Rural Alaska blog: The Village : Opinion: What the Massachusetts race means for Alaska

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The Village is a Daily News blog about life and politics in rural Alaska. Its main author is ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins. Come here for breaking news on village issues, plus interviews, videos and photos. But that's just part of the story. We want to feature your pictures, videos and stories, too. Think of The Village as your bulletin board. E-mail us anything you’d like to share with the rest of Alaska -- your letters to the editor, the photos of your latest hunt or video of your latest potlatch. (We love video.)

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Kyle Hopkins

I was born in Sitka, have lived in Kake, Skagway and Fairbanks and joined the ADN in 2005 after writing for the Anchorage Press and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. I started blogging for the paper in 2006 with The Trail, our blog about the governor's race. Then came the Alaska Politics blog. Now I'm covering government and rural affairs and live in Anchorage with my wife, Rebecca. (Update: Our daughter Alice was born May 31. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.) E-mail me at khopkins@adn.com and find me on Twitter at twitter.com/ADNVillage.

khopkins@adn.com

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Opinion: What the Massachusetts race means for Alaska

Posted by thevillage

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: January 20, 2010 - 3:18 pm

Wilson Justin, vice president and health director at Mt. Sanford Tribal consortium, on Republican Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate race and what it means for Alaska:

Well the President got the boulder all the way up to the top of the mountain, then it rolled all the way back down to the bottom again there in Massachusetts. The election of a Republican Senator in Massachusetts means Indian country can forgo consideration of all kinds in the next six years in the Health business. On a larger scale of course its the National Health Care Legislation that is the victim here as is the middle class in the economic sector. But I can't help but point out that the playing field was in danger of being leveled out in favor of the small providers and very rural hamlets, communities and Tribes via the Health Care Legislation. All that in my estimation is gone now and we're back to the good ole boys in the backroom routine and the issue of putting us nobodies into the American mainstream is just another pipedream gone up in smoke. Well the President came close, I could see the far mountains and see the wind kicking around the peaks for a very short while until the unnatural law that operates on behalf of the predators who run our nation kicked in, and that as they say was that.

Wilson Justin is one of the founding members of the Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium and currently serves on a number of committees and boards for health issues, tribal jurisdiction and other Indian Health Service programs.

Have something you'd like to say on the blog? E-mail me at khopkins@adn.com.