Sen. Mark Begich Laughs Off Notion of Voting to Defund Obamacare

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Mark BegichWhile pushing an effort to defund Obamacare or risk a government shutdown, congressional Republicans have insisted they might have some unlikely allies on their side: Senate Democrats up for reelection in red states.

But at least two of those Democrats, Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska) and Mark Pryor (Ark.), laughed off the suggestion Thursday that they would vote for a continuing resolution that permanently strips the Affordable Care Act of its funding.

“We’re not going through another [vote to repeal Obamacare], 43rd or 44th — no,” Begich told reporters on Capitol Hill. “Do I have issues with Obamacare? Yes. We’ve proposed multiple amendments and ideas to fix it, to make it better and take out things that aren’t working … but we’re not going through this process.”

When The Huffington Post asked Begich to respond to the idea that Democrats facing tough reelection battles in conservative states might favor House Republicans’ strategy, which ties Obamacare funding to a continuing resolution to keep the government running past Sept. 30, Begich laughed and shook his head.

“No — I think those guys over there should focus on what the American people want, and that is a budget done,” he said. “Quit playing with the continuing resolution, putting the debt at risk, and causing this great economy that’s moved in the right direction to falter again.”

Polling consistently shows a majority of Americans disapprove of Obamacare. A new poll finds that 54 percent want to return to the healthcare system in place in 2009, while 35 percent want to keep Obamacare.

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At a recent town hall in Anchorage, Senator Begich vowed Obamacare will never be repealed.

Alaska Police Seek Author of Mysterious Note That Saved Life of Beaten Teen

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Police responding to a typed, anonymous note slipped under their door helped save the life of a severely beaten teenager found in an abandoned Anchorage house scheduled for demolition two days later, authorities said Thursday.

Police hoped the author of the note would come forward with more information about the situation.

Police have identified the teen as 18-year-old James Clinton and said he remained unconscious and in critical condition.

The investigation began Monday night with the note to police at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Chief Rick Shell said two officers were on duty at their desks in a squad room about 8:30 p.m. when one of them spotted it on the floor.

“He picked it up, read it, let the other officer read it,” Shell said. “The other officer saw content that led him to believe that the Anchorage Police Department should be involved.”

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Armed EPA Raid in Alaska Sheds Light on 70 Fed Agencies with Armed Divisions

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

The recent uproar over armed EPA agents descending on a tiny Alaska mining town is shedding light on the fact that 40 federal agencies – including nearly a dozen typically not associated with law enforcement — have armed divisions.

The agencies employ about 120,000 full-time officers authorized to carry guns and make arrests, according to a June 2012 Justice Department report.

Though most Americans know agents within the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Prisons carry guns, agencies such as the Library of Congress and Federal Reserve Board employing armed officers might come as a surprise.

The incident that sparked the renewed interest and concern occurred in late August when a team of armed federal and state officials descended on the tiny Alaska gold mining town of Chicken, Alaska.

The Environmental Protection Agency, whose armed agents in full body armor participated, acknowledged taking part in the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force investigation, which it said was conducted to look for possible violations of the Clean Water Act.

The EPA defended its use of armed officers, after the Alaska incident.

“Environmental law enforcement, like other forms of law enforcement, always involves the potential for physical, even armed, confrontation,” the agency said.

But Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has already ordered an investigation, saying “This level of intrusion and intimidation of Alaskans is absolutely unacceptable.”

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Arctic Sea Ice Up 60 Percent in 2013

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Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

An unusually cold Arctic summer has resulted in almost a million more square miles of ocean covered with ice compared to the same time last year, bucking predictions that global warming would result in the disappearance of the ice cap by 2013.

According to the MailOnline, Arctic sea ice averaged 2.35 million square miles in August 2013 compared to the low point of 1.32 million square miles recorded in September 2012.

“We are already in a cooling trend, which I think will continue for the next 15 years at least. There is no doubt the warming of the 1980s and 1990s has stopped,” Anastasios Tsonis of the University of Wisconsin told the Mail.

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Magnitude 4.1 Earthquake Jolts Alaska’s Largest City; No Damage Reported

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Photo Credits: Wonderlane

Photo Credits: Wonderlane

A light earthquake in Alaska has jolted the state’s largest city.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center reports that the quake has a preliminary magnitude of 4.1.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center says the temblor was felt widely in the greater Anchorage area, but there are no immediate reports of damage.

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Fisherman Opts to Keep Massive, 231-Pound Halibut

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Photo Credit: DeepStrike Sportfishing

Photo Credit: DeepStrike Sportfishing

Dirk Whitsitt, a construction worker from Kansas, caught a fish of a lifetime only an hour into his first fishing trip in Alaska, and he wasn’t about to release the monster, not even for a $250 voucher for another day of fishing.

You can’t blame him, really. The Pacific halibut he hooked in 370 feet of water in Cook Inlet out of Homer, Alaska, and fought for 45 minutes wound up weighing a whopping 231 pounds.

Once the decision was made to keep it, the prized fish needed to be subdued, which is no easy task with a halibut this size.

“Towards the end of the fight, the fish headed back toward the bottom and we had to release the anchor to follow the fish,” Capt. David Bayes of DeepStrike Sportfishing explained in an email to GrindTV Outdoor. “We shot it three times with a .38 special and used three gaffs to pull it aboard.”

Using a gun to subdue halibut is common practice in Alaska. In fact, it is recommended on any sizable fish over 100 pounds because big halibut are nearly all muscle and can do damage to people and boats if they’re not killed before being brought on board.

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TINY TOWN A THREAT? Chicken, Alaska Focus of Armed Task Force Raid

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Photo Credit: Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

Photo Credit: Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

Some miners in Alaska want the feds to start digging for answers.

A task force including members of 10 state and federal law enforcement agencies descended on a gold mine in the tiny town of Chicken (pop. 17) last month, in what locals described as a raid.

“Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say “POLICE” emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms,” gold miner C.R. Hammond told the Alaska Dispatch. “How would you have felt? You would be wondering, ‘My God, what have I done now?”

A spokesman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency did not deny that agents wore body armor and carried guns, but said it was not a “raid.”

“The ongoing investigation conducted by the AK Environmental Crimes Task Force — consisting of EPA, ADEC, USFWS, ADFG, BLM, Coast Guard, FBI, Alaska State Troopers, NOAA, & US Park Service — did not result in a raid,” the statement read. “The Task Force members involved in the investigation during the week of August 19, 2013, were EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division & Bureau of Land Management’s Office of Law Enforcement & Security, in cooperation with ADEC’s Environmental Crimes Unit.”

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Vision for Victory 2014: The Big Picture

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vision for victory

Date: Monday, September 9, 2013
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Place: Petroleum Club of Anchorage
Cost: $30 Per Personpayday loans
Space is limited, so register today. Please register online here, and email [email protected] with questions concerning this series. Registration for this session ends September 6, 2013.

Come enjoy hors d’oeuvres & cocktails with our guest speakers, while exploring the “big picture” of what it will take to secure victory in 2014. Topics will include polling & demographics, election issues insight, and candidate assessment:

Polling & Demographics

Matt Larkin, President of Dittman Research, will explain recent polling data and Alaska’s current voter demographics, and what this information means for 2014.

Election Issues

Budget Issues

Rick Rogers, Executive Director of the Resource Development Council, will evaluate the key budget issues for 2014.

Oil and Gas Issues

Kara Moriarty, President of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, will discuss the pressing issues surrounding oil and gas.

Ballot Initiatives

Rebecca Logan, General Manager of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, will brief us on the ballot initiatives on the table for 2014.

Candidate Assessment

Scott Hawkins, President of Prosperity Alaska – Alaska Business Report Card, will cover invaluable tools for evaluating candidates.

Vision for Victory 2014 Series

This session is the first of a three-part educational series. Sessions two & three will take place October & November. For more information, click here.

vfv2014-1-slide-image-300x150

GOP Senators’ Petition to Defund Obamacare Hits 1 Million Signatures (+video)

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Photo Credit: BizPac

Photo Credit: BizPac

With less than a month to go before millions of Americans will be required to enroll in Obamacare, the petition to defund the program has hit a landmark 1 million signatures – on schedule, by Labor Day.

In what’s being called the last chance to stop Obamacare, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are going full-bore to get other senators to sign on.

Last week, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signed the petition supporting the effort.

“The time for rhetoric and ceremonial votes in Congress is over,” Palin said in a statement released at the time. “The time to take serious action to stop Obamacare is now.”


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Ten-Year-Old Boy Wins Alaska’s Contest for Giant Cabbages

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Photo Credit: plagal

Photo Credit: plagal

A 10-year-old boy has won Alaska’s annual giant cabbage contest, submitting a 92.3-pound (41.9 kg) specimen named “Bob” to officials at the state fair.

Keevan Dinkel of Wasilla, Alaska, produced this year’s winning entry, which was carried in by several Boy Scouts, in the Alaska State Fair’s Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off on Friday night.

His giant cabbage, which rose to about thigh height on a typical adult, and those of other contestants were weighed at the fairgrounds in Palmer, in a contest watched by hundreds of onlookers, attended by green-clad women dressed as “cabbage fairies” and monitored by a representative of the state Division of Weights and Measures.

Produce can grow to enormous sizes under Alaska’s summer midnight sun. Growing big cabbages is a tradition in this part of the state, just north of Anchorage, which is considered Alaska’s main farm belt.

This year was the first time in the contest’s 18 years that a child has won the weigh-off, according to state fair officials. The fair offers a junior competition for growers 12 and younger, but Keevan’s entry was put into the adult open category because of its size.

Read more from this story HERE.