Alaska (state): How long is the "Bridge to Nowhere"?
Don't forget about the second "Bridge to Nowhere", the Knik Arm Crossing, that was axed in the same controversial bill as the Gravina bridge in Ketchikan. The Knik Arm bridge is 1.74 miles long with about 15 miles of other roads and a short tunnel on the Anchorage side. That bridge is really important to Anchorage because the city is pretty much land locked with no developable land other than the two military bases at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER), which won't be available for development any time soon. The only available land for affordable housing is 50 - 60 miles away by road. The bridge would cut that to 5 miles.The Knik Arm bridge would take a 120 mile daily commute and convert it a 10 mile commute. Current estimates are that 14,000 cars per day make the trip. Here is a good article describing the debate: The War against the Knik Arm Bridge Continues. I am all for the Knik Arm crossing. Anchorage is our major city in Alaska but it is very difficult to operate a small business there because the only affordable housing for entry level wage earners. The reason to build this bridge isn't just the fuel we're burning on the commute, it is the substantial drag on our economy from not having affordable housing.
Why is there state income tax?
not each state, because I know Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming don't. For those states that have it, I'm asking why
What process would Canada have to go through to acquire Alaska from the United States?
The USA would first have to agree to let Alaska go. That would require a law passed in the state of Alaska and in the USA federal government. If Alaska’s constitution refers to the USA, then its constitution would also have to be amended.Then Canada do one of four things:Add Alaska to an existing Canadian territory. This requires a law to be passed by Canada’s federal parliament.Add Alaska to an existing province. This requires an amendment to Canada’s constitution and this amendment requires just Parliament and the existing province’s legislature to approve the addition.Admit Alaska as a new territory. This requires a law to be passed by Canada’s federal parliament.Admit Alaska as a new province. This requires Parliament and the legislatures of 2/3s of the provinces representing 50% of the population to approve an amendment to add an eleventh province. It would thus require the support of Ontario or Quebec, and most likely both Ontario and Quebec, and a total of 7 existing provinces to support the admission of an 11th province. This is so unlikely to happen. Even if Ontario or Quebec were willing to see their control of Canada erode (they won’t), 5 to 7 provinces would demand an omnibus amendment to the constitution as part of a quid pro quo (even though it benefits the long term prospects of 8 of 10 provinces to expand Canada’s federation).Alaska would never accept being admitted as anything less than an 11th province, and might even demand to come in as multiple provinces.Thus it is never going to happen. The 1982 repatriation of Canada’s constitution ruined Canada’s future as an expansionist power.
Is it possible to travel from Russia to Alaska on foot in the winter?
The two previous answerers have answered the question well. I’d like to add that if you expand your definitions of “Russia” and “Alaska” just a bit, there’s one place where walking across might be much easier: the Diomede Islands.The Diomedes are smack in the middle of the Bering Strait, and the international boundary separates them: Russia has Big Diomede Island to the left, and the US owns Little Diomede Island to the right. The distance between them is 2.4 miles, and it’s quite possible to walk between them when the sea is frozen. The Inupiat natives used to do that routinely; I gather that many families were split when the Soviets removed the native population from Big Diomede to the mainland. Big Diomede is now home to a detachment of Russian border guards—meaning that you’d almost certainly get arrested if you tried to walk across the border without arranging permission in advance. There’s still a small, mostly Inupiat population on Little Diomede. (Note that Sarah Palin’s claim that “you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska”—often misquoted as “I can see Russia from my house”—is actually quite true.)Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) hosted a BBC TV show, Full Circle, in which he traveled all around the Pacific Rim, beginning on Little Diomede—although he doesn’t travel to Big Diomede, but goes by way of the Aleutians. This will give some idea of what the place looks like:Also: British adventurer Karl Bushby is still attempting to walk an unbroken path around the world, from southernmost Chile, up the Pacific coast of the Americas, across the Bering Sea and then across Eurasia all the way to England. In March 2006, he and his fellow adventurer Dimitri Kieffer crossed the frozen Bering Straits on foot and were detained by Russian border guards near the village of Uelen. (Source: Karl Bushby) So the Shparo family are not the only ones to make the trip.You can see just how hard it is to walk across the entire Bering Strait here—here’s Part 1 of a documentary on Bushby’s expedition. Apparently they ended walking something like 150 miles, because the ice was drifting and carried them far off their course. All four parts are on YouTube—check ’em out!Here’s Part 4, where you find out how it ended:
Why is there not a bridge or tunnel to the USA?
Why is there not a bridge or tunnel to the USA?There are many bridges to the U.S.A.!Here’s the famous Rainbow Bridge, which connects the U.S. and Canada at Niagara Falls:Here’s the Ambassador Bridge, which connects the U.S. and Canada at Detroit.These are only two of the 23 bridges and tunnels that connect the U.S. and Canada, including bridges in Alaska, New York, Michigan, Washington, Minnesota, Vermont, Maine, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota.Heading down south, the U.S.-Mexico border is close to 2,000 miles long, and a lot of the border is marked by the Rio Grande River. There are dozens and dozens of bridges that connect the U.S. and Mexico, including bridges in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Is Palin governor of the biggest welfare state in the US?
1. Alaska receives nearly twice as much federal dollars than they contribute to federal income, making it one of the largest beneficiary states. They receive the highest per capita federal dollars and 3rd highest total fed dollars. 2. Alaska receives $13,950 per capital in federal dollars, the #1 state in the country in per capita fed spending dollars received. 3. Alaskans pay no state taxes. 4. Alaska has consistently had one of the lowest rates of state/local taxes Estimated now at 6.4% of income, Alaska's state/local tax burden is well below the national average of 9.7%. Alaskans pay $2,871 per capita in state and local taxes. They are ranked 50th--the lowest state/local tax burden in the country. Wouldn't want to burden local residents with investing in local infrastructure, right? 5. BIG OIL and the Alaska government pay off its residents to love them. Are you aware of the Alaska Permanent Fund? This $40 billion fund from oil revenues had an individual payout in 2007 of $1654. That is $1654 for residents to keep their love of oil flowing. No wonder Palin wants to drill, drill, drill. 6. Palin's own Wasilla received $27 million in earmarks under Palin to pay for things like a community center and sewer system repairs that, in a state like mine at least, is paid for locally with....taxes. As is often said, "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society" http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/3/16105/50263/679/584098 So should McCain and Palin ever talk about "socialism," "welfare state," "handouts," "excessive spending" again--when Palin is governor of the biggest welfare state in the country (that receives much more federal tax dollars than what they contribute--thanks to tax payers in the other 49 states)?