ALASKAN AUTHORS WEEKLY ROUND-UP

Ketchikan writer and mayor Dave Kiffer explains in the My Turn column of the November 3 issue of Newsweek that it's not so swell for a community to be nationally branded Nowhere. "But we will get over it," he says. "We will even make up with our governor, no matter what happens on Nov. 4. That's what Alaskans do. We pull together to make a go of it in a place where survival—physical or economic—is not necessarily a given." Well said. You can read the whole article at Newsweek.com. While you're at it, check out Kiffer's monthly musings on Alaskan history at Sitnews.

In the area of language faux pas, I doubt I'm the only Alaskan who's been waking up lately with the urge to apologize to the nation for the nonsense we generate. In addition to the congressman who thinks "constituent" means "people who voted for me" and the governor who thinks "violated ethics statute" means "vindicated," we now have Senator Ted Stevens who claims he has not been "convicted" because he plans to appeal. How stupid do these people think we are?

And after the Palin Truth Squad announced that he'd been fired for being a "rogue," former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan must be getting a kick out of the fact that Palin herself is now the RNC's "rogue." Apparently "rogue" is the new black.

Changing the landscape in the world of books is this week's $125 million dollar settlement that paves the way for Google to continue its Google Book program that will allow readers to view and purchase out-of-print books online. An arrangement for compensating authors holding copyright is part of the settlement.