Free Republic

BARROW, ALASKA -- Federal scientists flying over the Arctic Ocean last month spotted something nearly unprecedented during their annual count of bowhead whales: nine polar bears in the open sea, miles from anywhere. One was swimming 60 miles off Barrow. A flight a week or so later found five bears plying their way through the swells. The findings wouldn't have been so alarming -- they are powerful swimmers -- except that their likely destination, the sea ice on which the predators depend for survival, had retreated 400 miles offshore.

Queries are directed through the McCain campaign machine. Her political capital at home is eroding.Jerry McCutcheon went to Sarah Palin's office here last week to request information about the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, the scandal that for weeks has threatened to overshadow the governor's role as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate. McCutcheon was given a phone number in Virginia to call: the national headquarters of the McCain-Palin campaign. Why, he wanted to know, did he have to call a campaign office 4,300 miles away to find out what was going on in Alaska government?...