Where will Alaska’s “clean elections” funding come from if the voters initiative passes?
Here is the editorial cartoon as printed in the Ketchikan Daily News. Click on the image for the full cartoon.

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Uncategorized | Tagged: Alaska, cartoon, politics, initiative, Clean Elections | No Comments »

I’m down to my last cord of dry firewood. We’ve had a cold December and January, a warmer February, and I was just looking forward to spring when I saw this news tidbit on www.dailytech.com:
“All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Haines, environmentalism, global warming | Tagged: al gore, Alaska, climate change, global warming, weather | No Comments »

The Alaska Clean Elections Initiative will create more problems than it solves. The initiative attempts to take the influence of “special interests” out of the political election process by funding candidates using public funds and limiting private contributions.
But in doing so it takes grassroots politics out of the hands of citizens, creating a system [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics | Tagged: Alaska, campaign finance, Clean Elections, government, politics | 4 Comments »

This week’s cartoon in the Ketchikan Daily News addresses the Alaskan voters initiatives (and one bill in the legislature) that address “clean water.” Or do they?
This is where you can comment on this week’s Ketchikan Daily News cartoon. Click on the image to see the full cartoon.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Alaska, cartoon, clean water, environment, initiative, legislature, mining, political | No Comments »

This year we have no less than three clean water initiatives that could end up on the ballot, and one bill along the same lines in the Legislature.
A reading of each of these measures reveals that they are less about safe water than stopping construction of new mines by severely limiting what can be done [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, environmentalism | Tagged: Alaska, environment, fishing, mining, salmon | No Comments »

A few days ago when some folks near Haines, Alaska, saw that a pregnant cow moose had fallen through the Chilkat River ice and couldn’t get out they didn’t just stand and watch. They used ropes, ingenuity and hard work to keep her from drowning and haul her up onto the solid ice.
These guys [...]

Filed under: Haines, Wildlife | Tagged: Alaska, chilkat, Haines, moose, moose rescue | No Comments »

Recently we’ve been hearing how much money Alaska has as a result of abnormally high oil prices. And Governor Palin likes to flaunt her increased oil tax revenues before they are realized. But remember it was only five years ago, at the end of the Tony Knowles administration, that we were headed for [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, ConocoPhillips, Gas/Oil Development | Tagged: Alaska, cartoon, economy, gas, jobs, oil, pipeline, politics | No Comments »

While living in Nome during the early 1990’s, I recall being told by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) personnel that the walrus population was at an all-time high. So naturally it piqued my curiosity when I learned that the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a petition with the USFWS last week, requesting that [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Federal Government, Gas/Oil Development, environmentalism, global warming | Tagged: Alaska, arctic, environment, marine mammal act, walrus | 2 Comments »

Last year the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that the polar bear be listed as a threatened species. The problem is that there is presently NO PROBLEM with the polar bear population.
Unfortunately when we talk about polar bears, facts take a back seat in almost [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Federal Government, Gas/Oil Development, environmentalism, global warming | 2 Comments »

Yesterday’s letter to the editor in the Ketchikan Daily News restated the frustration Alaskans feel regarding proposed cut-backs in ferry service in southeast Alaska.
First there were the proposed schedule changes including a 50-percent reduction in ferry service between Alaska and Bellingham, Washington. Then the administration didn’t come out with the summer schedule until February–and [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Marine Highway System | No Comments »