Free Republic

Former Gov. Sarah Palin's book, "Going Rogue," blames her first legislative director for moves early in her term that helped poison her relationship with state lawmakers. But the ex-aide, John Bitney, calls Palin's account a fabrication and said he wishes his former boss would leave him alone. "I'm just pilloried right and left and turned into the big bad wolf here for stuff I didn't do," said Bitney, who is now an aide to Valdez Republican Rep. John Harris. "It's like I'm this fictional character that she's decided to make me out to be this sort of incompetent slob." Palin's...

Fort Wayne, Ind. -- Sarah Palin got her start in the public eye at Channel 2 Sports. John Carpenter joined her on her book tour last week and conducted an interview where he asked questions about what it's like on tour, her take on Alaskan issues and her future plans. Here is Part 1 of the interview: Channel 2 News: Thank you very much for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to talk with us. Sarah Palin: I'm so happy to see you, to see this touch from Alaska. Thank you, John. Channel 2 News: So, first...

They say politics is local but the reality is; it is local, but many times Outside influences come into play on local matters and those influences were best displayed when Sarah Palin was chosen to be Senator John McCain’s running mate. Alaska for the most part, was viewed by many people in the Lower 48 as a place that was cold, was completely dark in the winter, people lived in Igloos and English was a second language. It wasn’t until Sarah Palin was chosen as the Vice Presidential candidate that people in the Lower 48, through the lens of the...

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...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Wide-eyed children around the world will be hearing from Santa's "elves" at the North Pole after all. During Christmas seasons for decades, these dedicated elves responded to thousands of letters addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole." All that was ending with a U.S. Postal Service decision to discontinue the program based in the small Alaskan town amid privacy concerns. The elves from Santa's Mailbag vowed to fight the decision, while North Pole residents voiced outrage. A reversal of the Postal Service move was announced Friday. "We never wanted to spoil people's Christmas," said agency spokesman Ernie...

RESCUE: Snowmachiners come to aid of passengers, including infant twins. Without a word, with the plane at 4,500 feet, pilot Bradley Amos tapped something on the instrument panel. Seven passengers -- including twin 8-month-old girls -- were in the cabin. Soon came a loud popping sound. The plane's single propeller suddenly stopped turning and the smell of engine smoke filtered past the seats. The Cessna 207 glided without power above the tundra in Southwest Alaska. That was the low point of the Wednesday night flight. Here's the highlight: Within what felt like two minutes, the plane was on the ground....

The mayor of North Pole, Alaska is calling a recent postal service decision an assault on Christmas. For years, the U.S. Postal Service has delivered thousands of letters to Santa Claus in North Pole, Alaska. Now, in the interest of efficiency and security, the post office has changed its policy. It will no longer deliver letters to Santa here, and requests for a North Pole postmark will be filled through its Anchorage office. The decision has angered many residents, most notably the owner of the area’s primary attraction, the Santa Claus house.

While record low temperatures were recorded elsewhere in Interior Alaska, Fairbanks has been an island of relative warmth. That could end tonight or Friday as the low clouds and flurries that have blanketed the area move out, according to the National Weather Service. Lows could drop to 35 below zero Friday night, according to Allura Weimer, hydrological meteorological technician at the National Weather Service. Normal temperatures range from 9 above to 9 below zero. The record low for Thursday is 33 below zero, set in 1969.

Trying to rain on Jolly St.Nick? The United States Post Office will not be forwarding letters to Santa at the North Pole this year. Other programs and private efforts go on, but some are questioning why the USPS is unwilling to forward letters to the North Poll where volunteers – not employees – respond to the kids with letters including sought-after North Pole postmarks on the letter.

Starry eyed children around the world are writing letters to the jolly man at the North Pole, but this holiday season they'll not likely to get a response from Santa or his helpers. The U.S. Postal Service is dropping a popular effort begun in 1954 in the small town of North Pole, in Alaska's interior, where volunteers tackle up to 150,000 letters addressed to Santa. Postal Service officials cite privacy concerns loomed last winter when a postal worker in Maryland recognized a volunteer in the agency's Operation Santa program as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the...

WASILLA -- The story of Yukon Don Tanner and the four bears has a happy ending -- for Tanner, at least. A judge last week dismissed all wildlife charges filed against the well-known 59-year-old Talkeetna man who tells a wild story about the family of marauding grizzlies that visited his remote cabin north of Talkeetna last July. State prosecutors agreed to the dismissal, even though the wildlife authorities involved say they still don't quite believe Tanner's story. Here's the short version: Tanner shot a sow and her three male cubs in the space of a few minutes around 4 a.m....

You know the episodes of 30 Rock in which Liz Lemon, played by wicked Sarah-Palin impersonator Tina Fey, decides whether women's boyfriend troubles are deal-breakers? "Yes! I saw that the other day. It was hilarious," says none other than Palin herself. The former Alaska governor and VP candidate sat down with PEOPLE on Nov. 14 to answer some reader questions – such as that from Samantha Harris, of Boca Raton, Fla., who wrote that the man she's dating "doesn't believe in politics because it doesn't affect him. Do you think this is a deal-breaker?" Answered Palin, "The deal-breaker is that...

Why all the gang up on the new Sarah Palin book? Three video clips to peruse for you this morning. The Sunday talk shows were abuzz with Palin talk on the eve (no pun intended) of the release of the former Alaskan Governor’s new book, “Going Rogue”. Normally I would not post on this. BUT, what I found interesting is how the battle lines were drawn. The men, even the sol called conservatives dismissed Palin as a non factor in 2012 … and that my friends kinda ticked off the women … even the liberal women. First the sound bite...

It is stunning to read and hear about this “coin controversy.” At a recent speech in Milwaukee I discussed the troubling fact that we too often move God to the side in our public life, and gave as an example the shift of the words “In God We Trust” to the edge of the dollar coin. My comments were not about this President or this Congress – this change predated them. I was merely making a point about a disturbing trend in our country, after which I moved on to discuss some encouraging trends. People who try to read more...

Love dogs? Pristine Alaska wilderness? Then you’ll be pleased to learn that the lone federal dog-mushing job is open. The position at Denali National Park pays up to $66,542 (plus cost-of-living adjustment), but it’s not all easy sledding. The kennel manager is in charge of 31 dogs, and all the shots, poop and bureaucracy-mandated paperwork that comes with them. It’s “a great job,” the outgoing musher tells the Anchorage Daily News. “There’s really nothing that quite compares to being out on the trail in the middle of winter. It’s beautiful, it’s completely silent.” Karen Fortier says helping out researchers is...

Bush pilots know that wildlife can be a hazard to your health. Aircraft have collided with giraffes and other large animals on various remote African airstrips, and there are numerous stories of downed pilots being hassled by predators after making forced landings out in the boonies. Lion and hyena are also know to be partial to certain aircraft components, tyres being a documented favourite of the big cats. My father was once left with the (hefty) bill after a gang of hyenas chewed his wingtip navigation lights and strobes (both wings) and then did a runner after dinner. These pictures...

Scattered across the beaches of Southeast Alaska, and indeed along the entire Northwest Pacific coast from Kodiak to the Columbia River, are intensely staring eyes, totemic animals and geometric patterns carved into boulders and bedrock. These mysterious petroglyphs, carvings in stone, raise questions that have perplexed archeologists and casual observers for well over a century. Most of those questions remain unanswered and may ultimately be unanswerable. Perhaps because of these mysteries, petroglyphs arouse fascination in anyone fortunate enough to see them, particularly if they are still embedded in their original location. Questions about petroglyphs-their age, purpose, makers and method of...

<p>ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Suspected swine flu is sweeping a traditional Eskimo whaling village on a remote Alaska island — prompting an urgent medical mission to deliver help.</p> <p>"Diomede is probably the most isolated place in the United States right now," said David Head, a doctor involved in the effort. "We thought it would be better to go out there and just vaccinate people."</p>

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.