Russia Prepares Militarization of Arctic

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Photo Credit: CC/ NOAARussia has begun a large-scale militarization of the Arctic Ocean region, with a military command structure planned by 2017.

It comes after recent discoveries of oil and natural gas reserves under the ocean floor, and the possibility a potential Northern Sea Route — an alternative to the Suez Canal — could soon be established as global climate change causes melting of Arctic ice.

Former Soviet bases are being reactivated, a 6,000-soldier permanent military force will be established in the northwest Russia’s Murmansk region, and radar and guidance systems are planned in the area, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Col. Oleg Salyukov said, “For the defense of national interests in the Arctic, a multiservice task force will be formed. A motorized rifle arctic brigade is now being formed in the Murmansk region. The second arctic brigade will be formed in 2016 and will be stationed in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region,” a reference to the Arctic Circle area east of the Ural Mountains, RIA Novosti reported earlier this month.

Read more from this story HERE.

Opponent Accuses Alaska Congressman of Threatening Him

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Photo Credit: Marc LesterRep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) Democratic opponent is saying the longtime congressman threatened him before taking the stage at a debate earlier this week.

Democrat Forrest Dunbar told the Alaska Dispatch News that Young “freaked out” on him during a pre-debate backstage discussion on Wednesday night.

Dunbar said Young accused him of not being from his hometown of Cordova, Alaska and had him “looked into.”

“He freaked out,” Dunbar said of Young’s reply. “There is no other way to describe it. … He kind of snarled at me and said, ‘Don’t you ever touch me. Don’t ever touch me. The last guy who touched me ended up on the ground dead.”

Dunbar said he waved his arm in a dismissive gesture and started to walk away, which led to Young swishing his own hand in the air tauntingly and saying, “Oh, you got a sweet swing.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Press Release: Vote YES on 2 Group Misleading Voters with Arrest Data

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Photo Credit: matthew kenwrickThe Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is misleading Alaska voters. Their campaign is claiming marijuana arrest rates that are patently false and inflated by nearly 25%. The data they used is outdated, as is evidenced by a recent and comprehensive report prepared by the Analytical Statistics Center at the UAA Justice Center which was widely distributed to and reported by media in September.

In its recent reporting of arrest rates, the proponents of legalization of marijuana in Alaska, use common propaganda techniques to sway the public into believing that great numbers of Alaskans are being jailed for small marijuana possession offenses. Kalie Klaysmat, executive director of the Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police explains, “The data source they draw upon, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, reflects specifically defined and reported data elements.

For example an “arrest” as defined by UCR includes not only those physical arrests when someone is booked into jail, but also includes actions as simple as a summons into court, where the person is released on a promise to appear in court, similar to a traffic citation. Unfortunately, proponents of the measure prefer that the public imagine all arrests to involve handcuffs and jail and they make no effort to define that term in its proper context to the voters.“

On the last prison census date, there were only 4 prisoners in Alaska jails who had been convicted of Misconduct Involving Controlled Substances in the 6th degree which includes marijuana possession, and each of these prisoners also had other concurrent convictions— sometimes multiple convictions— which could keep them in prison even if their marijuana conviction did not exist.

The concurrent convictions for these 4 inmates included attempted 2nd degree sexual assault, 4th degree assault, driving under suspension, parole violation, misconduct involving weapons, and misconduct involving controlled substances in the 3rd degree. None of these convicts were imprisoned for marijuana offenses alone.

This misleading of voters is part of a pattern that has emerged from the proponents of ballot measure 2 and it’s a tactic that the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington D.C. based organization backing the Alaska measure, has used in other states. Recently former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper was touted as a proponent of legalization without mention of his troubled law enforcement career that ended 15 years ago in controversy. He is now an activist against law enforcement. ( see : https://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991207&slug=3000005)

The Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police was established as a voice to represent all law enforcement executives in Alaska. Membership includes Chiefs and Commanders from local, state and federal criminal justice agencies, including law enforcement, corrections, prosecutors, security professionals and others and their mission is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of Alaska’s criminal justice system.

The Alaska Peace Officers Association (APOA) is a dynamic, professional and fraternal organization. Their membership consists of law enforcement, corrections, prosecutors, security professionals and others at the local, state and federal levels. APOA represents peace officers and their issues and is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit associations in the state.

Point of Contact:

Kalie Klaysmat, Executive Director
[email protected]

TEARING DOWN FENCES: The Debate Over Marijuana Legalization Intensifies

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A young John F. Kennedy, having just fought through the horrors of WWII, was compelled to write in his personal journal, “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.” No small display of wisdom for a man just 28 years old.

Likewise, theologian and novelist C.S. Lewis cautioned, “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”

As Alaskans we are being asked to follow blindly in the steps of Colorado by tearing down the fence which makes the recreational use of marijuana illegal by taxing and regulating it just as we do alcohol. We should do so only if we understand why its use was made illegal in the first place, and with the certainty we are not making the characteristic mistake of our time.

We need look no further than our own history to find what happens when we tear down fences first intended to protect us. In 1975 the Alaska Supreme Court essentially did what the supporters of Measure 2 would like to do in 2014: it legalized recreational marijuana use. Shortly thereafter the rate of drug use by Alaskan teens was more than double the national average. The legislature learned the lesson and built another fence: it recriminalized recreational marijuana.

While others hold a nostalgic view of a bygone era when a few friends sat around smoking a joint and listening to what became classic rock-and-roll, we must understand that the marijuana of today is drastically more powerful than the marijuana of just twenty years ago.

The drug in the marijuana leaf is called THC. In the 1960’s and 70’s the average potency, or percentage of THC, was about 2%. That rose to 10% by 2009, a five-fold increase. (See Marijuana Legalization: The Issues , p.22).“ According to the latest data, the average amount of THC in seized samples has reached 15.1 percent. This compares to an average of just under four percent reported in 1983 and represents more than a tripling of the potency of the drug since that time.” (See US Department of Justice, p.3)

Alaskan grown marijuana is some of the most potent in the world. What we are being asked then is to make readily available to all Alaskans, including our children, something that is certainly not our parents’ pot. Indeed, Ballot Measure 2 doesn’t even address, let alone restrict, marijuana with dangerously high levels of THC.

The advocates of Measure 2 would have us believe that marijuana holds some measure of medicinal value. Nothing could be further from the truth. The American Medical Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicines, the American Cancer Society, the American Glaucoma Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all find no documented medical value in marijuana use. (See U.S. Department of Justice , p. 1)

We’ve all heard the claim that marijuana is not a “gateway” to “hard” drugs, but the evidence clearly suggests otherwise. Teens who have been heavy marijuana users are 30 times more likely to use cocaine and crack; 20 time more likely to use Ecstasy; 15 times more likely to abuse prescription pain relievers; and 14 times more likely to abuse over the counter medications. This is clear evidence that teens who regularly use marijuana are abusing other illegal drugs “at a much higher rate than teens who do not smoke marijuana, or smoke less often.” (See U.S. Department of Justice ,p. 14) So, why would we Alaskans knowingly choose to put retail marijuana outlets in our towns and neighborhoods?

If you think teens are using less marijuana these days, think again. This from the U.S. Department of Justice: “The 2011 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study found that nine percent of teens (nearly 1.5 million) smoked marijuana heavily (at least 20 times) in the past month. Overall, past-month teen use was up 80 percent from 2008.” (U.S. Department of Justice ,p. 4)

As I see it then, there are 1.5 million teens in this country who are heavy users of marijuana. And we know that heavy use leads to vastly greater abuse of drugs like crack, cocaine and Ecstasy. But the proponents of Ballot Measure 2 are trying to make marijuana more available, not less! At some point here we need to question either their reasoning skills, or their motivations.

Others, who claim to be of libertarian bent, believe it is an individual’s right to enjoy a joint as long as it hurts no one else. It’s a matter of liberty they say. But what Measure 2 is explicitly designed to accomplish is to compel the state of Alaska to both regulate and tax marijuana just as it does alcohol. I fail to see how having the government both regulate and tax us more somehow adds to our liberty.

Indeed, to even suggest that someone sitting at home smoking a joint can hurt no one is nonsensical. In Denver, where marijuana was decriminalized two years ago, 39% of violent crime arrestees and 34% of domestic crime arrestees tested positive for marijuana, while over 50 % of arrestees claim to be regular marijuana users. (See Marijuana Legalization: The Issues ,p. 21)

Even the means by which marijuana is consumed has changed drastically, and not for the better. Much of the pot now being sold in Colorado is packaged as food. Pot bars, pot gummy bears, pot suckers, pot hard fruit candies, pot sodas are the norm. THC, packaged as gummy bears, can do nothing but entice and then harm our children. (See Growing Like a Weed) (See Why Eating A Marijuana Candy Bar Sent Maureen Dowd To Paranoia Hell )

To think that marijuana is no more problematic than alcohol denies the fact that addiction rates for marijuana users are significantly higher than they are for alcohol. Of the 16.7 million regular users of marijuana in 2009, 25.7% were either abusers or drug dependent. Of the 136 million regular users of alcohol, 13.7% were either abusers or alcohol dependent. (See Marijuana Legalization: The Issues ,p. 21)

Approval of Measure 2 will impose a significant financial cost on our state. The Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development estimates just the first year implementation costs of Ballot Measure 2 will range from $3.7M to $7.0M. Just the first year! And all this just so a small minority of Alaskans can get stoned on some of the most powerful pot in the world… while the rest of us get to pick up the tab.

Even state and local drug sniffing dogs will be in jeopardy, just as they are now in Colorado. Some departments are considering replacing all their dogs since a dog trained to alert on marijuana can’t reasonably be untrained. In Alaska it costs $15,000 to buy and equip a drug-sniffing canine. It costs another $17,000 to train and house it, for a total of $32,000. If the dog is a dual purpose canine (both drug detection and law enforcement) those costs double! Who’s going to pay for that? Not someone making regular visits to the government taxed and regulated neighborhood cannabis store, I suspect.

As some of our citizens rush forward to legalize marijuana the rest of us must first remember that even if Measure 2 passes on November 4th, the possession and use of the drug will not, in fact, be legal. Under federal law it will still be illegal, and prosecuted, albeit weakly, by the federal government.

Keep in mind as you consider supporting Ballot Measure 2, few (0.3%) of those who use marijuana are occasional users (those who use less than once a month); the vast majority are considered “heavy daily users.” Also note that nationwide 27% of seriously injured drivers also test positive for marijuana, even while more than 333,000 individuals entered drug treatment programs for marijuana addiction in 2011. (See Growing Like a Weed)

Finally, after years helping to lead efforts both for and against ballot measures here in Alaska I’ve learned to always do one thing – follow the money. “The Alaska Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol”, the main group pushing Measure 2, received $210,000 from The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which is leading efforts across the country to legalize marijuana to include recent efforts in Colorado and Washington. The MPP is funded by billionaires George Soros and Peter Lewis (late chairman of Progressive Insurance). (See George Soros’ Real Crusade) (To track the web of money flowing to groups promoting marijuana, see Going To Pot).

In Colorado, Amendment 64, which is the model for our Measure 2, was 67% funded by Soros and Lewis. In Washington State the marijuana legalization effort, “New Approach to Washington”, was 68% funded by the two men. Nationwide, Soros gives approximately $4M per year to the “Drug Policy Alliance”, which also advances marijuana legalization nationwide. To suggest that any endeavor in our country to legalize recreational marijuana is a “grassroots” effort is deceitful at best. I guess that Soros just wants a piece of the estimated $10-$120 billion marijuana industry. (See How Big Is The Marijuana Market?)

So, we Alaskans are being asked by George Soros, et al, to approve a regulatory and tax mechanism for a dangerous and very addictive drug that will cost all of us a great deal, both financially and culturally, and for what? Really, for WHAT?!

As C.S. Lewis understood, every age is “specially liable to make certain mistakes.” The research, and even our own short history, clearly demonstrates that by passing Measure 2 this November we would be making a big mistake. Let’s keep in mind that Measure 2 has nothing to do with personal liberty but instead asks all of us to put a great deal at risk so that just a few can commune together in an addictive, drug- induced fog as they try to reminisce about an era they may barely be capable of remembering.

Exclusive: Christian Magistrate Resigns After Being Ordered to Violate Conscience and Preside Over Homosexual Weddings

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In a case certain to be replayed in judicial chambers throughout the United States, a North Carolina magistrate had to decide this week whether he would violate deeply held religious convictions and submit to the tyranny of the state or lose his job.

His predicament started with a ridiculous ruling from a Bush-appointed federal judge who ordered North Carolina to marry homosexuals despite the fact that such marriages were illegal under state law. The federal judge parroted other activist rulings throughout the country that have commandeered the Constitution’s equal protection and due process clauses to invalidate state voters’ efforts to protect traditional marriage.

Of course, there’s absolutely no way that the drafters of the federal Constitution (and its amendments) ever intended such provisions to mandate homosexual marriage. Every state in the union – until relatively recently – criminalized sodomy.

Not buying the argument that the Constitution intended to protect homosexual marriage, a magistrate refused to marry two homosexual men in Pasquotank County, North Carolina. The state court system reacted swiftly, issuing a memorandum ordering all judicial officers to officiate over such marriages or face termination.

That prompted Rockingham County Magistrate John Kallam, Jr. to resign. The committed Christian stated that when he began work as a judge, there was no expectation that he would preside over homosexual weddings. He also noted that marrying two men, or two women, “would desecrate a holy Institution established by God Himself. Since performing marriages is an integral part of being a Magistrate and in light of recent changes in North Carolina law, I can no longer fulfill my oath of office in good faith.”

He concluded his resignation letter with the words of King David: “‘He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God’. Where there is no ‘fear of God’ there can be no justice!”

Judges in Alaska are now faced with a similar predicament. After a Bush-appointed federal district court judge in Anchorage used the same twisted logic to invalidate the state constitutional amendment approved by an overwhelming number of Alaskans, Governor Sean Parnell asked the judge to stay his order while it was appealed. The activist judge rejected the Governor’s request, even though the Ninth Circuit subsequently granted a hold until the Supreme Court could review it.

Ultimately, Justice Kennedy, on behalf of the Supreme Court, refused to delay implementation of the Anchorage federal judge’s decision. That means, any day, the Alaska Court System – presided over by a justice who previously ordered a privately owned hospital in the valley to abort babies – will likely issue a directive similar to the North Carolina decree. It remains to be seen how magistrates will respond here.

It also remains to be seen how “We the People” will react to the elites’ hijacking of our Constitution and culture. The majority of Americans still believes, despite the endless efforts of Hollywood and judicial activists, that God ordained marriage as between a man and a woman. Given this commitment to God over man, the elites’ dogged efforts to consolidate control and impose their immorality on the rest of the nation may have just hit a massive speed bump.

Polar Bear Breaks into Home in Alaska Village

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Photo Credit: AP/Dan JolingRuby Kaleak’s part-time job is keeping polar bears away from people in a village on Alaska’s Beaufort Sea coast, so she was prepared when one of the biggest bears she’s ever seen got inside a house. . .

She and a co-worker spotted the polar bear inside 81-year-old Betty Brower’s home in Kaktovik, a village of 300. It was eating seal oil from a drum.

Kaleak carries a shotgun loaded with beanbag and firecracker rounds, but she and a co-worker shooed the bear away.

Read more from this story HERE.

Environmentalists Halt Obama Administration Plan to Cut Trees in Alaska

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Photo Credit: Clark James Mishler / NewscomA family-owned timber firm that operates the last significant sawmill in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest has won a momentous U.S. Forest Service contract: the Big Thorne Project, which will allow the harvest of nearly 150 million board feet of wood.

The Obama administration’s decision marks the transition away from old-growth timber and toward a sustainable forest industry based on young growth. More than a quarter of the trees in the contract are regrowth on previously logged sites, to be nurtured for a sustainable future.

But winning bidder Viking Lumber Company can’t begin the transition because at least five environmental groups are suing to “stop this massive old-growth clear cutting on public lands.” For years, environmentalists have tried to stop logging in old-growth forests—lands that are economically valuable because they have been growing for over a century.

Kirk Dahlstrom, a Viking co-owner, told The Daily Signal he, his three brothers, and a partner moved to Alaska in 1994 “to escape old-growth lawsuits,” particularly the notorious Audubon Society spotted owl litigation.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Path Chosen: Spend Less, More Liberty

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Future generations will thrive or suffer based on whether our elected leaders choose the path of individual liberty or choose to grow government. I have consistently chosen more liberty through less government as Alaska’s future.

From 2010 forward, I have set and enforced spending limits on legislative appropriations. In 2010 and 2011, when the “bipartisan senate majority” would not join me in adhering to a spending limit, I vetoed the largest amounts of state spending in Alaska history. With more fiscally conservative majorities in 2013 and 2014, I led and worked with legislators on record spending reductions, cutting $1 billion from state spending in 2013 and another $1.1 billion in 2014.

As Governor, I tackled the big revenue and expense issues in our budget, first. These were not easy to resolve, but they were the areas in which we could make the biggest impact – increasing revenue through oil tax reform, decreasing spending and public debt, and curtailing future obligations.

I fought to arrest declining oil production and declining revenue from oil to better secure our future through oil tax reform. No matter what oil prices are, if the number of barrels flowing through the pipeline keeps falling, a high tax rate will correspondingly draw less and less revenue to Alaska. Already, this tax reform is working; companies are producing more than 8,500 barrels of oil more per day and have announced billions of dollars of new investment.

My tax reform also protected the state treasury at lower oil prices. At today’s oil prices, Alaska would collect over $150 million more per year than under ACES. I also ended an ACES provision that gave tax credits for spending that did not lead to new production. Now, those tax credits are linked to new production. This action is expected to save the state several hundred million dollars per year going forward.

While shoring up the state’s revenue stream with more oilfield work, I addressed the biggest cost driver of the state’s operating budget:; the state’s unfunded obligation to retiree pensions. Working with the Legislature, we paid down the debt by $3 billion and reduced the state’s annual payment obligation on the debt by several hundred million dollars per year going forward. This is another financial move I led that means the state’s operating budget will be reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

In addition to these steps, I have refused, despite heavy pressure, to allow additional general obligation bonds, which increase annual debt payments and increases the operating budget. These were key first steps in bringing Alaska’s budget to a more sustainable point – what I call “living within our means.”

In addition to big, responsible financial moves with the people’s money, I’ve taken action during my administration to make smaller, but no less valuable, cuts. I’ve done this while making sure Alaska maintains a stellar Triple A credit rating, and we’ve nearly doubled state savings – excluding the Permanent Fund – during my administration.

For example, we’ve made smaller, but no less important, reductions:

*We took a tougher stance in labor negotiations to keep ongoing increases within a slim 1% range, and we’ve reduced built-in longevity increases;

*I’ve directed state agencies to absorb salary increases (cost of living adjustments), for savings of about $40 million per year; and

*The Department of Natural Resources moved to an electronic recording system for property transactions, reducing the cost of state offices.

Going forward, my budget plan focuses on our Constitutional priorities – especially public safety. I look forward to working again with a Republican-led Legislature to continue driving down spending.

I believe that private sector investment is better than government spending. My economic policies are geared toward economic growth and opportunities for Alaskans in the private sector. During my administration, Alaska has enjoyed 5,000 new business license applications, and unemployment is lower today than in recent years. More than 16,000 new jobs have been created by Alaskans under my policies, and construction activity is projected to be 18% more this year, even with a reduction in state capital budgets.

My opponent, Bill Walker, is pledging a one-time, 16% budget cut – without offering a plan, or even a clue, as to where this number came from. In one forum, Mr. Walker says education funding is “‘on the table”’ for cuts, but in front of other interest groups, he promises to increase education funding by hundreds of millions of dollars through a BSA increase and inflation-proofing. He also said Medicaid is “‘on the table”’ for cuts, but in other places, says he’ll increase Medicaid spending by adopting Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. We need a governor who has experience reducing the budget – and one who walks his talk.

A governor cannot be double-minded and tell one group he will spend less, and then tell another group he will spend more.

My pledge to Alaskans is that we will continue reducing the state budget so individual Alaskans’ liberty and economic opportunity can grow. I will remain the same steady, consistent governor Alaskans can count on.

Alaska North Slope: September Production Up 25% from August

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Photo Credit: rcboddenAlaska North Slope crude oil production started September at 359,150 barrels, but ended the month at 533,561 barrels, a clear indication that the summer maintenance season has wound down and production levels are getting back to a seasonal norm.

The average for September was 496,388 barrels per day, up 25.44 percent from an August average of 395,726 bpd, and approaching the June average of 500,525 bpd.

The largest month-over-month increase was at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, the Slope’s largest, which averaged 270,336 bpd in September, up 58.8 percent from an August average of 170,268 bpd, an increase of slightly more than 100,000 bpd.

Prudhoe Bay production includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion, Polaris, Sag River and Schrader Bluff. It also includes production from the Milne Point and Northstar fields, currently operated by BP, but in the process of being transferred to Hilcorp Alaska, which will be the majority owner at Northstar and a 50 percent working interest owner at Milne Point, once that sale closes.

August production at Milne Point averaged 18,744 bpd, down 3.2 percent from a July average of 19,361 bpd. August production at Northstar averaged 8,394 bpd, down 4 percent from a July average of 8,747 bpd.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Carolina And Alaska Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

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Photo Credit: Jeff Siner / MCT / LandovSame-sex couples in Alaska and North Carolina are receiving marriage licenses, after courts in those states recently overturned bans on gay marriage. The two states are part of the cascading effects of the Supreme Court’s refusal to review any appeals in same-sex marriage cases in its current term.

Some couples say they’re rushing to marry out of concern that future rulings could go against them; others are merely pouncing on an opportunity they had long awaited.

In North Carolina, a few counties began issuing the licenses to same-sex couples late Friday, after a federal judge in Asheville struck down the state’s ban. Member station WUNC has been reporting on the weddings that followed.

By the time the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds opened at 8 a.m. this morning in Charlotte, about 20 couples were already waiting in line, according to member station WFAE.

Read more from this story HERE.