Free Republic

When it comes to energy, first and foremost in importance is; our national security. And what I mean by national security is; the energy security of the United States as a whole. You have heard the urgent call to “drill baby drill” with our need to become less dependent on foreign countries for our energy needs. And while it may seem that Alaska has moved ahead on finally achieving a plan to build a natural gas pipeline to the lower 48, foreign countries like Russia are moving in on the U.S. market and they are taking a big chunk of...

A senior Coast Guard official removed earlier this year from his command position in Alaska is facing a long string of charges within the agency, including sodomy, indecent acts and conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman. The U.S. Coast Guard filed 31 violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice against Capt. Herbert Hamilton. It did not provide details of the alleged offenses, which also include fraud, adultery, indecent language and soliciting another to commit an offense.

FAIRBANKS — An 81-year-old man was Tasered during a traffic stop last week. It is the second time since 1998 that police have had to make a show of force during a traffic stop to arrest Glen M. Wilcox, a Fairbanks-based Episcopalian priest and real estate agent. Court documents allege that officers with Eielson Air Force Base’s 354th Security Forces Squadron pulled Wilcox over just after 1 p.m. Wednesday for going 11 miles over the speed limit on the Richardson Highway. An officer, identified as a senior airman in court documents, took Wilcox’s license, registration and proof of insurance and...

Bill Allen, the central figure in Alaska's public corruption scandal, was sentenced this morning to three years in prison fined $750,000. U.S. District Judege John Sedwick acknowledged Allen's cooperation with the long-running federal investigation. Allen pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy and tax violations more than two years ago and since then has been a key witness in a string of high-profile corruption trials.

Ecology: The administration creates the mother of all protected habitats for a species whose numbers have increased since Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." It's our hopes for energy independence that are drowning. When filmmaker Phelim McAleer, whose documentary "Not Evil Just Wrong" takes apart the myths of global warming, got to ask Gore a question at the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, McAleer brought up the nine critical errors in Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth." A British court two years ago listed them and said they must be righted before the film could be shown in schools...

Alaskans await progress on Palin pipeline plan By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 9 mins ago ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sarah Palin hit the vice presidential campaign trail last year and touted what Alaska could provide for the rest of America — a natural gas pipeline to help lead the country to energy independence. When a pipeline might be built remains a giant question for Alaskans who need the project to support a vulnerable economy and for the Lower 48 states that need the gas, and a petroleum economist who spent more than 25 years in the Alaska Department...

Belief in the myth of Global Warming has dropped 20 points in the last 3 years according to polling done by the Pew Research Center. Obama has followed this up by opening a polar bear habitat in Alaska, which will make drilling for oil and natural gas there much more difficult. ...

We are living in a new America these days, an America that has been fundamentally changed from the exceptional Republic that has been entrusted to us down through the generations. This gift is paid for again and again, with our people's sacrifice in suffering, deprivation, expensive treasure, and dearest blood.

I guess I've reached that point in my life where you begin to think honestly about retirement. Not happy with the current state of politics and not happy with the politics of my current home state, its gun laws, the criminal injustice system et al... I'm looking for a new home. Fortunately its just me, no wife, no kids just me. What are the opinions of Alaska? I like the landscape, I love winter, wilderness and the outdoors. I am talking with some small charter operators who own and operate small planes for a part time slot. I've been there...

In March 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for two cents an acre. On October 18 of that year, authority over the territory of Alaska officially transferred to the United States when the American flag flew over Fort Sitka for the first time. Alaskans have celebrated “Alaska Day” on October 18 ever since. Though the purchase was derided at the time as “Seward’s Folly,” Seward was a visionary, and history has proven that his purchase of Alaska from Russia was never folly. Alaska has contributed greatly to the United States through our...

Some Russians rethink Alaska sale142 years later, sale still a sore spot in Russian history, fuels nationalist rhetoric By Pat Forgey | JUNEAU EMPIRE Is Russia having a case of seller's remorse for letting Alaska go for a pittance? And if so, why did it take so long? It was today in 1867 that Russia formally let Alaska go, peddling its Russian America territory to the underdeveloped United States for $7.2 million to ensure that its rival European power, Great Britain, didn't get it. Now, some Russian nationalists are talking of a return of Alaska to Russia, and blaming corruption...

Given that we’re spending billions of stimulus dollars to rebuild our highways, it makes sense to think about what we’ll be driving on them. For years to come, most of what we drive will be powered, at least in part, by diesel fuel or gasoline. To fuel that driving, we need access to oil. The less use we make of our own reserves, the more we will have to import, which leads to a number of harmful consequences. That means we need to drill here and drill now. We rely on petroleum for much more than just powering our vehicles:...

An Army aircraft made a gear-up landing on an Elmendorf airstrip Tuesday, though no injuries were reported. The Cessna Citation-560 aircraft was scheduled to land on the main strip and radioed ahead it was having mechanical problems with its gear, Air Force spokesman Master Sgt. Mikal Canfield said.

This site will always support and honor our men and women in the military and express gratitude to those who serve, both past and present, those living and those who have past. To the brave who have survived and to the ones who have given life and limb in defense of this country. To feel differently would be to ignore and belittle those who are the backbone of our freedom. Yet, sadly, this is exactly what our President, Barack Obama has done to those members of the WWII era, Alaskan Territorial Guard. (ATG) As incredible and insensitive as this sounds,...

Erika Bolstad of Anchorage Daily News reported last week: In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining presidential priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration said Friday it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.Reaction is coming in, and it's not positive for our inept leftist president. Our friend Lisa Graas asks: "What on earth is wrong with this president?"Moonbattery has an answer: "I think the problem is that these veterans were defending Alaska, which is not only full of people bitterly clinging to their guns and...

WASHINGTON -- In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining presidential priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration said Friday it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard. The White House move drew swift rebuke from the state's two senators, Republican Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Mark Begich, who had together sponsored the pension fix. The legislation honors 26 elderly Alaskans who are the few remaining survivors of a military unit that served the country with valor, Murkowski said, calling the administration's direction "deeply disappointing, bordering on insensitive."...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Sen. Mark Begich touched base with the people of Anchorage in a town hall meeting Friday night on health care reform. The auditorium at Bartlett Hall was at maximum capacity and organizers had to turn away some people who wanted to attend, but everyone was allowed to leave a written comment for the senator.

Managing Editor, Rod Boyce, of the Fairbanks Daily News Newsminer wrote a great piece most of the media need to write. I posted part of the Article: The Daily News-Miner has had its agreements and disagreements with now-former Gov. Sarah Palin at various points during her time serving the state of Alaska. We have tried to maintain respect for the office of governor and to be generally civil when discussing Mrs. Palin, her policies and the actions she took while serving as governor. The same has been true for the time since she left office. Etc...

President Obama’s decision to scrap the Bush Administration’s plan to base an anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe is creating political, diplomatic and financial aftershocks in Congress and the defense industry, among allies and adversaries abroad, and from small towns in Alabama to the Alaskan frontier. Here’s a look at who wins and who loses in the decision to kill the $4.5 billion plan to put land-based missile interceptors in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic, and replace the system with smaller, land- and sea-based SM-3 interceptors that would defend against short- and medium-range missiles. This caveat:...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

A Moose Hunter is considering himself lucky to be alive after being attacked by a rabid wolf. Rodrick Phillip, age 35 of Kongignak, was hunting on the Kuskokwim River when the predator made a surprise visit to his camp.

You're not gonna believe the latest moonbat madness from the circle of jerks up in Alaska who have nothing better to do with their wretched lives than smear-blog against Sarah Palin. BTW, we came up with their acronym -- ACRID, for Alaskan Creeps Regurgitating Internet Delusions. Before we tell you what has their little moonbat wings all aflutter, we have to prepare you. Please fully extinguish any cigars or cigarettes. If you are enjoying your morning coffee or some other beverage, please finish it off and place the container out of reach. Please return your chair to its upright position...

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released its 2008-2009 predation management summary showing that moose and caribou herds in six predator control areas have increased: The agency points to two areas in particular as examples of where the program is showing strong results: the Nelchina Basin area and the southern Alaska Peninsula. The program is getting substantive results in the McGrath area, where it began in December 2003. Last winter and spring, 28 wolves were killed in the McGrath area. Nineteen were taken under the program and nine were hunted and trapped. The agency said the moose population...

While most other states are cutting services and laying off workers, Alaska is preparing to send dividend checks to about 657,000 of its citizens, who have their former governor and the state constitution to thank. United Press International reports: ANCHORAGE, Ala., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Citizens qualified to receive dividends from Alaska's Permanent Fund will receive dividends of more than $1,300 this autumn, state officials said. The Anchorage Daily News reported that even though the $32 billion oil profits savings account lost $2.5 billion in the last fiscal year, the five-year dividend program will temper the effect of the losses...

SNIP . . his enormous cabbage "The Beast" weighed in at 127 pounds at the Alaska State Fair's annual Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off. That's more than a pound heavier than another world-record-breaking cabbage Hubacek also grew this summer. He entered the smaller one in the "green cabbage" category Wednesday in the fair's general crop exhibits contest, where it weighed in at 125.9 pounds. That green behemoth broke a 20-year-old record set by a cabbage grower from Wales in the United Kingdom. State fair officials said that prior to the 1989 mark, the cabbage record had stood for more than a century.

Workers in Alaska avoid chill of recession By Cameron Dueck in Tuktoyaktuk, Canada Published: September 3 2009 20:57 | Last updated: September 3 2009 20:57 A caribou stands in front of a refinery in Alaska’s North Slope, where unemployment is lower than elsewhere because of the surging oil industry First it was The Deadliest Catch, then The Ice Truckers and now even Jesse James is a Dead Man has ventured north. Americans cannot get enough reality television coverage of their hardworking Arctic neighbours. While the recession may mean those in the south have more time to watch TV, the Arctic...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2009 – Global climate change is a hotly debated topic, and the U.S. government is looking to Alaska to assess how it may affect the nation. White House and federal agency officials participating in the new Ocean Policy Task Force traveled throughout Alaska and the Arctic from Aug. 17 to 21 to observe activities in the region and meet with local leaders and industry representatives. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allen, who took part in the trip, discussed in a Sept. 1 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable how the increasingly accessible and active Arctic region has significant security,...

Levi Johnston, not content with just a GQ spread, heads to Condé Nast sibling Vanity Fair to offer a first person account: "Me and Mrs. Palin." The magazine posted a couple excerpts early this morning, including Johnston's account of how Palin considered keeping Bristol's pregnancy a secret. Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret — nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning...

Alaska is a land of contrasts. Thirty minutes in a bush plane will transport a visitor to another world, somewhere over the rainbow-trout streams. Glaciers of turquoise ice float next to forests in this wilderness. Bear country, as nature intended -- and then altered by man. It is a fitting place for eccentric bear enthusiast Charlie Vandergaw to play by his own rules. "That's what I like about Alaska, because I can live like I want to live. Fish or hunt, and you don't have to answer to anyone out here. You're not controlled by other people," Vandergaw said. But...

In the midst of public outcry over the decision by Scottish authorities to free Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, convicted in 1991 for his involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the anniversary of an older case of state-sponsored terrorism, the shooting down by KAL 007 by Soviet jet fighters in 1983, is almost forgotten by the media and public. When a bomb planted by Libyan terrorists tore Pan Am flight 103 from the sky on December 21, 1988, 270 people — 259 of them on the plane and 11 more on the ground — were killed....

The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it…It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here. 1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt...

NEWTOK --The ground shakes whenever a new hunk of shoreline falls into the river outside Tillie Tommy's window. Like "somebody trying to jack up the house," she says. Her doorstep sits a short walk from the water's edge, where the swelling Ninglick River is gobbling more than 70 feet of coast a year -- one muddy splash at a time. At the current rate, the erosion will chomp its way to her house in as soon as three years. A few years after that, it'll be the school.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A ruling Thursday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for Shell Oil to resume its exploration and development in the Beaufort Sea. The court's ruling says the Bush administration was correct in not demanding a new environmental impact assessment for the company's drilling leases

An e-mail from Family Policy Council's Tony Perkins: Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:25 AM Subject: Join Gov. Sarah Palin this Thursday in Anchorage Greetings from FRC! We wanted to share with you, our supporters, the following alert from your state Family Policy Council. If you have already received this message from them, please simply disregard this. We did, however, want to help make certain that you, your friends, and your neighbors would be aware of this very critical legislative information. We encourage you to join your Family Policy Council in making your voice heard today!

WASHINGTON — After two centuries of an epic infestation, Alaska's Rat Island finally may merit a name change. The island, part of a national wildlife refuge in the sprawling Aleutian chain, appears to be pest-free for the first time since rats overran it after a Japanese sailing ship wrecked there in the late 1700s. Scientists stopped by in early August to check on the progress of the $3 million eradication. So far, "no sign of rats whatsoever," said Steve MacLean , the polar marine program director for The Nature Conservancy in Alaska , one of the partners in the rat-ridding...

Calls are rushing into the Homer office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game about moose that have large "tumors" all over their bodies. The good news is this is a benign disease with no discernable health risk to the moose. The bad news is these unattractive moose won't make the cover of Alaska Magazine. These moose have benign epithelial tumors, or papillomas. In common terms, they have warts. And the warts can be up to 6 inches across.

WASILLA, Alaska -- A group of elite firefighters got a disturbing welcome home Tuesday: while they were out protecting Alaskans from wildfires, they became crime victims as well. They're called the Pioneer Peak Hotshots, a Type I crew that's usually right in the thick of things when major wildfires break out. But when they returned after two weeks on the fire line near Fairbanks, they faced a man-made disaster. Vandals had broken into and completely trashed their headquarters while they were gone. "They basically went through the entire room -- there were some state computers and state equipment in here...

Four Democratic senators want to put off the proposed cap & trade legislation. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad both of North Dakota are urging the Senate to delay legislation that puts caps on greenhouse gas emissions and instead, pass a narrow bill that sets requirements on the use of renewable energy. Senators Lincoln and Dorgan are up for re-election in 2010 and are from states that would be hurt economically from a cap and trade bill similar to the one passed by the House in June. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid...

David Nelson, of the Leader Telegram, wrote a very telling piece on how irrational and wrong the left is about Governor Palin. He briefly touched on Governor Palin’s successes as governor of Alaska but his point is clearly made. Why does the left have such a preoccupation with bashing Sarah Palin? What is it about her that frightens them so? A recent column by Gene Lyons is a case in point. Most of his article came from MSNBC, which has the same credibility in evaluating a conservative as Rush Limbaugh has in giving a reasoned, rational evaluation of Obama.

Workers at an Alaska auto salvage company said a well-placed tire saved the lives of two kittens inside a truck that was crushed and loaded onto another truck. Gary Jacobsen, owner of Alaska Car Crushing just west of Wasilla, said the kittens apparently were living in a nest of shredded paper made by their mother under the seat of a 1970s-era GMC crew cab pickup that was put through the car crusher Aug. 1 and loaded onto a flatbed trailer with eight other vehicles on top for the weekend, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday. Jacobsen said it wasn't until...

Last Sunday a fourth brown bear for the year was killed in a defense of life and property (DLP) shooting, and there is no mistaking that it was the former, not the latter, that was on the line for the man who shot it.

AIRBORNE: Hunts allowed with airplanes only when it's a biological emergencyWASHINGTON -- Alaska's predator control program to kill wolves, which drew renewed national scrutiny during former Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for vice president, is under attack in Congress. Two California Democrats have introduced legislation that would all but ban the practice of shooting wolves from airplanes to control their numbers. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. George Miller, would force Alaska game officials to declare a biological emergency that shows the imminent collapse of a species without the program. Even if the state could demonstrate such an...

Note: The following text is a quote: Sarah Palin: A Message to Alaskans about the Stimulus Veto and the Health Care Town Halls Sarah Palin's Notes A Message to Alaskans about the Stimulus Veto and the Health Care Town Halls Today at 7:33pm Tomorrow begins an important week for Alaskans. On Monday, state lawmakers will meet to override my veto of stimulus funds. As Governor, I did my utmost to warn our legislators that accepting stimulus funds will further tie Alaska to the federal government and chip away at Alaska’s right to chart its own course. Enforcing the federal building...

"Gryphen" gets an extension on his 15 minutes of fame courtesy of the New York Times columnist: Palin is still obsessed with the blogosphere, which recently lit up with a rumor -- started by a fellow mavericky Alaskan, who also no longer has his job -- that she and Todd were Splitsville. Excuse me, Ms. Dowd, but is Palin "obsessed with the blogosphere" or is it the other way around? And don't you share that obsession? Furthermore, ma'am -- speaking of "Gryphen" a/k/a former Anchorage kindergarten teaching assistant Jesse Ray Griffin -- is it the usual practice of the New...

The past week has been truly incredible and truly busy. So busy in fact, this is the first time I have stopped long enough to actually write about how incredible things have been and what has been going on. Most know that our group has been writing about the democrat/communist party operatives in Alaska, their attempts at destroying Sarah Palin by continually filing bogus ethics complaints, and then illegally publicizing them. If you don’t know, it’s illegal to disclose any information about an ongoing ethics investigation. Oddly enough, under the law, if you do this to a legislator, the complaint...

Since Sarah Palin is no longer Governor, the legislature seems intent on going back to business as usual.

I would like you to know that Gryphen of Immoral Minority (Palin divorce smear) is actually one Jesse Griffin. He must value his identity because he had his fellow Palin Hater, Dennis Zaki, black out his name in this document: (Click the link above to read more...)

A couple of days ago, we posted an article about an attempt by United States Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, along with co-sponsor Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, to limit predator control. (It seems that Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island has also signed on as a co-sponsor.) When we spotted this, we tipped every reporter and media outlet in Alaska we could think of...and nobody thought it worthy of notice except for Eddie Burke and Alaska Public Radio. I was listening to the Alaska Public Radio bit - here is what they had to say:

Stella Lohmann, of RenewAmerica.com, wrote a great piece on what many have described as the most confident person they have ever met Sarah Palin. No one has stopped to really listen to what Sarah Palin said when she announced she would resign as Alaskan Governor at the end of this month. She said she was concerned about how her daughters and one year son, Trigg, were being treated by media and the public in general. She said she had done what she set out to do for the people of Alaska and has the record to prove it. She also...

It’s a sad day over at the Huffington Post and left wing blogs like Mudflats and Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis. You see, despite their best efforts to smear Alaska Governor Sarah Palin with more than a baker’s dozen of phony ethics complaints since the start of the year, all of their efforts have completely failed. The latest complaint to be dismissed was incredibly ridiculous. It revolved around the fact that Governor Palin, in sub zero weather, had the temerity to wear a jacket when she attended the final day of the Tesoro Iron Dog Race! The Iron Dog is the...