well, town is anchorage, 800 miles away, about a $1,000 plane ticket, and then you're in anchorage and you got to either bunk with friends in your last six weeks of pregnancy or get a hotel and we will probably never have a full-on ob-gyn out in dutch harbor but our reality is there are cost drivers that don't allow for the level of care that we would like to see and we see it demonstrated in our rural communities all the time. i think we have got to do something, if it's not senator gregg's bill that we've got in front of us, we've got to be doing something to acknowledge that medical malpractice is an issue and it's a cost driver and if we can't -- and the president recognizes. there's a head line in i don't know if it's today's paper, obama opened to reining in medical suits, bargaining chips seen in health overhaul. i think we've got to be talking about it. >> well, as i say, again, when the physicians raise the issue, i think the issue is raised in the context of the cost of the health insurance or the premiums they pay, and the assumption is the premiums are going up because of t

i think i mentioned you to, anchorage is our largest city n anchorage, there are only 13 out of 75 providers are accepting medicare right now. so if you're on medicare and are an eligible individual, there are a lot of folks out there that have no one to see them. the orthopedic surgeon, same one that actually worked on my knee, gave a couple different stories. he takes medicare. he is seeing an elderly woman who came to him from one of his patients, the mother of one of his patients. this woman has nobody to see her. and so as a specialist, she doesn't have any issues that an orthopedic surgeon would need to deal with. but he is saying somebody's got to take care of this woman. and so i will take her on. but when we want to talk about things that are driving up our health care costs, when you got specialists providing primary care to people because they don't have access to a provider, what are we giving them? what are we really providing to them? and so i -- i -- i know that i've been harping on this point for a while. but it is a point that needs to be made because it's not just in states

this event, hosted by tidal wave books in anchorage, alaska, is 40 minutes. >> thank you for coming out tonight. i want to read a little bit from my book and show some slides. when i showed the slides, i will need somebody to hit the button. i need a nearby volunteered to handle that for me. i don't need much introduction, i will read from the beginning of the book, a couple pages. this begins with a quote from a guy, and novelist named powell. he has no idea he has done this, he said one time in passing, they have the huge, giant head, the oddball design of a billiard ball. in the past week, i have become a buffalo, sort. the perfect specimen has the circumference of a baseball cap with full blair's. it is as dense as a gingersnap cookie with the color and texture of old cardboard that has been wet and dry out again. i am talking about buffalo dung, what is left of vegetation after passing through the digestive circuitry of north america's largest native land mammal also known as the american bison. they burn with orange colored flame surrounding a whole black center, offering good hea

listening, ford really is up north in alaska, 400 -- fort greeley is up in alaska, 400 miles north of anchorage. the c-17 is a great cargo ship used around the globe. we talked about the missile defense system, the impact that will have and how dynamic the program has to become a meaning that it should not just beat as it is today, as -- meeting that it should not just be as it is today, but where we have to be in the long term with missile defense. it also give us a firsthand look of actually going into the silos, which is important because it is nice to see all the documents and the paperwork, but until you are physically there and understand the logistics and how close we are and the apparatus that is set up, you do not have a good feel of what is going on there. in the case of secretary gates, he was keeping an open mind on missile defense and how that will grow and be dynamic over the next several years. i think the issue right now that we're dealing with is a very tight budget, and all aspects across the board, and he is balancing where he can. the good news in all this from my perspectiv

memorable assignments and alaska, the first in january 2000-2002, when he commanded the third weighing in anchorage. i represented the air of men in the legislature. i became very familiar with the generals leadership both on the base and off. the general and his wife were more than ambassadors for the air force. there were forces of the good for the community. in october of 2005, the general returned after two assignments in colorado. during this time, our armed forces were really coming to grips with the challenge of treating men and women returning from iraq with the ptsd and traumatic brain injuries. gen fraser was commanding -- was involved in a round table so we convene to discuss how we deal with the health care facilities, and how our i ability to deal with the challenges -- our abilities could deal with the challenges. i learned about a project, it is called home town healing. the air force medical wing determined it was capable of treating wounded warriors in alaska. we brought them back to alaska, and under the general's watch, it is something we are very proud of. the hospital was voted

more in anchorage and in sarraute on some occasions and the other way around. the second message was the people wanted to pass judgment on members of this house and they wanted to do it now and in the election. the third message was that we should have the promised referendum on the european constitution. the prime minister ruled out the first two. why, given his statement today about involving people, can he not grant the first? >> any them be coming from these elections knows that this was for many people in the country of verdict that was being given not just on the government but on the way we conduct ourselves over our expenses and if we ignore that and did not take the action that is essential, there is no action on expenses. i am proposing action on expenses now. i am proposing the clean up the system. if i may say, it was the government that proposed the parliamentary standard's authority and the code of conduct. i'm glad the opposition parties -- i can agree on that and we should get it through. but there's an unwillingness on the part of the conservat

this event hosted by tidal wave books in anchorage alaska is 40 minutes. >> thank you all for coming out tonight. i am going to read, i want to read a little bit of my book and then i'm going to show some slides and discuss them. when i showed the slides and discuss them i realize the need someone to hit the button, the forward button. i need a volunteer to handle that for me. i am going to read from the beginning of the book. [ist a couple of pages.

watching and listening, missile, fort greenly is up north in alaska so it's about 400 miles north of anchorage, but the discussion we had we felt there on the c-17 which was also important giving a sense of the new type of equipment that's being utilized as a great cargo ship not only use here but around the globe and vows we went in there we talked about the missile defense system in fort greely the impact it would have and how dynamic the program has to be meaning that it shouldn't be just as it is today the at

armed services committee mark begich is also on the veterans affairs committee and former mayor of anchorage. >> guest: correct and as i tell people i'm a mayor that happens to be a u.s. senator because it's important i think what may years have done is kept track of the details as far down they pass something or have dealt with an issue they not only thought about it today but how it would be down the road so it's a little different than here when you pass a long you kind of move on. my view is when you pass something you've got to continue to talk about the implications not only today but generations to come so i kind of keep that feeling. >> host: on the republican line pennsylvania. >> caller: i see a lot of attention to the republican debate and i like a lot of what ron paul said as far as how the military is around the world. apparently we have the military and one-hundred 30 countries. actually i didn't know there were 130 countries, i think that's quite a lot but i was curious why can't we scale back from the list is a 65 countries and limit the amount of money we're spending because

it comes down to one school that someone found in anchorage, and it wasn't recover backhanded archaeologists. it was radiocarbon dated at 200 and 50 years ago. but the problem is i have met with the geneticist in oxford at oxford university you analyze that's call on she told me what no uncertainty that bad animal had never stepped foot in alaska alive and she thought it came out of the-- that was the evidence that they were here at the time of the european contact, probably i am guessing. the year i put in for a permit, a four people killed buffalo. a lot of people don't show up once they find out there's a lot of faxes issues. kimley jump to the next picture? back up. that, right there is a have scanned buffalo. that is just kind of a gratuitous image of a leg to show. you can see the orange that. also, that animal, you can take certain measurements and calculate wait. usually mature female, she is about 11 or 12 years old, probably 1100 pounds. counting this call and the hide which i considered usable, maybe about 700 pounds of usable parts. all i have left right now and i will share some