Alaska

Comment

Comment by Big John Smith on June 25, 2011 at 11:46am

Sadly, what is missing in the conscience of most Americans is the knowledge of what has held this great country of ours together; belief in God, Family and one of the greatest documents ever conceived with the help of divine providence, our Constitution.

     Today, people in desperation are wondering what is going on in our society and cannot put their finger on the problem. What they can see with their senses is that, living is becoming a hard proposition to sustain. It is like ever mounting problems are closing in on existence, mainly now coming from our institution of federal government.

      With our citizens working hard to make ends meet, there are those in the shadows of a growing power crafting ordinances that are molding a greater central totalitarian authority that is taking advantage of Americans in dismay.

      American brethren, we have but to look to our God for guidance and history as our compass and realize what brother Beck has stated, “We are the key to restoring our nation!” we must have the heart and will to take back the rings of power to change our outcome for the better.

 

                                                                             www.bigjohnsmithforpresident.com

Comment by monique maas on April 2, 2011 at 12:35pm

IS anyone interested in having a SOLIDARITY protest for the TAXPAYER?  ASEA Goverment Bargaining unit is meeting in multiple locations to show how 'important' they are to workers; it would be awesome if there were people who would attend the events to send the message to unions that the taxpayers and business owners are people that deserve their dignity and respect and shouldnt be bled dry on behalf of goverment employees. Below is the meeting times and place for anyone who would like to organize.

 

Anchorage
4:30 – 6:30pm
Loussac Library (36th & Denali)
Sign making: March 30 & 31, IBEW hall (3333 Denali Street), 3:30 – 7:30pm. NO artistic talent needed! Bring your kids – we need all the help we can get!
Contacts: Megan Collie, AFL-CIO, 258-6284/ Jenny Evans, NEA Alaska, 274-0636
 
Mat-Su
4:30 – 6:30pm
Wasilla Lake Parking Lot (Parks Hwy. & Crusey St.)
Sign making: Sunday, April 3, The Meeting House, 415 S. Bailey, Palmer
Contacts: Larry Bell, IBEW Local 1547, 272-6571/ Jill Showman or Rick Byrnes, NEA, 373-8000
 
Juneau
4:30 – 6:30pm
State Capitol Building
Sign making: March 30, 4:30 – 5:30pm, NEA-Alaska office, 201 Main Street, Suite 300
Contacts: Pete Ford, Juneau CLC, 586-2334/ Willie Anderson, NEA, 586-3090
 
Ketchikan
4:30 – 6:30pm
Corners of Tongass Ave. & Jefferson St.
Contacts: Denny Zeiser, IBEW, 225-4020/ Roxanne Abajian, NEA, 228-2217
 
Fairbanks
4:30 – 6:30pm
Pioneer Park
Sign making: Saturday, April 2, Noon – 4pm, NEA-Alaska office, 2118 S. Cushman
Contacts: Buck George or Kristi Baker, NEA, 456-4435
 
Soldotna
4:30 – 6:00pm
Parker Park in Soldotna (W. Park Street between Binkley & Fireweed)
Sign making: April 2 1:30 - 3:30 pm, KPEA/KPESA office (far end of 4D Carpet bldg on the Marydale and Spur Hwy.)
Contact: LaDawn Druce, NEA, 260-3428

 

Comment by Kerry Bird on March 25, 2011 at 1:34am

Just checking to see if anyone is who posted here before is still alive and free at the moment?

Comment by Milt Friedman Lives on February 21, 2011 at 8:07am

At 4am Saturday Feb 19th, the House passed $61 billion in cuts to the Federal Budget.

The Media immediately began reporting this as "draconian cuts"...as if these cuts would now result in grandmothers and widows starving and getting cast out of their homes and into the streets.

This short video puts the Federal Budget and those cuts into their proper perspective...which is anything but draconian.

 

The Economic Summit mentioned in the video is co-sponsored by Tea Party Nation:

 

tinyurl.com/wecount

Comment by Cliff Parker on October 21, 2010 at 1:17am

See Lorraine's latest post. Even Republicans can be corrupted.

Comment by Lorraine on October 20, 2010 at 4:38pm

Lisa Murkowksi funded by 'rent-an-Eskimo' racket
By: Timothy P. Carney
Senior Examiner Columnist
October 15, 2010




Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in candidacy is being funded by $100,000 contributions from a handful of Alaska corporations that have been handsomely subsidized by the federal government. These six-figure donors have pulled in billions of taxpayer dollars thanks to special legislative favors from Murkowski and her mentors -- the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R), and Lisa's father, former senator and governor, Frank Murkowski (R).

"Alaskans Standing Together," a special campaign committee, was formed late last month to attack Republican nominee Joe Miller and support Murkowski through ads. In late September AST took in $800,000 from nine Alaska Native Corporations -- unique, privileged, and politically connected for-profit entities created in the 1970s by legislation written by Stevens.

While the companies are technically owned by the natives, the taxpayer-funded spoils from these contracts accrue to the well-connected nonnative lobbyists, subcontractors, and executives in the "Alaska mafia" made up of aides, friends and donors of Stevens, the Murkowskis, and Rep. Don Young (R). Meanwhile the 130,000 Alaska Natives, who are shareholders in the ANCs, have received $720 million over the last nine years, which comes to $615 per native annually. In effect, the natives are unwitting frontmen for this racket.

Critics on Capitol Hill say this is worse than Jack Abramoff's exploitation of Indian tribes, and, in a dark joke, dub the ANCs with the politically incorrect name "rent-an-Eskimo."

Nine of the largest "rent-an-Eskimo" operations, all of which have Alaska mafia dons as lobbyists or executives, cut large checks -- not from political action committees, but from their corporate treasuries -- to finance Murkowski's write-in bid through Alaskans Standing Together, according to Oct. 11 campaign finance filings. AST, in turn, spent $595,000 in the final days of September attacking Miller.

The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, for instance, retains lobbying firm Van Ness Feldman -- a hub of the Alaska mafia, employing Lisa Murkowski donor Alan Mintz, and former Young aide Rick Agnew. The firm represents a handful of ANCs and pipeline companies, and its PAC has given at least $6,000 to Murkowski this election.

AHTNA, another native corporation ($50,000 to the pro-Murkowski committee) retains lobbyist Jack Ferguson, described by many Republicans from Alaska and K Street as the ringleader of the Alaska mafia. Ferguson was a top aide to Stevens and Young.

The pro-Murkowski ANCs -- AHTNA, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Sealaska, Bering Straits Native Corporation and four others -- pocketed more than $16 billion in federal contracts between 2000 and 2009, with a quarter of that from no-bid contracts, thanks in part to special treatment they receive under laws passed by Stevens, Young and the Murkowskis.

These multimillion-dollar (in some cases billion-dollar) corporations are exempt from competition requirements that cover most federal contracts because they are automatically treated as small businesses from socially and economically disadvantaged populations -- although their success in pulling in federal contracts would suggest otherwise.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., wrote in a recent report, "The GAO has repeatedly reported that some sole-source procurements to ANCs have resulted in paying significantly more for services and products than were warranted." Arctic Slope, for instance, together with another ANC, got a $1.13 billion no-bid contract to do logistics work for the Navy in Florida, Puerto Rico and elsewhere, according to McCaskill's report.

These overpriced no-bid contracts aren't welfare for poor natives as much as they are patronage for politically connected lobbyists and executives, most of whom are not natives.

McCaskill's study of ANCs found that between dividends and benefits, the average Alaska native got about $615 per year last decade.

Meanwhile, Mintz, Agnew, Ferguson and other K Street members of the Alaska mafia indirectly pocket much of this contract dough through lobbying fees.

The same is true of the corporations' executives. Those ANCs who do put a native in the CEO slot often pay nonnative vice presidents more than the CEOs. Bering Straits, for instance, paid two nonnative VPs nearly twice as much it paid its CEO, who was a native. McCaskill obtained compensation data from a few of the biggest ANCs and found that 69 percent of their executive compensation went to nonnatives.

Throw in the hefty subcontracting that often goes to nonnative-run companies, and the "rent-an-Eskimo" description rings sadly true.

The ANCs highlight the truly corrupt aspect of pork-barrel spending, especially in Alaska. "Bringing home the bacon" is not simply about transferring wealth north from the Lower 48 -- it's often about using taxpayer money to line the pockets of the politically connected, who return the favor in the form of campaign contributions. Much of the pork doesn't make it all the way to Alaska -- it stays right here on K Street.

It's no wonder these corporations are spending big to save their patroness Lisa Murkowski

Timothy P.Carney, The Examiner's senior political columnist, can be contacted at tcarney@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears Monday and Thursday, and his stories and blog posts appear on ExaminerPolitics.com.

Comment by Cliff Parker on September 19, 2010 at 7:38pm

Lorraine, where are the Tea Partiers in Alaska. Not many on this site. i hope Alaska has not gone left. We need the fishermen and oilmen and their families to get involved. We are talking national survival here. Most old folks, I am one, understand fiscal responsibility. Social Security must be managed responsibly. I like joe Miller. I can tell already he is a good guy and won't let us down. Talk up this group. Alaska needs tio get with the program.

Comment by Lorraine on September 19, 2010 at 5:06pm

Vern, Thanks, I took your advice and posted it on the Lisa Murkowski Sore Loser Forum.

Comment by Lorraine on September 19, 2010 at 5:00pm

Cliff, I too, support Jan Brewer. It made my blood boil when the State Department referenced Arizona in their statement concerning Human Rights.

I hope you are right about Joe Miller prevailing. I have already heard some seniors voice their concern about Social Security due to the miss-information scare tactics that the liberal news media is using against Miller. You can be sure that the Murkowski campaign is going to take their gloves off and go into attack mode from here on in.

I'm originally from Pennsylvania, however, I use to live in South Carolina and Virginia Beach. I really miss the warm Atlantic Ocean and the white sand beaches that I enjoyed in my younger years.

Thanks for your encouraging words. I plan to do everything I can to help Miller get elected.

Comment by Cliff Parker on September 19, 2010 at 2:07am

I am from Virginia but I operate a charter boat, www.bigeasycharters.com, in North Carolina. I fly the Arizona flag in sympathy with Jan Brewer from my cottage in Cape Hatteras. I was thrilled to see Joe Miller be nominated. Impressive credentials and a coherent thinker and speaker. Lisa Murkowski has thrust a dagger into your election. I guess she is hoping the Democrats will rally to her cause. Obviously a bitter person who is not interested in the will of the people. I believe Joe Miller will prevail. He talks the language "we the people" want to hear. I expect him to be a star in the Senate. A good choice. There are only 29 members in this group. I hope you have room for me.

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