Alaska’s Delegation Selling Out Alaskan Workers … Again (+video)

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Photo Credit: Wonderlane

Photo Credit: Wonderlane

This past weekend, Byron York of the Washington Examiner reported that some questionable provisions were inserted into the amnesty bill “for Alaska.”

As we’ll discuss below, Mr. York might not have gotten the “for Alaska” right, but he certainly tagged the responsible parties: Alaska’s US Senators, Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich.

Mr. York notes that the amnesty bill was “rewritten … to pay a big favor to the state of Alaska and its two senators…” How? By allowing for “more low-wage guest [read “foreign”] workers” to come to Alaska and work in “Alaska seafood processing…”

Rather than going through the standard process where the Commission of the Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research relies upon a methodology to determine which occupations have shortages, the amnesty bill specifically designates “Alaska seafood processing” as a “shortage occupation” justifying the immediate importation of foreign workers. Apparently, no other state-based industry receives this type of special treatment under the bill.

So what are average Alaskans getting for their delegation’s hard work in creating this special provision for the state? Screwed, that’s what.

There’s no question that importing foreign workers into a state with significant unemployment is a travesty. What makes matters worse is that much of this seafood processing occurs in rural regions with high native populations. And Alaska’s native unemployment rate is reprehensible, pushing 20%.

So who are the sea food processors that asked for this subsidy? Many – but not all – are foreign to the state, ultimately competing for the same resource that average Alaskans depend on for their personal consumption.

So Mr. York might not understand who our delegation is working for when he suggests their specialized legislation is “for Alaska.” It’s certainly for somebody, but not for ordinary Alaskans.

[see Billy Kristol’s slam on the amnesty bill yesterday:]

Troopers, Mounties Square Off in Shooting Competition in Palmer This Weekend

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Troopers and Mounties(PALMER, Alaska) – Alaska State Troopers will try to defend last year’s win over the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on home turf at the 53rd Annual International Police Shooting Competition taking place at the Palmer Shooting Range this weekend. A team of Troopers has won the team honors the past two years in a row – winning in both Whitehorse, Yukon in 2012 and Fairbanks in 2011.

The contest, known as “The Shoot,” pits a team of Troopers against a team of Canadian RCMP counterparts. After a day of practicing, on Sunday they’ll shoot side by side using the Troopers’ standard issue pistol, a .40-caliber Glock, to go through an AST course of fire, then use the RCMP’s standard issue 9 mm Smith and Wesson to go through the RCMP’s course of fire. The competitors then switch weapons and each shooter must complete the other teams course of fire using their partner’s sidearm. This relates to a case years ago where the Mounties and Troopers were working together to track down a suspect near Hyder, a border community in Southeastern Alaska with a neighboring Canadian community just across the international line. Policy prevented the Trooper from using his service weapon in Canada when the trooper crossed the border. The Mounties had to provide him with one of their weapons to use during the apprehension.

While the event is built up around a shooting contest, the occasion is more about camaraderie between the Troopers and Mounties. Shortly after Alaska became a state in 1959, Inspector Joe Vachon, commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, wanted to find a way for the Mounties and Troopers to get to know each other better on a personal basis as well as strengthen their working partnership. It is the longest standing international shooting competition in the world. Some of the Troopers competing this weekend have had to reach across the border and work with Mounties. The Shoot gives them an opportunity to establish and strengthen those long-standing relationships with the RCMP.

After the team portion on Sunday, members will compete individually in a tactical course that is separate from the overall team competition. Spouses also get a chance to compete in the Significant Other Shoot Off on Saturday. Visitors can watch the competition from designated areas at the range.

Schedule of Competition:

Saturday, June 22
09:00 – Team Practice at Palmer Range at end of S. Brooks Road off of Outer Springer Loop near Palmer
13:00 – Significant Other Shoot Off Competition at the Palmer Range

Sunday, June 23
08:00 – 53rd Shoot at Palmer Range
13:00 – Tactical Competition at the Palmer Range

Day of Prayer to be Held across Interior Alaska

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TCC Day of PrayerA resolution calling for a “Day of Prayer” as a time for prayer for the land, waterways, andimals, and people who use God’s creation on June 21st was passed in March of 2013 by the Tanana Chiefs Conference Full Board of Directors. The resolution introduced by the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government explains that the “decline of the king salmon stock has forced us (indigenous Alaskans) to abandon our traditional and spiritual lifestyle of gathering food.”

Tanana Chiefs Conference is encouraging communities across Alaska, including its 42 members, to participate in the upcoming “Day of Prayer” on June 21st, beginning at 12:00 P.M. The “Day of Prayer” is to gather people and communities who are concerned with the health of our resources and declining fish and wildlife throughout Alaska in one unified voice.

Tanana Chiefs Conference is dedicated to protecting traditional subsistence ways of life. This includes protecting our wildlife and fish resources, and understanding the current trends of decline we are seeing across the State.

Communities across the Interior are asked to organize their gatherings at the local level and submit photos to TCC’s newsletter, “The Council”.

For more information, contact Doreen Deaton, Communications Director, (907) 452-8251 Ext. 3570.
_________________________

About Tanana Chiefs Conference: TCC is a non-profit organization that works toward meeting the health and social service challenges for more than 10,000 Alaska Natives spread across a region of 235,000 square miles in Interior Alaska.

Troopers Use New Armored Vehicle to Arrest Homer Man Firing Pistol

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Photo Credit: Megan Peters

Photo Credit: Megan Peters

Alaska State Troopers used an armored tactical response vehicle Wednesday night to persuade a Homer man to surrender after troopers said he fired a .44-caliber handgun when troopers announced themselves outside his house on Char Court.

Timothy A. Magee, 39, was arraigned Thursday on two counts of third-degree assault, a felony, for causing fear of injury to Wildlife Trooper Trent Chwialkowski and Trooper David Chaffin. He also was charged with fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons for allegedly being drunk while shooting a weapon.

The Special Emergency Response Team responded to the scene with a BearCat armored tactical vehicle, one of three $280,000 trucks purchased last March. This was the first use of a BearCat on the Kenai Peninsula.

No weapons were fired by troopers and no one was hurt in the incident, including a woman at the home at the time, said Lt. Dane Gilmore, deputy commander for E Detachment.

Read more from this story HERE.

Mountain Rescue Ends Well (+video)

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Photo Credit: Wolfgang Kurtz

Photo Credit: Wolfgang Kurtz

A distressed hiker on Mount Marathon called into City of Seward Dispatch via 911 at 4:33 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12. Dispatch advised the Seward Fire Department that the hiker was calling from his cell phone and had said that “he was in a bad spot.” Fire department personnel made contact with the stranded hiker to determine an approximate location and identify the best access to him.

Phone conversations and visual scanning of the mountain eventually helped locate the hiker who was clinging precariously to the mountainside on a near vertical slope south of the established climbing and hiking paths.

Rescue crews were transported to the top by Seward Helicopter Tours and then hiked down the ridge to a point above the stranded hiker. During the operation, the fire department volunteers set off a flare which brought another couple of good samaritans racing to the scene.

According to SFD Chief Eddie Athey and Assistant Fire Chief Sean Corrigan, the hiker had received a laceration to the head, and was dehydrated and disoriented.

Read more from this story HERE.

Lisa Murkowksi, Quoting Reagan, Embraces Homosexual Marriage

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Photo Credit: John Shinkle

Photo Credit: John Shinkle

Lisa Murkowski endorsed the right of gay couples to marry on Tuesday, joining Rob Portman and Mark Kirk as the third Republican senator to do so…

Murkowski told POLITICO that it was no overnight epiphany.

“I didn’t just wake up and say: ‘Oh my gosh I’m going to do this. No, it’s something that I’ve been giving a lot of thought to over a long period of time,” Murkowski said…

[See Murkowski’s Gay Marriage Views ‘Evolving’ HERE from March 28, 2013]

Murkowski portrayed support for gay marriage as support for smaller government and less federal intrusion and said it was in line with long-held Republican values.

“Like Reagan, Alaskans believe that government works best when it gets out of the way. Countless Alaskans and Americans want to give themselves to one another and create a home together. I support marriage equality and support the government getting out of the way to let that happen,” Murkowski wrote.

Read more from this story HERE.

Months Later, Deafening Silence from Alaska State Government Regarding Investigation of Assault, Interference with Juneau Pro-Life Protest

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photo compre“What does it mean to be illegal? When you go through these various scandals, you are told “this was illegal, that was illegal, the next thing’s illegal.” Nobody gets held accountable. Nobody gets fired. Nobody goes to jail. So what does it mean to say these things are illegal? It’s just part of the decay of bureaucratic big government that is across the board just beginning to fall apart.” —Newt Gingrich

The scandals of the Obama Administration are what Newt Gingrich was speaking of. But he might as well had been speaking of what has happened in the aftermath of events on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol on April 2nd and 3rd of this year when a group of peaceful law-abiding citizens exercising their First Amendment Rights to free speech and assembly, were accosted, physically assaulted, and threatened by employees of the Department of Administration and the Legislative Branch. Using state vehicles and resources, state employees carried out illegal acts that also violated parking laws in an attempt to thwart a peaceful demonstration.

Governor Parnell’s office made a non binding, non committal statement that they would look into the matter when it first happened on April 2 and would make sure it didn’t happen again. Much to the shock, amazement, and frustration of the demonstrators, it did happen, even more strongly, the very next day. So much for Parnell’s standing up to defend Alaskans’ state and federal rights.

Senator Dunleavy was notified and on the Senate Floor spoke of these instances, calling them an outrage and asked that a Senate investigation be carried out.
Senator Huggins, as Senate President has stated in the interim, that a full investigation is underway and for people to allow time the process to work.

After waiting over two months for “the process to work,” I wrote Senator Huggins a letter by email, outlining my concerns [see letter below] on June 7, 2013. Well, it is now June 18th. I have yet to hear a single word from Senator Huggins, except for an automated response stating that his office had received my letter and that he would reply shortly. Apparently, Senator Huggins must use a different dictionary than me since “shortly” is long past and I fear as I said in my letter, it appears that Senator Huggins wants “this matter to be swept under the proverbial rug.”

“We need to fundamentally shake up the entire big government system. There has been a deep deep decay of the bureaucracy of this country—it’s out of control—it’s unaccountable—nobody manages it.—Newt Gingrich

So when people in high positions of leadership in our government, whether it be state or federal, violate and infringe on laws and fundamental GOD-given rights that are protected by the Constitution, both state and federal, and are not held accountable to those laws by others in government and the courts, what is the point first of all, of the laws, and secondly of all the money that is taken from hardworking Americans to pay these leaders whose job IS to uphold the Constitution?

_____________________________________________________________

Senator Charlie Huggins
Senate President

June 7, 2013

Dear Senator Huggins,

I am writing you today regarding the incidents that occurred on or near the Alaska state capitol steps on April 2nd and 3rd of 2013, when the First Amendment rights of peaceful law abiding citizens were violated. [see link]

Many concerned Alaskans, including myself, contacted Senator Dunleavy and asked him to get to the bottom of the issue. He had told us the Senate was investigating this matter.

He has been asked on more than one occasion since then, what the status of that investigation was. His response has been that it is his understanding that it is being investigated and if we want more information we need to contact your office.

Therefore I am contacting you to ascertain what is the status of this investigation? Sen Dunleavy has asked us to give the Senate time to investigate—we have. However it is long past due for a response. Sen Dunleavy asked us to trust in the process—we have. But in the words of the great President Ronald Reagan, we trust but must verify. What is the status?

I hope to hear from you shortly, with a full explanation and straight answers. Given the recent failures of government on Washington D.C. we still want to believe that our rights in Alaska will be protected. However, should this not be the case, I and others are prepared to take this matter to a higher level such as going even further with the news media, ACLU, Liberty Counsel, Heritage Foundation, and any other organization interested in transparent government. We will not let this matter drop. We will not allow this matter to be swept under the proverbial rug. The actions that occurred were blatant violations of the First Amendment. The perpetrators, regardless of position—up to the highest level of government, who ordered Alaska State government employees, property, such as vehicles, and other state resources to carry out these illegal acts—must be held accountable and charged with penalties to the fullest extent of the law.

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Sincerely,
Amy Walker
Palmer, Alaska

As Alaska Goes, So Goes America?

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

Mid-term elections are problematic for the party holding the Presidency; mid-term elections following scandals or highly divisive policy choices are particularly problematic.

The Republican Party experienced disaster in 1974 following Watergate, the granddaddy of all modern political scandals, losing 49 seats in the House and four in the Senate, giving Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in that body. When Reagan won his second term in 1984 (carrying 49 out of 50 states), the GOP held a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate only to give up 8 seats in 1986 and control to the Democrats following the Iran-Contra Affair.

Bill Clinton sold himself as a New Democrat in 1992, but after seeking to implement Hillarycare and raising taxes, voters sent his party to the cleaners in 1994, with the Republicans gaining back control of the House (in a 54 seat swing) and the Senate (9 seat change) for the first time since the 1950s.

The mid-term elections of 2010 followed a strikingly similar path. After the passage of the Stimulus Bill and Obamacare, the Democrats experienced the greatest reversal of party fortunes in House history. The GOP picked up 63 seats and leadership of the House, as well as 6 seats in the Senate, though Democrats retained control of that body.

Both scandal and unpopular policy choices are once again in the mix as 2014 begins to take shape, and the outcomes in a few key states may change the entire balance of power in Washington.

Read more from this story HERE.

Unusual Record-Setting Heat Wave Baking Alaska (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A heat wave hitting Alaska may not rival the blazing heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas, but to residents of the 49th state, the days of hot weather feel like a stifling oven — or a tropical paradise.

With temperatures topping 80 degrees in Anchorage, and higher in other parts of the state, people have been sweltering in a place where few homes have air conditioning.

They’re sunbathing and swimming at local lakes, hosing down their dogs and cleaning out supplies of fans in at least one local hardware store. Mid-June normally brings high temperatures in the 60s in Anchorage, and just a month ago, it was still snowing.

Read more from this story HERE.

Legislation Finalizing Sealaska Land Claims Advances in U.S. Senate

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Photo Credit: SitNews

Photo Credit: SitNews

The Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act (S. 340) was approved Tuesday by the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by unanimous voice vote. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.

The measure provides Sealaska Corp., the Alaska Native regional corp. for Southeast Alaska, with 70,075 acres to finalize transfer of land owed to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

“It has taken six years, but today we’ve taken a major step toward fulfilling the promise made to Southeast’s 20,000 Alaska Natives more than four decades ago,” U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said. “This has been a difficult process because every acre of the Tongass is precious to someone, but we have worked tirelessly with all of the stakeholders to address their concerns. I truly believe that all of that work has resulted in the best bill possible. It will help the region’s timber industry grow, while at the same time protect more than 150,000 acres for fisheries and habitat.”

Under ANCSA, which extinguished aboriginal land claims in Alaska, Sealaska was entitled to an estimated 375,000 acres of the 16.9-million acre Tongass National Forest to help improve the livelihoods of its shareholders. The government never made good on its promise.

Sealaska is currently owed some 85,000 acres, but under the compromise worked out in Murkowski’s bill it will accept about 15,000 acres less in exchange for 68,400 acres for timber harvesting, 1,099 acres for renewable energy resource and recreational tourism projects, and 490 acres of Native cemetery and historic sites.

Read more from this story HERE.