seek advice leaders of a party that has not had much success recently.

After Palin passes the baton to her Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, she will finish work on her book. It’s due to be released in the Spring of 2010. Stapleton says Palin will then go on a book tour. She’s also fielding numerous offers to speak around the country.

Palin says she will work to get politicians who share her priorities elected. Todd Palin was all smiles as he captained the fishing boat in Bristol Bay out to nets filled with Sockeye. Todd grew up commercial fishing these waters and Sarah has been making the summer trip to Dillingham for many years. She joked that even though she’s been helping Todd haul in fish for decades he still yells at her for doing it wrong. The governor and another hauler lifted the nets out of the water and pried the salmon out.

It was tough work. She wore rubber gloves, knee-high boots and waders.

This was a portrait of the woman that emerged soon after she was picked by Sen. John McCain to be his running mate. This was Sarah the moose hunter and folksy hockey mom and definitely not the diva some McCain staffers made her out to be after the campaign.

Image makeover? Perhaps. The final word from Sarah Palin? Definitely not.

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Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is finally ready to face the media after her stunning announcement that she’s resigning at the end of July. Palin will do a one on one interview with me Monday night in Dillingham, Alaska. She has been on a commercial fishing boat with her husband Todd and will come to shore to do the interview.

There’s been rampant speculation about Palin’s future after she announced July 4th at her home in Wasilla that she will not seek re-election and will step down at the end of the month. Palin did not take any questions at the announcement, but has been communicating with supporters through facebook and twitter. In one tweet she compared her decision to those who pursue a “higher calling” leading many to speculate that she’s planning a future run for the white house.

I’ll certainly ask her about her plans and the criticism from those inside the beltway that she’s made a big mistake if she does have higher aspirations.

Stay tuned.

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If you haven’t heard about this atheist display in the Washington State Capitol, let me share. It’s a plaque on a stand which reads, “At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”  It is placed about 15 feet from a Nativity scene with Joseph, Mary and Jesus. What a contrast in messages. Full disclosure here, I’m a life-long Catholic who happens to love this time of year. I love the generosity I see on display just about everywhere. I love the extra attention paid to those in need, the giving trees and the spiritual awakening that happens in people throughout the world as they reflect on Jesus’ message of selfless love, sacrifice and forgiveness.
Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation which sponsored the atheist sign told me it was his intent to be confrontational. He views it as his job to be like the doctor who is charged with curing an illness. An illness called faith.  Barker admits that not all believers are bad people, but he wonders why they need a special season to do nice things for each other. Perhaps he’s unfamiar with the charitable giving statistics which show religious people give far more to charity than non-religious people. And it’s not just during one time of year.
Barker’s plaque of holiday hatred was allowed by Washington State governor Christine Gregoire. She refused our request for an interview but issued a statement saying, “once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of non-believers.” Rob Mckenna, the state’s attorney general agrees. He too was “unavailable” for an interview, but his spokesman explained that the atheist rant is the non-believer’s expression of faith and must be given equal prominence to the Christmas tree and Creche.
As many people have figured out by now, the Pacific Northwest is the most unchurched part of the country. But I must say that this has struck a nerve (and not just with my colleague Bill O’Reilly and his viewers). The phone lines at the governor’s office have been lit up. Yesterday they were getting 200 angry calls per hour and had to add more phone lines to handle the volume. There is a protest planned for Sunday at the Capitol. Washingtonians are a very tolerant lot,  but in this case it appears to many here that the atheists are the angry, intolerant ones.

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Have an opinion? Why not share on a blog?

That’s the allure of cyberspace. Everyone has a voice. Anyone who wants to can play journalist. But what about when the blogging is bought and sold and is really professional lobbying disguised as good old fashioned populism? That’s what the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission is trying to get a handle on and it won’t be easy, because the lines can get a little fuzzy.

Grassroots lobbying is defined as going to the general public and asking them to do some lobbying on behalf of somebody else. In other words, the United Auto Workers wants a huge federal bailout package so they pay a blogger to whip up support for $50 billion. The blogger calls on the public to flood lawmakers’ offices with phone calls and emails. Currently this fictional political activism by the UAW and the blogger is not required to be reported. But the PDC might change the rules saying the public has a right to know that the UAW is behind that political message… just as if they were advertising during an election cycle.

It’s an interesting question considering the free speech implications. I interviewed a Seattle blogger who pushes a liberal agenda on his web site www.horsesass.org. David Goldstein considers himself a journalist in the same vein as an editorial writer at a newspaper. He doesn’t have to declare objectivity. He takes money from people who also support his liberal agenda, but Goldstein insists that it’s not a quid pro quo. He’s not paid to support a certain cause, he says. He’s given donations by people who agree with his positions and want him to continue to have a forum.

Other bloggers acknowlede they use the internet to lobby. The Web site www.fusewashington.org admits that much of what they do is designed to get a progressive agenda adopted, and they do accept donations earmarked for specific causes. But Fuse only reports a small portion of its political donations which come from Move on.org and SEIU to name a few. Down the road they may be required to disclose all the donations tied to their political activism.

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Ted Stevens has lost his bid to be the first convicted felon elected to the U.S. Senate.

Democrat Mark Begich has defeated Stevens. Election officials say Begich has a 3,724 vote lead with around 2,500 overseas ballots left to be counted next Tuesday.

This marks the end of a 40-year career in the Senate for Stevens who was convicted of 7 felonies just 8 days before the election. A jury found him guilty of failing to disclose $250,000 in gifts from an oil services company executive at the center of a corruption probe in Alaska.

This means all of us reporters who have been camped out in Alaska- first because of Sarah Palin and then for the Stevens-Begich race- can thaw out somewhere warm.

Stevens, on the other hand still faces uncertainty. He could be sentenced in December or January. He is still seeking to overturn the convictions on appeal.

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Looks like a Republican institution is on his way out. Senator Ted Stevens now trails Democrat Mark Begich in the Alaska Senate race by 2,374 votes, with just over 10,000 left to be counted.

I spoke with Begich right after the new numbers were posted, and he stopped just short of declaring victory.

He told me that he’s confident, but then went even further talking about how he’ll be different than Stevens – a man criticized in the lower 48 for being a convicted felon and prolific pork barrel spender, but widely revered in his home state where he’s got the nicknames Uncle Ted and Senator for Life.

The trouble began for Stevens when a federal grand jury indicted him on charges that he failed to disclose gifts given to him by an oil services company executive. Just a week before the election, Stevens was convicted of 7 felony counts yet continued to seek re-election.

No word yet on a concession from Stevens who has held the job for 40 years, longer than any other Republican.

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The nation’s coldest state continues to be one of the hottest political locations, a full two weeks after the election.

Republican Senator Ted Stevens, who has among his nicknames ‘Uncle Ted’ and ‘Senator for Life’, is trailing Democrat Mark Begich by 1,022 votes with about 24,000 left to count today.

Many Alaskans voted for Stevens despite the fact he was recently convicted of seven felony counts for failing to disclose gifts from a political ally.

Stevens is a hard man to get to know… unless you’re an Alaskan. I’ve tried to interview him several times over the years, but his spokesman routinely turns down the requests. Stevens has been very defensive over complaints that his infamous “bridge to nowhere” and other pork barrel projects are a waste of taxpayer dollars. Since he fought for Alaska statehood he’s viewed his role as bringing the Last Frontier state up to standard.

But now with his legal problems, it may be the end of the road. He’s obviously weary telling reporters in Washington D.C. that he “hasn’t had a night’s sleep in almost four months”. Even as he sweats the vote count, his Republican colleagues are set to vote Thursday on whether to strip him of his committee assignments. They decided to postpone until after his election is decided, because if he loses to Begich it’s a moot point.

With sentencing on his felony convictions most likely in December or January it’s hard to imagine this working out well for Stevens.

Oh and by the way, Anchorage is set to have a high temperature of 17 degrees today.

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Sarah Palin looked more at home today than I have ever seen her on the campaign trail. She WAS home. I saw her vote in Wasilla.  It had to be an incredible experience for her.  She was in the Wasilla City Hall council chambers, the very place where she started in politics.

To see her name on the ballot — the first Republican woman on a presidential ticket — It had to be a moving moment …  Afterward she spoke to reporters and talked about the glass ceiling that was breaking.

She looked happy and relaxed.  She was wearing blue jeans and a casual brown jacket with her name stitched on the front.  First Dude Todd Palin was by her side.

She hugged people at the polling place, kissed one woman on the cheek and in her classic, folksy way saw an acquaintance and yelled, “tell your hubby I said hi.”

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When Sarah Palin’s plane touched down in Fairbanks, a crowd of a couple thousand people went wild. This was the first time Palin was back on Alaskan soil since she was announced as John McCain’s running mate. They chanted, “Sarah, Sarah” as Palin, her husband Todd, daughters Willow and Piper, and baby Trig made their way to the stage. The scene was electric.

I thought Palin’s speech though was a little flat. Her voice was hoarse from the non-stop campaigning and she seemed tired. Who can blame her for that? But her speech relied on many of the exact same lines used in her acceptance speech. I talked with one of her good friends who was in the crowd and she told me Sarah is really looking forward to these next few days in her home state. But they won’t be completely stress-free.

Today, Palin will speak at her son Track’s deployment ceremony. It’s being held at Fort Wainwright here in Fairbanks. Her friend tells me Sarah is emotional about Track leaving just as any mom would be.

Then after the deployment ceremony, Palin will give her first interview. ABC’s Charlie Gibson won the prize. It will be interesting to see the dynamics. Much has been made about her lack of experience. How far will Gibson go in questioning her readiness to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? Even Alaskans who like Palin as their Governor question whether she’s up to such an awesome responsibility.

Once the interview is over, Palin goes back home to Wasilla. As far as I know there are no public events Friday. Her friend tells me that Sarah requested she be with her these next couple days to give her some normalcy. She needs to laugh and take a short break from the intense spotlight she’s been in for two weeks.

I’m hearing that there might be a rally on Saturday in the Anchorage-Palmer area. His would be a send-off as Palin jumps back on the campaign trail in battleground states. Most people I’ve spoken to here are giddy with all the attention Palin and their state are receiving.

A woman came up to me last night at the rally and gave me a name of some local people who have some fresh moose for Greta Van Susteren. Apparently while she reported from Wasilla she announced that she had never tasted moose but would like to. I’m sure Greta will be thrilled.

In keeping with the adventuresome spirit, I had Reindeer last night at a great restaurant. Reindeer is domesticated caribou. My kids would be horrified that I just ate Rudolph. I have to say while it was prepared well, I’m not a huge fan. Maybe moose will be better.

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There is somewhat of a feeding frenzy happening in Alaska right now as reporters and political operatives try to learn as much as possible about Governor Sarah Palin.

There seems to be a new rumor every time you turn around thanks to the left-leaning blogs. First they went after Sarah Palin’s family and now it’s her faith. Palin has described herself as a born again Christian Conservative. She was baptized Catholic as an infant. But her mother became involved in the Wasilla Assembly of God church and at the age of 13 Sarah was baptized in that church. It’s denomination is Pentacostal.

One of the pastors at the Wasilla Assembly of God has made controversial statements in the past. Ed Kalnins once preached that Alaska’s natural resource wealth will fulfill the state’s destiny of serving as a shelter for Christians at the end of the world. A staunch supporter of the Iraq war, Kalnins has described it as a battle for the very survival of Christianity. And in 2004 Kalnins told followers he questioned whether people who voted for Senator John Kerry could receive salvation. He has since apologized for the comment saying it was a poor attempt at humor. Nonetheless, many Obama supporters are trying to link Governor Palin to these and other fringe comments.

What I’ve been able to learn here in Alaska is that Palin’s faith is not easily pinned down. She left the Wasilla Assembly of God church in 2002 when she ran for Lt. Governor. She moved over to the non-denominational Wasilla Bible Church. Pastor Larry Kroon describes Palin as a very positive member of Alaska’s Christian Community, but he does not claim to be her spiritual advisor. He tells me Palin also attends services at the Church of the Rock in Wasilla and another Christian church in Juneau.

Kroon supports a conference sponsored by Focus on the Family aimed at converting gays to heterosexuals. The conference is being held in Anchorage, not his church, but he does support the concept. He does believe prayer can “heal” homosexuals.

The blogs are also on fire with reports that when Palin was mayor of Wasilla she banned a number of books from the city’s library. The McCain camp has hit back saying Palin did no such thing. Here are the facts as far as I can tell. When Palin took over as mayor, she did ask the librarian what she would do if someone wanted to have some books removed. The librarian balked and said she did not support censorship I any form. A few months later, Palin sent the librarian a letter she was being fired. It did not say why. There was public support for the librarian and Palin reversed her decision.

The blogs are reporting that Palin banned several books including Harry Potter. The only problem…The first Harry Potter book came out in 1998, 2 years AFTER Palin supposedly had it pulled off the shelf. The McCain camp says Palin was simply inquiring what the librarian’s policy is if someone wants a book removed. Palin has said she was going to fire the librarian because she wanted only people in her administration who supported her. The librarian had backed Palin’s opponent.

The whole story goes to the mad dash to pin down Palin and her beliefs. The bottom line I’m getting from Alaskans is that palin does not wear her religion on her sleeve. She has said she supports teaching intelligent design in the public schools, but she has not tried to change policy to allow for it. She opposes gay marriage, but after the Supreme Court upheld a bill giving benefits to same sex couples.

Palin has not said anything about her faith on the campaign trail and the McCain camp is definitely downplaying any out of the mainstream beliefs she may hold.

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Comic Con is now in full swing. That means 125,000 comic book lovers…many dressed as their favorite character. I’ve seen just about all the Star Wars characters, plenty of Batmen and a few Ghostbusters for good measure.

This unusual crowd has become critical to the recent success of Hollywood. Right next to a vendor selling comic strip drawings you’ll see a flashy set-up from Paramount Pictures or Sony. The big studios have been raking in the cash in recent years with their films adapted from comic books. This year’s Batman movie, Dark Knight is likely to smash all records. It grossed $203 million in its first 5 days..becoming the fastest movie to reach $200-million smashing the old record by 3 days. Hollywood has learned that Comic Con is a great place to generate buzz about their upcoming films. These fans leave San Diego and blog endlessly about the convention and the cool movies they got to get a sneak peak at. And 2008 is shaping up as the Year of the Comic Book Movie. In addition to Batman, there’s Iron Man, The Hulk, Hellboy, and Hancock…all big budget movies.

I have to say when you get beyond the big studio releases, the comic book movies get pretty strange and have a much smaller audience. For every Batman, there are several movies that are true to the graphic novels, lots of sex, blood and always very dark. But these fans eat it up. They love their flawed heroes and twisted story lines.

But Comic Con is showing no signs of slowing down. What started as 300 people gathering in the basement of a San Diego hotel 38 years ago has now taken over the entire San Diego Convention Center with more that 1,000 exhibitors. In fact, organizers say they need even more space and are trying to get the Convention Center to expand. The weekend even brings in some $40-million to the local economy. Geek Pride Day has its economic benefit.

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