Re: ALASKA-MISC-HOUSING HAS $12.5 MILLION FOR YOU!
239
Alaska Housing Finance Corporation-WEBSITE
$12.5 million for housing
> ---
http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us./home/index.cfm
239
Subject:9-01-06- Bird deaths puzzle Unalaska
----
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8145569p-8037818c.html
>
---
TEXT COPY: 9-01-06
---
Bird deaths puzzle Unalaska
********************************
SHEARWATERS:
Captain said hail of creatures hit his boat for up to 30 minutes.
---
By ALEX deMARBAN and CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News
Published: September 1, 2006
Last Modified: September 1, 2006 at 06:13 AM
------
More than 1,600 sea bird carcasses have washed onto Unalaska shores
over the last two days in a mysterious die-off that scientists are
scrambling to understand.
---
Some say they may have died of hunger.
---
Others say they're smashing into boats.
----
Maybe it's both, some scientists said.
---
Several hundred black, gull-like shearwaters died after flying into a
crabbing boat that steamed through the early morning darkness in
Unalaska Bay on Wednesday morning, said Forrest Bowers, a fisheries
biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska.
----
The captain of the boat walked into Bowers' office that day to report
that a hail of shearwaters struck his boat for up to 30 minutes, Bowers
said.
----
The crew pitched the dead and dying birds overboard, the captain said,
according to Bowers.
---
Bowers would not release the captain's name, saying he requested
anonymity.
---
The captain reported that other boats were in the area and may also
have been bombarded by the sea birds, Bowers said.
---
It's happened before in Unalaska, but usually not in such big numbers,
Bowers said.
---
Seabird specialist Art Sowls at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife
Refuge in Homer said he had neither heard nor read of massive numbers
of shearwaters dying in a collision with a ship or ships.
---
"That's not something that would have come to mind," said the
biologist, who has been called in to consult on the deaths.
---
"There are some species that actually are attracted to lights on
boats," including shearwaters, he said. He's heard of shearwaters
hitting structures in Hawaii but not boats, he said.
---
Still, he added, a massive death toll due to collision is not
impossible.
---
"Shearwaters can be in flocks of over a million birds," Sowls said, and
the birds go through a molting process that limits their ability to
fly.
---
Most should have just finished molting.
"They can fly," he said, "but they are somewhat immobile." ---
Given just the right circumstances, he said, maybe a ship or ships
could steam into a massive flock that just couldn't get out of the way
fast enough.
---
"That would be amazing if that was what caused it," he added.
---
Reid Brewer, a local marine biologist with the University of Alaska
Fairbanks, said he counted just over 1,600 carcasses on the pebbled
shores near homes in Unalaska and along beaches outside the Aleutian
island community.
----
The birds don't appear thin and aren't oiled, he said. Some had necks
twisted at odd angles, as if they had smashed into something, he said.
---
Seabird authority David Irons of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in
Anchorage had a similar reaction to the news of masses of dead
shearwaters. Starvation, he said, would be a far more likely cause for
the deaths than a collision.
---
"They don't normally run into ships," Irons said. It is possible,
however, that birds weakened by starvation could have struck boats, he
added, or that the carcasses washing ashore could be a combination of
birds that starved and birds that hit ships.
---
"Shearwaters are the most abundant bird out in the Bering Sea," Irons
said. Given their sheer numbers, it would not be surprising to witness
a seemingly massive die-off due to starvation or disease.
---
The population is so large the census is a broad estimate from 9
million to 20 million birds.
---
Irons said he expects that the dead birds will be checked for avian flu
-- the hot disease of the day -- but everyone involved with this
die-off thinks that it is an unlikely cause.
---
Sowls said the Fish and Wildlife Service is coordinating a carcass
retrieval to get birds delivered to laboratories for testing. That's
the only real way to determine the cause of the die-off, he said.
---
On Thursday, Sowls was also trying to contact people along the Aleutian
Islands and out in the Pribilof Islands to see if they had spotted
unusual numbers of dead shearwaters washing ashore -- an event that
would likely coincide with a natural die-off.
---
"It's not unusual to have birds dying," he said, but to have hundreds
or thousands of them dying at once is unusual.
---
Both Irons and Sowls said:
--
they expect the total number of dead birds is
**********************************************
much larger than the 1,600 carcasses that have
**********************************************
been found.
************
---
"Typically, you find a fairly small percentage of the ones that die,"
Sowls said.
----
© Copyright 2006, The Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The
McClatchy Company
quest...@webtv.net
THE BUDGET HEARINGS ON BOTH CHANNELS, C-SPAN AND C-SPAN2. (THERE IS
ALSO A C-SPAN3).
---
http://www.c-span.org
>
HERE IS WHAT THE SCHEDULED EVENTS SAYS ABOUT THE HEARING, WHICH MAY BE
ON TONIGHT..YOU'LL HAVE TO CHECK THE SCHEDULE OR CALL SEN. TORGERSON'S
OFFICE, SINCE HE WILL BE A WITNESS, IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED.
---
Home
Senate Committee
Rural Air Service
Commerce, Science and Transportation, Aviation
----
Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
ID: 194297 - 09/14/2006 - 2:00 - No Sale
Burns, Conrad
U.S. Senator, R-MT
---
Reynolds, Michael W.
Deputy Assistant Secretary,
Department of Transportation,
Aviation and International Affairs
---
Dillingham, Gerald
Director,
Government Accountability Office,
Civil Aviation Issues
---
Malarkey, Faye
Vice President,
Regional Airline Association,
Legislative Affairs
---
Kaercher, Douglas
Board Member,
National Association of Counties
---
Torgerson, John
Deputy Commissioner,
Alaska Department of Transportation
& Public Facilities, Aviation
---
quest...@webtv.net
WEBSITE AND GO TO THE ABOVE BLANK "comments" PAGE AND REMOVE THE WORD
"comments" IN THE TITLE AND TYPE IN THE AGENCY'S NAME IN THE TITLE AND
ADD THE LINK IN THE TEXT PAGE. THIS WAY WE CAN EASILY FIND THE AGENCY
AND WE CAN ADD A SUBTHREAD UNDER IT FOR THEIR REGULATIONS ETC.
---
Subject: LINKS TO ALASKA AGENCIES
--
http://www.ktoo.org/gavel/links.cfm
quest...@webtv.net
THAT SITE AND MAKE A SEPARATE POST FOR THAT FED AGENCY USING THE BLANK
FED AGENCY-"comments" POST ABOVE.
--
I'M HOPING TO SETUP A RESEARCH PAGE FOR ACA, BUT IF NO ONE POSTS TO IT
FOR 30 DAYS, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO ADD TO IT, SO PLEASE KEEP IT
UP-DATED, IF NOTHING MORE THAT POSTING A "QUESTION MARK".
---
SOME FED AGENCY LINKS:
---
Subject:LINKS TO SOME--- U.S. AGENCIES
239
---
Subject:KTOO: Gavel to Gavel Alaska
---
http://www.ktoo.org/gavel/
239
------
Subject: ALASKA'S FT. GREELEY- DEADLY CHEMICAL & BIO TESTS
--
Subject:BREAKING NEWS GREELY DOCUMENT
---
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/greely_document1.htm
>
-----
COPY OF FRONT PAGE: ARE LINKS-GO TO ABOVE URL TO OPEN THESE LINKS.
---
Gulf War Vets Home Page
----
BREAKING NEWS January 7, 2005
******************************************
Feds Whitewash US Bio-Chemical Tests in
**********************************************
Alaska
********
---
By Greg Szymanski
---
(below this article note important information released by The American
Gulf War Veterans Association that was posted in Oct. 1998)
---
http://www.rense.com/general61/bio.htm
>
Feds Whitewash US Bio-Chemical Tests in Alaska By Greg Szymanski
American Free Press.com
1-2-5
---
President Bush extended holiday greetings to military troops this
Christmas, but one gift he'll never open is the executive order he
signed, which keeps sensitive documents secret about biological and
chemical testing at Fort Greely near Fairbanks, Alaska.
-----
The president, by sealing important documents, obviously feels military
health concerns were of secondary importance to protecting the
Department of Defense (DOD) against potential exposure for injuries
resulting from chemical testing and dumping.
---
What little is known about chemical and biological testing at Fort
Greely has surfaced from leaked documents, eyewitness accounts and
other general information provided reluctantly by the DOD after health
problems began to surface by those living near the base.
----
Other information, scratching the surface of what really happened, has
also appeared in Seymour Hersh's book:
---
Chemical and Biological Testing:
America's Hidden Arsenal,
---
a historical account of the base by Norman Chase and a March 2003
article entitled "Northern Exposure" in
----
The Nation magazine
by Korey Capozza.
----
"The real story of what went on is in the classified documents kept
secret by the DOD and President Bush,"
----
said Capozza, a critic of the recent executive order signed by Bush.
---
"They have yet to give veterans a clear definition of possible causes
of their health problems.
----
The DOD also refuses to grant any of the veterans health care based on
exposure to agents used in the secret site's experiments."
----
Records show that Fort Greely, as far back as 1952 and continuing to at
least 1970, was used for the explicit purpose of: "testing chemical and
biological weapons."
----
The base, located 100 miles southwest of Fairbanks on 640,000 acres,
originally began operating in 1942 as a staging area for planes ferried
to the Soviet Union during World War II.
---
However, seven years later a nuclear reactor was built to serve as the
military's power plant.
---
Then in 1966, the Army began testing biological, chemical and various
other weapons.
---
The reactor was dismantled in 1973, and in 1995 the base was scheduled
for closure.
---
But recently, under the Bush administration, the DOD proposed Fort
Greely be used as a "storage site for interceptor missiles" in support
of the space-based missile defense program.
---
However, what transpired on the base during the 1960s and 1970s is
still heavily debated as:
---
veterans are "now" surfacing with what
********************************************
amounts to "chemical horror" stories.
******************************************
---
According to several veterans who spoke to VA officials, between 1962
and 1967,
---
the Army blasted hundreds of rockets and bombs containing: ---
sarin and VX nerve gas into the region which is
**********************************************
densely populated by forests and wildlife.
*********************************************
---
Veterans recall:
"canisters of VX nerve agents"
being indiscriminately "buried" approximately "a mile from the Alaskan
highway" or
"tossed in a nearby frozen lake"
in the winter of 1966,
************************
---
where the canisters later sank to the bottom when the ice melted in the
spring.
---
"Regular dumping expeditions" were reportedly carried out until 1970,
when the testing discontinued.
**********************************************
---
Now, 30 years later,
*********************
veterans and civilians are coming forward with serious health concerns,
but:
---
since no records are available due to Fort
**********************************************
Greely's top-secret status,
*****************************
VA officials "at first" had a hard time believing the veterans'
credibility.
----
"After heavy pressure was applied"
by watchdog groups,
**********************
the "DOD has released some documents"
"revealing the test site"
*************************
may have been operated with blatant disregard
**********************************************
for human and environmental safety.
****************************************
---
The documents also suggest that:
---
"some of the deadly materials used"
****************************************
may still be unaccounted for and
*************************************
buried somewhere beneath the
**********************************
pristine Alaskan wilderness.
*******************************
---
Critics suggest "the executive order"
****************************************
signed by Bush was designed to protect
**********************************************
the DOD against conclusive evidence,
*******************************************
hiding a massive cover-up of illegal
***************************************
"chemical and biological testing."
************************************
Not Copyrighted. Readers can reprint and are free to redistribute - as
long as full credit is given to American Free Press - 645 Pennsylvania
Avenue SE, Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20003
---
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bio-chemical_tests.html
Read The News Release titled:
"40 Years of Government Sponsored Ecological Terrorism" BY Joyce Riley
vonKleist posted Oct. 1998:
---
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/greely.htm
Read The FULL TEXT Document of
---
"INSTALLATION ASSESSMENT OF GERSTLE RIVER TEST SITE" :
---
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/greely/greely.html
(Posted on the website Oct. 1998)
--------
Related articles:
------------------
*October 20, 2002
-
ANCHORAGE (AP) -- Gov. Tony Knowles is demanding that the Department of
Defense reveal all Cold War-era chemical or biological weapons testing
in Alaska.
---
* Oct. 9, 2002
---
Fact Sheet from The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense
(Health Affairs)
Deployment Health Support Directive.
239
MISSILES....SEE ABOVE POST RE THE DEADLY CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL TESTS
THAT WERE DONE ON THIS SITE ALSO.
---
Subject:FT GREELY + MISSILE - 12 THREADS POSTED IN ACA
---
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.culture.alaska/search?q=FT+GREELY+%2B+MISSLE&start=0&scoring=d&
239
--
Subject:AK-Boards and Commissions List - Governor Frank Murkowski
http://gov.state.ak.us/boards/list.php
239
--
Subject:Alaska Legislature Home Page-LINKS TO OTHERS
--
http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/textonly/textonly.htm
239
---
NOTE...THE LINK IS FROM THE "REPUBLICAN PARTY", AND NOT SOME IMPARTIAL
SOURCE.
---
Subject:24th Alaska State Legislature's-ON-LINE NEWS
----
http://www.akrepublicans.org/index.php
>
239
---
THE 24TH SESSION
---
Subject:Alaska STATE SENATE-LINK
---
http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/senate/24/senate.htm
exam...@webtv.net
> ---
--
GO TO ABOVE URL FOR PHOTOS & LINKS
---
24th Legislature
---
State Senate - Leadership
--
Ben Stevens- Senate President
--
Gary Stevens-Senate Majority Leader
---
Johnny Ellis-Senate Minority Leader
---
State Senate:
***********
Con Bunde
John Cowdery
Bettye Davis
Fred Dyson
Johnny Ellis
Kim Elton
Hollis French
Lyda Green
Gretchen Guess
Lyman Hoffman
Charlie Huggins
Albert Kookesh
Donald Olson
Ralph Seekins
Bert Stedman
Ben Stevens
Gary Stevens
Gene Therriault
Thomas Wagoner
Gary Wilken
----
Kirsten Waid, Senate Secretary
Phone 465-3701
Fax 465-2832
Capitol, Room 213
---
Senate Sergeant-At-Arms
Phone 465-4987
---
Senate Chamber
*************
Senate Records
Phone 465-2870
Fax 465-2931
----
Terry Miller Bldg., Rm 226
***************************
Senate Finance Secretary
Phone 465-4935
Fax 465-2187
Capitol, Rm. 520
---
Send questions and comments to Webmaster. This page last updated
10/24/05
exam...@webtv.net
---
Subject:Alaska Legislature Home Page-THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
-2006--24TH legislature
---
http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/house/24/house.htm
>
---------
TEXT COPY: 9-14-06
---
24th Legislature
House of Representatives - Leadership
----
John Harris
House Speaker
---
John Coghill Jr.
House Majority Leader
---
Ethan Berkowitz
House Minority Leader
---
House of Representatives--LINKS
****************************
Tom Anderson
Ethan Berkowitz
Mike Chenault
Sharon Cissna
John Coghill Jr.
Harry Crawford
Eric Croft
Nancy Dahlstrom
Jim Elkins
Richard Foster
Les Gara
Berta Gardner
Carl Gatto
Max Gruenberg
David Guttenberg
John Harris
Mike Hawker
Jim Holm
Reggie Joule
Mary Kapsner
Mike Kelly
Beth Kerttula
Vic Kohring
Pete Kott
Gabrielle LeDoux
Bob Lynn
Lesil McGuire
Kevin Meyer
Carl Moses
Mark Neuman
Kurt Olson
Jay Ramras
Norman Rokeberg
Woodie Salmon
Ralph Samuels
Paul Seaton
Bill Stoltze
Bill Thomas, Jr
Bruce Weyhrauch
Peggy Wilson
------
Suzi Lowell, Chief Clerk
Phone 465-3725
Fax 465-5334
--
Capitol, Room 216
Sergeant-At-Arms
Phone 465-3869
House Chamber
House Records
Phone 465-2214
Fax 465-2267
---
Terry Miller Bldg., Room 229
House Finance Secretary
Phone 465-6814
Fax 465-6813
Capitol, Room 519
---
Send questions and comments to Webmaster. This page last updated 9/23/05
exam...@webtv.net
---
I DIDN'T KNOW THAT TORGERSON LEFT THE AK. LEGISLATURE AS A SENATOR;
---
SECOND:
--
I, OF COURSE, DIDN'T KNOW THAT HE IS "NOW" A DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ON THE
AK. DEPT. OF TRANSPORATION, "AVIATION" SECTION, WHICH APPEARS TO BE AN
"APPOINTED POSITION", AND NOT AN EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE POSITION, I.E. NO
STATE SALARY.
--
THIRD:
---
HE WAS SUPPOSED TO "TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS TODAY" ABOUT
"RURAL AIR TRANSPORTATION".
---
THERE IS, OF COURSE, MORE GOING ON HERE, THAT IS NOT BEING TOLD, AND
UNTIL WE SEE AND HEAR TORGERSON, BEFORE CONGRESS, WE WILL NOT BE SURE
"WHAT HE IS SELLING".
--
BY CHECKING THE ALASKA STATE WEBSITES, I FOUND THIS LINK
WHICH APPEARS TO BE "THE PURPOSE" FOR TORGERSON'S INVOLVEMENT,
UNFORTUNATELY,I CAN'T OPEN PDF FILES WITH MY OLD WEBTV. PERHAPS A
READER OF THIS POST WILL OPEN IT AND POST WHAT IT SAYS.
------
Subject: WHY IS TORGERSON GOING TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS?
---
Subject:Programs-Plans-Projects-PDF FILE ON RURAL AIRPORT SPENDING
PLANS.
---
http://www.dot.state.ak.us/prog-plan-proj.shtml
>
----
TEXT COPY: 9-14-06
---
THE PDF FILE FOR ALASKA'S "PROJECT & PLAN FOR RURAL ALASKA IN PDF" (
SEE BELOW-OUTLINED WITH ASTERICKS)
----
State of Alaska | Employee Directory | DOT&PF Home Search DOT&PF Home
| Contacts | Travel Info | Business & Operations | Programs,
Plans & Projects | Highlights & Resources
----
511 Travel in the Know
ePermits - online permitting
Highway/Traffic Data
Highway Safety
Iways - Intelligent Transportation Systems Research & Technology
Scenic Byways
Transit
Thompson Pass Smart Snowplow
Garvee Bonds
Government-to-Government relations
Industrial Roads Program
Needs & STIP
Online Public Notices
Project Information
Public Involvement
******************************************
FFY'02-07 Draft Rural System Airport Improvement Spending Plan
Statewide & Area Plans
********************************************
---
Please note: You must have Acrobat Reader to open any documents on this
page.
---
If you do not have Acrobat Reader, click to download the FREE software.
---
State of Alaska | Print ready Page | DOT&PF Web Manager | DOT&PF
Employee Directory | Terms of Use | Copyright | DOT&PF Home
exam...@webtv.net
----
UPDATE:---NOW SCHEDULED FOR TV AIRING:
---
Subject:C-SPAN:
---
4:20AM (EST)-
1:20AM (PST) OR
12:20 AM-ALASKA TIME-HEARING
----
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/fullschedule.csp?timeid=212024983462
>
LEG...@webtv.net
TO THE THREAD RE THE ABOVE TOPICS.
---
Subject:THREAD #1 ABOUT BP SPILL-&- FED INVESTIGATION OF AK.
LEGISLATORS
---
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.culture.alaska/browse_frm/thread/421bf34291d2e676/87b5e0385ce5d4a9
>
--
exam...@webtv.net
-----
alt.culture.alaska > Link to pictures from Independence Mine
--
From:Shel - view profile
--
Date:Sat, Sep 23 2006 5:08 pm
---
Email: "Shel" <s...@hohome.com>
---
Groups: alt.culture.alaska
---
OK here is the link to some of the pictures we took while up there at
Independence mine...hopefully it works....had a heck of a time with the
site saving the page...ugh gotta get my ftp program going so I can use
my normal webpage which is sooooo much nicer to use :)
--
Shel
---
http://handmadecraftsbyme.50megs.com/independencemine.html
exam...@webtv.net
BIGGEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA (ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS) ALLOWS HER TO WRITE
A COLUMN, NOT JUST ONCE, BUT THREE TIMES A WEEK, PROVING IT.
---
I WILL REPOST THIS ARTICLE AND THEN ADD MY COMMENTS TO WHAT "SHE IS
SAYING" AND "WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE SAID".
NOTE: I DON'T KNOW "WHO THIS WOMAN IS", BUT IN MY 11 YEARS OF LIVING IN
ALASKA, SHE IS "A TYPICAL ALASKAN".
------
Subject:Beth Bragg : If there's no ethics reform, "something's rotten"
in Juneau
---
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/beth_bragg/story/8229489p-8126248c.html
>
----
TEXT COPY: 9-24-06
------
If there's no ethics reform, something's rotten in Juneau
---
BETH BRAGG
COMMENT
---
Published: September 24, 2006
Last Modified: September 24, 2006 at 02:45 AM
---
It is quite reasonable for the average Alaskan to wonder who our
elected leaders work for.
---
We the people?
---
Or whoever writes the biggest checks?
---
The FBI raids on six legislators' offices early this month reminded us
just how cozy some lawmakers are with some campaign contributors.
---
There's something rotten in Juneau, and
*********************************************
it's sapping our trust.
**********************
---
"Luckily there's an easy way" for
lawmakers to regain at least a portion of our confidence:
---
Pass the ethics bills that died last session.
**********************************************
When "the new session begins in January",
two bills that address conflict-of-interest
*********************************************
concerns will be re-introduced.
**********************************
---
One is "Berta Gardner's bill" that:
**********************************
would require lawmakers to disclose
"more information about the income" they receive.
---
The other is "Les Gara's bill" that:
************************************
would "close the Gregg Renkes loophole"
in the "executive branch ethics law."
***************************************
---
Gardner's bill would:
**********************
require a legislator "who has a consulting job"
**********************************************
worth "more than $5,000 to tell us:
***************************************
what exactly they do to earn their money and how many hours they expect
to spend on the job.
---
"Exceptions would be made if":
**********************************
the lawmaker is a "licensed professional" performing services in his or
her field of expertise -- a licensed lawyer providing legal
consultation, for instance.
---
This is a must-pass bill,
**************************
given that so much of our distrust concerns politicians who collect
huge paychecks but won't say how they earn them.
---
The current poster child for this is Ben Stevens, who has reported
receiving five years' and $252,000 worth of consulting fees from Veco
-- but "refuses to say how he earns the money,"
--
because "current law" doesn't require him to.
**********************************************
---
"It'd be nice" if:
*****************
politicians gave us this information because they believe in
transparency -- or at the least, because they're worried it might look
like they're taking the money for favors bestowed instead of services
rendered.
---
But this is Alaska, not Utopia, so we need a law
**********************************************
that requires them to tell us these things.
**********************************************
---
Otherwise, there will be "those who sniff" that it's none of our
business,
*********************************
when in fact it's very much our business.
*********************************************
---
Gardner's bill made it to:
the House State Affairs Committee,
but no further.
---
A Senate version of the bill,
introduced by Anchorage Democrat,
Hollis French, also stalled.
---
In light of the FBI raids that seem to target the link between several
legislators and Veco, Gardner's bill should be a popular one this year.
---
If it doesn't get bipartisan support, it should be only because a
Republican introduces one similar to hers.
---
And in fact, Rep. Bob Lynn of Anchorage,
**********************************************
who told the Daily News he doesn't think legislators should accept any
consulting fees,
is working on a reform bill of his own.
---
House Speaker, John Harris of Valdez,
*******************************************
meanwhile, "guarantees" ethics reform
"will be an issue."
---
"If not,'' Gardner said, "shame on us.''
****************************************
---
Ditto, "if lawmakers fail to fix a loophole" in the executive branch
ethics law that:
---
allowed former Attorney General Renkes to
**********************************************
"dodge serious ethics violations."
************************************
---
Renkes owned more than $100,000
****************************************
"worth of stock in a company" that
potentially "stood to benefit" from
a "state contract" he was helping "to negotiate,
**********************************************
but "current law" doesn't put a dollar amount
**********************************************
on "what's considered a significant"
****************************************
enough financial stake "to constitute a conflict."
**********************************************
---
The "former U.S. attorney" who "ruled on the Renkes case" "pointed out
the flaw" and
**********************
advised legislators to fix it.
*****************************
---
That was 20 months ago, and
****************************
the loophole's still there, waiting to be taken advantage of again.
---
Les Gara,
*********
a House Democrat from Anchorage,
introduced a fix that's both simple and obvious:
**********************************************
---
Put a dollar amount in the law.
**********************************
His original version set the limit at $5,000, which was later amended
to $10,000.
---
French
********
introduced a similar bill in the Senate. But neither got anywhere,
because:
---
Fairbanks Republican, Ralph Seekins
******************************************
introduced a version that
"created more problems than it fixed" -
---
- but because "he's a member of the majority", it was the preferred
bill.
*************************
---
Seekins' bill would have:
---
established a "$10,000 limit" that
"would be waived" if the stock is placed in a
**********************************************
"blind trust."
***********
---
Worse, at "varying times" it:
---
would have "punished people" who
****************************************
"disclose confidential ethics information"
********************************************
with jail time (up to a year) or
*****************************
fines (up to $5,000).
***********************
---
The "bill was amended" to:
--
eliminate the spectre of fines and
************************************
misdemeanors,
****************
---
although "it still would have made "it illegal"
**********************************************
"to talk about the filing of a complaint" or
*****************************************
even about the potential filing of a complaint.
---
And that's a problem, because:
---
"a memo" from:
*****************
the "Legislature's Legal Services" says:
*******************************************
---
"the bill" could "expose private citizens" to
**********************************************
"civil liability" for "talking about a complaint."
******************************************
---
The "bill passed the Senate" but
"didn't make it to the House floor."
---
That means the "simple fix" proposed by
Gara and French
could have a fighting chance next session.
**********************************************
---
Alaskans should be following conflict-of-interest
**********************************************
issues closer than ever, and
********************************
---
"we should demand" that our lawmakers
*********************************************
"pass good bills". If we don't, "shame on us."
*********************************************
---
Beth Bragg's opinion column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Her
e-mail address is bbr...@adn.com.
------
© Copyright 2006, The Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The
McClatchy Company
exam...@webtv.net
(WHO SHOULD EITHER CHANGE HER NAME OR STOP WRITING HER "OPINIONS, WHICH
ARE "NOTHING TO BRAGG ABOUT) WITH MY COMMENTS.
------
FIRST:
---
I CHALLENGED THE ALASKA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE TO RESPOND TO MY
LETTER WHICH ASKED THEM, WHETHER THE STATE CONSTITUTION "ALLOWED THE
ALASKAN PEOPLE TO "CHANGE THEIR OWN CONSTITUION", SINCE THE
POLITICIANS, BASED ON THE CORRUPT "ALASKA LEGISLATURE'S OWN ATTORNEYS
(NAMED BELOW) TOLD ME, "ONLY THE STATE LEGISLATURE HAS THE AUTHORITY TO
CHANGE IT. PAM COOK "WAS" THE STATE LEGISLATOR'S CHIEF ATTORNEY RUNNING
THIS OFFICE AND WAS THE PERSON WHO WROTE THAT LETTER TO ME. AFTER
RECEIVING HER RESPONSE, I DEMANDED THAT "SHE SEND MY LETTER AND HER
RESPONSE TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE FOR "THEIR LEGAL OPINION",
WHICH COOK SAID SHE DID.
--
I DID NOT RECEIVE ANY RESPONSE FROM THE A.G.'S OFFICE, BUT SOMEONE ELSE
MADE A SIMILAR DEMAND, AND...(DRUM ROLL), THE STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S
OFFICE, THROUGH COURT ACTION, WAS TOLD...THE ALASKAN PEOPLE "CAN CHANGE
THEIR OWN CONSTITUTION" THROUGH THE "CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION" WHICH
CAN BE HELD ON A REGULAR BASIS.
---
SECONDLY:
*******
MANY OF THE CORRUPT ALASKA POLITICIANS "ARE ATTORNEYS" AND KNOW FULL
WELL THAT THEY ARE COMMITTING FRAUD, WHEN THEY THINK THE CAN BE "A
CONTRACTED LOBBYIST" FOR PRIVATE CORPORATIONS, THEN VOTE FOR THE BILL
THAT THAT CORPORATION WAS PASSED, INCLUDING, THE FORMER ATTORNEY
GENERAL, HIMSELF,WHO'S MANDATED CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY DUTIES ARE
"TO ENFORCE THESE LAWS", YET ARE ACTIVITY VIOLATING THEM, THEMSELVES,
AND DELIBERATELY "ALLOWING THIS BLATANT CORRUPTION TO EXIST";
---
THIRDLY;
*******
THE STATUTES "CALL ALASKA'S POLITICIANS" ---"PART-TIME LEGISLATORS" AND
"ALLOWS THEM TO WORK IN PROFESSIONS WHICH MIGHT "CONFLICT" WITH THEIR
LEGISLATIVE DUTIES, AND SHOULD WHEN NECESSARY "DECLARE A CONFLICT OF
INTEREST".
--
AS WE ALL KNOW, THIS IS AN OUTRAGEOUS LAW, WHICH PER USUAL HAS BEEN
ABUSED EVER SINCE IT WAS MADE.
---
S00000, ANY MORON COULD SEE, THAT WHAT MS. BRAGG IS STATING BELOW, AS
WELL AS THE LUDICROUS STATEMENTS FROM THE CURRENT LEGISLATORS AND THEIR
SO-CALLED:
"PROPOSED "ETHICAL REFORM BILLS" ARE AGAIN, JUST ANOTHER SCAM TO KEEP
THEIR KICK BACKS COMING IN, KNOWING THAT ALASKANS WON'T DO ANYTHING AND
ARE CONSIDERED AS STUPID AS MS. BRAGG PROVES SHE IS.
---
THE REAL SOLUTION LIES WITH THE ALASKAN PEOPLE, AS IT ALWAYS HAS, AND
BECAUSE IT APPEARS THEY "STILL DON'T GIVE A DAMN AND ARE TOO STUPID
AND/OR LAZY", THEY WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE THE "CORRUPT AND FASCIST
GOVERNMENT THAT THEY DESERVE".
--
HOWEVER, IF THIS RECENT FBI INTERVENTION HAS FINALLY WOKE THEM UP LONG
ENOUGH TO "START ASKING QUESTIONS AND THEN DEMAND ANSWERS", AND THEN
DEMAND A "CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION" WHERE IN THEY CHANGE THEIR
CONSTITUTION TO STATE:
---
(1) THE ALASKA ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL BE "ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE" AND
THIS OFFICE OF ATTORNEYS, WILL "SERVE THE PEOPLE" NOT THE GOVERNOR AND
LEGISLATORS,I.E. THAT IS WHY THEY HAVE THE "LEGISLATIVE LEGAL COUNCIL
OFFICE";
--
(2) THE "REQUIREMENTS TO HOLD ANY STATE POLITICAL OFFICE" INCLUDE...:
---
(A) "NO OTHER SOURCE OF INCOME", OTHER THAN THEIR SALARIES;
---
(B) THE LEGISLATORS ARE REQUIRED TO HOLD OFFICE FOR SIX MONTHS OUT OF
EACH YEAR, DUE TO THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF WORK THAT ALASKA DESPERATELY
NEEDS, TO PULL THE STATE OUT OF POVERTY; PROVIDE HEALTH CARE TO ALL WHO
CANNOT AFFORD IT; AND TO "SET UP ALASKA OWNED AND OPERATED ALASKA
BUSINESSES, ON A PROGRAM LIKE A CO-OP, WHERE THE EMPLOYEES DIRECTLY
BENEFIT FROM THE BUSINESSES PROFITS;
--
(3) THERE ARE 20,000 STATE EMPLOYEES WHICH ARE OPERATING ILLEGALLY, BY
DENYING ALASKAN'S THE LEGITIMATE SERVICES THE LAWS STATE THEY SHOULD
RECEIVE, AND IT IS THE HEAD OF THESE AGENCIES, THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
THESE ILLEGAL ACTS BY DEMANDING THAT THE STATE EMPLOYEES "FOLLOW THE
ILLEGAL DENIALS, WRITTEN IN REGULATIONS, BY THIS SAME AGENCY, RATHER
THAN OBEY THE FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS, I.E.
---
ALL STATE REGULATIONS WILL BE REPEALED AND MADE INTO STATE LAWS,
REQUIRING THE STATE LEGISLATORS TO PASS THESE LAWS, OF WHICH, THEY WILL
NOW HAVE THE TIME TO DO.
---
(4) THE STATE OF ALASKA HAS MANY ILLEGALLY OPERATING STATE AGENCIES,
ALL OF WHICH NEED A "FULL INVESTIGATION" AND OTHERS ARE NOT EVEN
LEGALLY SET UP IN THE LAW,YET COSTS TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR,
LIKE THE "LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY" WHICH IN TURN "CONTROLS THE
ALASKA PEOPLE'S ONLY SOURCE OF INVOLVEMENT WITH THEIR LEGISLATURE I.E.
"THE LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION OFFICES".
---
THE LAA IS TO BE SHUT DOWN, AND ALL OF THE LIO OFFICES, LOCATED IN 96
AREAS OF THE STATE, ARE TO BE "TURNED OVER TO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN
THAT AREA, FOR THE PURPOSE OF "UNITING AND ORGANIZING VIA
TELECONFERENCING, A SERVICE THAT IS "ONLY" PROVIDED TO POLITICIANS AND
CORPORATIONS.
---
THIS IS JUST A FEW OF THE MOST OBVIOUS CHANGES THAT ALASKANS "MUST
MAKE" BEFORE THEY GET A GOVERNMENT THAT "WORKS FOR THEM, NOT ROB THEM,
THEIR TREASURY, AND THEIR NATURAL RESOURCES. CLEARLY THE DEPT OF
NATURAL RESOURCES NEEDS TO BE GUTTED OF THE POWER IT HAS, AS WELL AS
THE GOVERNOR'S.
---
Subject: Beth Bragg : If there's no ethics reform, "something's rotten"
--
MY COMMENT: "ALMOST EVERYTHING IN JUNEAU IS ROTTEN" BECAUSE "THERE ARE
"NO ETHICS"!
---
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/beth_bragg/story/8229489p-8126248c.html
>
----
TEXT COPY: 9-24-06
---------
BETH BRAGG--COMMENT
---
Published: September 24, 2006
Last Modified: September 24, 2006 at 02:45 AM
---
It is "quite reasonable for the average Alaskan to wonder" who our
elected leaders work for.
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
MS. BRAGG SHOULD TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT HOW MANY ALASKANS ACTUALLY "CARE
TO MAKE AN EFFORT TO VOTE"..AND IF THEY ARE "WONDERING" WHO THEIR
ELECTED LEADERS WORK FOR, IT IS JUST MORE PROOF OF HOW STUPID ALASKANS
ARE, I.E. THERE'S "NOTHING REASONABLE ABOUT BLATANT AND WELL-KNOWN
POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND ALASKANS REFUSE TO TAKE ANY ACTION.
---
We the people?
---
Or whoever writes the biggest checks?
---
The FBI raids on "six legislators' offices"
early this month:
---
reminded us "just how cozy some lawmakers "are" with
***********
some campaign contributors.
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
HMMM, MS BRAGG APPEARS TO "KNOW" THERE IS BLATANT CORRUPTION, BUT SINCE
SHE DID NOTHING, SHE HAD TO BE
"REMINDED", THAT ...THE CORRUPTION IS STILL THERE,
---
There's something rotten in Juneau, and
*********************************************
it's sapping our trust.
**********************
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
WHEN DID ANY ALASKAN WITH AN I.Q LARGER THAN THEIR
SHOE SIZE, EVER "HAVE ANY TRUST IN ALASKA'S POLITICIANS?"
----
"Luckily there's an easy way" for
***************************
lawmakers to regain "at least a portion"
of our confidence:
---
MY COMMENTS:
+++
IF ALL MS. BRAGG WANTS IS "A PORTION OF CONFIDENCE IN HER
STATE POLITICIANS", THEN SHE SHOULD FORGET IT.
---
Pass the ethics bills that died last session.
**********************************************
When "the new session begins in January",
two bills that "address conflict-of-interest"
*********************************************
concerns will be re-introduced.
**********************************
---
One is "Berta Gardner's bill" that:
**********************************
would require lawmakers to disclose
"more information about the income" they receive.
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++++
OH GOODY, "MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW THEY TAKE KICK-BACKS WHICH "THEY
THINK THEY HAVE "A RIGHT TO COLLECT", NOW THAT'S REALLY EFFECTIVE...FOR
A MORON.
---
The other is "Les Gara's bill" that:
************************************
would "close the Gregg Renkes loophole"
in the "executive branch ethics law."
***************************************
---
Gardner's bill would:
**********************
require a legislator "who has a consulting job"
**********************************************
worth "more than $5,000 to tell us:
***************************************
"what exactly they do"
to earn their money and
"how many hours" they expect to spend on the job.
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
WHAT AN IDIOT, READ WHAT KOHRING SAID HE DID FOR
"HIS MONEY"...THE SOLUTION IS: TO STOP ALL SOURCES
OF MONEY GOING TO LEGISLATORS, EXCEPT THEIR LEGISLATIVE
SALARIES, AND IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT...THEY SHOULDN'T
SIT THEIR ASSES DOWN IN THE "PUBLIC SERVANT'S SEATS".
---
"Exceptions would be made if":
**********************************
the lawmaker is a "licensed professional" performing services in his or
her field of expertise -- a licensed lawyer "providing legal
consultation", for instance.
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++++
AGAIN, WHAT A MORONIC STATEMENT AND IDEA...THESE
CORRUPT POLITICIANS, WHO ARE ATTORNEYS, ARE "ALREADY GETTING HUGE
ILLEGAL PAY-OFFS, OR MAYBE MS. BRAGG CAN'T
READ WHAT SHE HAS WRITTEN HERE, OR PERHAPS, "NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE,
HERSELF HAS WRITTEN". PATHETIC!
---
This is a must-pass bill,
**************************
given that:
---
so "much of our distrust concerns"
politicians who "collect huge paychecks" but
won't say how they earn them.
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++++
IS MS. BRAGG 12 YEARS OLD?
---
The current poster child for this is Ben Stevens, who has reported
receiving five years' and $252,000 worth of "consulting fees" from Veco
--
---
but "refuses to say how he earns the money,"
******************************************
--
because "current law" doesn't require him to.
**********************************************
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++++
IF THE STATE "ELECTION AND ETHIC LAWS "WERE ENFORCED"
HE WOULD BE IN JAIL NOW. THERE "ARE LAWS" THAT REQUIRE HIM TO "REPORT
THIS MONEY" AND IF MS. BRAGG BOTHERED TO READ THEM, SHE WOULD KNOW
THAT, BUT IF THEY AREN'T CLEAR ENOUGH
TO MS. BRAGG, PERHAPS THE R.I.C.O. LAWS WOULD BE. IN
EITHER CASE, SHE DOESN'T TELL US "WHO TOLD HER" THAT THE
CURRENT LAW DOESN'T REQUIRE THIS INFORMATION, PROBABLY A STATE EMPLOYEE
OR POLITICIANS, WHO SHE NAIVELY BELIEVES.
------
"It'd be nice" if:
*****************
"politicians gave us this information" because
they believe in transparency -- or at the least,
because they're worried it might look like they're taking the money for
favors bestowed instead of services rendered.
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++
IT'D BE NICE, IF MS. BRAGG KNEW WHAT SHE WAS TALKING
ABOUT!
---
But this is Alaska, not Utopia, so we need a law
**********************************************
that requires them to tell us these things.
**********************************************
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++
AT LEAST SHE KNOWS "WHAT STATE SHE LIVES IN, AND SHE
APPARENTLY "KNOWS", THAT THAT STATE IS FILLED WITH
"CORRUPT POLICIANS, BECAUSE "SHE WAS JUST REMINDED" BY THE FBI RAIDS.
GOD HAVE MERCY ON THE MORONS.
---
Otherwise, there will be "those who sniff" that
it's none of our business,
*********************************
MY COMMENTS:
++++++++++
WAKE UP MS. BRAGG, THEY HAVE BEEN "SNIFFING" FOR DECADES AND "THEY HAVE
MADE SURE THAT THE ALASKAN MORONS, BELIEVE "IT IS NONE OF THEIR
BUSINESS"...WHICH THEY, LIKE YOU,
HAVE DONE NOTHING TO CHANGE THIS CORRUPTION.
---
when in fact it's very much our business.
*********************************************
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
THEN "WHY" HAVE ALASKANS "NOT TAKEN CARE OF THEIR BUSINESS?" LAZINESS,
OR STUPIDITY, OR BOTH?
---
Gardner's bill made it to:
the House State Affairs Committee,
but no further.
---
A Senate version of the bill,
introduced by Anchorage Democrat,
Hollis French, also stalled.
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
IN MY NEXT POSTED ARTICLE...AN EXPLANATION IS GIVEN
WHY THESE BILLS WERE STOPPED.
---
In light of the FBI raids that seem to target the link between several
legislators and Veco, Gardner's bill should be a popular one this year.
---
If it doesn't get bipartisan support, it should be only because a
Republican introduces one similar to hers.
---
And in fact, Rep. Bob Lynn of Anchorage,
**********************************************
who told the Daily News he doesn't think legislators should accept any
consulting fees,
is working on a reform bill of his own.
---
House Speaker, John Harris of Valdez,
*******************************************
meanwhile, "guarantees" ethics reform
"will be an issue."
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
I WILL TRY TO MAKE JOHN HARRIS'S GUARANTEE COME TRUE
THROUGH SOME TIPS TO THE ADN ABOUT HARRIS'S "OWN PERSONAL
INVOLVEMENT"...IN VALDEZ, HIS REPUTATION FOR HONESTY STINKS" AND HIS
LAME AND VAGUE RECENT STATEMENTS COME
RIGHT OUT OF THE "CON-ARTIST'S MANUAL" OF:
"IF YOU CAN'T DAZZLE THEM WITH WORDS, DAZZLE THEM WITH YOUR FOOTWORK".
---
"If not,'' Gardner said, "shame on us.''
****************************************
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++++
SHAME IS AND HAS BEEN ON US, ALASKANS FOR DECADES,
WHY DON'T YOU JUST ADMIT IT MS. BRAGG?
----
Ditto, "if lawmakers fail to fix a loophole" in the executive branch
ethics law that:
---
"allowed former Attorney General", Renkes to
**********************************************
"dodge serious ethics violations."
************************************
---
Renkes owned more than $100,000
****************************************
"worth of stock in a company" that
***************************
potentially "stood to benefit" from
*****************************
a "state contract" he was helping "to negotiate,
**********************************************
but "current law" doesn't put a dollar amount
**********************************************
on "what's considered a significant"
****************************************
enough financial stake "to constitute a conflict."
**********************************************
---
The "former U.S. attorney" who
"ruled on the Renkes case"
"pointed out the flaw" and
**********************
advised legislators to fix it.
*****************************
---
That was 20 months ago, and
****************************
the loophole's still there,
"waiting" to be taken advantage of again.
********
---
MY COMMENT:
++++++++++
I'M REALLY SORRY THAT MS. BRAGG IS AN OBVIOUS MORON,
SINCE SHE APPARENTLY "DOESN'T KNOW" THAT DURING THE
PAST 20 MONTHS, (SHE JUST REFERRED TO) THE POLITICIANS HAVE CLEARLY
BEEN INVOLVED IN THE "SAME CORRUPTION".
OR IS SHE ALSO UNCERTAIN, AS TO "WHY THE FBI IS IN ALASKA"?
---
Les Gara,
*********
a House Democrat from Anchorage,
introduced "a fix" that's both simple and obvious:
**********************************************
---
Put a dollar amount in the law.
**********************************
His original version set the limit at $5,000, which was later amended
to $10,000.
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
"THE FIX" IS CERTAINLY IN, AND IT IS "SIMPLE"...
HIS BILL DOES NOTHING BUT ALLOW THE SAME CORRUPTION
TO TAKE PLACE.
---
French
********
introduced a similar bill in the Senate. But neither got anywhere,
because:
---
Fairbanks Republican, Ralph Seekins
******************************************
introduced a version that
"created more problems than it fixed" -
---
- but because:
"he's a member of the majority",
it was the preferred bill.
*************************
---
Seekins' bill would have:
---
established a "$10,000 limit" that
**********************************
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
PAM COOK AT THE "LEGISLATURE'S LEGAL SERVICE", ALSO
TOLD ME THAT "I COULDN'T GET A COPY OF "THE LEGAL OPINION" THAT WAS
WRITTEN ON SEVERAL BILLS, WHICH BECAME LAW OR
WAS IN BILL FORM, STATING:
--
THESE LEGAL OPINIONS ARE "CONFIDENTIAL", WHEN THIS WAS
A TOTAL LIE AND THERE WAS A LAWSUIT FILED ABOUT IT AND THE ALASKA
SUPREME COURT CLEARLY STATED:
---
THAT ONCE A BILL HAS BEEN DRAFTED AND GIVEN TO THE
LEGISLATIVE'S LEGAL SERVICE AND AN OPINION WRITTEN RE
IT'S LEGALITY AND CONSTITUTIONALITY, THERE IS "NO ATTORNEY CLIENT
PRIVILEGE, SINCE "THE CLIENT IS...THE PEOPLE OF ALASKA". THAT GIVES YOU
AN IDEA OF "HOW CORRUPT THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT IS FROM THE "TOP TO THE
BOTTOM". THE STATE POLITICIANS, CONTINUALLY WRITE AND PASS BLATANTLY
ILLEGAL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAWS, ONE OF WHICH I WAS ABLE TO
GET IN WRITING , I.E. "LEGAL OPINION" RE "ALASKA'S WELFARE REFORM LAW,
WHICH TONY KNOWLES (DEMOCRAT) DRAFTED, IN WHICH THE ATTORNEY, CLEARLY
STATED: "COULD BE CHALLENGED IN COURT ON IT'S LEGALITY AND
CONSTITUTIONALITY", BUT
KNOWLES DIDN'T CHANGE IT AND IT BECAME LAW.
---
The "bill passed the Senate" but
"didn't make it to the House floor."
---
That means the "simple fix" proposed by
Gara and French
could have a fighting chance next session.
**********************************************
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++++
AGAIN, MS. BRAGG, PROVES HERSELF A MORON, I.E. SHE
WANTS THESE BILLS TO PASS WHEN THEY WILL CLEARLY PROVIDE "A LAW
ALLOWING THESE CORRUPT POLITICIANS TO TAKE
KICK-BACKS".
---
Alaskans should be following conflict-of-interest
**********************************************
issues closer than ever, and
********************************
---
"we should demand" that our lawmakers
*********************************************
"pass good bills". If we don't, "shame on us."
*********************************************
---
MY COMMENT:
+++++++++
ALASKANS SHOULD DEMAND THAT THE ADN REMOVE MS. BRAGG FROM THEIR PAPER
AND INSTEAD, GET AN "HONEST ATTORNEY" WHO
COULD COMMENT "ON POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND ALASKA LAWS AND POLICIES",
THEN...DEMAND A "CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION" BE SETUP TO STOP IT.
exam...@webtv.net
DO YOU UNDERSTAND "HOW MANY ALASKANS" HAD TO KNOW ABOUT ALL OF THIS
POLITICAL CORRUPTION, YET DID NOTHING ABOUT IT? THAT SHOULD BE "THE
REAL QUESTION", NOT HOW OR WHY THESE POLITICIANS DID IT BECAUSE THAT'S
SIMPLE...BECAUSE THEY COULD".
---
AS YOU CAN READ...MOST OF THESE CORRUPT POLITICIANS "KNEW THEY HAD TO
REPORT THEIR INCOME; FROM WHOM THEY RECEIVED IT AND WHAT THEY STATE
"THE DID" FOR THE MONEY, WHICH ADN'S SO CALLED "COMMENTATOR", MS. BRAGG
SAID THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO DO. AS STATED, NONE OF THE PROPOSED "ETHICS
REFORM BILLS", MS. BRAGG SAYS IS "A MUST PASS BILL", WILL DO ANYTHING
EXCEPT...."MAKE IT LEGAL FOR THESE POLITICIANS TO CONTINUE GETTING
THESE "KICKBACKS" UNDER THE GUISE THAT THEY ARE "JUST MAKING A LIVING
IN "THEIR OTHER PROFESSION".
---
IT MAKES ME WANT TO PUKE THAT THE PEOPLE IN ALASKA HAVE ALLOWED THIS TO
GO ON FOR DECADES, WHEN ONE HAS TO TRAVEL TO SOME FOREIGN COUNTRY RUN
BY A DICTATOR TO FIND SUCH WELL-KNOWN AND BLATANT CORRUPTION.
---
I'M GLAD I LEFT ALASKA AND GLAD I RAN FOR GOVERNOR "ON THE PLATFORM OF
POLITICAL CORRUPTION", WHICH MY STILL EXISTING STATE ELECTION CAMPAIGN
NOTICE THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN EVERY STATE ELECTION CAMPAIGN BOOKLET
CLEARLY PROVES."
---
I AM ALSO PROUD OF ALL OF THE "PUBLIC INTEREST LAWSUITS" THAT I FILED
WHICH ALSO PROVES THIS CORRUPTION, BECAUSE,
IT PROVES: I "PUT HARD WORK; THOUSANDS OF HOURS OF LEGAL RESEARCH; AND
MY OWN MONEY, INTO TRYING TO CLEAN UP THIS CORRUPTION".
---
BUT, EVEN THOUGH I HAD "NO MONEY" FOR TV ADS, SO ALASKANS WOULD KNOW
WHAT AND WHO I WAS, I DID GET NEARLY 5,000 VOTES. WHICH AGAIN PROVES,
ALASKANS WILL ALWAYS VOTE FOR
THE CANDIDATE WHO HAS "LOTS OF MONEY FOR THEIR CAMPAIGN", MOST OF WHICH
IS SUPPLIED BY CORPORATIONS WHO WANT THEIR MONEY RETURNED VIA
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS OR LEGISLATION.
--
THIS IS "NOT A PARTISAN POLICY, GREED AND CORRUPTION IS ALIVE AND WELL
IN BOTH PARTIES" AND IS CLEARLY SEEN IN THOSE POLITICIANS THAT ALASKANS
STUPIDLY KEEP VOTING ON, DUE TO NAME RECOGNITION ONLY, SINCE THEY ARE
CLUELESS WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO "KNOWING WHAT THE HELL THEIR LEGISLATOR
AND GOVERNOR IS "ACTUALLY DOING "TO THEM".
--
THAT IS WHY, IF THE CONSTITUTION IS CHANGED MAKING IT MANDATORY THAT NO
STATE POLITICIAN, JUDGE, HEAD OF STATE AGENCIES, ETC. CAN HOLD OFFICE,
IF THEY HAVE ANOTHER SOURCE OF INCOME, WILL ELIMINATE THE MAJORITY OF
GREEDY AND CORRUPT FROM RUNNING FOR OFFICE, SINCE IT IS "THE POWER OF
THE OFFICE", THAT IS THEIR GOAL.
---
THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE INTELLIGENT AND HONESTLY WANT TO BE OF
HELP TO THE PEOPLE OF ALASKA AND WOULD ABIDE BY THIS REQUIREMENT, IF
THEY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET ELECTED, AND BE ABLE TO GET THE "PUBLIC
EXPOSURE" THAT ONLY MONEY CAN BUY. AGAIN, THE LOCAL LIO OFFICES COULD
PROVIDE THAT VIA VIDEO TELECONFERENCES WITH THE PEOPLE ...ALL OVER THAT
HUGE STATE.
---
BUT AGAIN, THAT WOULD REQUIRE THE ALASKAN PEOPLE TO GET OFF THEIR ASSES
AND DO IT..MOST ARE UNEMPLOYED IN THE WINTER, WHICH IS ALSO THE TIME OF
ELECTIONS. IT SHOULD "ALSO BE THE MONTHS THAT THE LEGISLATURE IS IN
SESSION, SO THEY COULD WATCH GAVEL-TO-GAVEL AND ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO
"SEE AND HEAR" THEIR GOVERNMENT WORKING. KQED, ALASKA'S PUBLIC TV
STATON SHOULD ALSO BE ABLE TO CARRY GAVEL-TO-GAVEL SINCE A LOT OF
ALASKA DOESN'T HAVE CABLE, OR THE PEOPLE CAN'T AFFORD TO GET IT. THAT
IS MY OPINION WHICH I BELIEVE HAS A LOT OF MERIT, BUT FALLING ON DEAF
EARS.
--------------
Subject: 9-24-06-BLATANT POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN ALASKA
---
Subject:9-24-06- FBI raids cast light on dual incomes
---
http://www.adn.com/news/politics/veco/story/8229536p-8126216c.html
>
---
TEXT COPY: 9-24-06
---
FBI raids cast light on dual incomes
******************************************
CONSULTANTS:
***********************
Ethical standards for lawmakers questioned.
********************************************
---
By TOM KIZZIA and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: September 24, 2006
Last Modified: September 24, 2006 at 05:52 AM
---
Last month,
******************
state Rep. Tom Anderson testified before the
****************************
Anchorage Assembly in favor of Wal-Mart's plan for two stores in his
old neighborhood.
---
Assembly chairman Dan Sullivan introduced him as "Representative"
Anderson, but the lawmaker for Muldoon corrected him.
---
He was there "representing the home builders
**********************************************
association", Anderson said.
********************************
---
Anderson, who "was a consultant" before he was elected to the state
House four years ago,
has never stopped making money on the side
**********************************************
as "a paid adviser for clients"
*******************************
who do business with state and local
******************************************
government.
*************
---
His "dual role"--- "may have surprised" the Assembly in August.
---
But it "would not have surprised" some members of the Northeast
Community Council, the "neighborhood group that opposed the stores."
---
They recall seeing Anderson at their meetings all though 2003. They
assumed he was there "as the local state legislator".
----
But Anderson's state financial disclosure form,
**********************************************
"filed the following year", revealed:
---
he was also working as a $10,000 consultant "on":
---
(1) community councils and
---
(2) local government
---
(3) "for"-- the oil field services and construction company Veco.
-----
"We are all going, 'This is so bogus,' " said council president Peggy
Robinson, who publicized Anderson's Veco connection in an unsuccessful
bid to topple Anderson from his House seat in 2004.
----
Now Anderson's "role as a consultant"
"to industry" is coming under scrutiny again, following last month's
FBI searches of six legislative offices seeking information on
legislators' links to Veco.
---
The practices of Anderson and a few others who "consult on the side"
also raise broader questions about state ethics laws.
---
As it stands, "lawmakers can receive"
*****************************************
"unlimited and undefined "consulting" income
**********************************************
"from companies" "who could benefit"
*****************************************
"from the Legislature's actions. "
************************************
---
The FBI inquiry has given momentum to
"reform efforts."
---
"I can guarantee you this:
---
That the subject will be brought up in the next session," said House
Speaker, John Harris, R-Valdez.
---
"The cloud from the current investigation shows that reform is needed,
Harris said. The public needs better assurance that lawmakers are
qualified to do the work, he said.
---
"The question is:
********************
Do legislators get hired to do duties that they are "really not
qualified for" and
"they're not asked to produce anything?
--
That's what it comes down to," Harris said.
"Is it just a form of a payoff?"
*******************************
---
ON THE PAYROLL
**********************
Veco executives have long been frequent and generous contributors to
political campaigns in Alaska and nationally.
---
But "two current legislators" also have been regulars on its
"consulting payroll".
---
Anderson "reported":
$30,000 in Veco income between 2003 and 2005.
----
Senate President. Ben Stevens "declared":
**********************************************
$252,000 in consulting work for Veco
*****************************************
from 2001 to 2005.
---
Veco, which also publishes the half-page "Voice of the Times" editorial
section in the Daily News, "did not respond" to interview requests for
this story.
---
In a statement earlier this month, the company said, "To Veco's
knowledge, it has done nothing improper or illegal."
---
"Stevens also has declined" to be interviewed, and said last week that
he's been advised not to answer questions about the investigation.
---
The:
(1) concerns raised about lawmakers' employment by Veco -- ---
(2) hazy disclosure requirements,
---
(3) public uncertainty about motives and qualifications,
---
(4) possible conflicts of interest in and out of the Capitol building
--
---
extend to consulting work for other business interests as well.
---
One example is:
"Anderson's municipal "lobbying" work
*******************************************
for the Anchorage Home Builders Association,
which hired him at "$2,500 a month" in July.
**********************************************
---
His job put him at odds with the Northeast Community Council, the
grass-roots group in his House district, which:
----
opposed the Wal-Mart project.
*********************************
---
Anderson argued on behalf of the home builders;
"it was good economic development."
---
The most noted example is "Stevens",
*******************************************
who has "received more" than $1.6 million
**********************************************
in "consulting contracts" and "pay" from:
*************************************
"private organizations" in the past five years.
************************
---
He reported:
"$362,000 in income" from an Adak fisheries company that received a
pollock allocation "worth millions of dollars" through:
---
"special congressional action" by his father,
********************************************
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
*******************************
----
Ben Stevens "returned $145,000" in
"consulting fees" from:
----
"Cook Inlet Region Inc.", in the wake of
"bad publicity and complaints" from:
***************************************
"several CIRI board members", saying:
he'd been unable to complete work on the business venture they'd
discussed.
----
Stevens, with "Veco as a major client", is one of the lawmakers whose
office was searched by the FBI. "Anderson's was not."
----
Three years ago,
******************
then-Sen. Scott Ogan, R-Palmer,
*************************************
came under "heavy criticism" for
a "$40,000 consulting contract" with a
**********************************
shallow-gas drilling firm
"interested in his district."
****************************
---
A "former cabinetmaker", Ogan had developed his expertise as, chairman
of the Senate Resources Committee,
**********************************************
"in charge of regulating" shallow-gas
***************************************
development.
****************
---
"He gave up the contract" but
"was threatened with a recall campaign" and
********************************************
"eventually quit the Senate."
******************************
----
While "several legislators" are:
employed directly by companies with
******************************************
"interest in Juneau bills,"
**************************
the number of other reported consulting jobs remains small.
---
One case is Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla,
**********************************************
who "reported" income of:
$5,400 in 2004 and
$38,100 in 2005
from Anchorage developer Marc Marlow.
*********************************************
---
"Kohring's official disclosure" said:
he "was getting paid to assist" with
***********************************
(1) "the development of construction-related projects, including:
---
(2) arranging and conducting meetings,
---
(3) performing research, and
---
(4) developing plans and strategies.
---
Marlow said recently that the work was:
to "help him with plans"
*************************
to "build an electrical power plant" in the Mat-Su.
---
Marlow said:
"he isn't seeking any state funds", and
---
Kohring said:
"he has been "very careful to follow"
state ethics rules.
********************
---
Kohring,
a longtime acquaintance,
"has the smarts"
******************
for the complex power plant project,
Marlow said.
---
He's "detail oriented and conscientious,"
*********************************************
Marlow said, "plus"
he has a master's degree"
in "business administration" and
---
"has served on:
the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. board."
----
Kohring has said:
his "other sources of income" are:
*******************************
work as a house painter and drywall hanger.
**********************************************
---
'RED-FACE TEST'
********************
---
Earlier this year, "before the FBI inquiry" of the lawmakers and Veco
burst into public view,
---
"Democrats tried to change state law" to:
---
"require greater disclosure" of:
consulting and other contracts held by elected officials. Their efforts
went nowhere.
******************************
---
The measure, introduced by Rep. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, would have:
---
"required legislators with "personal services contracts" to:
---
"disclose in broad terms"
***************************
(1) "what they did" to earn the money and
---
(2) "how much time" they spent on the job.
---
The bill "required a description of the work" "sufficient to make clear
to a person of ordinary understanding"
"the specific services performed."
************************************
---
"I thought I was dealing with:
"the appearance of corruption",
but maybe it's something more,"
Gardner said last week.
---
House Bill 461
*****************
passed through "the State Affairs Committee"
last April and
---
was referred to:
the "House Judiciary Committee", where it died.
**********************************************
---
"The Judiciary Committee. "chairwoman" was:
**********************************************
Rep. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage,
***************************************
"who is married to Anderson."
********************************
---
"Anderson was the committee's vice-chairman."
**********************************************
---
McGuire said in "an interview last week" that:
---
"she thought the bill had merit."
**********************************
She said:
"she herself "gave up consulting"
************************************
"after" completing a $10,500 contract
*****************************************
with Providence Alaska Medical Center because:
---
"public questions made her uncomfortable."
**********************************************
---
But she said:
"this year's bill died" because:
*************************************
Gardner didn't request a "committee hearing" early enough.
****************
---
Gardner's office disputes that, saying:
*****************************************
their records show "the request was made"
April 13, --"five days before"the deadline for
**********************************************
committee hearings.
**********************
---
Gardner said:
"she thought the bill died" because:
---
Republican leaders didn't relish
"a fight with Ben Stevens."
---
"He of course believed it was aimed at him," said Gardner. ----
She said:
she plans to introduce a similar bill next year.
---
"Neither Stevens nor Anderson"
***********************************
is running for re-election.
***************************
---
But that's not the only reason reform efforts are likely to get more
attention from Republican leaders next year.
---
"One Republican" already preparing a bill,:
**********************************************
Rep. Bob Lynn of Anchorage, said:
*********************************
---
he doesn't think legislators should take any consulting money.
---
Even if their loyalties "are not conflicted",
it looks like they are.
**********************
---
"I don't agree with the consulting contracts. Period. It doesn't matter
if it's 5 cents or 5 million," said Lynn,
whose bill would stop short of "a total ban."
**********************************************
---
(JOHN) Harris has a "different solution."
********************************************
---
"He wants evidence" the legislator is:
truly being "paid for expertise."
********************************
---
"I think the "solution probably is":
"to tighten up the existing rules "a little bit"
**********************************************
to say:
---
the legislator has to "show some" either:
************************************
---
"work" or "educational experience"
"before" they can accept a job" from somebody,"
Harris said.
---
In his eight years in the House, Harris said:
---
"he's been offered a "couple" of
*******************************
consulting contracts that
would have paid "substantial" money.
---
Harris, who usually "works in the off season"
as a Teamster "truck driver", said:
******************************
---
"he turned them down" because:
************************************
"the arrangement" didn't pass
"the red face test."
---
He said:
"he couldn't justify the work for the money.
**********************************************
When it came down to it, he said,
"he knew" they wanted him because he's a
**********************************************
legislator."
**********
---
He wouldn't name the business,
***********************************
other than it wasn't Veco.
---
FOLLOW THE MONEY
**************************
"A rule insisting" on "proper qualifications" would probably have done
little to crimp Veco's employment of legislators.
---
Stevens and Anderson were
"both consultants before" they ran for office.
---
"Arrangements" between Veco and two other lawmakers
"show up in state disclosure forms"
*********************************
dating back to 2002.
---
"One was for a "boat rental" from a fisherman,
---
one was for "legal work from a lawyer."
---
In 2002, Veco paid $17,600 to:
**********************************
"use a boat" owned by:
Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer.
*******************************
---
The contract came in the summer
"before" Seaton,
a commercial fisherman
who owns several boats,
was first elected.
---
He said:
his fish tender "just happened to be available"
in upper Cook Inlet when Veco needed a standby safety vessel during a
short oil rig construction job.
---
The "legal payments" went to:
then-Sen. Robin Taylor,
**************************
who got into a jam with "critics" in
his home town of Wrangell over that work.
---
Taylor,
a lawyer and
********
longtime chairman, of the
******************************
Senate Judiciary Committee,
********************************
"reported":
----
being paid $15,700 for legal work by Veco in 2000,
---
$19,300 in 2001 and
$16,800 in 2002.
---
He "also served as city attorney" for
Wrangell during that period.
---
Critics accused Taylor of:
"hiding his Veco ties" when
"the city council considered"
taking up a private prison project in 2001.
---
Veco had been part of the consortium whose prison plan had just been
turned down in Kenai.
---
Taylor insisted he had:
---
"disclosed" his Veco ties on "state forms" and
didn't need to announce them.
*********************************
---
Taylor retired from:
********************
the Senate and
******************
"his private legal practice"
***************************
in 2003 and
********
"is now "head of"
the "state marine highway system."
*************************************
---
He was among the current and former legislators known to have been:
interviewed by the FBI in the current
*****************************************
investigation.
***************
---
Taylor said last week that:
"he had never been lobbied by Veco"
over the prison.
---
As far as he knew, he said:,
Veco wasn't interested in a Wrangell prison.
**********************************************
"It's a breach of attorney-client privilege,
********************************************
but "I can tell you up front":
---
"That client"
************
never talked to me once "about "that" project,"
Taylor said.
---
Gardner, the Democrat who pushed ethics reform last session, said legal
work like Taylor's ---
"would probably require"
"a different disclosure standard."
--
"There are "privacy reasons" for
"protecting details of legal work."
---
But she said:
it would help to divulge the "type" of
legal work required, to be sure
the legislator has proper expertise.
---
Information on private-services contracts with Veco and other companies
is available only through 2005.
**********************************
---
"Any consulting salaries paid to legislators" for 2006, in a year of
high-stakes debate over oil tax and gas line issues,
---
do not have to be disclosed until
"reports are due March 15, 2007.
*************************************
---
As for "past Veco consultants"
Anderson and Stevens,
---
"the public may never know"
*******************************
if they had consulting contracts this year.
---
As "retiring legislators",
*************************
the Alaska Public Offices Commission said,
**********************************************
neither will have to file disclosure forms
*********************************************
next year.
***********
---
Reporter, Tom Kizzia can be reached at tki...@adn.com or in Homer at
907-235-4244.
----
Reporter Lisa Demer can be reached at lde...@adn.com or 257-4390.
---
Reporter Don Hunter also contributed to this story.
----
(OPEN ABOVE URL TO OPEN THESE LINKS)
----
FOCUS: Rep. Tom Anderson's work as a business consultant and city
lobbyist has raised questions and led to a call for reform.
---
Anderson's consulting services in demand FBI raids cast light on dual
incomes
---
‹ Anderson's consulting services in demand Outside income for Ben
Stevens and Tom Anderson
---
FBI case managed from D.C.
‹ Moses says Veco didn't buy his vote
---
FBI search warrant
VECO money spiked during gas pipeline talks More veco stories ›
quest...@webtv.net
Subject:AFTER 26 YEARS-THE FLY-BY-NIGHT CLUB IN ANCHORAGE CLOSES
---
Subject:Mr. Whitekeys' Fly By Night Club -
---
Welcome to the sleaziest bar
in Spenard, Alaska!
---
http://www.flybynightclub.com/
>
----
TEXT COPY:
---
HOME ABOUT US HISTORY GIFT
SHOP MENUS RESERVATIONS ENTERTAINMENT
THE WHALE FAT FOLLIES & OTHER SHOWS WHAT'S THE
DEAL WITH SPAM
----
CLICK HERE
TO
ENTER OUR CHEESY WEBSITE!
----
The Fly By
Night Club:
Where Were Turning Rudeness and Bad Taste into
The Fun Things They Used
To Be!
-----
After 26 Years
We're Going Out Of Business
----
Our Last Night Is
September 8
-----
Call 279-SPAM
for Reservations
----
Our Online Reservations Option
has been DISCONNECTED
due to the huge volume
of requests for a very
limited number of seats.
2006 Show Schedule
----
Springtime In Spenard:
Thurs, Fri, & Sat; Apr. 6 - May 27
The Whale Fat Follies:
Wed, Thur, Fri, & Sat; June 1 - Sept 16
The Ballot Box Follies:
Thur, Fri, & Sat; Sept 21 - Nov 18
Christmas In Spenard:
Thur, Fri, & Sat; Nov 24 - Dec 31
After The Show
Fridays & Saturdays 10:00pm
Rockin' Blues, R & B, & Jazz-ma-tazz by
Mr. Whitekeys
& The Faboulous Spamtones
with Special Guest Stars
and other fine Bands!
---
Call 279-SPAM for schedule
HOME ABOUT US HISTORY GIFT
SHOP MENUS RESERVATIONS ENTERTAINMENT
THE WHALE FAT FOLLIES & OTHER SHOWS WHAT'S THE
DEAL WITH SPAM
quest...@webtv.net
SEE THE SECTION NUMBER THAT COMES UP ON THE SEARCH ENGINE AND SCROLL
DOWN TO IT, TO GET THE ORIGINAL.
--
Subject: AK. PERMANENT FUND-CONSTITUTION
--
Subject:STATE CONSTITUTION-DOC Frame Page
---
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/acontxt/query=alaska+permanent+fund/doc/{@154}?
>
----
TEXT COPY: 9-25-06
---
Section 9.15 - Alaska Permanent Fund.
********************************************
At least twenty-five percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties,
royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing payments and
bonuses received by the State shall be placed in a permanent fund, the
principal of which shall be used only for those income-producing
investments specifically designated by law as eligible for permanent
fund investments.
----
All income from the permanent fund shall be deposited in the general
fund unless otherwise provided by law.
----
Section 9.16 - Appropriation Limit.
**********************************
Except for appropriations for Alaska permanent fund dividends,
appropriations of revenue bond proceeds, appropriations required to pay
the principal and interest on general obligation bonds, and
appropriations of money received from a non-State source in trust for a
specific purpose, including revenues of a public enterprise or public
corporation of the State that issues revenue bonds, appropriations from
the treasury made for a fiscal year shall not exceed $2,500,000,000 by
more than the cumulative change, derived from federal indices as
prescribed by law, in population and inflation since July 1, 1981.
----
Within this limit, at least one-third shall be reserved for capital
projects and loan appropriations.
-----
The legislature may exceed this limit in bills for appropriations to
the Alaska permanent fund and in bills for appropriations for capital
projects, whether of bond proceeds or otherwise, if each bill is
approved by the governor, or passed by affirmative vote of
three-fourths of the membership of the legislature over a veto or item
veto, or becomes law without signature, and is also approved by the
voters as prescribed by law.
----
Each bill for appropriations for capital projects in excess of the
limit shall be confined to capital projects of the same type, and the
voters shall, as provided by law, be informed of the cost of operations
and maintenance of the capital projects.
-----
No other appropriation in excess of this limit may be made except to
meet a state of disaster declared by the governor as prescribed by law.
-----
The governor shall cause any unexpended and unappropriated balance to
be invested so as to yield competitive market rates to the treasury.
-----
Section 9.17 - Budget Reserve Fund.
********************************************
(a) There is established as a separate fund in the State treasury the
budget reserve fund.
----
Except for money deposited into the permanent fund under "Section 15 of
this article",
---
all money received by the State after July 1, 1990, as a result of the
termination, through settlement or otherwise, of an administrative
proceeding or of litigation in a State or federal court involving
mineral lease bonuses, rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds,
federal mineral revenue sharing payments or bonuses, or involving taxes
imposed on mineral income, production, or property, shall be deposited
in the budget reserve fund.
----
Money in the budget reserve fund shall be invested so as to yield
competitive market rates to the fund.
----
Income of the fund shall be retained in the fund.
----
Section 7 of this article does not apply to deposits made to the fund
under this subsection.
----
Money may be appropriated from the fund only as authorized under
(b) or (c) of this section.
---
(b) If the amount available for appropriation for a fiscal year is less
than the amount appropriated for the previous fiscal year, an
appropriation may be made from the budget reserve fund.
----
However, the amount appropriated from the fund under this subsection
may not exceed the amount necessary, when added to other funds
available for appropriation, to provide for total appropriations equal
to the amount of appropriations made in the previous calendar year for
the previous fiscal year.
----
(c) An appropriation from the budget reserve fund may be made for any
public purpose upon affirmative vote of three-fourths of the members of
each house of the legislature.
----
(d) If an appropriation is made from the budget reserve fund, until the
amount appropriated is repaid, the amount of money in the general fund
available for appropriation at the end of each succeeding fiscal year
shall be deposited in the budget reserve fund.
----
The legislature shall implement this subsection by law.
quest...@webtv.net
---
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/stattx05/query=alaska+statutes/doc/{@1}/hits_only?
quest...@webtv.net
Subject:AK. PERMANENT FUND STATUTES-64 HITS
---
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/stattx05/query=alaska+permanent+fund/hits_only?realquerydlg
quest...@webtv.net
SPECIFIC SEARCHES.
---
Subject:27 HITS FOR: PERMANENT FUND DIVIDEND STATUTES
--
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/stattx05/query=alaska+permanent+fund+dividend/hits_only?realquerydlg
quest...@webtv.net
SPECIFIC INFO.
---
Subject:AK. PERMANENT FUND-"CORP"---31 HITS
---
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/stattx05/query=alaska+permanent+fund+corporation/hits_only?realquerydlg
quest...@webtv.net
"THE MAIN CAUSE" OF WHY THE MAJORITY OF ALASKANS LIVE IN POVERTY WITH
ONLY SEASONAL JOBS OF ABOUT 3-6 MONTHS OUT OF 12.
--
AND YET, ALASKA IS THE WEALTHIEST STATE IN THE NATION!
---
WITH JUST A LITTLE OVER HALF A MILLION PEOPLE IN THE STATE, (APX.
650,000) WITH 20,000 OF THEM EMPLOYED BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT, WITH A
UNION TO PROTECT THEM, THESE FAVORITES ARE ABLE TO HAVE YEAR ROUND
EMPLOYMENT; AT THE HIGHEST WAGES AND UNBELIEVABLE FREE BENEFITS.
--
BUT, OF COURSE, IN ALL DICTATORSHIPS, THE STATE "NEEDS" IT'S LOYAL ARMY
TO DEFEND IT FROM ALL CRITICS, ESPECIALLY IT'S OWN PEOPLE, THUS BEING
AN ALASKA STATE EMPLOYEE, REQUIRES TOTAL LOYALTY TO THE POINT OF FULL
PROSTITUTION OF THEIR MINDS; ETHICS; AND BODY WHEN NECESSARY.THE PAYOFF
IS THAT THEY BECOME "THE ELITE" OVER THE MASSES, AND FOR THE
EGOMANICAL, THIS IS HEAVEN.
---
OUTSIDE THE ABOVE "ELITIST GROUP" ARE THE YEARLY SURVIVORS. MOST ARE
FORCED TO LEAVE THE STATE OF ALASKA DUE TO LACK OF EMPLOYMENT AND A
FASCIST GOVERNMENT THAT DENIES THE POOR THEIR LEGAL RIGHT TO THE
SERVICES THEY PAY FOR THROUGH FEDERAL TAXES, WHEN THEY ARE WORKING.
--
BUT, AS IN ALL FASCIST DICTATORSHIPS, THERE IS A PATH OF BLATANT
CORRUPTION AND ROBBERY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE, AS IS CURRENTLY
BEING INVESTIGATED NOW, BY THE FBI.
--
BUT, SO FAR IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE FBI HAS FOUND IT'S WAY INTO THE
GROSS ROBBERY OF THE ALASKA PEOPLE'S MONEY THAT IS IN THE (B)ILLIONS OF
DOLLARS, WHICH MONEY BELONGS TO ALASKANS BUT THEY ARE TOO CLUELESS TO
KNOW ABOUT THESE BILLIONS. THE REASON IS SIMPLE: THE FASCISTS OF THE
STATE OF ALASKA HANDS OUT "CRUMBS" OF THE PEOPLE'S BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
TO KEEP THEM SHUT UP AND NOT QUESTIONING, WHERE THE REAL TREASURE IS
GOING.
---
HERE IS A STATE WEBSITE THAT LAYS BARE JUST SOME OF THE OPERATIONS OF
THIS THEFT.
--
NOTE: READ THE ABOVE LINKS TO THE STATE CONSTITUTION AND THEN THE STATE
LAWS, AS TO THE "REAL PURPOSE" FOR THE PERMANENT FUND, ALL OF WHICH ARE
BLATANTLY VIOLATED, I.E. ALMOST "NO MONEY" IS INVESTED IN ALASKA SO THE
PEOPLE CAN SURVIVE THERE.
--
Subject:Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation-WEBPAGE OF INVESTMENTS-HOME
---
http://www.apfc.org/investments/FundAssets.cfm
>
quest...@webtv.net
Subject:Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation-WEBPAGE OF INVESTMENTS-HOME
---
http://www.apfc.org/investments/FundAssets.cfm
>
TEXT COPY:
---
The Alaska Permanent Fund
----
HOME > INVESTMENTS > STOCKS, BONDS, REAL ESTATE & ALTERNATIVE
----
Investments
---
Section intro
Investment policy
---
Asset allocation
Stocks, bonds, real estate, alternatives
---
Benchmarks
---
Corporate governance
---
Managers
Reports & publications
---
Section intro
Monthly financials
Monthly performance
Annual reports
Financial outlook
Trustees' papers
----
Alaskan's Guide
----
APFC
******
Section intro
About the APFC
Mission & Goals
Bylaws
Staff
Org chart
Consultant & advisors
Budget
Board & meetings
Employment
---
Fund Law
**********
Section intro
Constitution & law in full
Investment law only
Income law only
Regulations
---
POMV
*******
Section intro
Overview of POMV
POMV Q&A
POMV in the news
---
Trustees' Papers Vol VII
Internships
Section intro
About the program
Application process
Your application
Qualifications
Recruitment bulletins
---
Press room
Section intro
Fund news archive
----
About the APFC
*****************
FAQ
Fund publications
Fund law
---
Teachers & students
---
Dividend Board Staff Managers Resolutions Investment policy Asset
allocation Fund history FAQ
---
PFD division State of Alaska Related links...
---
Fund assets: stocks, bonds, real estate & alternative
---
Need help with terms? investment dictionary
---
View investment policy resolutions for: stocks l bonds l real
estate l alternative investments
---
View: managers with manager & asset class benchmarks Stocks
---
View the Fund's top 50 stock holdings
*****************************************
----
View all the Funds stock holdings: both US and non-US
---
View the Fund's stock portfolio description & charts
---
Bonds
******
View the Fund's bond portfolio description & charts
---
Real Estate
***********
View the Funds' properties (with links to property details and photos)
View a US map and link to APFC real estate properties by state View the
Fund's real estate portfolio description & charts
---
Alternative
---
View the Fund's quarterly investment information for private equity
quest...@webtv.net
Subject:APFC-TOP 50 STOCK HOLDINGS
---
http://www.apfc.org/investments/top50.cfm
>
---
TEXT COPY:-9-25-06
---
NOTE: OPEN ABOVE URL FOR THE MONEY DETAILS AND "OTHER STOCKS THAT THEY
HAVE BOUGHT".
---
I HAVE COPIED THE BELOW JUST TO SHOW "WHAT CORP-STOCKS ARE BEING BOUGHT
WITH ALASKAN'S MONEY
--
NONE OF WHICH IS "FOR ANY ALASKA CORP STOCKS", BECAUSE ALASKA'S
POLITICIANS, REFUSE TO SETUP ALASKA BUSINESSES... ---
WHEN WILL ALASKANS "DEMAND" THEIR OWN OIL AND GAS DRILLING AND REFINING
BUSINESSES?
----
INSTEAD, THEY INVEST IN MANY WHICH ARE INFAMOUS FOR THEIR CORRUPTION,
LIKE BP, WHICH HAS CAUSED ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE TO ALASKA AND MANY
COUNTRIES;
STOPPED THE OIL, DUE TO NEED FOR REPAIRS DUE TO THEIR LACK OF CONCERN
AND GREED. THEY ARE UNDER INDICTMENT NOW..SO HOW GOOD ARE BP STOCKS
NOW?
---
The Alaska Permanent Fund
----
Top 50 stock holdings
*************************
by market value as of June 30, 2006 -
***********************************
updated quarterly
---
View all APFC
stockholdings
Access Investorguide.com stock research site
---
Note: Some companies are traded on both US and non-US exchanges.
---
In those cases, the US and non-US holdings are not combined for this
listing, which may result in a company not appearing among the top 50
holdings.
***************************************
---
NOTE:
THE AMOUNT OF "OIL CORPS"-WHICH ARE ALSO DRILLING IN ALASKA:
---
WE HAVE "LOST BILLIONS OF DOLLARS" DUE TO THE PFC "EXPERTS" ALSO.
---
(1) GENERAL ELECTRIC CO
(2) MICROSOFT CORP COM
(3) CITIGROUP INCCOM
(4) JOHNSON & JOHNSON COM
(5) EXXON MOBIL CORPCOM
**********************************
(6) PROCTER & GAMBLE CO COM
(7) AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC COM
(8) BANK AMER CORPCOM
(9) WELLS FARGO & CO NEWCOM
(10) BP PLC USD
*********************
(11) PFIZER INC COM
(12) TOTAL SA EUR
*************************
(13) JPMORGAN CHASE & COCOM
(14) GOOGLE INCCL
(15) WAL MART STORES INC
(16) VODAFONE USD
(17) PEPSICO INC COM
(18) CISCO SYS INC
(19) HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY
(20) GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCCOM
(21) SANOFI-AVENTIS EUR
(22) INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP
(23) BOEING COMPANY
(24) SCHLUMBERGER LIMITED COM
(25) INTEL CORPORATION
(26) ALTRIA GROUP INCCOM
(27) NOVARTIS AG CHF
(28) SIMON PPTY GROUP COM STK USD0.0001GROUP INC
(29) CHEVRON CORPORATIONCOM
*******************************************
(30) UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP
(31) QUALCOMM INC
(32) APPLE COMPUTER INC COM
(33) WYETH
(34) ROCHE HLDG AG
(35) ROYAL BK SCOT GRP ORD GBP 0.25GRP ORD
(36) COCA-COLA CO USD
(37) HOME DEPOT INC USD
(38) AT&T INCCOM
(39) DELL INCCOM
(40) SUMITOMO MITSUI FINANCIAL GROUP INC
(41) TOYOTA MOTOR CORP NPVY
(42) YAHOO INCCOM
(43) UNITED HEALTH GROUP INC
*****************************************
(44) UNICREDITO ITALIANO SPA EUR0.5S ORD ITL500 (DEM LINE) (45) BOSTON
PPTYS INCCOM
(46) HALLIBURTON COMPANY COM
*******************************************
(47) BNP PARIBAS EUR
****************************
(48) FEDEX CORPORATION
(49) ANHEUSER-BUSCH COMPANIES INC COM
(50) MORGAN STANLEY GROUP INC
--
RETURN TO TOP
239
Subject:: FBI returns for more from Stevens' office
---
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8235211p-8132041c.html
>
----
TEXT COPY: 9-26-06
---
FBI returns for more from Stevens' office
********************************************
CONNECTION: Some material relates to fisheries legislation his father
handled in U.S. Senate.
----
By RICHARD MAUER and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: September 26, 2006
Last Modified: September 26, 2006 at 01:00 PM
---
FBI agents returned last week to the legislative office of Senate
President Ben Stevens and seized more evidence, including a copy of a
sworn statement that implicated Stevens in an alleged payment scheme
involving fisheries legislation brought by his father, U.S. Sen. Ted
Stevens.
---
Word of the second search, and what was taken by the FBI, came from Ben
Stevens himself, who disclosed the information in a letter to the Daily
News dated Sept. 22. In his letter, Stevens denied a request by the
newspaper for a copy of any FBI search warrants which may have been
served on him or his office, and the government's receipts for items
seized.
---
But Stevens provided what he said was a "complete listing of what was
obtained from my legislative offices" on Aug. 31 and Sept. 18. Stevens,
a Republican who is not seeking re-election this year, said he
voluntarily consented to the two FBI searches, though federal agents
said they had a judge's warrant for the Aug. 31 search.
---
Among the material hauled off by agents, Stevens said, were binders on
the proposed natural gas pipeline and revised oil taxes, as well as
information on a board that doled out federal marketing money to
fisheries companies, some of which paid him as a consultant. Stevens
was chairman of that board until about six months ago.
---
The vast majority of items on Stevens' list were public records that
could have been obtained by anyone, sometimes under a formal public
information request, sometimes just for asking.
---
For instance, the FBI seized the 2006 Legislative directory, the 2003
Legislative Ethics Training Manual, federal and state laws governing
North Slope gas, and a "piece of paper" with the tax identification
number for Stevens' consulting firm, Stevens and Associates.
---
Though much has been made of the FBI's apparent interest in the
relationship between legislators and the politically active oil field
service and construction company Veco -- the company itself was
searched, and it was mentioned in other search warrants -- Stevens
listed only a single Veco document taken by the FBI: an undated memo to
Veco president Pete Leathard.
----
Stevens' list couldn't be independently verified and he wouldn't
elaborate on anything. The FBI has said little about its investigation,
aside from acknowledging serving 24 search warrants Aug. 31 and Sept.
1.
---
The offices of six legislators were targeted Aug. 31, and Stevens is
the only one the FBI returned to for a second round, said FBI spokesman
Eric Gonzalez. No one has been charged.
---
It was also impossible to determine the significance of any particular
item seized -- whether it was scooped up to determine its relevance
later, or central to the inquiry.
---
That's normal in a federal investigation, said former U.S. Attorney Wev
Shea, now in private practice in Anchorage. FBI agents will seize
records through a warrant rather than simply ask for them as public
records to make sure they are getting everything, he said. Plus, the
drama of the FBI raids themselves may have been designed to stir things
up and get people talking as the investigation continues.
---
"They don't know what phones are tapped. Nor do they know who is
wired," said Shea, who added that he doesn't have inside information of
the case.
---
The FBI has been asking some state legislators about the debate on the
gas pipeline and oil taxes, and those subjects make up the largest haul
from Stevens' office Aug. 31.
---
The government also seized Stevens' Rolodex containing business cards
and a phone log, made a copy of the hard drive of a Gateway computer,
and took an 80-gigabyte hard drive, an untitled compact disc and
something described as an "e-mail found on printer."
---
Some of the material goes beyond issues known to be important to Veco
like the gas pipeline and touch on fishery subjects that involve Ben's
father, long-time U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
---
Since 2005, Ted Stevens has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee,
through which all fisheries legislation passes. Before that, he chaired
the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful seats in
Congress.
---
Among fishery-related items, Ben Stevens reported that in the second
search, the FBI seized "Victor Smith affidavit" and a 2004 "UFA" letter
-- United Fishermen of Alaska. Agents also took two April 2006 letters
he wrote to the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the Alaska
Fisheries Marketing Board, which he headed from its creation by Ted
Stevens in 2003 until his resignation earlier this year.
---
The second search also yielded a Jan. 23 fax to Ted Stevens along with
"unknown documents of Ted Stevens with a cover page dated 6/5/06
bearing the United States Senate seal."
Through a spokesman, Ted Stevens said he had no comment.
---
Ben Stevens, a former crab-boat captain, has maintained an active
fisheries consulting business since being named to a vacant Senate seat
in 2001, disclosing $775,435 in income from nine companies and
associations since then. He has never publicly said what he has done
for the money.
---
Victor Smith, a former Southeast Alaska salmon fisherman who now
operates a barge in north Puget Sound, said Monday he has signed three
affidavits regarding Ben Stevens.
---
The affidavits helped form the basis of complaints brought against Ben
Stevens at the Alaska Public Offices Commission and other agencies by
Ray Metcalfe, a government watchdog and founder of the independent
Republican Moderate Party in Alaska.
---
It could not be determined which of Smith's affidavits the agents
seized.
----
In one, he reported attending a 2004 meeting of the Purse Seine Vessel
Owners Association in which officials of that organization and the
Southeast Alaska Seiners Association discussed how it would pay Ben
Stevens after congressional passage of a $50 million loan program to
reduce the seine fleet.
---
Smith said he learned Ben Stevens was supposed to be paid "through
convoluted accounting":
$5,000 a month to secure a plan, and
$10,000 a month if successful,
until he was paid $500,000.
***************************
---
While the loan program passed Congress and was enacted into law,
fishermen complained it was too expensive for them to use.
---
Bob Thorstenson Jr., executive director of the seiners association and
president of the United Fishermen of Alaska, denied paying Ben Stevens
to lobby Ted Stevens.
---
In an interview last year, he said the payments of $3,000 a month were
made starting in June 2004 to an Anchorage company, Advance North, in
which Stevens and one of his father's former aides,
---
Trevor McCabe, were 50-50 partners. McCabe became sole owner of the
company in October 2005.
---
In both searches of Stevens' offices, FBI agents seized documents
involving the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board.
---
The organization was created in 2003 in legislation by Ted Stevens to
provide federal grants to companies to promote Alaska seafood.
---
It has distributed between $5 million and nearly $10 million a year in
grants.
---
At least three of the beneficiaries of grants from the board paid
consulting fees to Ben Stevens.
---
Metcalfe complained to the APOC last year that those fees were thinly
disguised "kickbacks," but the commission only ruled on a technicality:
Ben Stevens' failure to disclose his chairmanship of the board in 2004.
It fined him $150.
---
Ben Stevens resigned from the marketing board about six months ago,
according to its executive director, Bill Hines.
---
Hines wouldn't say whether he has recently spoken to federal agents. "I
think that's between me and the FBI," said Hines, an employee of the
U.S. Commerce Department.
---
Ben Stevens was a member of the Senate Ethics Committee and some of the
seized documents were connected to that committee, including a 2003
ethics complaint against former Sen. Jerry Ward.
---
An investigation concluded the complaint was without merit.
---
Daily News reporter Richard Mauer can be reached at rma...@adn.com or
257-4345 and Daily News reporter Lisa Demer can be reached a
lde...@adn.com or 257-4390.
----
(OPEN ABOVE URL FOR THESE LINKS)
---
Letter sent by Sen. Ben Stevens in response to the Daily News' request
for copy of FBI search warrant.
---
INVESTIGATORS
Dept. of Justice Public Integrity Section Anchorage FBI office
---
VECO ONLINE
Veco Web Site
---
BACKGROUND COVERAGE
Original 'CBC' column: Follow money to governor's gas deal (03/03/2006)
1984 series on Veco fundraising
FBI returns for more from Stevens' office ‹ Letter sent by Sen. Ben
Stevens in response to the Daily News' request for copy of FBI search
warrant.
AFJS
"FOURPEAKS". THE LINKS BELOW ARE GOOD EXCEPT THE "EMERGENCY
PREPARATION" ONE. I'M GOING TO TRY & FIX IT NOW, I.E. AS YOU WILL SEE
IF YOU GO TO THE "ORIGINAL POST", THESE LINKS ARE USEABLE. BY ADDING
THE http:// ALL ARE NOW USEABLE EXCEPT THE ONE MENTIONED.
------
THANKS TO GRUFFY FOR THIS ARTICLE:
---
Subject: AFTER 10,000 YEARS-
HOMER, AK,- VOLCANO AWAKENS
---
http://www.homernews.com/stories/092706/news_1a_13a001.shtml
>
----
TEXT COPY: 9-27-06
---
Story last updated at 6:47 PM on Wednesday, September 27, 2006
*************************************
---
Fourpeaked Volcano stirs after
**********************************
10,000-year slumber
***********************
BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER
---
Alaska Volcano Observatory scientists confirmed this week what earlier
photographs of steam plumes coming from near Cape Douglas suggested:
---
Fourpeaked Volcano has become active after last erupting more than
10,000 years ago.
---
Scientists are saying the volcano, about 100 miles southwest of Homer,
is no longer extinct.
----
OPEN ABOVE URL TO SEE PHOTO & LINKS *********************
---
Photo by Cyrus Read, Alaska Volcano Observatory
---
A line of fumaroles steaming on Sunday on the west side of "Fourpeak
Volcano" shows recent volcanic activity.
---
This one caught us on our toes. We had "Fourpeaked" in that category of
volcanoes we didn't need to worry about,
----
said Michael West,
a seismologist with
the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Geophysical Institute,
----
one of the partner agencies with the
Alaska Division of Geological and
Geophysical Surveys and
the U.S. Geological Survey at AVO.
-----
Last Wednesday, AVO assigned Fourpeaked a level of concern of "yellow"
in its four-color system, defined as:
---
elevated seismic activity with the
*************************************
"potential of an eruption."
**************************
---
Fourpeaked previously was not assigned a level of concern.
----
In an update Monday, AVO warned that:
"an eruption" in the
next days to week is possible.
*********************************
---
The update listed "three scenarios", with the most likely first:
----
(1) A small to moderate eruption, with ash plumes higher than 33,000
feet and possible lava flows;
---
(2) No eruption, with the current unrest subsiding to background
levels;
---
(3) A large eruption, with ash plumes higher than 33,000 feet and a
widespread ash fall.
---
Since last Wednesday, scientists have:
---
(A) flown over Fourpeaked,
---
(B) done chemical analyses and temperature readings
of gas coming off the west flank and
---
(C) installed seismometers about 7 miles
to the east of the mountain.
----
West said AVO crews will be:
"installing other instruments"
in the next few weeks.
*********************
---
GPS instruments "have not yet been put in",
*******************************************
so it's not known if there has been deformation or swelling of
Fourpeaked, as
happened with "Augustine Volcano"
before it erupted in mid-January.
---
"Fourpeaked" is acting like Augustine in other ways, West said.
---
On a flight Sunday, scientists photographed a line of fumaroles, or
volcanic vents,
"steaming through a glacier" along the west flank of Fourpeaked.
---
West said some ash was seen around some of the vents. Measurements at
the vents showed
"temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit",
**********************************************
and the presence of sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and carbon
dioxide, "all in high amounts."
**********************
---
Ash samples were taken, but have not yet been fully analyzed.
---
A "rotten egg-sulfur" smell was also noticed up
"to 30 miles away".
----
Sulfur dioxide was present in amounts similar to that measured on
Augustine in late December and early January "before it erupted" on
Jan.
11.
----
That's the one we use the most. It's a fairly robust measurement; it's
one we have experience interpreting, West said.
---
Scientists also noticed:
"flooding and disturbance of glaciers"
near the summit.
---
Whatever is going on is going on beneath a layer of snow and ice, and
has managed to break through a few areas with steam, West said.
----
Although the Fourpeaked Volcano page on AVO's site "has a webicorder",
(a graph of daily seismometer activity)
near the mountain, West noted that:
---
the station, CDD, is 7 miles away,
further than webicorders on Augustine,
which are within a mile of the peak.
---
Measurements "shouldn't be interpreted"
the same as with Augustine.
---
Station CDD also is:
measuring activity on nearby volcanoes.
*********************************************
---
If Fourpeaked erupts, the most likely hazard would be from "airborne
ash".
---
The kinds of ash hazards would not be unlike the ash hazards from
Augustine, West said.
---
Homer and other Kachemak Bay area communities had "a slight dusting of
ash" during the eruptions in mid-January.
---
Scientists have been studying satellite and radar images of Fourpeaked,
and are developing models to see how far and where ash could spread if
it erupted.
---
There also is a danger on the mountain from floods or debris and
volcanic mud flows.
---
Fourpeaked "lacks" not only the heavy instrumentation of Augustine
before it erupted, but "also its history."
---
Augustine has a long historic record of what we might expect.
---
There is no typical behavior for
"Fourpeaked" in the modern era, West said.
---
Scientists haven't gone to 24-7 hours yet, but they are "checking"
seismographs
"four times a day", West said.
---
Everyone is dialed in on this;
our colleagues at USGS and
DGGS, he said.
----
For more information and the latest updates, visit the AVO Web site at:
---
http://www.avo.alaska.edu
or call a recording at (907) 786-7478.
---
"Information on emergency preparedness"
**********************************************
is available at the AVO Web site or
***************************************
at the Kenai Peninsula Borough's Office of
Emergency Management Web site at:
*******************************************
---
www.borough.kenai.ak.us/emergency/-prepared/volcano.htm.
---
The National Weather Service
***********************************
produces "ash trajectory forecasts"
for Augustine and Fourpeaked volcanoes
on its Web site at:
---
http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/traj_alaska.html.
---
A December 2005 article
***************************
in the Homer News,:
---
"Get out the panty hose":
"What to do if Augustine blows",
---
also offers advice for preparing for volcano dangers.
---
A link to that article is on the main Homer News Web page at:
---
http://www.homernews.com.
---
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael....@homernews.com.
---
Homer News
3482 Landings St.
Homer, Alaska
99603
907 235-7767
---
Copyrighted by Homer News, a Division of Morris Communications
AFJS
---
Subject: PT 1 OF 2-OBJECT OFF AK. COAST MIGHT BE WWII U.S. SUB
---
Subject:Object off Alaska coast may be WWII sub
---
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15119785/
>
---
TEXT COPY-10-04-06--PT 1 OF 2
---
MSNBC Home » Technology & Science » Science
---
Object off Alaska coast may be WWII sub
**********************************************
Family of USS Grunion commander undertake undersea investigation
---
(PHOTO)
Williamson &Amp; Associates Via Bruc
The black shape, shown in this underwater sonar image, may be the USS
Grunion, which sank off Kiska Island in 1942.
---
By By Jeannette J. Lee
---
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Underwater sonar images of a black shape against a
background of grainy monochrome are safely stored on two computer hard
drives at Bruce Abele's home in Newton, Mass.
---
Blurred by odd shadows and striations, the silhouettes are the biggest
clues in more than 60 years to the fate of his father's World War II
submarine, the USS Grunion, which sank nearly 5,000 miles west of
Massachusetts, near the obscure islands at the tip of Alaska's Aleutian
chain.
---
For decades, relatives of the Grunion's 70 lost crewmen had no
information beyond fragmented U.S. Navy records, and a few rumors,
about where and why the sub went down.
----
They knew the Grunion had sunk two Japanese submarine chasers and
heavily damaged a third in July 1942 near Kiska, one of two Aleutian
islands occupied by the Japanese.
----
They knew her last official radio message to the sub base at Dutch
Harbor, on July 30, 1942, described heavy enemy activity at Kiska
Harbor.
---
They knew she still had 10 of her 24 torpedoes during that
communication.
---
They knew Dutch Harbor responded with an order to return to the base,
but they don't know if Grunion ever received it.
---
Until a few years ago, the clues were too sparse to justify a search,
said Abele, whose father, Mannert Abele, was the Grunion's commander.
---
"We really didn't do anything about it because there was nothing, no
information," Abele said. "What were we going to do?"
---
Abele and his two brothers all married and had children. Bruce, the
oldest, started working in computers in the late 1950s and later
invested in Boston-area real estate.
---
Brad, the middle son, owned a management recruiting business and John
helped found the multibillion dollar medical equipment company Boston
Scientific Corp.
---
A break in the case
*********************
Four years ago, a man who had heard about the Grunion's disappearance
e-mailed Bruce the links to several Grunion Web sites.
---
One site held an entirely new clue, a note from a Japanese model ship
builder who said he thought he knew what had happened to the Grunion.
---
John Abele contacted the man, Yutaka Iwasaki, who translated and sent
him a report written in the 1960s by a Japanese military officer who
served in the Aleutians.
---
A maritime magazine had recently reprinted the report.
---
It described a confrontation between a U.S. submarine and the officer's
freighter, the Kano Maru, on July 31, 1942, about 10 miles northeast of
Kiska - the Grunion's patrol area.
---
The sub dispatched six or seven torpedoes. All but one bounced off the
boat without exploding, or missed, the officer wrote, although the hit
knocked out his engines and communications.
---
He said he returned fire with an 8-centimeter deck gun, and believed he
had sunk the sub.
---
Japanese troops took over Kiska and Attu in early June 1942, just as
the Allies were winning the battle of Midway.
---
The U.S. Navy was shoring up its defenses in the central Pacific, but
managed to assign more than a dozen submarines to the waters around
Kiska at the end of the month, according to declassified Navy orders.
---
The Abeles began investigating the identity of the sub in the Kano Maru
officer's report.
---
They contacted Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic. He declined
to participate in a search, but briefed the Abeles on the complications
of searching for deep-sea wrecks.
---
Geological formations sometimes conceal a vessel; it could be perched
precariously on an undersea cliff; the water pressure and landing
impact could have broken the Grunion into small pieces, making it
harder to find.
---
RELATED CONTENT
---
Explorer plans a digital dig beneath the sea
---
They also hired a marine survey firm, Williamson and Associates, for an
expedition in August to Kiska.
---
The Seattle-based company focuses on mapping ocean and river bottoms
for oil and cable companies, government agencies and academic
institutions and, occasionally, explores for wrecks.
---
Williamson at first told the Abeles that surveying the tip of the
Aleutian archipelago would be too expensive, Bruce Abele said, but
after six months of negotiating, the firm agreed to send sonar
technicians and equipment aboard a Bering Sea crab boat to the frigid
waters licking the base of Kiska volcano.
---
The U.S. Navy, citing lack of resources, is not involved in the search
and the Abeles prefer to keep the cost to themselves.
---
CONTINUED: Undersea investigation continues...
1 | 2 | Next >
Print this Email this
--
© 2006 MSNBC.com
Question
Subject:PT 2-Object off Alaska coast may be WWII sub -
---
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15119785/page/2/
>
-------------
TEXT COPY: PT 2 OF 2-(10-04-06
-------
MSNBC Home » Technology & Science » Science Object off Alaska coast may
be WWII sub
< Prev | 1 | 2
---
Undersea investigation begins
*********************************
---
The Aquila, carrying more than a dozen crew members and sonar
surveyors, set out from Dutch Harbor on Aug. 6,
*****************************************************
said Pete Lowney,
a family friend from Newton who joined the crab fishing fleet in Dutch
Harbor more than a decade ago.
---
Lowney has fished king and snow crab for years under the Aquila's
captain, Kale Garcia.
---
The conical volcanoes of the far western Aleutians seem to drop
straight into the sea.
---
Even in summer, rain, fog and vicious winds envelop the tiny islands.
---
Near the end of July 1943, for instance, the fog clung so thick around
Kiska that 5,183 Japanese troops and civilians evacuated from the
harbor without drawing fire from any of the surrounding U.S.
battleships.
---
The military realized a distant three weeks later that Kiska was
deserted, but only after 35,000 Allied troops had spent eight days
searching the fog-cloaked island, with 24 killed by friendly fire,
according to the National Park Service.
---
For more than two weeks, the Aquila carefully towed a sonar cable from
east to west and back again inside a 240-square-mile grid that the
survey team had plotted using information from naval archives and the
Kano Maru officer's account.
---
The crew worked in shifts to keep the search going 24 hours a day,
Lowney said.
---
Several false 'eureka!' moments
************************************
Sonar images can deceive even those who interpret them for a living.
Elongated boulders look like submarines; outcrops resemble ship's
prows.
---
"It's a rocky seascape," said Art Wright, survey manager for
Williamson. "We went over the areas several times to differentiate
between rock and ship and look at things from three to four different
aspects."
---
They looked first for the Japanese destroyer Arare, sunk by the U.S.
submarine Growler, to test the sonar and see what a known wreck would
look like against the seafloor. The sonar captured shapes that appeared
to be two halves of the Arare, Wright said.
---
There were several false "eureka" moments, Lowney said. "We put down
the sonar and I thought I saw two destroyers and got excited," he said
ruefully. "After that point, I stopped jumping to conclusions."
---
In mid-August, the sonar picked up a 290-foot-long object with the
sharp angles and jutting shadows of something man-made wedged into a
terrace on the steep underwater slope of the volcano.
---
The Grunion, however, was 312 feet long. The Williamson team believes
the bow may have plowed beneath a mat of thick sediment, hence the
apparent shortage of about 20 feet.
---
Skid marks show the vessel slid to rest about 1,000 meters from the
surface, Wright said.
---
Over the years, earthquakes along the tectonic subduction zone could
have piled on more debris, he said.
---
Wright, a retired Navy captain who has worked with Williamson since
1986, is 95 percent sure the shadowy images are those of the vanished
sub.
---
The Grunion is the only known sunken vessel in the area and the sonar
captured the distinct outline of a submarine conning tower, he said.
"If our target is not the Grunion, where is she?" Wright said.
---
The Abeles remain circumspect about the find, saying they need more
proof of the vessel's identity.
---
"Although it's very encouraging at the moment, it's dangerous to say,
'Absolutely, we have it,'" Bruce Abele said in August during a brief
stop in Anchorage after the three met the crew of the Aquila on Adak,
275 miles east of Kiska.
---
But they have enough faith in the wreck to send out a second expedition
next summer, this time with a remote-controlled underwater camera to
identify the vessel and try to reconstruct her sinking.
---
< Prev | 1 | 2
Print this Email this
-------
© 2006 MSNBC.com
Question
UNDERGROUND LIKE A CHURCH ORGAN. THIS VOLCANO IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE TAKEN
THE MAGMA FROM THE DENALI VOLCANO.
------
Subject: ALASKA VOLCANO-TOOK MAGMA FROM ANOTHER ONE
---
Subject: New Look at 20th Century's Most Powerful Volcanic Eruption
---
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/061005_novarupta_india.html
>
----
(OPEN ABOVE URL FOR THESE LINKS)
---
Gallery: Deadly Earthquakes Past and Present
Gallery: Tornado Country
Natural Disasters: Top 10 U.S. Threats
New Look at 20th Century's Most Powerful
**********************************************
Volcanic Eruption
*******************
---
By Trudy E. Bell
---
Science@NASA
---
posted: 05 October 2006 08:47 am ET
---
In June 1912,
***************
Novarupta—
*********
one of a chain of volcanoes on
the Alaska Peninsula—
--
erupted in what turned out to be
"the largest blast of the twentieth century."
*******************************************
---
It was so powerful that "it drained magma"
*****************************************
from under another volcano,
***************************
Mount Katmai, six miles east,
***************************
causing the summit of Katmai to collapse
****************************************
to form a caldera half a mile deep.
**********************************
---
Novarupta also:
"expelled three cubic miles of magma and ash"
********************************************
into the air, which fell to:
"cover an area of 3,000 square miles"
***********************************
more than a foot deep.
*******************
---
Despite the fact that:
the eruption was comparable to that of the far
**********************************************
more famous "eruption of Krakatau" in
********************************************
Indonesia in 1883 and
*************************
so near the continental United States,
it was hardly known at the time because
the area was so remote from English-speaking people.
---
Almost a hundred years later,
researchers are paying attention.
********************************
---
Novarupta is near the Arctic Circle and its
**************************************
impact on climate appears to be quite different from that of "ordinary"
tropical volcanoes, according to recent research by climatologists
using a NASA computer model.
----
When a volcano anywhere erupts,
it does more than spew clouds of ash, which can shadow a region from
sunlight and cool it for a few days.
---
It also spews sulfur dioxide.
*****************************
---
If the eruption is strongly vertical, it shoots that sulfur dioxide
high into the stratosphere more than 10 miles above Earth.
---
Up in the stratosphere, sulfur dioxide reacts with water vapor "to form
sulfate aerosols."
---
Because these aerosols float above the altitude of rain, "they don't
get washed out."
---
They linger, reflecting sunlight and cooling Earth's surface.
---
This can create a kind of "nuclear winter"
*********************************************
(a.k.a. "volcanic winter") for a year or more after an eruption.
---
In April 1815, for instance, the Tambora
*********************************************
volcano in Indonesia erupted.
**********************************
---
The following year, 1816, was called:
*****************************************
"the year without a summer," with snow falling
**********************************************
across the United States in July.
************************************
---
Even the smaller June 1991
*********************************
eruption of "Pinatubo in the Philippines"
********************************************
cooled the average temperature of the
"northern hemisphere summer of 1992"
to well below average.
----
But both those volcanoes as well as Krakatau
were in the tropics.
*********************
Novarupta is just south of the Arctic Circle.
**********************************************
---
Using a NASA computer model at the the
---
Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS),
Prof. Alan Robock
********************
of Rutgers University
and colleagues
---
found that Novarupta's effects on the world's
**********************************************
climate would have been different.
***************************************
(Their research was funded by the National Science Foundation.)
----
Robock explains:
******************
"The stratosphere's average circulation is from the equator to the
poles, so aerosols from tropical volcanoes tend to spread across all
latitudes both north and south of the Equator." Aerosols would quickly
circulate to all parts of the globe.
-----
But the NASA GISS climate model showed that
"aerosols from an arctic eruption"
*************************************
such as Novarupta
**********************
"tend to stay north of 30ºN"
*****************************
—that is, no further south than the continental United States or
Europe.
---
Indeed, they would mix with the rest of Earth's atmosphere only very
slowly.
---
This bottling up of Novarupta's aerosols in the north would make itself
felt, strangely enough, in India.
---
According to the computer model, the Novarupta blast would have
weakened India's summer monsoon, producing "an abnormally warm and dry
summer over northern India," says Robock.
----
Why India?
---
Cooling of the northern hemisphere by Novarupta would set in motion a
chain of events involving land and sea surface temperatures, the flow
of air over the Himalayan mountains and, finally, clouds and rain over
India.
---
It's devilishly complex, which is why supercomputers are needed to do
the calculations.
----
To check the results, Robock and colleagues are examining weather and
river flow data from Asia, India, and Africa in 1913, the year after
Novarupta.
---
They are also investigating the consequences of other high-latitude
eruptions in the last few centuries.
----
Do Indians need to keep an eye on Arctic volcanoes?
---
The GISS computer says so.
----
(OPEN ABOVE URL FOR THESE LINKS)
Volcano's Impact Depends on Latitude
Volcanos Helped Slow Ocean Warming
All About Volcanoes
----
An aerial view of the Novarupta Dome in Alaska
**********************************************
taken on July 29, 1987.
*************************
Credit: USGS/Gene Iwatsubo
Click to View
The inner workings of "volcanic winter."
Credit: AGU/Alan Robock
------
© 1999-2006 Imaginova Corp. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Jackel
WHY AREN'T THE OTHER OIL CORPS BEING INTERVIEWED?
------
Subject:Pipeline trouble continues to rattle BP
--
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15198906/
>
----
TEXT COPY: 10-16-06
---
MSNBC Home » Business » Oil & Energy
---
Pipeline trouble continues to rattle BP
*****************************************
Flooding in south-central part of state led to loss of communications
-----
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - America's largest oil field will "produce very few
barrels" over the next several days as operator BP scrambles to fix an
electrical problem.
---
So far, the loss of 300,000 barrels a day of Alaskan output has not
rattled oil markets.
---
BP said "electrical shorts" that shut down Prudhoe Bay on Tuesday
followed three days of dust storms, and then rain, coating insulators
on high-voltage lines with mud.
---
The London-based company, which has faced intense criticism following
two oil leaks in Alaska over the past seven months, said the shutdown
of its power system
was not a reflection of aging infrastructure.
**********************************************
---
BP spokesman Daren Beaudo:
**********************************
pinned the problem on a
"highly unusual weather event,"
partly attributable to the lack of snow
in the region.
----
But at least "one industry analyst"
questioned whether BP's latest troubles
could be blamed entirely on weather.
----
"People who "are bad carpenters"
********************************
hit themselves on the thumb repeatedly,"
**************************************
said Michael Lynch,
president of
Strategic Energy and Economic Research Inc. of Winchester, Mass.
---
Lynch acknowledged that BP faces brutal weather conditions on Alaska's
North Slope and that he did not know the details surrounding the recent
power failure.
---
However, he added,
"things like this should be dealt with
pretty quickly, generally,
or not even happen."
*****************
---
Beuado said the company is
"systematically removing the mud"
from the insulators and that:
---
the "oil field will come on line in phases",
but he could not specify when production
will be fully restored.
---
"It's going to take some time.
Don't know how long.
We'll do it as quickly as we can.
The emphasis is on safety," he said.
******************************
---
The electrical system has been partially re-energized, Beaudo said,
though "that power":
---
has been devoted to the living quarters of its workers. ---
Backup generators also are in use.
---
For "unrelated reasons",
**********************
the price of oil fell to its lowest level
*****************************************
this year on Wednesday.
**********************
---
Crude oil futures have plunged by more than $20 a barrel since mid-July
amid:
---
rising global inventories,
---
concerns about slowing economic growth and
---
a milder-than-anticipated hurricane season.
---
On Wednesday, doubts grew that there is a consensus within OPEC for an
immediate output cut, sending oil futures to $57.59 a barrel.
---
The vast Prudhoe Bay field
******************************
covers 3,336 square miles.
*****************************
---
Alaska's three major oil companies,
***************************************
BP,
ConocoPhillips and
Exxon Mobil Corp.,
---
own 98 percent of the field.
******************************
Production Monday was a 350,000 barrels per day but:
---
that fell to just 35,000 barrels Tuesday after the power outage.
---
Prudhoe Bay had produced:
********************************
more than 400,000 barrels a day
- or 8 percent of total U.S. output -
**************************************
---
until leaks and the discovery of pipe corrosion led the company to
begin shutting down the eastern half of the field Aug. 6.
----
The "eastern side of the field was restarted" late last month as the
company began to clean out the transit pipeline there.
---
Most of the electricity at Prudhoe Bay
******************************************
comes from a natural gas-fired turbine
*******************************************
that produces 168 megawatts of power.
********************************************
---
The system has:
13 substations and miles of power lines.
********************************************
---
The system shorted just before 3 a.m. Tuesday.
---
Wind gusts peaked at 66 mph midday Monday,
according to the National Weather Service.
---
Cleanup plans call for "crews in helicopters"
**********************************************
to use a hot water solution from the air
*******************************************
to wash the ceramic insulators.
***********************************
---
Trying to power up too quickly could cause a repeat of Tuesday's event,
with the entire system shorting out again, Beaudo said.
---
The recent windy weather at Prudhoe Bay, where the "lack of snow cover"
allowed dirt and debris to be whipped around, had slowed work at the
oil field even before the power outage, Beaudo said.
---
Indeed, such storms have affected the power system at Prudhoe every
three to four years but nothing on this scale recently, Beaudo said.
---
Print this- Email this
---
MORE FROM OIL & ENERGY
*********************************
OPEN ABOVE URL TO GET THESE LINKS
**********************************************
OPEC agrees to cut output.
Power crunch spotlights deregulation turmoil.
Boom in coal plants poses questions.
Gas prices hit lowest level in 2006.
Oil climbs to $60 as OPEC meeting looms.
BP may face hearings over Alaska papers.
Winter heating bills expected to slip.
---
Sources: OPEC plans to cut oil production.
Gas prices down another 14 cents.
Oil & Energy Section Front
---
Related Stories | What's this?
*********************************
•BP wants to restart part of Prudhoe Bay •BP allowed to restart
pipeline
•BP production slips as refining margins fall •Alaska gov. may bypass
lawmakers to OK gas pipeline •Bad Weather Shuts Down Alaska Pipeline
------
© 2006 MSNBC.com
AFJS
BP AT PRUDHOE BAY, AND MY OFFER STILL HOLDS THAT ANY OF YOU WHO WOULD
LIKE TO "CONTRIBUTE" INFORMATION "ABOUT IT", FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR
ARTICLES HERE..WITH THE URL TO THE ARTICLE.
--
C-SPAN CARRIED A PROGRAM WITH SHELL OIL RE "OIL AND GAS RESERVES IN THE
USA, YESTERDAY. UNBELIEVABLY, SHELL DIDN'T MENTION A DAMN THING ABOUT
THE ALASKA GAS PIPELINE, AS IF IT WAS NON-EXISTENT.
--
THEN I CAME ACROSS THIS VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM RUSSIA. IT
APPEARS THAT BP MAY HAVE FINALLY COME UP AGAINST "A GOVT. THAT WILL
FINALLY HOLD BP ACCOUNTABLE...THIS TIME FOR SPYING!
-----
MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, BP HAS TOTALLY RUINED IT'S EXISTANCE IN THE U.S.A.
SINCE IT IS UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS BY CONGRESS, SO THEY DECIDED
THEY WOULD "PLAY THEIR SAME ILLEGAL SPY GAMES,OUT OF GREED, IN RUSSIA
WHICH THEY ARE PROBABLY NOW CONCENTRATING ON SINCE THEY ARE PROBABLY
"OUT OF THE GAS PIPELINE" DEAL IN ALASKA.
---
Subject: BP-OIL GIANT-IN RUSSIA PLAYING SAME ILLEGAL GREED GAMES THIS
COMES FROM A RUSSIA ON-LINE WEBSITE.
---
Subject:Attention¡ Tremendous Storm over BP in Russia
http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/106324
>
----
TEXT COPY: 10-20-06
---
Attention:
Tremendous Storm over BP in Russia
******************************************
By: RIA Novosti, REGNUM on:
21.10.2006 [16:07 ] (397 reads)
(3069 bytes) [nc]
---
Tremendous Storm over BP in Russia
---
Govt. officials accused of divulging state secrets to oil co. 18:32 |
20/ 10/ 2006
---
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor General's
Office said Friday:
---
it had launched a criminal case against "government staff officials"
for disclosing secret state information "to an oil company."
---
"The Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against
"senior officials of the Russian government staff",
**************************************************
who:
---
illegally handed:
photocopies of documents containing confidential
***********************************************
information,
***********
to a representative of Anglo-Russian joint oil venture TNK-BP," the
office said.
******
---
TNK-BP RTS: TNBP,
---
the result of a 2003 merger, is a leading crude
**********************************************
producer in Russia and
*************************
among the "top 10 privately owned"
***************************************
oil companies in the world.
****************************
---
The company's operations are located in:
---
West and East Siberia, and
the Volga-Urals region.
---
The venture also runs a network of about 1,600 filling stations in
Russia and Ukraine.
---
Prosecutors said the documents had been "prepared for a government
session" and contained classified information,
---
which if used improperly could affect Russia's energy
*****************************************************
security,
********
i.e. impede its energy sector
development and influence the country's position on
***************************************************
foreign markets.
**************
---
TNK-BP's "major projects" include:
---
the Kovykta gas field,
*********************
one of the largest in East Siberia, with
1.9 trillion cubic meters of proven reserves.
********************************************
--
TNK-BP owns 62.4% of the deposit,
***************************************
crucial for Russia, which is pursuing ambitious plans to:
---
build a gas pipeline network to meet the needs
**********************************************
of the Asian market,
**********************
primarily energy-hungry China, and
*********************************
to diversify its export destinations.
*************************************
---
Regional officials said Thursday,
TNK-BP, along with:
******
Siberia-based Surgutneftegaz RTS: SNGS,
**************************************
---
had won tenders for licenses to "four deposits"
in North Siberia, worth about $43 million.
---
The sites, located on the Taimyr Peninsula in the far north of the
Krasnoyarsk Territory, have estimated reserves of:
--
92.7 million metric tons of "oil" and
**************************************
60.5 billion cubic meters of "natural gas".
*******************************************
---
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061020/54995993.html
>
---
TNK-BP denies involvement of its staff
*************************************
in leak of classified information
13:41 10/21/2006
---
TNK-BP press office has officially denied involvement of its staff in:
---
"a scandal concerning unauthorized disclosure"
of the state secret, First Channel reports.
---
As REGNUM reported before,
the Prosecutor General's Office has instituted
"a criminal procedure" against high-ranking officials in the
administration of the Russian government.
---
Names of suspects have not been released.
***************************************
They reportedly handed over copies of classified documents "to TNK-BP
oil company"
in violation of legislation.
---
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the materials were
prepared for a governmental session and contained data, which are state
secret.
---
The administration of the government does not know yet, against whom
the criminal procedure was instituted.
**************************************************
---
It is possible yet, the suspects do not work in the Russian White House
any more. http://www.regnum.ru/english/725816.html
>
---
POGO
STORE...ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS TO BE LEGITIMATE..BUT "CALL THEIR STORE
"FIRST", IT APPEARS TO BE JUST A "TEMPORARY PROMOTION", BUT FOR MANY
ALASKANS THIS MIGHT BE BENEFICIAL SINCE ALASKA REFUSES TO SPEND IT'S
MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET, TO GET ALASKANS A "HEALTH PROGRAM" WHEN IT
ALMOST "NO EMPLOYER IN ALASKA", EXCEPT THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
PROVIDES HEALTH CARE.
------
Subject: WAL-MART AND OTHER STORES IN ALASKA
ARE PROVIDING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS-CHEAP
---
Subject: Ohio gets Wal-Mart drug plan
---
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/BIZ01/310260025/1001/BIZ
>
---
TEXT COPY: 10-26-06
---
Last Updated: 2:39 pm | Thursday,
October 26, 2006
****************
Ohio gets Wal-Mart drug plan
**********************************
BY JEFF MCKINNEY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER Colerain Township -
---
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said today it is
extending its $4 generic prescription drug plan to Ohio and 11 other
states, not including Kentucky.
---
An announcement was made late this morning at the Wal-Mart Supercenter
here.
---
"This program will provide a solution for the more than 1.3 million
Ohioans who may presently avoid filling prescriptions and remain
untreated,'' because the cost is too high, said
---
Arnie Fox,
regional manager for
Wal-Mart pharmacies in southwest Ohio.
---
The company said in a news release that it accelerated the launch of
the low-priced prescriptions because of customer demand.
---
Butler County resident Kathy Mattscheck, who cares for her 87-year-old
mother who suffers from dementia, has high hopes for the drug program.
---
She said her mother's health insurance doesn't cover the cost of
perscription drugs.
--
"I'm hoping the program will take down the cost of my mother's drugs
because she uses about $1,000 a month worth of drugs,'' Mattscheck
said.
---
"Without this program, in about two years, she would have to sell her
home or move into and old-age home.''
---
The move to expand the drug program brings 1,008 more stores under the
program, in which
--
Wal-Mart charges $4 for a one-month supply of
**********************************************
314 different prescriptions.
*****************************
---
That number includes 143 drugs in a
variety of dosages and solid or liquid forms.
---
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart rolled out the program in Florida
three weeks ago and last week added 14 states to the list.
---
The low-priced drugs are now available in:
**********************************************
2,507
******
Wal-Mart,
********
Sam's Club and
**********
Neighborhood Market stores.
**************************
---
Analysts say the program will help Wal-Mart by "bringing in more
customers"
who will shop in other store departments, and extend its reach in
another segment of the retailing industry - the drug store business.
---
Drugstore retailer "Walgreens",
one of Wal-Mart's "chief rivals" in the prescription drug business,
issued a statement today saying:
it would "not" follow in Wal-Mart's footsteps.
---
"Wal-Mart's "limited price promotion" is in
***************************************
response to the increasing number of seniors choosing Walgreens for
their pharmacy needs,'' the company said. ---
"Therefore, Walgreens will not match Wal-Mart's promotion.
---
Once consumers learn the "fine print" of
*******************************************
Wal-Mart's program,
**********************
they'll realize Walgreens offers the best value for pharmacy patients
with its convenient locations, close-in parking and unique pharmacy
services.''
---
Union-backed Wal-Mart critics:
**********************************
have also accused the company of using the low-priced drugs to "divert
attention"
from its own employee health insurance plan, which anti-Wal-Mart groups
say does not offer adequate coverage.
---
Besides Ohio, states added Thursday included:
---
Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi,
Missouri, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Virginia.
---
States already with the program were:
******************************************
---
Alaska,
******
Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New
Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and
Vermont.
--
E-mail jmck...@enquirer.com
--
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Sylvia
Question wrote:
> Subject:PT 2-Object off Alaska coast may be WWII sub -
> ---
> http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15119785/page/2/
> >
> -------------
> TEXT COPY: PT 2 OF 2-(10-04-06
> -------
Sylvia
> The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sylvia
Sylvia wrote:
> POGO wrote:
> > THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS A "SALES COME-ON" TO GET YOU IN THEIR
> > STORE...ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS TO BE LEGITIMATE..BUT "CALL THEIR STORE
> > "FIRST", IT APPEARS TO BE JUST A "TEMPORARY PROMOTION", BUT FOR MANY
> > ALASKANS THIS MIGHT BE BENEFICIAL SINCE ALASKA REFUSES TO SPEND IT'S
> > MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET, TO GET ALASKANS A "HEALTH PROGRAM" WHEN IT
> > ALMOST "NO EMPLOYER IN ALASKA", EXCEPT THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
> > PROVIDES HEALTH CARE.
> > ------
> > Subject: WAL-MART AND OTHER STORES IN ALASKA
> > ARE PROVIDING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS-CHEAP
> > ---
> > Subject: Ohio gets Wal-Mart drug plan
> > ---
> > http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/BIZ01/310260025/1001/BIZ
> >
> > >
> > ---
> > TEXT COPY: 10-26-06
> > ---
Jackel
REPORTING" AND SEE THAT:
--
NO NAMES ARE GIVEN OF:
--
WHO FILED THE SUIT;
--
WHO THE JUDGE WAS;
---
WHO THE 3 OIL CORPS ARE:
--
ETC.ETC.
--
THIS IS "TYPICAL OF THE WAY "ALASKA'S JUSTICE SYSTEM" WORKS...IT
DOESN'T..."MONEY AND POWER" IS THE ONLY PRIORITY IN ALASKA, AND THE
RESIDENT ALASKANS ARE SO LAZY AND STUPID...THEY DO NOTHING TO STOP IT,
IN FACT, THOSE FEW THAT VOTE..WILL MAKE SURE THAT THEY VOTE FOR SOMEONE
WHO "IS ALREADY IN POLITICAL OFFICE, TO ENSURE THEY "KNOW HOW THE
CORRUPTION WORKS, SO THEY CAN KEEP IT GOING". THE ICE COLD DEAD WINTER
SCENES, ONLY REFLECT ON THE "DEAD HUMAN BRAINS OF IT'S RESIDENTS".
--
NOTE BELOW THE GOVERNOR'S MOUTH PIECE CALLING THE "INJUNCTION
PETITION"...."BIZARRE"..I AM SURE HE THINKS THAT WAY, SINCE IT "REALLY
IS" STRANGE FOR SOME ALASKAN TO ACTUALLY STAND UP AND FIGHT AGAINST
THIS BLATANT CORRUPTION, BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, THE "ALASKA MEDIA" WON'T
EVEN TELL YOU "THE NAMES OF THE 8 LEGISLATOR'S WHO FILED IT". MUST HAVE
ALL BEEN DEMO'S SINCE MURKY, THE REPUB GOVERNOR, IS ON HIS WAY OUT THE
DOOR.
-----
Subject: MURKY SUED BUT AK. MEDIA REFUSES TO GIVE INFO. ---
Subject:Alaska Governor Murkowski sued over pipeline draft contract-
---
http://www.alaskareport.com/z44717.htm
>
----
TEXT COPY: 11-02-06
---
Alaska Governor Murkowski
********************************
sued over pipeline draft contract
***********************************
---
November 2nd, 2006
---
Fairbanks, Alaska -
---
Eight Alaska state lawmakers sued governor
**********************************************
Frank Murkowski to:
**********************
---
"block him from signing"
***************************
a natural gas pipeline "contract."
***********************************
---
The lawsuit seeks "an injunction"
**************************************
to stop Murkowski from "executing"
the draft contract "he reached" with
---
"three major oil companies"
to develop North Slope gas reserves or
----
from modifying the state's tax laws or
----
lease terms without legislative approval.
---
"Should the governor execute the fiscal contract," the suit reads,
---
"the harm to the state will be of constitutional
**********************************************
proportions. Such actions will irreparably upset
**********************************************
the separation of powers doctrine.
*************************************
---
"The danger" in terms of
****************************
---
"confusion on the citizenry" and
****************************
"possible future legal entanglements"
*****************************************
will be great and irreversible."
********************************
---
Murkowski's spokesman,
John Manly,
**********
called the suit "bizarre."
*************************
---
"The governor hasn't given anybody any
indication that he would do that,"
---
Manly told the Anchorage Daily News.
---
"He's said throughout that:
*****************************
he's going to follow the
*************************
"law and the constitution."
****************************
---
A judge in Fairbanks,
***********************
"did not grant" a
******************
requested temporary restraining order
******************************************
immediately.
*************
---
A hearing is scheduled for
****************************
Thursday in
*************
Fairbanks.
***********
Source: © AlaskaReport News
Sylvia
Jackel wrote:
> !
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AFJS
AFJS
--
(1) THERE IS "NO MENTION" OF THE "NEW SO-CALLED ALASKA GAS PIPELINE
PROJECT" WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO CONTAIN TRILLIONS OF GAS....WHAT HAPPENED
TO IT?
---
(2) THIS ARTICLE STATES THAT BUSH WANTS TO "LIFT THE BAN" FOR DRILLING
"BECAUSE THE LOCAL NATIVE TRIBES" WANT IT...AND ALASKA'S SENATOR, TED
STEVENS "AGREES", YET...THE ARTICLE CLEARLY STATES THE NATIVE TRIBES IN
BRISTOL BAY ARE TOTALLY AGAINST THIS DRILLING.
---
WE ALL KNOW THAT BUSH'S LEGACY AS PRESIDENT IS IN THE GARBAGE CAN...NOW
IT APPEARS THAT TED STEVENS WANTS TO JOIN HIM, WITH BOTH "GETTING RICH
FROM THE OIL/GAS CORPS" BEFORE THEY ARE THROWN IN THERE.
---
I DON'T REMEMBER SEEING SUCH LYING PROPAGANDA IN PRINT SINCE THE
FASCIST BUSH REGIMES' B.S. ABOUT WMD THAT THEY MANUFACTURED FOR THOSE
STUPID ENOUGH NOT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE BEING TOLD.
---
BUT....STEVENS' DECADES OF LIES TO ALASKANS ARE KNOWN, AND OF COURSE,
ALASKANS "KEEP RE-ELECTING HIM", SO AS THEY SAID "THIS WILL BE JUST
ANOTHER SLAM DUNK".
---
I JUST WONDER WHAT THE "NEW NATIVE ALASKAN GOVERNOR HAS TO SAY ABOUT
THIS..SINCE SHE IS ANOTHER "REPUBLICAN". IS THERE "ANY LOYALTY TO THE
ALASKAN PEOPLE LEFT"?
MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD SEND THIS TO MS.PALIN IN CASE SHE DOESN'T READ THE
NEWS.
------
Subject: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON NOW?
---
Subject:Bush considers lifting drilling ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay |
Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
---
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/4375013.html
>
-----
TEXT COPY: 12-02-06
---
Energy
---
Dec. 2, 2006, 7:39PM
---
Bush considers lifting drilling ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay
-----
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press
----
WASHINGTON — President Bush is deciding whether to "lift a ban on oil
and gas drilling"
in federal waters off Alaska's Bristol Bay,
*********************************************
home to endangered whales and sea lions
and the world's largest sockeye salmon run.
----
Leasing in a portion of area rich in oil and natural gas
----
ended nearly two decades ago —
***********************************
while Bush's father was president —
*************************************
in the outcry after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. ----
But with "natural gas prices higher",
the Interior Department's
****************************
Minerals Management Service
***********************************
"proposed reopening" up the
********************************
North Aleutian Basin.
************************
---
That includes:
Bristol Bay and part of southeastern
*****************************************
Bering Sea.
*************
----
White House spokesman, Scott Stanzel "confirmed today" the president
was considering taking that step.
----
Environmentalists oppose drilling there because of the potential for
oil spills and harm to wildlife.
----
They have speculated in recent days that Bush might allow such drilling
---
before Democrats regain control of Congress
**********************************************
in January.
************
"If the Bush administration decides to allow drilling in Bristol Bay,
it will simply illustrate the level to which they will sink to satisfy
Big Oil," Carl Pope,
the Sierra Club's
executive director,
said today.
---
"They are willing to risk a valuable, renewable resource like Bristol
Bay's salmon fisheries for limited, shortsighted drilling plans."
----
The Minerals Management Service said in its "August proposal" that:
----
reopening energy development in the basin's federal waters,
---
extending between three miles and 200 miles
**********************************************
"offshore",
**********
could produce $7.7 billion in oil and gas
********************************************
production and up to 11,500 jobs.
**************************************
---
Some 200 million barrels of crude oil,
*****************************************
about what the "U.S. imports every 16 days,"
"are thought to be there."
---
The agency estimates:
************************
the region could yield 5 trillion cubic feet of
**********************************************
natural gas —
************
a quarter of all U.S. annual production.
*******************************************
----
"Fourteen companies" are said to be interested.
**********************************************
---
The agency "cited support":
********************************
among more than a dozen
******************************
"local and tribal governments nearby"
******************************************
who believe the drilling would "boost
*****************************************
their economy."
*****************
---
Lease payments go to the government.
********************************************
---
Despite its fame among fishermen for its rich stocks of salmon, king
crab and other seafood,
---
the Bristol Bay fishing region has lost hundreds
**********************************************
of millions of dollars over the past decade
**********************************************
because of competition from
less expensive farmed salmon.
***********************************
---
Alaska Native villages also depend on the annual sockeye and chinook
salmon runs for protein in their diet.
---
The commercial fishing industry has plunged
**********************************************
into a depression,
********************
---
giving more support to Royal Dutch Shell PLC
**********************************************
and other oil companies that have lobbied the White House to lift the
offshore drilling ban.
---
Environmentalists worry about:
***********************************
the large populations of migratory seabirds and crab, the imperiled
Steller's sea lions and northern sea otters, or the North Pacific right
whales — a population so decimated only about 100 are thought to still
exist.
----
The Minerals Management Service said
*********************************************
accidental spills could foul coastal water quality,
**********************************************
and the "noise and pollution" from more ship traffic could disturb or
kill seagoing creatures.
**********************************************
---
It said even a large spill probably would harm a small portion of the
fish populations, but could pose a serious threat to marine mammals.
---
The Bering Sea Fishermen's Association
**********************************************
raised alarms about protecting the region,
**********************************************
as did the:
***********
Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association,
**********************************************
which said the "drilling would threaten the salmon runs."
----
On Friday, more than 30 people representing:
**********************************************
fishermen,
native Alaskans and
conservationists
wrote Bush urging him "not to lift the ban."
*********************************************
"These protections have been in place
"because":
---
of the great risk to Bristol Bay posed by oil and gas development,"
wrote representatives of:
---
the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association,
**********************************************
Alaska Wilderness League,
*******************************
Sierra Club,
*************
World Wildlife Fund
**********************
and others.
----
"The presidential withdrawal now stands as the last line of defense for
this irreplaceable resource."
----
The southwest segment of Bristol Bay was "last open for lease sales in
1988" when
"the federal government" collected more than
**********************************************
$95 million.
************
---
"The government bought back the leases"
**********************************************
after the Exxon Valdez coated Prince William Sound and the waters of
south-central Alaska with 11 million gallons of crude.
----
"Congressional protections"
******************************
put on the area in 1989:
***************************
--
"were lifted in 2003 at the behest of
****************************************
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska,
*********************************
who said:
**********
"he had been acting at the request of
******************************************
constituents in the region.
*****************************
---
Environmental groups said they are confident the new
Democratic-controlled Congress would work to restore congressional
protections on Bristol Bay.
----
Associated Press writer Jeannette J. Lee in Anchorage, Alaska
contributed to this report.
----
On the Web
----
Interior Department:
http://www.mms.gov/5-year/PDFs/ProposedProgram2007-2012.pdf
>
-----
MORE STORIES IN ENERGY
(CLICK ON ABOVE URL TO OPEN THESE LINKS)
--
GOP taking what it can get
--
Gas data
---
European antitrust chief says large energy companies need to be broken
up
---
Angola, Sudan to ask for OPEC membership
---
Rig count
---
Oil data
---
The well
---
SEARCH RESULTS
Bush May End Drilling Ban in Alaskan Bay
-----
Bush considers reopening Bristol Bay to oil, gas drilling
----
Subsistence laws threaten Alaskan natural resource
----
Alaska oil pipeline's Sept. 11 scare points up risks
George Fuller
<robertbo...@gci.net> wrote:
>
><jeff_...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:1164178504.0...@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> Jan Flora wrote:
>>> In article <1163750673.5...@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
>>> "AlaskinOldFert" <fecker.20....@xoxy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> > It's a wonderful scam for free healthcare... Just set up one male
>>> > "gubament" worker as a "homo" with a partner and one female "gubament"
>>> > worker as a "dyke" with a partner... Then anyone who needs medical care
>>> > can reference one of these two as their partner!!!! the male if male
>>> > and female if female... If any questions start coming in about multiple
>>> > "partners", just explain that they broke up and/or got back together,
>>> > depending on the scenario... It's sweet, and puts the burden on the
>>> > gubament, which as we all know, has a limitless supply of funds to
>>> > support such crapola... It's gay, It's free, and NOW It's
>>> > Alaskan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus the assumption that the
>>> > couple would actually get "married" if Alaska allowed such things...
>>> > that should screw those hetero- homophobes!!!!
>>>
>>> Oh, get over yourself.
>>>
>>> I refuse to marry my partner. Fuck the insurance.
>>> We like to cut the lawyers out of our personal lives, and
>>> by not getting married, that's a start.
>>>
>>> The most stable couple in my neighborhood is two gals.
>>> Been together for 20 years. They've raised 5 (straight) kids
>>> so far, and taken-in countless kids who needed a safe place
>>> to be, good food and a clean bed, over the years.
>>>
>>> The state, because of Loren Leman, Fred Dyson and other
>>> stiff-necked right wing-nut Christians, will spend more
>>> money on lawyers and Special Sessions than we'd spend
>>> insuring gay partners anyway, as there aren't that many
>>> couples who would qualify for the insurance in the first
>>> place.
>>>
>>> Jan
>>>
>>> --
>>> Bedouin proverb: If you have no troubles, buy a goat.
>>
>> It would be far simpler to set up a system that would allow the primary
>> insured to designate any other person irregardless of marital status to
>> be covered on the insurance plan.
>>
>There's nothing wrong with that really so long as you don't mind the rate hike
>that will accompany it. Those who don't have insurance might have single
>friends with insurance who will add them to their policy just to help them out.
>If I was a really nice guy, I could perform charity work by going from one
>uninsured person with cancer to another, insuring them until their cancer
>treatment was finished before moving on to the next one. It's not a right or
>wrong issue, just a money issue.
>
>Robert
>
I thought the state kicked in a certain amount for each employee and
their unions went shopping for medical insurance... I am not certain
how insurance is bought for elected folks and those that serve "at the
pleasure of" elected officials.
I do think the court got it right... It is an equal rights issue. Each
employee should have equal pay and benefits for equal work/pay range.
Later,
A.J.
The Anchorage Fishwrapper and Litterbox Liner Press
> WASHINGTON ? President Bush is deciding whether to "lift a ban on oil
> and gas drilling"
> in federal waters off Alaska's Bristol Bay,
> *********************************************
> home to endangered whales and sea lions
> and the world's largest sockeye salmon run.
> ----
> Leasing in a portion of area rich in oil and natural gas
> ----
> ended nearly two decades ago ?
> ***********************************
> while Bush's father was president ?
> natural gas ?
> whales ? a population so decimated only about 100 are thought to still
AFJS
BERING SEA.
---
WHILE MAKING THAT POST USING GOOGLE, I SPOTTED THIS ARTICLE ON THE SIDE
OF GOOGLE PAGE WHICH "DOESN'T EVEN MENTION BRISTOL BAY, ETC.
---
IT APPEARS THERE ARE "TWO BUSH BILLS" FOR OPENING UP "THE COASTS" FOR
DRILLING OIL/GAS AND NEITHER ARTICLE PROVIDES THE MOST IMPORTANT
INFORMATION, I.E. THE NUMBER ON THE BILLS SO THE PUBLIC COULD READ THEM
FOR THEMSELVES, THIS IS SO TYPICAL OF OUR AMERICAN MEDIA, I.E. THEY ARE
INCOMPETENT REPORTERS TREATING THE PUBLIC LIKE MORONS WHO COULDN'T
POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE BILL/S SAY. THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW WHICH
CONGRESS PEOPLE "AUTHORED" THESE BILLS SO THEY COULD PUT THE PRESSURE
ON THEM..THE ABOVE ARTICLE CLEARLY NAMES TED STEVENS AS A SUPPORTER OF
THAT BILL.
--
CONGRESS PLANS ON GOING BACK ON VACATION AFTER FRIDAY SO THEY DON'T
HAVE MUCH TIME, WHICH MEANS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ANY TIME TO
WASTE TO CONTACT THEIR CONGRESS PERSON.
--
AS IN THE FIRST ARTICLE (ABOVE) THERE IS "NO MENTION" WHATSOEVER ABOUT
THE HUGE ALASKA GAS PIPELINE PROJECT, NOR DO THEY INCLUDE BRISTOL BAY
AND THE BERING SEA IN THIS ARTICLE, YET CLEARLY "BUSH AND HIS OIL/GAS
CORPS WANT "ALL" OF THE OIL/GAS THEY CAN GET THEIR GREEDY HANDS ON. THE
GLARING SILENCE OF THE HUGE OIL SPILL AND FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OF IT
AND B.P. IS ALSO MISSING IN BOTH ARTICLES.
--
WHEN WILL AMERICANS REALIZE THAT "THEY SHOULD SET UP THEIR "OWN
WATCHDOG ORGANIZATIONS/THINK TANKS" AT BOTH THE STATE AND FED LEVEL TO
KEEP TRACK OF WHAT OUR GOVERNMENT ARE "DOING TO US"? OUR PBS STATIONS
AREN'T EVEN COVERING THESE EVENTS, WHAT A WASTE OF OUR MONEY, I.E.
TAXES AND DONATIONS. IT'S TIME "WE" SET UP OUR OWN PBS NETWORK AND
ALASKA HAS THE BIGGEST AND BEST ALREADY SETUP, I.E. THE 96 LEGISLATIVE
OFFICES LOCATED ALL OVER ALASKA, WHICH WERE SET UP "WITH ALASKAN'S
MONEY" FOR JUST THAT PURPOSE, YET BANNED FROM OPERATING THEM OR EVEN
HAVING ANY VOICE ON IT'S OPERATION.
------
Subject: HOUSE TO VOTE ON OFF-SHORE DRILLING BILL ON TUESDAY.
---
Subject:House to vote on offshore drilling bill -
---
OPEN UP THIS URL FOR OTHER LINKS IN THE TEXT
---
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061202/ap_on_go_co/oil_drilling
>
-----
TEXT COPY: 12-01-06
---
House to vote on offshore drilling bill
*****************************************
By BEN EVANS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 1, 8:53 PM ET
----
Abandoning months of opposition,
"House Republicans agreed Friday"
to move an offshore drilling bill that would
**********************************************
open new territory in the Gulf Coast to oil rigs
**********************************************
but "would not ease restrictions"
************************************
on coastal waters elsewhere.
********************************
---
The "Senate passed" the compromise measure, 71-25, in August.
******************
---
Now, with time running out on the party's majority rule,
---
GOP leaders will send it to the House floor on
**********************************************
Tuesday under
*****************
"special rules" requiring a two-thirds
majority for approval,
---
said Kevin Madden,
a spokesman for
Majority Leader,
John Boehner, R-Ohio.
----
If that fails,
************
they could bring it up for "a regular vote" later in the week, although
that could complicate its passage.
---
House leaders had previously blocked the bill,
**********************************************
"approving more ambitious legislation"
*******************************************
that would "allow drilling" in coastal waters
**********************************************
"across the country"
**********************
unless a state objects.
*************************
---
But even drilling supporters conceded the House bill was going nowhere,
and
---
industry groups have urged Republicans to "accept the compromise
measure."
----
Madden said Republican leaders would
"now support the Senate measure"
and work to pass it.
---
Moving it as a "suspension" bill will speed the process and block
amendments, he said.
----
Dave Parker,
*************
president and CEO of
the American Gas Association,
**********************************
said winning a two-thirds majority could prove difficult. But he was
optimistic the bill could pass before Congress adjourns in the coming
weeks.
----
He said the industry would prefer a broader package but, "You take what
you can get."
---
The bill would allow new oil and natural gas
**********************************************
development in 8.3 million acres of
****************************************
"federally controlled waters"
********************************
in the eastern-central Gulf of Mexico,
*****************************************
with backers saying it would help ease
"tight markets hurting consumers,"
particularly for natural gas.
******************************
----
Along with "opening new territory",
---
the bill would sharply increase federal royalty
**********************************************
shares for:
***********
Alabama,
Louisiana,
Mississippi and
Texas,
---
from less than 2 percent to 37.5 percent.
*********************************************
---
In 2017,
********
"the new royalty formula would apply"
****************************************
to all oil and gas produced in the Gulf,
******************************************
not just the newly opened territory,
creating hundreds of millions dollars
*****************************************
in "new revenues for the states."
************************************
---
Although the bill has "not generated"
as much opposition as the House's
***************************************
more aggressive proposal,
******************************
environmental advocates vowed to fight it.
---
"We just think it's ludicrous to vote this bill so close after an
election in which:
---
the American public voted against big oil,"
**********************************************
said Athan Manuel,
*********************
director of the Sierra Club's
land protection program.
---
"Why reward the oil industry with a bill like this in the last week of
a lame-duck session?"
---
"We'll urge members to vote against it," he said. "I think we have a
shot."
---
At least one lawmaker who
"previously opposed the compromise",
----
Rep. John Peterson
***********************
(news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said:
---
"he would support it" as a modest improvement even though he thinks it
accomplishes too little.
---
Rep. Bobby Jindal,
**********************
a Louisiana Republican
who backs the bill, said
leaders were working hard to line up votes.
**********************************************
---
"We're optimistic this time," he said.
"It's a compromise approach, and I think it's done in a way that can
get that super-majority."
----
Rep. Jack Kingston
**********************
(news, bio, voting record), R-Ga., said
---
the "bill would send a positive signal" to voters as Republicans
transition into the minority.
---
"It would be good if we could get a few things done on the way out the
door and show people that ...
"we really can govern,"
*************************
Kingston said.
----
President Bush has said:
***************************
"he supports new offshore exploration"
******************************************
but has "criticized revenue-sharing provisions"
**********************************************
that would "divert money from federal coffers."
**********************************************
___
Associated Press Writer H. Josef Hebert contributed to this report.
---
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Frank Miller
Frank Miller
LEG
LEG
--
I JUST POSTED SOME ARTICLES ABOUT BUSH AND ALASKA'S REPUB U.S. SENATOR,
TED STEVENS WHO ARE HELL BENT IN GETTING LEGISLATION PASSED TO OPEN UP
"ALL" OF THE U.S. COASTS FOR OIL AND GAS DRILLING, WHILE AT THE SAME
TIME THE REPUB'S U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL IS INVESTIGATING B.P OIL CORP
FOR THE BLATANT OIL SPILLS THAT TOOK PLACE IN PRUDHOE BAY THIS YEAR
WHICH CAUSED THE ALMOST TOTAL SHUT DOWN OF ANY OIL DRILLING THERE.
--
CLEARLY IT MEANS NOTHING TO THESE GREEDY BASTARDS TO DESTROY THE LAND
AND WATERS AROUND THE U.S. MUCH LESS ON THE LAND AND GROUND WATER.
--
SO WHILE THESE S.O.B.S ARE AT IT, (A VOTE TO SUPPOSED TO TAKE PLACE
TOMORROW ON ONE OF THESE BILLS-CHECK http://www.c-span.org AND THEIR
T.V. SCHEDULES FOR THESE VOTES) MURKY HAS MADE A DEAL TO SELL ALASKA
SALMON TO THE U.S. AGRICULTURE FOR LOTS OF MONEY TO BE USED TO FEED THE
WORLD'S STARVING, WHICH OF COURSE, IS TOTALLY FOR THE MONEY AND TO HELL
WITH THE PEOPLE.
--
THERE HAS TO BE A SPECIAL PLACE FOR THESE PARASITES..OH YEAH..ITS
CALLED PRISON.
------
Subject:SitNews - Alaska Salmon Included in International Food Aid-
---
http://www.sitnews.us/1206news/120206/120206_alaska_salmon.html
>
----
TEXT COPY: 12-02-06
---
Alaska Salmon Included in International Food Aid
---
December 02, 2006
Saturday
---
Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski announced Friday that the
---
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has
*******************************************
"announced a bid to purchase"
*********************************
1,049 tons of Alaska canned Keta (Chum)
**********************************************
"salmon for food aid" to:
****************************
Jamaica, Guatemala and Cambodia.
*****************************************
---
Shortly after taking office,
Governor Murkowski "started" the
**************************************
Alaska Fisheries Revitalization Strategy.
**********************************************
---
"Advocating for fishermen and producers" who have the supply and
ability to meet the demand of large endeavors like international food
aid, part of the strategy was to get the Department of Agriculture to
buy Alaska canned Salmon.
----
For the last two years,
"Alaska has aggressively marketed"
its canned salmon to
the Department of Agriculture, and
*********************************
---
promoted the "Wild Alaska Salmon" brand for
**********************************************
other kinds of Salmon, including international food aid programs, as a
healthy, long-lasting food product. It represents the only solid animal
protein in the program.
---
Governor Murkowski said this purchase is a win for the Alaska salmon
industry and for those who receive Alaska's fish.
---
"The industry will benefit because we think this is just a first step
to larger commitments from USDA.
---
It will help stabilize the canned portion of the trade and provide a
new outlet for canned Keta salmon that to date has been minimal in any
market," said Murkowski.
---
"More importantly, the world's hungry will receive the tremendous
health benefits Alaska salmon provides."
---
Commerce Commissioner Bill Noll said:
************************************
"I'm very proud of our work, because it's a market the industry would
not have had without our direct involvement."
---
Bruce Schactler is directing the effort for Alaska
**************************************************
and said the state is in the process of demonstrating Alaska canned
salmon in school feeding programs and hands on demonstration projects
in parts of Asia, Central and South America and Africa.
---
"Our demonstrations have shown the world food aid community that Alaska
canned salmon can be used in a variety of Food Aid situations," said
Schactler.
---
"Because of the unique health benefits and large variety of uses across
diverse cultures, Alaska canned salmon has been so well received that:
---
we have begun to realize these
impressive results much sooner than expected.
**********************************************
The addition of canned Keta salmon will help the industry's ability to
sustain the demand for canned salmon in international food aid, as well
as allowing fishermen and processors all across Alaska to utilize a
larger portion of the Alaska salmon harvest potential." ----
Nina P. Schlossman, Ph.D.,
*************************
is a Nutritionist and
President of Global Food & Nutrition Inc.,
**********************************************
---
who has worked in the food aid industry for 20 years. She was hired to
help break into this new
**********************************************
market.
********
---
"It is very hard to get a new product introduced in international food
aid.
---
Alaska salmon provides high quality nutrition and, coupled with the
additional health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, is an excellent food
for all people, especially those with weakened immune systems," said
Schlossman.
---
"We are working with food aid partners around the world to integrate
Alaska canned salmon into the food aid basket and enhance the diets of
their program participants."
---
The U.S. government provides agricultural
**********************************************
commodities worth more than one billion dollars
**********************************************
to 106 such private voluntary organizations
**********************************************
for food aid recipients in 75 countries.
*****************************************
---
Source of News:
Office of the Governor
www.gov.state.ak.us
E-mail your news & photos to edi...@sitnews.us
---
Publish A Letter on SitNews
Read Letters/Opinions
Contact the Editor
SitNews ©2006
----
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska
Lori Michaels
giganews
"LEG" <LEG...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:1165278682.6...@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
HOW INTERESTING IT IS WITH ALASKA POLITICIANS, ESPECIALLY THE REPUBS.
--
I JUST POSTED SOME ARTICLES ABOUT BUSH AND ALASKA'S REPUB U.S. SENATOR,
TED STEVENS WHO ARE HELL BENT IN GETTING LEGISLATION PASSED TO OPEN UP
"ALL" OF THE U.S. COASTS FOR OIL AND GAS DRILLING, WHILE AT THE SAME
TIME THE REPUB'S U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL IS INVESTIGATING B.P OIL CORP
FOR THE BLATANT OIL SPILLS THAT TOOK PLACE IN PRUDHOE BAY THIS YEAR
WHICH CAUSED THE ALMOST TOTAL SHUT DOWN OF ANY OIL DRILLING THERE.
--
CLEARLY IT MEANS NOTHING TO THESE GREEDY BASTARDS TO DESTROY THE LAND
AND WATERS AROUND THE U.S. MUCH LESS ON THE LAND AND GROUND WATER.
--
SO WHILE THESE S.O.B.S ARE AT IT, (A VOTE TO SUPPOSED TO TAKE PLACE
TOMORROW ON ONE OF THESE BILLS-CHECK http://www.c-span.org AND THEIR
T.V. SCHEDULES FOR THESE VOTES) MURKY HAS MADE A DEAL TO SELL ALASKA
SALMON TO THE U.S. AGRICULTURE FOR LOTS OF MONEY TO BE USED TO FEED THE
WORLD'S STARVING, WHICH OF COURSE, IS TOTALLY FOR THE MONEY AND TO HELL
WITH THE PEOPLE.
--
THERE HAS TO BE A SPECIAL PLACE FOR THESE PARASITES..OH YEAH..ITS
CALLED PRISON.
------
because they wouldn't elect you as governor.
AFJS
AND BLIND ABOUT "USING ACA FOR DISCUSSION OF ALASKA ISSUES", OF WHICH
THIS IS JUST ONE I SETUP FOR THAT PURPOSE, AND JAN "REFUSES TO MAKE ANY
EFFORT IN HER OWN SPEWINGS", SOMEONE MIGHT LIKE TO E-MAIL THIS THREAD
TO HER SO SHE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE MORON THAT SHE CONTINUALLY PROVES
TO US...SHE WORKS HARD ON BEING. SYLVIA
AFJS
AFJS
LIGHTS ARE BEING REPORTED; THIS IS BUT ONE.
---
Subject:NORTHERN LIGHTS AT SALCHA, AK.-12-15-06
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page1785.html?theme=light
AFJS
NORTHERN LIGHTS.
---
Subject:NORTHERN LIGHTS - Google SEARCH IN: alt.culture.alaska--234
THREADS
----
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.culture.alaska/search?group=alt.culture.alaska&q=NORTHERN+LIGHTS&qt_g=1&searchnow=Search+this+group
>
---
muckraker
muckraker
Muckraker
LIKE STEVENS TALKS..BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, AND I NEED 50 BILLION DOLLARS
MORE FOR MY MILITARY CONTRACTORS.
---
NOTE: DOES BUSH KNOW THIS MATERIAL SHOULD BE "CLASSIFIED"...IF, OF
COURSE, THERE IS "ANY" TRUTH TO IT. ALTHOUGH I DO RECALL THAT POPULAR
MECHANICS HAS PUBLISHED SOME DOCUMENTATION THAT THE PRESIDENT'S
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (DON'T REMEMBER WHICH PRESIDENT) HAD "NOT
CLASSIFIED TOP U.S. WMD". GIVEN THE CONTINUED HACKING OF GOVERNMENT
COMPUTERS WHILE WE HAVE TO TAKE OUR SHOES OFF IN ORDER TO GET ON A
PLANE, BECAUSE WE AMERICANS "ARE THE TERRORISTS", THIS STUFF COULD BE
REAL AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLASSIFIED.
>
------
Subject: PENTAGON'S PROPOSED NEW GLOBAL STRIKE CRUISE
MISSILE-PROPAGANDA OR JUST MORE ROBBERY?
---
NOTE: AT THE BOTTOM OF ARTICLE, I SWEAR THIS IS ANOTHER
PSYCHO RUMSFELD/CHENEY "DR. STRANGELOVE DELUSION".
---
Subject:X-51 Hypersonic Cruise Missile: The Pentagon's Prompt Global
Strike Weapon Plan -
----
(OPEN THIS URL TO SEE PHOTOS & DIAGRAMS)
----
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203874.html
>
----
TEXT COPY: JANUARY 2007 EDITION
---
Hypersonic Cruise Missile: America's New Global Strike Weapon
----
The mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour.
---
But is the Pentagon's bold program a critical new weapon for hitting
elusive targets, or a good way to set off a nuclear war?
---
By Noah Shachtman
Diagrams by Kakofonia
Published in the January, 2007 issue.
----
Launched from a B-52, the "proposed" X-51 hypersonic cruise missile
could travel 600 miles in 10 minutes to strike elusive, fleeting
targets. (Illustration by Render Room)
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A tip sets the plan in motion : a whispered warning of a North Korean
nuclear launch, or of a shipment of biotoxins bound for a Hezbollah
stronghold in Lebanon.
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Word races through the American intelligence network until it reaches
U.S. Strategic Command headquarters, the Pentagon and, eventually, the
White House.
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"In the Pacific", a nuclear-powered Ohio class submarine surfaces,
ready for the president's command to launch.
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When the order comes, the sub shoots a 65-ton Trident II ballistic
missile into the sky. Within 2 minutes, the missile is traveling at
more than 20,000 ft. per second.
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Up and over the oceans and out of the atmosphere it soars for thousands
of miles.
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At the top of its parabola, hanging in space, the "Trident's four
warheads" separate and begin their screaming descent down toward the
planet. Traveling as fast as 13,000 mph, the warheads are filled with
scored tungsten rods with twice the strength of steel.
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Just above the target, the warheads detonate, showering the area with
thousands of rods-each one up to 12 times as destructive as a
.50-caliber bullet. Anything within 3000 sq. ft. of this whirling,
metallic storm is obliterated.
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If Pentagon strategists get their way, there will be no place on the
planet to hide from such an assault.
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The plan is part of a program in slow development since the 1990s, and
now quickly coalescing in military circles called "Prompt Global
Strike."
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It will begin with modified Tridents. But eventually, Prompt Global
Strike could encompass new generations of aircraft and armaments five
times faster than anything in the current American arsenal.
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One candidate:
the X-51 hypersonic cruise missile, which is designed to hit Mach 5
roughly 3600 mph. The goal, according to the U.S. Strategic Command's
deputy commander Lt. Gen. C. Robert Kehler, is "to strike virtually
anywhere on the face of the Earth within 60 minutes."
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The question is whether such an attack can be deployed without
triggering World War III:
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Those tungsten-armed Tridents look, and fly, exactly like the deadliest
weapons in the American nuclear arsenal.
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QUICK HIT
**********
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The military is convinced that in the coming years it will need to act
with this kind of speed against threats; terrorist leaders, smuggled
nuclear or chemical arms; that emerge and disappear in a flash.
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There may be only hours, or minutes, to respond. "We know how to strike
precisely. We know how to strike at long distances," says Kehler, whose
office is in charge of the Defense Department's Global Strike mission.
"What's different now is this sense of time."
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Sneak Attack
**************
Click to enlarge-(PHOTO)
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The leading candidates to deliver Prompt Global Strike's swift knockout
punch are the sub-launched Trident II missile and the X-51, a cruise
missile launched from a B-52 and boosted to supersonic speed by a
rocket. A scramjet takes it hypersonic.
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Every strategist remembers Aug. 20, 1998, when the USS Abraham Lincoln
Battle Group, stationed in the Arabian Sea, launched Tomahawk cruise
missiles at an Al Qaeda training camp in eastern Afghanistan, hoping to
take out Osama Bin Laden.
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With a top speed of 550 mph, the Tomahawks made the 1100-mile trip in 2
hours. By then, Bin Laden was gone; missed by less than an hour,
according to Richard A. Clarke, former head of U.S. counterterrorism.
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The American military already has weapons that can destroy just about
anything in a matter of minutes: nuclear missiles.
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That terrifying capability was designed to contain Soviet adversaries.
But as the Cold War recedes into memory, U.S. strategists worry that
our nuclear threat is no longer credible ; that we are too muscle-bound
for our own good.
---
Are we really prepared to wipe out Tehran in retribution for a single
terrorist attack?
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Kill millions of Chinese for invading Taiwan?
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The answer is no.
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Paradoxically, the weaker our enemies have grown, the less ominous our
arsenal has become.
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Military theorists call it "self-deterrence."
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"In today's environment, we've got zeros and ones. You can decide to
engage with nuclear weapons, or not," says Capt. Terry J. Benedict, who
runs the Navy's conventional Trident program from a nondescript office
a few miles from the Pentagon.
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"The nation's leadership needs an intermediate step-to take the action
required, without crossing to the one." ---
In 2001, Defense Department planners began searching for something that
could hit a foe almost instantly without risking a nuclear holocaust.
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Most of the solutions;
unmanned bombers,
faster cruise missiles,
hypersonic "glide vehicles"
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coasting in from space required a decade or more of development.
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The Navy, however, had been testing conventionally armed Trident II
missiles since 1993.
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With a few hundred million dollars, strategists said, the first Prompt
Global Strike submarines could be ready to go in just two years.
******************************************
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The $60 million conventional missile needs to be far more accurate than
the nuclear version.
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But the multiple warheads can lock onto GPS coordinates while streaking
through space.
Upon entering the atmosphere, the warheads use flaps to "steer to a
target."
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With the Trident II's range of 6000 nautical miles, subs armed with the
missiles could threaten a whole continent's worth of enemy positions.
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"Now," says Benedict, who leads the Trident conversion effort, "we've
got the capability to hold all of these targets in all these hot spots
at risk at one time."
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NUCLEAR AMBIGUITY
***************************
Almost immediately, congressional critics and outside analysts attacked
the missile plan.
---
Everyone seemed satisfied that, technically, modified Tridents could
meet Global Strike's requirements.
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But the Pentagon can't explain how the weapon will be deployed and who
will be its intended target. "I just don't think they've got a plan for
using these things," says a frustrated senior congressional aide.
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First, there's the matter of intelligence.
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If a president is going to launch the first intercontinental ballistic
missile attack in history, he'll need overwhelming evidence. Our
ability to nail down that kind of quality information is patchy, at
best.
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On March 19, 2003, the United States launched 40 cruise missiles at
three locations outside Baghdad in hopes of killing Saddam Hussein and
other senior military officials.
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It turned out the former Iraqi leader wasn't in any of the locations;
the strikes killed at least a dozen people, although it's not clear if
they were civilians or leadership targets.
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The mission failed even though friendly forces controlled the area.
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At the heart of Prompt Global Strike is
"a much darker scenario:
**************************
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American troops are far from their intended target or the enemy's air
defenses are too tough to penetrate.
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"So let me get this straight," says Jeffrey Lewis, a Harvard University
nuclear energy and weapons analyst.
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"We've got exquisite, fleeting intelligence in an area of immediate
concern, but no forces nearby and, miraculously, a sub in just the
right spot to attack. I suppose there's some chance of that. But it's
pretty small."
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Video still shows X-51 predecessor being test fired. Click here for the
full video.
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More difficult to explain is how a conventional Trident could be
launched without provoking a crisis even bigger than the one that it
was meant to solve.
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The Navy's plan calls for arming Ohio class subs with two conventional
and 22 nuclear Trident II missiles.
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(The Navy intends to cut its Ohio class fleet from 18 to 14 subs, with
12 in the water at any one time.)
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To outside observers, the subs' conventional and nuclear weapons would
appear identical; the same size, the same speed, shooting from the same
location.
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Traditionally, the U.S. strategy is to shoot missiles over the North
Pole.
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But the current, most likely Prompt Global Strike targets, North Korea
and Iran, lie south of China and Russia which would put those countries
right under a pole-launched flight path.
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"For many minutes during their flight patterns, these missiles might
appear to be headed towards targets in these nations," a congressional
study notes.
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That could have world-changing consequences. "The launch of such a
missile," Russian president Vladimir Putin said in his 2006 state of
the nation address, "could provoke an inappropriate response from one
of the nuclear powers, could provoke a full-scale counterattack using
strategic nuclear forces.
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The Navy and Strategic Command have proposed all kinds of fixes to
address what a Senate Armed Services committee described as Prompt
Global Strike's "nuclear ambiguity issues."
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The subs could be positioned in different locations for a conventional
attack than for a nuclear one, military leaders argue. (But that could
put the boats out of position for an instant strike.)
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Hotlines to Moscow and Beijing could warn leaders in those capitals of
conventional missile attacks.
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That is, if those leaders take us at our word and don't warn their
allies in Pyongyang or Tehran to get out of the missile's way.
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Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in a press conference,
didn't seem that concerned. "Everyone in the world would know that [the
missile] was conventional," he said, "after it hit within 30 minutes."
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Congress is decidedly less blasé.
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The House and Senate have ordered the Pentagon to come up with
something more certain before they'll provide the $127 million
requested in this year's budget for conventional Trident modification.
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No-Nuke Trident II
**********************
In 1988, Lockheed Martin's Trident II D5 nuclear ballistic missile
entered service on Ohio class submarines.
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In the Prompt Global Strike program, each sub would be armed with 22
nuclear Tridents, along with two retrofitted Tridents, each with four
independently targetable warheads. here's how a conventional Trident II
would work.
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(1) Gas pressure ejects the Trident II from a patrolling submarine.
Once the missile clears the water, the first-stage engine ignites and
the aerospike at the nose extends to improve aerodynamics.
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Stage 1 burns for approximately 65 seconds. When the Trident is locked
onto targets at its maximum range (roughly 6000 nautical miles), this
burn carries the missile a few hundred miles downrange at a 45-degree
angle.
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Because all propellant must be used, the missile corkscrews to burn off
excess fuel for closer targets.
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(2) As stage 1 falls away from the missile, the second-stage engine
ignites for another 65-second burn that carries the Trident an
additional 500 to 800 miles downrange.
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The nose cone fairing (blue) is ejected to shed weight. ---
(3) After separation from stage 2, the third stage engine burns for
approximately 40 seconds, concluding the boost phase and lofting the
Trident II up to 600 miles above the Earth the altitude of some weather
satellites.
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(4) At the apogee of the Trident's trajectory, the third stage falls
away, leaving the post-boost vehicle, or bus (red). It receives
navigational updates and deploys the four individually targeted
warheads (green).
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Traveling at 13,000 mph and accurate to 30 ft., the warheads are
GPS-guided on descent by means of tiny flaps.
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Two types of warheads are under consideration:
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the fragmentation version, which shatters tungsten rods just above a
target, and a bunker-busting metal "shock impactor" that relies on
kinetic energy for its destructive power.
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The USS Tennessee and other Ohio class subs carry 24 Trident II
ballistic missiles in midship tubes.
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The 65-ton weapons are about 44 ft. long and 7 ft. wide. (Photograph by
Yogi Inc / Corbis)
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WAVE-RIDING WEAPON
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Some officials in the Defense Department want to answer concerns about
the Tridents with more radical solutions:
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exotic, high-tech devices capable of outracing any machine in their
class to catch fleeting foes.
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"If these weapons work as planned" and
"that's a big if":
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they could let the Pentagon launch lightning-quick attacks without
risking a worldwide nuclear storm.
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On the coffee table in his cavernous office in the Pentagon's E Ring,
Air Force chief scientist Mark J. Lewis has a model of such a machine,
a 14-ft.-long missile called the "X-51 WaveRider."
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With an angled nose, flaps in the middle and an inlet on the
underbelly, the device looks like a cross between a spaceship and a
futuristic cruise missile.
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It's designed to go nearly seven times faster than a Tomahawk -a flight
from the Arabian Sea to eastern Afghanistan would take 20 minutes and
destroy targets with its own kinetic energy.
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Test flights are scheduled for 2008.
***************************************
The pressure, drag and high temperatures associated with hypersonic
speeds (typically, greater than Mach 5, or 3600 mph) used to be
considered too extreme for an aircraft to handle in a controlled way.
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Only ballistic missiles and spacecraft burning rocket fuel, shooting
into space and roaring back to Earth, could go that fast.
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What the X-51 does is to turn some of the most brutal effects of
hypersonic flight to its advantage.
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Take shock waves, for example. Bursting through the air at a hypersonic
rate produces a train of waves, one after the other, which can drag
down an aircraft.
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But the X-51 is a "wave rider," with a sharp nose shaped to make the
waves break at precisely the right angle. All of the pressure is
directed beneath the missile, lifting it up. The shock waves also
compress the air to help fuel the X-51's combustion process.
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The craft is the same size and shape as a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff
Missile, so it can be attached to a B-52 or fighter jet. It runs on
standard JP-7 jet fuel, not on rocket fuel, so it fits in neatly with
the military's existing logistical chain.
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The X-51 is made from a fairly standard nickel alloy, not from exotic
materials. And the advanced engine technology is very real.
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In 2004, NASA broke speed records while testing its X-43A, a precursor
to the X-51 (see "Breakthrough Awards 2005," Nov. 2005).
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In a final test flight, the 12-ft.-long aircraft hit 7000 mph - nearly
Mach 10.
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In other words, the X-51 is not just some lab experiment; it's being
designed from the start to deploy.
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"I've got tremendous confidence in it working," the Air Force's Mark J.
Lewis says.
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That doesn't mean the X-51 will be in competition with a conventional
Trident.
It will have a range of only 600 nautical miles.
**********************************************
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And it "first needs to be lifted into the air" by a plane, then
accelerated by a rocket-fueled booster before its hypersonic engine
kicks in.
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But "if" the 2008 test flight is a success, the X-51 will be the first
weapon other than a ballistic missile to fly at hypersonic speeds.
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NO CONFUSION
*******************
The Trident II iteration of Prompt Global Strike foresaw: "a pushbutton
war",
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fought from the White House.
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"It assumed that the United States"
***************************************
would have few allies or bases abroad
********************************************
from which to attack.
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Local commanders would be largely
*****************************************
circumvented.
***************
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But alternate scenarios being drawn up
let U.S. forces act much as they do today, only faster. ----
Hypersonic weapons could make that happen. Put an X-51-equipped plane
in the air, and it could enable commanders to hit targets for hundreds
of miles around in minutes.
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"Tips could be acted on instantly";
*************************************
subs wouldn't have to be in a perfect position in order to strike.
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Intelligence wouldn't have to race
all the way to the Oval Office.
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"Wrong information" would produce
"local damage. "
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And because the X-51 wouldn't be confused with a nuke or have to fly
threateningly over nuclear-armed countries ; "you don't worry about
starting World War III" when you score a direct hit, Lewis notes.
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Hypersonic technology will take longer to develop than a conventional
Trident. But the X-51, and weapons like it, might make the most sense
for the Global Strike arsenal.
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After all, they reduce potential fallout from the riskiest part of the
program:
"the human element."
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How the X-51 Works
**********************
While Trident II missiles with conventional warheads could be deployed
in a few years,
it may take a decade or more to develop the "X-51 WaveRider."
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The WaveRider destroys targets by
"simply crashing into them" at hypersonic speeds.
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But the technology in this remarkable missile may have wider
applications, including ultrafast planes and new space vehicles.
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Designed by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney for the Air Force Research
Laboratory, the X-51 uses "just one moving part"; the fuel pump - to
hit Mach 5, or 3600 mph.
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Rocket booster:
The X-51 is carried to 45,000 ft. by a B-52 bomber or a fighter jet,
then released. A rear-mounted Army Tactical Missile Systems rocket
kicks in to propel the 1600-pound missile to Mach 4.5 and 100,000 ft.
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The rocket then drops away and the X-51's engine takes over.
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Internal inlet.
The missile's sharp nose funnels shock waves produced at hypersonic
speeds into a rectangular opening on the craft's belly.
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The shock waves compress the air, eliminating mechanical parts that
normally do this.
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Isolator:
This component adjusts airflow -which can reach 2500 pounds per square
foot -to a stable pressure for the combustor. Slowing airflow increases
drag on the vehicle, but allows for more complete combustion.
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Combustor Thrust:
is created when the compressed air mixes with a mist of JP-7 jet fuel
and is ignited. Because hypersonic speeds generate sustained
temperatures of up to 4500 degrees, the propellant also acts as a
coolant and prevents the X-51's engine walls from melting.
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Airflow PM consulted NASA to estimate the fluid dynamics for external
airflow around the nose, engine, stabilizers and tail of an X-51
traveling at Mach 5. The rear contour illustrates the engine exhaust
plume shape.
muckraker
Jerry
You phuking, Cunt, I will find you!
Jerry
You phucking cunt, I will find you!