Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –

1. Murkowski. Joe Miller, an attorney from Faribanks won the Republican primary against incumbent Lisa Murkowski Tuesday. As of this writing (and I am three days late this week), with 15,000 absentee votes counted, Miller holds around a 1,650 vote lead with 9,000 questioned ballots outstanding. Murkowski would have to take 68% of those outstanding ballots just to pull even with Miller. Lisa conceded the election Tuesday evening here in Anchorage. Miller ran the perfect campaign, painting Lisa Murkowski as too liberal for Alaska and too unwilling to successfully join combat against the democrats, Obama or Fedzilla and defeat them in congress. I wrote about the quandary for Alaskan conservatives in late July. You can find it here: http://thealaskastandard.com/content/lisa-or-joe There were a lot of wild stories flitting around in the conservative blogosphere about the recount and the close election. One from Red State had Murkowski’s campaign using a Republican Party of Alaska phone bank during the later days of the campaign. This is blatantly false, as no such phone bank exists. Another was that boxes and boxes of ballots were being “discovered.” This is also false, as Alaska is not King County, WA or Minnesota. Soros’ Secretary of State Project does not work up here, as elections are controlled by the LtGov, who runs for election with the Governor and is an elected position from the same party as the Governor. Our current LtGov is USAF Reserve LtGen Craig Campbell, who does not put up with much foolishness. Lisa Murkowski was proudly moderate to liberal. She was trained by Ted Stevens and in some ways became him in the Senate. Unfortunately, this is no longer the type of representation we here in Alaska need. Lisa supporters had little reason to turn out. Polling had her strongly ahead until the final few days of the campaign, when the Murkowski fired off an incredibly nasty, vicious ad against Miller – who promptly returned fire. Miller’s win also vindicates Sarah Palin, who endorsed him against Lisa. We had a ballot proposition that required parental notification or judicial permission in order to send a minor to the aborto-doc. This initiative overturned an Alaska Supreme Court ruling from a couple years ago that found the right of privacy of an under aged girl to get an abortion trumped parental rights. In the public schools, even to get an aspirin, parents must be notified and sign their permission. However, Planned Parenthood and a supportive school counselor can haul a 13-year old to the abortion clinic for surgery without any parental involvement at all. All the pro-lifers turned out to vote for the proposition. And this hurt Lisa Murkowski, who has long been pro-choice. She never supported the ballot proposition, much to her election chances. She could have supported the ballot initiative by going after the judiciary, as it is the job of the elected representatives of the people to decide these sorts of things, not five black-robed bozos. Democrats nominated a candidate from southeast Alaska, Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams, who was intended to be the designated mort against Murkowski. Now that the Republicans have nominated a new guy, Joe Miller, who ran as a strong constitutionalist, the local rumor mill has the democrats dumping their nominee and running former AK Governor (Phony) Tony Knowles or his LtGov Fran Ulmer in an attempt to steal yet another seat in the US Senate. The next few weeks are going to be very, very interesting. Expect the democrats to do everything possible to paint Miller as too extreme to serve all Alaskans. They are already spending a lot of time trash-talking the Tea Party.

2. AK Primary. Alaska held its primary elections last Tuesday. I discussed the senatorial campaign above. We also selected a candidate for governor, House of Representatives, and the legislature. We passed a ballot initiative that requires parental notification for any minor who wants an abortion, slapping the state Supreme Court in the face; and turned down a ballot initiative limiting people who take public money from using that public money to lobby for more public money. While the initiative was a good idea, it was flawed and dissolved during the campaign. The Republican governor nomination went to incumbent Sean Parnell, who almost won a majority of all votes cast. His closest opponent, Bill Walker, who was backed by the unions, is now being pushed hard by the unions to run as a third party candidate, which will nicely split the conservative vote and install democrat Ethan Berkowitz as our next governor. Walker has promised to make his decision by the end of the week. Total turnout on the Republican side was nearly double that among democrats. This was for all races, not just the hotly contested Lisa – Joe Miller race. If our side can maintain this sort of passion throughout November, we may do well. The race for US Senate and governor will be close, hotly contested campaigns. Berkowitz already fired his first couple of blasts against Parnell.

3. Ammo. The greens have been going after firearms for years. The latest round was a petition by the National Resources Defense Council to the EPA to ban all lead from ammunition for firearms. The logical trail was that lead is bad, so therefore it must be completely removed from the environment before it harms the wildlife. Interestingly enough, it is not the actual presence of lead that harms the wildlife; it is the manner and velocity which it is forcibly introduced into the body of the wildlife. The EPA considered the petition for months, even to the point of taking comments from the general public – which was the point in time when the story broke. Interestingly enough, congress anticipated such shenanigans from the greens when they passed the Toxic Substances Control Act. That legislation specifically exempted firearms and ammunition from consideration. Late last week, the EPA announced that they had rejected part of the NRDC petition and all was well with the world (at least for a little while). The EPA left the second part of the petition open for public comment until Sept. 15. That part of the petition is an attempt to ban lead in fishing sinkers – things which don’t harm the fish either.

4. Cameron. Director James Cameron has been carrying the water for the manmade global warming due to manmade emissions of carbon dioxide for several years. He has been loud of mouth and belligerent to the skeptics, even threatening them with bodily harm. He was supposed to debate Marc Morano of Climate Depot (and former Imhofe staffer) on global warming. As the time for the debate approached, Cameron made a series of substantial changes to the debate form, venue, format, etc. all intended (apparently) to get Morano to cancel. He didn’t, and Cameron bailed out at the last minute claiming that Morano was not important enough to debate. Morano and Climate Depot have been having fun with this for a week. You can read about it here: http://www.climatedepot.com/

5. Avastin. Here come the Death Panels. It appears that the Obama Administration has managed to corrupt the FDA to the point where it is approving or withholding approval of life-saving drugs based on cost alone. The first attempt is an anti-cancer drug called Avastin. This drug has been used for years to treat colon cancer. It works pretty well, but is very expensive. It has also been approved for use against breast cancer, and has been very successful extending the life of cancer patients. It is also very expensive at several tens of thousands of dollars per person treated. The solution by the Obama administration’s FDA? Withdraw approval to use it to treat breast cancer. The British National Health Service is one step farther down this path, withdrawing Avastin from treatment for colon cancers, condemning over 6,500 people in Great Britain to a much earlier and more painful death. And it is all about money; not the efficacy of medical treatment. Palin was right, ObamaCare IS Death Panels.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –

1. AK Primary. Alaska has its primary Tuesday. US Senator Lisa Murkowski is running against Tea Party endorsed candidate Joe Miller. Murkowski has not been as conservative as this state would like, so the result will be a bit closer than she would like. But I do expect her to win Tuesday and in November. Representative Don Young is also up for reelection. He has a strong conservative running against him, who will not come very close unless there is some surprising magic in action. Young has been very close to local labor unions for the last 35 years, and that protection is going to cost him eventually. Three primary candidates are running for governor as Republicans, with incumbent Governor Sean Parnell expected to win. Whomever comes out of the Republican primary should be elected in November. We have two ballot initiatives. The most important one overturns an Alaska Supreme Court ruling that allows any girl at any age to get an abortion without either knowledge of or consent of her parents. This new right or privacy trumps all parental rights and is executed at the altar of privacy and abortion. The ad campaign in opposition to this common sense ballot initiative has been pretty festive. Tuesday is going to be a most interesting day.

2. Muslim. There was a poll released last week that discovered that nearly 25% of those polled believed Obama is a Muslim. Nearly half of those polled do not believe he is a Christian. This finding drove the state run media into a fit of apoplexy, and they spent two days running around pumping up Obama’s Christian bonafides. It isn’t working. Given that Obama has spent the last two years sucking up to, bowing, scraping and groveling to Muslims both here and in the Middle East; given his hostility to Christians and Jews; and his stunning support of the NYC Victory Mosque, this result is not unexpected. We Americans have a pretty good idea of what radical Islam is all about. It is an ideology masquerading as a religion, that demands its followers lie though their teeth as long as it advances the greater cause of Islam. We already know that Obama lies about most things. Why not also lie about his religious underpinnings as well? Personally, I don’t think he is a Muslim. I do think he is an unapologetic Marxist, who was well tutored in his 20 years at Reverend Wright’s Black Liberation Theology (Marxist) church in Chicago. Wright is also very close to Farakhan, as is Obama. Where there is smoke, there is fire – especially where Muslims are involved. They no longer deserve nor should they get any benefit of the doubt. Assume the worst, and we will be pleasantly surprised with it does not happen. Obama as a Muslim is the nation’s response to his sly use of the extended middle finger when he wants to zing an opponent. With this poll result, no small numbers of his countrymen are flipping him off in return.

3. Land Grab. Michelle Malkin had quite a week last week. She started last Sunday with an article on the Obama Great Outdoors Initiative. This is an effort by the feds (and the greens) to “protect” outdoor spaces. The vehicle is to send out various administration officials nationwide to “listening sessions.” We apparently had one last month here in Alaska with the head of the EPA in Dillingham listening to Pebble Mine opponents complain about a trillion dollar mine and thousands of new, high paying jobs being planned for their region. They are targeting state lands, privately held forest lands, literally anything they can get their grimy hands on. The vehicle for transfer appears to be the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a government funded slush fund used by greens to obtain private lands and hand those lands over to the feds. Malkin writes that the feds already own about one of every three acres of land here in the US. And they don’t have enough money to manage what they have. Why do they need more? Federal lands are going to be the vehicle to pay off the default of federal internal debt, and should be transferred back to the many states to do with what they will. Federal land holdings ought not to be increased. Malkin, Sun.

4. Ocean Grab. In late July, Obama signed an Executive Order creating the National Ocean Council. The Council is charged with implementing a version of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts in the offshore oceans and the Great Lakes. It is a signal that the Obama administration plans on regulating offshore oil and natural gas exploration out of existence. Congressional democrats have been attempting to pass oceans management legislation for five years – the Oceans 21 legislation. It has not gone anywhere (so far). So Obama decided to implement it by the stroke of a pen, using the Macondo oil spill as the vehicle to get it done. From Malkin, Fri:

The panel will have the power to implement “coastal and marine spatial plans” and to ensure that all executive agencies, departments and offices abide by their determinations. The panel has also been granted authority to establish regional advisory committees that overlap with existing regional and local authorities governing marine and coastal planning.

Expect the 27 bozos who comprise the Council to declare war on every single coastal and Great Lakes state. Then they will turn their attention to the lakes, rivers and streams.

5. Pelosi. House Squeaker Nancy Pelosi demanded congressional investigations of everyone funding opposition to the Muslim Victory Mosque in NYC. This call triggered all the predictable outrage on the right at her cluelessness. Michelle Malkin believes that it was not cluelessness at all, but an attempt to divert attention from a land grab by Pelosi and her cronies in San Francisco. There was a Naval Base at Treasure Island, which sits between San Francisco and Oakland. The Oakland Bay Bridge crosses the island. Pelosi brokered a deal that transfers the entire island to San Francisco, where they can develop it. While I strongly support the transfer of all federal lands back to the many states and local communities to dispose of as they wish, when democrats do the transfer, they make real sure that only their friends, supporters, cronies, and well connected political insiders get to participate. Essentially, this is more bailout of federal property owned by the taxpayers to enrich well connected democrats. Malkin, Weds.

6. Frank. Barney Frank must be worried. One of the architects of the financial meltdown in 2008, the creation of the housing bubble, and the destruction of the housing market, Frank now wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac abolished and replaced with something not tainted with the rampant corruption and scandal that the two federal home loan institutions are currently tarred with. This sounds a lot like a bait and switch, getting rid of tainted entities while replacing them with new entities designed to do the very same thing, only better (or worse). On the other hand, he may be worried about his opponent and his reelection in November. We know he is willing to do anything and is one of the most dangerous people in congress. When he changes direction, we ought to pay attention. Hot Air, Weds.

7. Rifles. The Obama administration blocked South Korean government efforts to sell over 100,000 M1 Garand and Carbine rifles into the US market. The firearms are surplus from the South Korean military and range from the mid 1920s – 1940s in age. These are the weapons that helped win WWII. The excuses given by the Obama administration for refusing the import license were all the usual anti-gun drivel. This administration has been pretty sly about their rabid anti-firearms beliefs and you don’t often see them blow their cover. This story did not hit the US media at all and came out of the Korea Times via the Volokh Conspiracy, Weds.

8. Stolen Valor. The Ninth Circus found that lying about holding military decorations was free speech and therefore protected by the First Amendment. This bizarro ruling came on appeal of a guy who falsely claimed that he held the Congressional Medal of Honor. The ruling tosses out provisions of the Stolen Valor Act which makes it a felony to tell this sort of lie. There is a parallel case in the Tenth Circus in Denver that leaves the question open for additional proof of harm. We as a society have lost a lot when our courts start telling us that lying about things is protected under the First Amendment. Interesting that the entire justice system is based on finding the truth about things. This happens in events called trials. Gonna be hard to find the truth during a trial if lying is now constitutionally protected free speech. While I am sympathetic with the Stolen Valor Act, I wonder why these lying frauds cannot simply be prosecuted for fraud – misrepresenting themselves in order to obtain some personal or financial gain? As far as I can tell, committing fraud is not yet protected by the First Amendment. Although that is likely to change should these rulings persist.

9. Funerals. There is an evil congregation infesting the Westwood Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas that sends members out to stage anti-homosexual protests at military funerals. They are loud, nasty, in your face, and invasive. They also tell the survivors the reason that their family members died is because the US tolerates homosexuality. This twists the emotional knife in the raw wounds of the bereaved saying goodbye to their loved ones. They fund this nationwide “Christian outreach” via civil lawsuits against those that rise to their provocations and in your face evil. Make no mistake; these are thoroughly evil people. The State of Missouri passed legislation creating a bubble zone around funerals to keep these vermin a reasonable distance away from the funerals. Last week, US Federal Judge Fernando Gaitan threw out the Missouri law on the grounds that it violated the free speech rights of the protestors. I think this judge is a bit confused. Pro life demonstrators are already limited by court-defined bubble zones around abortion clinics, and the federal courts have determined that it does not violate their right to free speech at all. The State of Missouri needs to use the anti-abortion bubble zone concept as the basis of their appeal and dare the federal courts to also find it unconstitutional.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –

1. Stevens. Alaska lost one of our founders last week in a small plane crash not far from Dillingham in western Alaska. Former Senator Ted Stevens, who was the longest serving Republican in the Senate, and four others died in a plane crash on a foggy hillside. They were on their way to a fish camp for fishing trip. The pilot had over 28,000 hours and extensive flight experience in the area. Stevens was defeated for his last reelection in 2008 largely due to an illegal and fraudulent prosecution for corruption by the Public Integrity Section of the US (In)Justice Department. The convictions were tossed out months after the voters had their say. To date, none of the prosecutors have faced RICO or fraud charges. Stevens was part of the move toward statehood for Alaska during the Eisenhower administration. He helped open the Alaskan North Slope for oil and natural gas exploration and production. He was instrumental in passage of legislation that built the Trans Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS). He carried – deservedly so – a lot of stroke in this state. He will be missed and his passing is a Great Sadness.

2. Mosque. President Obama managed to nationalize a local issue last Friday with a vigorous defense of the Islamist Victory Mosque overlooking Ground Zero in NYC. As usual, he came down squarely on the side of the Islamists and against the sensibilities of locals who remember very clearly the Act of War perpetrated by 19 Muslims against America on that spot. Public opinion nationwide is running about 70-30% against the construction of the Muslim Victory Mosque. This episode also clearly illustrates the difference between the elites of the Ruling Class and the rest of us. All permitting and zoning approvals in NYC were fast tracked through the system – usually with unanimous votes in support of Mosque construction. In contrast, a Greek Orthodox Church which was destroyed in the attack has been denied permission to reconstruct their building since 9-11. The Church has an active congregation that is meeting elsewhere. Why is a Victory Mosque for the Caliphate more acceptable than rebuilding a church that was on site before the attack? The Imam who is pushing construction of the Victory Mosque is a guy who blamed the US for the 9-11 attacks and for creating Bin Laden. The $100 million for Mosque construction has been well hidden, but is expected to mostly come out of the ruling family in Saudi Arabia along with some from Iran. Why is it a Good Thing to build Victory Mosques here in the US using Wahhabi and Iranian money? Obama and the left have tried to frame this argument as a freedom of religion for Muslims argument. It isn’t working, as everyone else is framing this as an act of war by the Muslims, as they always place a mosque in the center of the most recent conquest. You need not look any farther than Rome, Constantinople (Istanbul), Bethlehem or Jerusalem. They conquer and build a mosque in the center of the place they intend to rule from. And NYC is next on the hit parade. Finally, compare and contrast the newfound respect for the First Amendment provisions on religion with the 40-year anti-Christian jihad conducted by the Left. Given their newfound respect for that amendment as it applies to Muslims, imaging what they would do should it apply equally to Christmas celebrations, crosses on public property, and other Christian religious symbology that has been banished by the leftists infesting the federal judiciary over the course of the last half century.

3. Summer. We set a record in Anchorage this summer with 31 days of measurable precipitation over the latter part of July and first part of August. Temperatures have been close to setting record minimums for daily highs for most of the summer. Local gardens are late with fruits and vegetables. And worst of all, the Canadian geese are flying south 2-3 weeks earlier than normal. Some of us are expecting a very tough winter this year. I don’t think we are seeing the effects of manmade global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions. I think the long transition from solar cycle 23 to 24 has caught up with us here in the soon to be Cold Frozen North.

4. Bailout. The democrat majority in congress passed another $26 billion stimulus last week. The money was intended to fund new public employees (mainly teachers) hired with the 2009 stimulus dollars. The rest of it was sold as a jobs bill. Like every other stimulus / jobs legislation out of this crowd, what they are really doing is not what they say they are doing. The majority of this new stimulus is really going to prop up union retirement accounts. School districts are not rehiring teachers. They are taking the money and applying it to union retirement obligations that they no longer can afford. This last bailout, like all the others before them, is aimed squarely at democrat union voters. And they are doing it all on our dime.

5. Pebble. This summer opposition to the Pebble Mine in western Alaska heated up nicely. I wrote in earlier editions about a series of Trout Unlimited ads in opposition and wondered who was paying that tab. It now appears that he Obama administration via the EPA may be on the verge of weighing in and pre-empting all mining activities statewide via provisions of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. The vehicle will be a little-used power to peremptorily prohibit “discharge” of mining waste (crushed or broken rock) in the surrounding environment. Basically they intend on using their regulatory powers to prohibit the mine from digging a hole in the ground and moving crushed rock out of the hole (which is kind of the definition of mining) – regardless of whether this activity introduces anything harmful into surrounding streams or not. The locals in and around Bristol Bay are enthusiastically in support of this action, and are demanding the EPA step into the State of Alaska and immediately take action. We even saw a LA Times article late last week written with the assistance of fools from the local fishwrapper, discussing the controversy. The LA Times article was most notable in that it low-balled the value of the mineral find at Pebble (approaching a trillion dollars in reality – the LA Times claimed $300 million). The article also wildly over estimated the total value of the red salmon fishery in Bristol Bay at $440 million. Bristol Bay is one of the poorest parts of the state, regularly needing legislative bailouts when the fishery fails. The LA Times also low-balled the number of new jobs should Pebble be mined, while wildly overestimating the number of fishing jobs (all of which were claimed to be high value jobs) in the fishing fleet. Nobody on the anti-Pebble side entertained the notion that we can do both things at the same time, thus growing the overall economic pie. The locals and the native corporations involved need to be very careful inviting the EPA into Alaska to meddle in our business. For once started, the EPA will not stop. This is the same EPA that is hell-bent on regulating carbon dioxide emissions. The Bristol Bay commercial fishing fleet is all diesel powered, emitting vast amounts of carbon dioxide, soot, and other pollutants into the atmosphere when they are out in the water chasing red salmon around. They also spill some measurable amount of diesel into the “pristine” waters of Bristol Bay during their fishing operations. This is the same EPA that is also starting to regulate dust raised while farming in the Midwest. There are not a lot of paved roads in Bristol Bay. The anti-Pebble clowns need to be very, very careful, lest they loose a monster into their world that will not stop after it slays their selected target.

6. Standing. Judge Walker continues to legislate from the Bench in his effort to overturn the California ban on gay marriage. His latest trick is to question standing of Prop 8 supporters to intervene in the case. He has a governor in Schwarzenegger and a state Attorney General in Jerry Brown who both refuse to defend the seven million Californians who voted for the ban. He refused to allow one community to intervene on the grounds that it had no standing while allowing San Francisco to intervene against Prop 8 because it did have standing. He is allowing people who oppose the gay marriage ban standing to appeal while refusing supporters that right. And if the elected officials of the state of California refuse to uphold the Law, he uses it as a vehicle to help support his argument that the law is not supported by the general public. In short, this judge is using his power as a federal judge to push a change in the law that will personally benefit him and his live-in partner. He is abusing his authority and should resign his office. Jerry Brown needs to be very careful, as he is running for Governor. His Republican opponent Meg Whitman only needs to point out that if elected, she will faithfully execute the laws of the state of California – all of them. Brown will not.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –

1. Prop-8. A gay federal judge, who attempted to turn a federal trial in SF against Proposition 8, into a circus and put Prop 8 supporters at risk of bodily harm from militant gays “unexpectedly” found that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. He is a pretty good judge on most matters, and has a good reputation. Unfortunately on this subject, he was unable to separate his sexuality from his respect for law and order. His opinion overturns the will of over 7 million Californians who went to the polls and defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. His opinion bought all the leftist and gay rights drivel. As he is pretty good at what he does, he attempted to craft all the supportive arguments into findings of fact so that any higher court will have a far more difficult time overturning his decision. I expect the decision to be upheld by the Ninth Circus and I expect the SCOTUS with Justice Kennedy as the approving Justice uphold the decision. At which time all Hell will break loose, for this is not about Gay Marriage per se; rather it is about who gets to decide – the black-robed bozos or the people who pay their salaries and pensions. I predict tar, feathers and ropes in the not so distant future. While unpleasant, perhaps it is time to truly send a message to the black robed cowards.

2. Gulf Spill. Big news last week out of the Gulf of Mexico was the successful initial capping of the Macondo well blowout. As administration officials strutted and preened I front of the fawning media, taking credit for stopping the leak, the administration continued to push for approval of their 6-month (soon to become permanent) moratorium on offshore oil exploration. While all this was going on, administration officials and greens in the Gulf were wondering where was the oil? Very little of it hit the beaches, with only around 350 acres of Louisiana wetlands being oiled. Compare this with over 10,000 acres of wetlands being lost in Louisiana to the ocean every year. If the oil wasn’t on the beaches and wetlands in large – or even noticeable – quantities, and there is no more oil being spilled, why are we treating this like an emergency? Sounds like the former head of BP was correct when he said the oil would evaporate, dissipate, and get eaten by the bacterial life in the Gulf and not be a long (or even short) term problem. You would think that God, Mother Nature, Gaia, or the Muslim Moon God would create an ecosystem that can handle all natural insults with not a lot of difficulty. It appears that they have, as the Gulf of Mexico did just fine this time around.

3. Texas. The State of Texas fired a shot across the bow of the EPA last week with a six-page letter cosigned by the State Attorney General and the Chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This letter was a stunning blast at the EPA, responding to EPA demands for an oath of fealty to the EPA by the State of Texas to enforce new EPA dictates put into place without virtue of the congressionally mandated process for creating and approving new rules and regulations. The stick used by the EPA on this will be withholding permit approval for anything in Texas until such an oath of fealty is made. Basically the state of Texas told the EPA to put their demand where the sun does not shine. And they used blunt language to tell the EPA. You can find a copy of the letter here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35298358/Texas2EPA-Letter-Aug-2-2010

4. Dust. The EPA, apparently with not enough to do, is now contemplating regulating dust on farms and other rural locations under the Clean Air Act. This will be a vehicle used by them to control all food production nationwide. It is yet another reason to defund the EPA completely and move responsibility for regulating clean air and clean water back to the many states where that responsibility belongs.

5. Missile. The latest breathless reporting of military vulnerabilities had a new ballistic anti-ship missile being tested and deployed by the ChiComs. This one is a very fast impactor (which is a ballistic missile) that has sufficient accuracy to be able to take out a carrier. Early reportage of the new weapon went with the typical “we’re all gonna die” view of the world. While serious, this threat is not unexpected, as it has long been suggested that a way to take out a carrier would be to drop an ICBM on the middle of the Carrier Battle Group (the carrier itself). Sounds like this is what the ChiComs are planning on doing. Note that each CVBG today has assigned a number of Aegis cruisers and other ships armed with Standard missiles. These have been used over the last decade for anti-missile and anti-satellite work. Perhaps we have been planning against for the Dong Feng (DF) 21D for more than a day or two.

6. GM. Government Motors, tired of being called Government Motors or Obama Motors, suggested that they be privatized once again. Last week the GM CEO suggested that the company go private by being allowed to sell stock. They also suggested that Treasury release its shares for sale to the general public. A thought on this: It will be a very cold day in Hell before any private investor invests a dime in this corporation. This is driven primarily by the new UAW ownership stake in GM. The other driver is the rape and pillage job done to the GM and Chrysler bondholders when Obama stole the company via TARP fund bailouts in 2009. It is rather like Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football. How many times are you going to end up flat on your back after yet another “Trust me” from the Obama administration, Treasury, Geithner, or democrats in congress? Any more than once gives us the definition of insanity – the act of doing the same thing over and over all while hoping for a different result.

7. Missouri. Voters in Missouri slapped democrats and President Obama Tuesday by passing a resolution calling on the legislature to pass legislation that denies the government the ability to require citizens of Missouri to purchase health care insurance – the individual mandate at the heart of ObamaCare. The measure passed by over 71% of the vote. It had weakest support in the democrat inner cities of central St Louis and Kansas City. In some counties, it had over 85% support. Missouri was a deep purple swing state that has been tending democrat over the last several election cycles. This result is a strongly conservative victory for citizens of Missouri that ought to drive the election this year in that state. It may or may not be a harbinger of things to come. But it is most certainly a demonstration of the deep unpopularity of ObamaCare and the process used to force it through congress by congressional democrats and the Obama WH.

8. Young. Last week Eric Holder’s (in)Justice Department dropped all investigations into incumbent Alaskan Representative Don Young. These investigations came out of the same corrupt federal office that obtained the Ted Stevens conviction in 2008 and Conrad Burns in 2006. Both incumbent Republican senators were defeated by democrats in their respective reelections mainly on charges of corruption. We will see how many feds end up in jail or stand trial on RICO charges based on their participation in this criminal conspiracy. I am not holding my breath. Don Young (R, AK) has a challenger in Alaska for the Republican nomination in two weeks. The candidate is Sheldon Fisher, who paints himself as the only true conservative in the campaign. Fisher really screwed up in his first round of campaign ads, trotting out Young’s supposed corruption and the federal investigations of him. This was a wasted round of ads, as people up here are so angry at the feds that they cannot see straight. Fisher would have been far better off had he gone after Young for failing to try to defund intrusive federal agencies that have been obstructionist in Alaska. These include the EPA (oilfield and mine permitting), the Army Corps of Engineers (oilfield permitting), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (endangered species listing). Fisher could have gone after Young for refusing to bring impeachment charges against activist leftist federal judges – like the SF Prop 8 judge. Young has been in the House for over 40 years and he knows how to play the game. But the game has changed over the last 18 months, and there is a real opportunity to defund, disobey and repeal much of existing federal law. Who is most capable of doing this? We are going to find out.

9. Leadership. One of the things we conservatives have been looking for is someone to lead us out of the current mess – the Next Reagan. The beltway insiders swing back and forth between pretending to be the next Reagan and claiming that Reaganism is dead and buried. Perhaps the best description I saw was a blog comment that said that what Reagan really did for this nation was give us about 25 years for the technology to empower every individual to learn facts, details, exchange ideas, and influence our circle of friends and the wider community. None of this would have been possible 25 years ago, as the leftist media still controlled the narrative. Today nobody controls it. That is the weakness of the left and the strength of the right. That is also why the left has failed so quickly and spectacularly. It is also why things will turn around very quickly once we get the festering carbuncle of government taxation, regulation, control and ownership off the backs of individual Americans. We as individuals are the leaders. We as individual conservatives ought to be engaged in the very real task of moving government power to the lowest possible levels over the next decade or so. Demand small government at all levels and go after every single candidate or incumbent hammer and tong should they not support that direction in words and deeds. If we get the job done at the local level, the national stuff will take care of itself.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.

In this issue: 1. Journolist 2. Sherrod
3. Webb 4. Showers 5. Dealers 6. Roe

1. Journolist. Tucker Carlson and the Daily Caller got their hands on the gold mine of leftist journalism collusion. The period of time covered was the 2008 campaign and up to the present. Around 400 reporters, media people, editors and university journalism professors were members of an e-mail list serve called Journolist. Also present on the list were Obama campaign and current WH people. This list was the vehicle used to coordinate Obama talking points, attacks on opponents, and bury unflattering stories. The first set of e-mails published discussed how leftist media collusion managed to bury the explosive Jeremiah Wright story during the democrat primaries. It also demonstrated how the Obama campaign and leftist journalists conspired to paint every Obama critic as a racist. There were e-mails from a left coast professor calling for the feds to shut down Fox News. Apparently Freedom of Speech is like Freedom of Choice in that it is only available to leftists. Also released over the course of the last week were a series of e-mails demonstrating the coordinated assault on Sarah Palin after her selection as McCain’s running mate. By weeks’ end, e-mails discussing Palin’s youngest Down’s syndrome child Trig were released. These e-mails promise to do to the remaining credibility of the state run media what the CRU e-mails did to the notion of manmade global warming – utterly destroy it in the eyes of the general public. The 2008 election was rigged by the media, which went into the tank 100% in support of Obama and democrats nationwide. They have been carrying that water ever since. The striking thing about the e-mails was the level of petty nastiness, bullying, and preening by these wannabee professionals. Rumor has it that Journolist members have moved on to another private list serve. Perhaps this ought to be a lesson to everyone about e-mail. E-mails are forever. They are created and saved on multiple servers. Every single time a system is backed up, it creates yet another copy of the e-mails. And professional computer management requires LOTS of backups.

2. Sherrod. Within days after the NAA(L)CP passed a resolution that in essence called the Tea Parties racist, Andrew Breitbart released a video tape of a talk to NAA(L)CP by a USDA political appointee named Shirley Sherrod. Sherrod talked about discriminating against a poor white farmer because he was white. The dummies in the NAA(L)CP audience just sat there, nodding their heads in agreement at this revelation. The tape was intended to show that the NAA(L)CP was just as racist (perhaps more racist) as anything or anyone they have accused of racism in recent years. The video triggered an instant and panicked reaction out of the USDA, which fired Sherrod; the Obama WH which forced the USDA to fire her; and the NAA(L)CP which went into full CYA mode. As it turns out, the video was an edited version of her talk. Bretibart shortly obtained and released a more complete version of the video which showed Sherrod reconsidering her approach to the white farmer, and deciding that her personal animus toward the poor white farmer was due to his financial status rather than his race. Although the more complete tape shows something of a revelation by Sherrod, it demonstrates what a nasty, race baiting piece of work this political appointee is. She lives, eats, breathes and oozes race on a 24/7 basis. As the week wore on, the WH, USDA, NAA(L)CP all went after Breitbart via a new set of talking points. Sherrod is yet another of the pocket Marxists that seem to infest this administration. She was part of a cooperative of rural farmers in Georgia that won a $13 million judgment against the USDA the day before she was hired by the USDA. Details of that case and judgment are still not well known, but it smells a lot like the race-based shakedown of businesses spearheaded via the Community Reinvestment Act. Expect more from this story as it plays out.

3. Webb. James Webb (D, VA) of macaca fame is up for reelection in 2012. To date, he has been a reliable vote for Harry Reid and the Obama administration. As Virginia swings hard right, it looks like Webb is deciding to save his own sorry carcass before he ends up on the ash heap of history. He wrote an article in the WSJ calling for the end of race-based preferences and affirmative action programs. Like all democrats, talk is indeed cheap. Before writing the WSJ article last week, Webb was the single vote that passed the financial reform legislation that includes racial, sexual and diversity preferences in financial industry hiring. He voted for racial, sexual and diversity preferences in ObamaCare, and the stimulus legislation. Webb talks a good line. But he is just another democrat that does whatever he wants to do and expects the rest of us not to notice. Nice try, Jim. Good luck in 2012, you fraud.

4. Showers. Anyone else remember the pro-abortion and gay rights call for the government to get out our bedrooms? Well, from the same side of the ideological divide, we have the modern environmental movement, that believes it is perfectly acceptable to reach into your bathroom and regulate how much water a toilet can use per flush week. They believe it is perfectly acceptable to reach into your home and replace all your light bulbs with CFLs and LEDs. They are back yet again, this time with regulations that control what you can and cannot put into your shower. New luxury showerheads are becoming quite popular with some. They are large, expensive fixtures that use a tremendous amount of water. Folks that have them installed love them, as they are built into the walls and ceilings of showers. And that’s the rub, as the Department of Energy nannies believe they use too much water and are busily enforcing 20-year old regulations to outlaw their use in homes. PowerLine, Thurs.

5. Dealers. An audit released last week by TARP auditor Neil Barofsky found that the Obama regime takeover of GM and Chrysler needlessly destroyed tens to hundreds of thousands of jobs in dealerships that were shut down. The audit noted that the dealership shutdowns were not done via Chrysler’s or GM’s standing procedures on underperforming dealerships. There was not accountability. Nor was there any transparency in determining who was shut down and who was not. Essentially Rattner and the Obamaroids made it up as they went. In this same vein, there are also a number of civil rights complaints and lawsuits being filed against the Obama regime, GM and Chrysler by a number of dealers noting that dealerships that were minority or women owned, or were donors to democrat campaigns did quite well and were not shut down in nearly the numbers of those dealerships owned by white men or those that donated to conservative and / or Republican candidates. Hot Air, Tues.

6. Roe. A group of Mississippi citizens filed a class action suit against the feds calling for ObamaCare to be found unconstitutional. One of the legal precedents that ObamaCare violates is the privacy provisions underlying Roe v Wade. A NRO article from June 15 describes the logic behind the lawsuit. The following two paragraphs are from that article:

Privacy, like speech and assembly, is a fundamental constitutional right, according to Roe. Although the immediate issue in Roe was abortion, the Supreme Court’s decision created a broad “zone of privacy” that included not only abortion but more generally the right “to care for one’s health and person,” as Justice William O. Douglas stated in his concurring opinion.

In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Court described Roe as a rule of “personal autonomy” that protects all “intimate and personal choices . . . central to personal dignity” in matters “fundamentally affecting a person.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has argued that abortion restrictions violate the constitutional principle that the law cannot treat a woman “as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices.” Consistent with these broad principles, courts have held that the right to privacy includes, for example, the right to refuse medical treatment — even life-saving treatment — and the right to access acupuncture services.

Find the entire article at: National Review.

It will be most entertaining watching the leftists sitting on the SCOTUS squirm on the horns of their own personal dilemmas, attempting to uphold both Roe and ObamaCare. You can’t do both.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.