Alaska Wins With Independence; Stepping Aside for the Greater Good

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Photo Credit: FacebookGov. Sarah Palin

Alaska Wins With Independence; Stepping Aside for the Greater Good

Our family is proud to support Bill Walker to lead Alaska! Bill Walker, Byron Mallott, and their families joined with ours and other Alaskans in Todd’s airplane hangar this week in a show of true Alaskan support, complete with a potlatch brimming with salmon, moose, and caribou hors d’oeuvres. Life-long Alaskans Bill and Byron have proven that they truly have our state’s heart and believe in putting Alaska first and ignoring status quo politics that get in the way of Alaska’s destiny. This is refreshing and productive, and Alaska wins when Team Walker wins! This unity ticket came about when winners of their respective primary races selflessly stepped aside for the sake of Alaska! This is rarely done in politics and proves that this strong independent ticket represents an Alaskan-sized heart, putting people over party machine politics and Alaskans over egos.

Bill’s blue collar history and professional experience in practicing law fit perfectly with policies to move our state forward by developing our abundant natural resources. He and Byron are proven fiscal conservatives who know state government’s recent practice of deficit spending will halt development and make us dependent on a dysfunctional federal government.

The Last Frontier’s destiny as the nation’s leader in energy development, which will lead to Alaskan independence while helping secure our union, can only be fulfilled with decisive leadership that puts our residents first. The ability to move us forward by empowering a thriving private sector takes unifying action. Too many long-awaited projects and challenges – like the National Guard scandal – are made worse because of indecisive leadership, and that’s debilitating. We can’t afford to put development on the back burner while other states and nations surpass our opportunities, and we can’t sweep ethics problems under the table.

Unfortunately, in desperation to halt Team Walker’s momentum, lies are running rampant. Sadly, one such lie is about their faith. Don’t believe the million dollar Outside money ads perpetuating misrepresentations; just ask the guys themselves where they stand. For example, on the issue of respecting a culture of life, a pro-family group is grossly misrepresenting Bill’s position. He is unapologetically pro-life. Groups, individuals, and incumbent politicians telling you otherwise are untruthful, and that says everything about their character. Shame on people who know better and are in positions to counter lies but turn a blind eye instead. This kind of politics of personal destruction is why our country is hurting; adding to the pain are attempts here in Alaska to destroy a good man. Participants in this do not deserve your support.

I’m proud of the ethics reform my administration ushered in, and I know Bill and Byron will re-start and build on that with an independent spirit beholden only to the people of Alaska, not to any political party. Nothing’s been handed to these guys. They’ve worked alongside us all over the state in true Alaskan spirit and know the value of a good job. They want that for every Alaskan family! So our diverse family, enjoying years of connections with both candidates, take a stand for Bill and Byron’s unity team. It’s time to get our state back on track to fiscal discipline so we can grow with the surplus Alaska had enjoyed under my administration.

Please support Walker/Mallott on November 4th. Alaska First! It’s time.

Bill Walker Waves the White Flag on Defending Constitution

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Bill Walker and Sean Parnell are both lawyers. They even graduated from the same law school, the University of Puget Sound. But their reactions to the recent court ruling on Alaska’s marriage amendment reveal a profound difference in how the two men would go about fulfilling the oath required of all elected officials – to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Alaska.”

More than 152,000 Alaskans – 68 percent of those voting – voted to define marriage in our state Constitution as a union of one man and one woman. Yet on October 12th, one unelected federal judge decided to impose his own ideology and strike down Alaska’s marriage amendment. He did so on the utterly spurious grounds that it violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A little history refresher: The 14th Amendment became part of the Constitution in 1868. If you drink the same Kool-Aid as modern-era activist judges, then somehow you must conclude that homosexual marriage became a constitutional right a few years after the American Civil War ended – but it just took us 146 years to figure that out. Imagine how many other hidden, mysterious rights we have in the Constitution that are just waiting to be “discovered” by unelected judges who believe that wearing a black robe entitles them to short-circuit the democratic process.

Governor Sean Parnell, responding to this obvious overreach by a federal judge, did what you would expect any conscientious head of the executive branch to do. He promised to fight it, saying: “As Alaska’s governor, I have a duty to defend and uphold the law and the Alaska Constitution. Although the district court today may have been bound by the recent Ninth Circuit panel opinion, the status of that opinion and the law in general in this area is in flux. I will defend our constitution.”

Nothing remarkable about that – Governor Parnell quietly does his job, and fulfills his Oath of Office. Far more newsworthy is what candidate Bill Walker had to say about Governor Parnell’s actions. Walker released the following statement:

“Despite my personal views on marriage, with the State’s dire financial crisis, pursuing expensive litigation that has little chance of victory is an unwise use of our dwindling resources.”

Walker’s statement is breathtaking. The state’s general fund spending for the capital and operating budgets is somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 billion. The cost of appealing the marriage decision wouldn’t come close to 1/100th of 1 percent of the state’s total budget. If our state budget could be compared to a beach, the cost of litigating the Hamby v. Parnell litigation is a grain of sand.

So Walker’s invoking of budget concerns is just a fig leaf. Elected officials will always find the money to pay for what they consider to be their highest priorities. Walker has just told Alaskans that the following are not his priorities:

1) Defending their right of self-government: More than 152,000 Alaskans voted to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. One unelected judge disagrees – and Bill Walker’s response is basically to shrug his shoulders. If Walker is elected Governor, how will he respond when other laws enacted by the voters, or their elected legislators, are similarly trampled on by the courts? Should you trust your vote to a candidate who holds the authority of your vote in such low regard?

2) Defending state’s rights: Beyond the issue of what marriage really means, another huge issue is at stake. Shouldn’t a Governor stick up for the rights of his state to decide important issues, without the federal government interfering when they have no authority to intervene? There are countless other examples of where the federal government unlawfully interferes with our rights as Alaskans to control our own destiny. We should be deeply concerned about Walker’s casual indifference to defending our rights as Alaskans to decide important issues for ourselves.

3) Defending religious freedom & conscientious objection: When homosexual marriage has been legalized in other states, it has quickly led to abuses of anyone who disagrees with the new legal orthodoxy. For example, in Washington state a florist is being sued by that state’s Attorney General because she committed the “crime” of politely declining to supply flowers for a homosexual wedding, because of her religious beliefs. Bill Walker is utterly naïve if he thinks that similar threats to religious liberty aren’t coming to Alaska – and yet he promises not to spend a nickel to potentially ward off this threat to our most fundamental freedoms.

One of our better federal judges, Alaska’s own Andrew Kleinfeld, once cautioned against the brazenness of courts who exceed their authority and venture into the territory reserved for the executive and legislative branches. Judge Kleinfeld wrote:

“The Founding Fathers did not establish the United States as a democratic republic so that elected officials would decide trivia, while all great questions would be decided by the judiciary.” (Compassion in Dying v. State of Washington, 1994)

Sean Parnell understands what Judge Kleinfeld was talking about, but it’s not at all clear to us that Bill Walker “gets it.”

We are disappointed that Walker is unwilling to defend the will of the voters, unwilling to defend the right of Alaska to decide this issue without federal interference, and unwilling to protect the religious freedom of Alaskans who face the threat of being punished for refusing to endorse the new court-invented “right” to homosexual marriage.

There were many reasons for the Alaska Family Action Board of Directors’ unanimous decision to support Sean Parnell’s re-election as Governor – and we discussed several of them in our announcement on October 14. But Bill Walker’s statements about the marriage amendment certainly raise the stakes, and have given us a new sense of urgency.

Please share this message with your friends, family members, and co-workers. Less than two weeks remain before election day – and we need your help to share a simple message: Sean Parnell is fighting to defend our values, while Bill Walker has already announced that he’ll raise the white flag of surrender on his first day in office. We cannot let that happen – we deserve a better future than that.

U.S., Allies Scramble Jets Almost Daily to Repel Russian Incursions

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Photo Credit: APRussian military provocations have increased so much over the seven months since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine that Washington and its allies are scrambling defense assets on a nearly daily basis in response to air, sea and land incursions by Vladimir Putin’s forces.

Not only is Moscow continuing to foment unrest in Eastern Ukraine, U.S. officials and regional security experts say Russian fighter jets are testing U.S. reaction times over Alaska and Japan’s ability to scramble planes over its northern islands — all while haunting Sweden’s navy and antagonizing Estonia’s tiny national security force.

The White House months ago leveled economic sanctions on several Russian businesses and political players, and recent weeks have seen President Obama intensify his rhetoric toward Moscow. But many in Washington’s national security community say the response is simply not firm enough and that, as a result, Mr. Putin actually feels emboldened to push the envelope — Cold War-style.

“What’s going on is a radical escalation of aggressive Russian muscle flexing and posturing designed to demonstrate that Russia is no longer a defeated power of the Cold War era,” says Ariel Cohen, who heads the Center for Energy, National Resources and Geopolitics at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington.

Read more from this story HERE.

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.