Alaska couple plead guilty to conspiring to kill federal judge

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Lonnie and Karen Vernon, followers of jailed Alaska militia leader Schaeffer Cox, reached a deal with prosecutors to avoid the need for a trial that had been set to begin next month.

The Vernons and Cox were active in the “sovereign citizen” movement, whose adherents believe individuals are sovereign nations and federal, state and local laws do not apply to them.

The Vernons each entered a guilty plea to a single count of conspiracy to commit murder for their plan to kill Alaska-based U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline, who presided over a federal income tax case that ultimately cost the couple their home.

The Vernons also admitted in their plea agreement to planning to kill an Internal Revenue Service official and Beistline’s daughter and grandchildren.

The Vernons bought a silencer-equipped pistol and grenades in March 2011 and told the seller of the weapons about their intentions, according to the plea agreement. But the seller turned out to be a confidential government informant, and the Vernons were arrested immediately after the transaction took place.

Read more from this story HERE.

First fatal bear mauling in history of Denali National Park

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Photo credit: Marshmallow

A grizzly attacked and killed a lone backpacker in Denali National Park and Preserve on Friday after the man encountered the bear next to a river and lingered there snapping pictures, according to the National Park Service.

The death is the first fatal bear mauling in Alaska in seven years and the only one in the 6-million-acre park’s recorded history, going back more than 90 years, the Park Service said.

“It’s an extremely rare event, and it’s not common that we even have injuries related to bears,” said park spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin. “We don’t see a lot, and we think some of that is due to our education.”

But the man — identified late Saturday as 49-year-old San Diego, Calif., resident Richard White — apparently ignored key parts of that education, which the Park Service says he received prior to heading into the Denali wilderness, in part of the park where there are no trails. Photos on White’s camera showed he stayed near the bear, instead of leaving the area, as required by his permit, park officials said.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers assisting park rangers shot a large male grizzly Saturday believed to have killed White and cached his body the day before, the Park Service said. The rangers had been unable to recover White’s remains for more than 24 hours, but retrieved him late Saturday, a park spokeswoman said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrats control Alaska’s Senate even though the GOP has the majority

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A majority coalition known as the “Alaska Senate Bipartisan Working Group,” is the controlling power in the state senate. The group consists of ten Democrats and six Republican members. So, although the Alaska Senate is under the leadership of Republicans, the Democratic controlled caucus effectively rules the roost and decides what bills are allowed to come up for committee hearings and before the floor for a vote.

Democrats Hollis French — Senate Judiciary Chair — and Johnny Ellis — Chair of the Senate Rules Committee — are prominent members of this controversial alliance. They’ve stopped tax relief for oil companies wanting to develop oil resources, thereby grinding to a halt resource development and economic growth through jobs that would have been created as well low cost energy for Alaskans.

Another consequence of this band of liberal Democrats and the Republicans who have thrown their hat in with them, is that they have vociferously stifled and blocked virtually all pro-life legislation. Two examples, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban (HB301) and Parental Consent Bill (HB364), were passed in the House but blocked from even getting a hearing by French.

The Democrat coalition comes into sharp focus when looking into the Senate Seat D race, encompassing District 7 & 8 of the Valley. Mike Dunleavy has pledged to not join the current “bi-partisan” Senate majority that is controlled by liberal Democrats. His opponent, incumbent Linda Menard, is a member of this liberal coalition that has turned our State Senate into a “graveyard” for almost all conservative legislation.

Mike has been endorsed by Alaska Right to Life PAC and Alaska Family Action Inc., Conservative Patriots Group and Alaska Outdoor Council.

Mike Dunleavy has a strong family background, extensive business and educational experience in our state and the Valley. Mike’s work history includes serving as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent; running the Mat-Su correspondence program; managing the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project; heading up the University of Alaska’s K-12 outreach program; and currently working as the President of the Mat-Su School Board.

Mike Dunleavy has earned respect and strong support because he has proven on a consistent basis that he not only “talks the talk” about conservative values and principle, but he “walks the walk.” Electing Dunleavy may very likely restore control of our state’s Senate to conservative hands.

Alaskan Navy Seal who wrote book on bin Laden killing identified, faces likely probe

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On Wednesday this week, Reuters reported that a Navy Seal had written a book about the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. The book, entitled “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden,” was written by a former Seal Team Six member under the pseudonym of “Mark Owen” along with co-author Kevin Maurer. The publisher states that it will be released on 9/11.

According to Reuters:

The U.S. government was surprised by the news that a Navy SEAL who participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan has written a book about the operation in which the al Qaeda leader was killed, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. . . It was not vetted by government agencies to ensure that no secrets were revealed.

The agencies not consulted included the Pentagon and the CIA. The publisher, Dutton of the U.S. Penguin Group, responded:

The book was vetted by a former special operations attorney. He vetted it for tactical, technical, and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified by compilation and found it to be without risk to national security.

After a bit of sleuthing, Fox News discovered that the author was part of the elite team that killed three Somalian pirates who had taken control of an American vessel in the Indian Ocean in 2009, and that

“Mark Owen,” the pseudonym under which the book was written, is actually 35 year-old Matt Bissonnette of Wrangell, Alaska. Bissonnette held the rank of chief in the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 prior to retiring. He was one of the first men in the room where bin Laden died, witnessing the occurrence first-hand.

Some have called Fox’s decision to publicize Bissonnette’s name and location “astonishing” as it most certainly puts the former Navy Seal at risk of reprisal by Islamic fanatics.  Fox disagreed, noting that anyone who publishes such a book loses any reasonable expectation of privacy.  The network also contended that Bissonnette’s goal is to publicly confront Obama for “taking credit” for the raid, since he had cited the need to “set the record straight.”

It now appears that Obama may be attempting to preempt this confrontation. According to Reuters, Bissonnette is likely to face a Department of Defense probe over his failure to have the book “cleared” prior to publication:

Colonel Tim Nye, spokesman for the U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which directs operations by Navy SEALs and other special operations forces, said on Thursday that SOCOM did not review the book before publication, nor had the SEALs.

Nye said that because the book had not been subjected to appropriate pre-publication review, it could become a target of “potential investigation” by government authorities.

Unfortunately for Obama, “any such inquiry was unlikely to be launched until after the book’s publication, scheduled for the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.”

 

Attorney conceived in rape to speak in Anchorage, comments on Akin controversy

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By Steven Ertelt. Rebecca Kiessling, a pro-life attorney from Michigan, fully understands the national debate going on concerning the controversial comments Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin made about abortion and rape. Kiessling was conceived when her mother was victimized by a rapist.  [She contends that discussion of “legitimate rape” has no place in a pro-life candidate’s discussion of abortion]:

“If you are 100% pro-life with no rape exceptions, there is no need to question the veracity of a rape victims’ account, because you are against all abortions. It would not matter if a woman was not or not raped,” she stated.

While abortion advocates often talk about supporting a woman’s right to privacy, Kiessling says rape exceptions in abortion laws turn that notion on its head.

“Rape exceptions in the law actually put the government in the position of having to ascertain when the child was conceived, who the father is, whether the child was conceived during the alleged rape or during intercourse with her husband or boyfriend, and if the child was conceived during the time frame of the alleged rape, then the government would need to determine whether the sexual intercourse was consensual or not,” she explained. “So rape exceptions serve to perpetuate the injustice against rape victims that their accounts are to be viewed with skepticism, and it further leaves the majority of impregnated rape victims wholly unprotected under the law. Rape exceptions suggest that a “real rape victim” couldn’t possibly love “the rapist’s baby” and that rape victim mothers don’t exist.”  Read more from this story HERE.

On October 11, 2012, Ms. Kiessling will be speaking at the annual Alaska Right to Life Dinner in Anchorage:

Rebecca Kiessling is a Family Law attorney, adoptee, and home school adoptive mother of 5 children — the oldest two are adopted. She delivers a powerful presentation of her own life story, “Conceived in Rape: From Worthless to Priceless.” Rebecca was adopted nearly from birth and, like many adoptees, struggled with issues of value, identity and purpose. At 18, Rebecca was devastated to learn that she was conceived out of a brutal rape at knifepoint by a serial rapist. Rebecca believes her life was spared for a purpose, and has devoted herself to fighting for the rights of the innocent unborn and to raising her 5 children to know their own value, identity and purpose in Christ.

The sit-down dinner will begin promptly at 7 p.m. and the program will immediately follow. This event is being underwritten so there is no charge to attend, however this banquet is the most important fundraiser of the year for Alaska Right to Life and a financial appeal will be made. Register by phone or email.

Murkowski wants to sneak through Law of the Sea Treaty in lame duck session this fall

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) says she’s hopeful that the Law of the Sea Treaty will pass Congress in the lame-duck session after the election, despite the fierce opposition of some conservatives.

Murkowski told The Associated Press the sea treaty will have better prospects in the Senate when the fall campaign is over. The global maritime pact would establish de facto rules for the nation’s oceans, and business interests say it will create opportunities for offshore drilling.

“This is a treaty that I believe very strongly will contribute not only to our national security, but will allow us a level of certainly in accessing our resources in the north,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) both support the treaty, and Murkowski has championed several other efforts to tap the state’s natural resources. The untapped deepwater oil and natural gas off Alaska’s coast could be a significant economic boon for The Last Frontier and the entire nation, she and many of her Republican colleagues argue.

“I don’t want us, as an Arctic nation, to abandon those opportunities, and we would be doing that if we fail to ratify the Law of the Sea treaty,” Murkowski said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska’s primary election: One of the most important in the history of our state

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Photo credit: roger4336

Alaska’s primary election is one of the most important in the history of our state. Alaska is at a watershed moment when a very small percentage of voters will literally chart the course of the future of our State. This primary will decide if the current gang of Democrats and their minority of Republican enablers will continue to dominate the State Senate and thus further bankrupt Alaska’s future with more government, bigger spending and virtually killing any conservative pro-business legislation. It is imperative to take back the Senate and require all Republicans to meet in the same room to not allow the skillful democrat leaders to divide and conquer the Republicans. Republican voters must insist that their elected representatives and senators pledge to caucus with Republicans first. Your primary vote during this primary election is more critical than ever before. With the low turnout of a typical primary, your vote will count more than usual.

Also on the ballot is Prop 2, a reconstitution of the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) program. The unanimously passed House version of the Coastal Zone Management program died last year when Senate Majority Democrats foisted their demand that the only version of the CZM that would pass would give literal local veto power over projects. At risk is any offshore development off the NW Arctic Coast. With local control, the only development that would possibly happen would be at the whim of a local Coastal Zone Management Board. This is bad state and national policy as it undermines the authority of both. This latest version was written by environmental attorneys and will create more layers of government and strangle responsible development. With the TAPS pipeline in dire need of feedstock, now is not the time to add unreasonable layers of regulatory burden to its possible demise.

The balance of power in the Senate is literally hanging on a few votes. There are a number of key races that will determine whether the Democratic senate coalition survives or not. For my Valley neighbors, there are several races of interest. I will attempt to give an overview of these races for the readers.

The most high profile Valley race is the race between Linda Menard and Mike Dunleavy. Linda is the incumbent from a well-know Valley family and for the most part is very personable. Linda, however, has a dismal legislative track record, having supported the Democratic leadership of the Senate, after promising in writing that she would not. This is not surprising, as many years ago, her husband Kurt Menard, switched from a Republican to a Democrat minutes before the filing deadline for a senate seat, which ended up giving control of the Senate to the Democrats.

Continue HERE for Page 2.

Industry Protests Obama’s Plan for Alaskan Oil Reserves

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Photo credit: roger4336

A new proposal by the Obama administration to expand drilling to half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) has attracted criticism from the oil industry, as the plan still leaves a broad area off limits to new oil development. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said new development will be permitted in an 11.8 million-acre geographical area, which purportedly holds about 549 million barrels of oil, while coastal regions such as Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay — where there is a higher concentration of seals and polar bears — will receive “special protection.”

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the entire reserve harbors about 900 million barrels of oil, a region west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge approximately the size of Indiana. Opening up only half of this area to leasing is disappointing, says Erik Milito, a director at the American Petroleum Institute (API). “This falls short of where we need to be.”

In a conference call on Tuesday, API president and CEO Jack Gerard disputed President Obama’s so-called “all of the above” energy policy. “Today, we’re sending a letter to the White House to urge the president and his agencies to do more than merely talk about ‘all-of-the-above’ while they pursue policies that include ‘none-of- the-below,’” Gerard charged.

Gerard protested that the Obama administration’s plan to restrict this vast opportunity for oil development is unacceptable, and that it will further depress the nation’s capabilities to become more energy independent. “One half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, it was announced just yesterday [August 13], has been taken off limits,” Gerard affirmed. “This is an area by law dating back to the 1920s, [which] was specifically set aside in Alaska for oil and natural gas development. The announcement yesterday by Secretary [Ken] Salazar was essentially an announcement that we’re going to take everything that was legislatively set aside and we’re placing them off-limits.”

President Warren Harding established the NPR-A in 1923 as a resource for the U.S. Navy during a period when its ships were transferring over from coal to oil power. In 1976, the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act handed 23.5 million acres over to the Department of the Interior. Then in 1980, the Interior Department Appropriations Act appointed the agency’s Bureau of Land Management to administer oil leasing on the Alaskan land.

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska legislative candidate’s mega-gaffes go viral via Huffington Post

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Wasilla City Councilman, Republican State House candidate (and former candidate for Alaska Lt. Governor in 2010), Mark Ewing keeps talking. And then trying to untalk. And then talking again. And it’s just not good.

In a recent debate at the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce candidates forum, Ewing squared off with his Republican primary opponent. All started predictably with both candidates in favor of a controversial coal mine, a controversial copper mine, and another boondoggle bridge to almost nowhere.

But soon Mr. Ewing distinguished himself in the Rock ’em Sock ’em robot battle of conservative Mat-Su Valley Republicans. After talking about cutting the operating budget, he cited education as one of the problems:  “We are spending millions and millions of dollars educating children that have a hard time making their wheelchair move and, I’m sorry, but you’ve got to say, ‘no’ somewhere. We need to educate our children, but there are certain individuals that are just not going to benefit from an education.”

It’s worth remembering that another Wasilla Republican whom you may have heard of happens to have a special needs child in the district. Trigg Palin is not in a wheelchair, so we don’t know for certain if he is one of those whom Mr. Ewing feels isn’t worth educating.

After his comment in the debate was published in The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, he received a lot of email. He doubled down on a local right wing radio show stating: “Actually, you know, that was a response that isn’t politically correct. But I’m going to use a quote from Jack Nicholson and that is, ‘most people can’t handle the truth.'”  That didn’t work.

Read more from this story HERE.

Prepping to fight Shell Oil production: Biologists commence study of Chukchi Sea life

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Photo credit: thomas toohey brown

A group of researchers has embarked on the first comprehensive study of marine life in the eastern Chukchi Sea near Alaska. Their findings will be used by the Department of the Interior to help decide whether to grant future leases for offshore oil exploration and drilling in the region, and to regulate transportation and future fishing.

“We are going up there to look at the oceanography, plankton, fish and crab in the region,” said Michael Sigler, a marine biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service in Alaska.

Little baseline data has been collected in the region, which is currently little-trafficked and fished due to its remoteness and its ice-choked waters. As ice cover throughout the Arctic decreases, however, these pursuits are likely to increase.

Although surveys have been conducted in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas since 1959, U.S. fishery research in the Arctic has been infrequent and limited in scope, according to a statement from NOAA. A similarly comprehensive survey of the northern Bering Sea was not conducted until 2010. [Images: Creatures of the Bering Sea]

The new study is primarily meant to gather data for scientists and to avoid negative impacts of oil exploration in the region, Sigler told OurAmazingPlanet. (Royal Dutch Shell has been granted a lease to drill exploratory wells in the area, and the company hopes to begin in the next few weeks, according to the Reuters news service.)

Read more from this story HERE.