By Rich Galen

Here's how you know, if you are the President of the United States, that things are going in the wrong direction.

You have scheduled a speech to the Democratic National Committee meeting in Washington, DC.

It snows about 20 inches in Washington, DC weakening your arguments for cap-and-trade legislation

A car spins into the press van travelling with your motorcade

You do the speech and generate headlines like this one from the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:

Obama Seeks to Rally Glum Dems Amid GOP Challenges Read more

By Jillian Bandes

If Sarah Palin is the future of the conservative movement, then one thing can be certain: leadership isn't going to suffer from a lack of support.

Her keynote speech at the Tea Party Convention brought the audience to their feet eight separate times, and every major point was followed with applause, whoops, and cheers. Palin talked about conservative activism, foreign policy, the economy, and a general political outlook, communicating her message with a personal touch and occasional jokes. It was what everyone had been waiting for.

"We know that we've got some big problems to solve... we want to look forward. But from here, it looks really good, because if there's hope in Massachusetts, there's hope anywhere," she said.

One of Palin's first jokes truly resonated with audience members. Read more

By Dan Fagan
Publisher
The Alaska Standard

It’s good to see what seems like our almost lifeless governor has a pulse when it comes to resource development issues. Governor Parnell issued a press release over the weekend claiming outrage with the Army Corps of Engineers and its ruling to deny ConocoPhillips and Anadarko a permit to construct a drill pad known as CD-5 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Read more

By Marvin Yoder
Alaska Standard Contributor

In advertisements on the radio, Senator Murkowski is being pilloried for opposing the excessive regulations of the EPA. The above mentioned ads are asking Alaskans to convince Senator Murkowski to acknowledge that the EPA action will reduce CO2 emissions and save the planet.

The EPA is actively considering declaring CO2 as a pollutant. There are several reasons to doubt the climate change theory and the attendant hysteria about CO2. The latest revelations of misinformation and misconduct from the scientists championing the climate change theories create even more doubt. Read more

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By Alex Gimarc
Alaska Standard Contributor

NOAA extended the public comment period on creation of a critical habitat in upper Cook Inlet for beluga recovery to March 3, 2010.

Should you want to comment, you can point your browser to: http://www.regulations.gov and tell the feds some combination of the following:

NOAA caused this problem by allowing subsistence whaling to cut the number of belugas in half in the 1990s. Why is it up to Alaskan citizens to lose jobs, property and fishing rights because the feds screwed up subsistence management?
If NOAA wants 600 belugas in Cook Inlet, and we only have 300 in place, perhaps they can budget for a program that will capture, tag, and import 300 of the 100,000 belugas inhabiting other portions of Alaska.

And if the imported whales are tagged with transmitters, maybe NOAA can finally tell where they are, what they are doing on a day by day basis, what they are eating, and how many end up being fish food for Orca pods in Cook Inlet each year. Read more

By Dan Fagan
Publisher
The Alaska Standard

It is common in Alaska where Big Labor has a stranglehold on the state for government to legalize extortion. Project labor agreements area perfect examples. PLA’s as they are called, require workers who chose not to join a union to give Big Labor bosses cash if they want to work. This legalized extortion serves no purpose other than to fatten Big Labor’s coffers. The non-union worker has no choice. He or she must pay or they can’t work the job.

There is no justification for this legalized extortion. But gubernatorial candidate Ethan Berkowitz tried anyway.

Click on the audio link below to hear the silliness. Read more

Ethan on PLA's.mp3

By Dan Fagan
Publisher
The Alaska Standard

The verdict is in. Our current president believes there should be little or no restraint when it comes to government spending. President Barack Obama’s new budget will spend an additional $1.7 trillion and ad another $2 trillion to the nation’s deficit.

According to the Heritage Foundation, the President's budget would:

• Permanently expand the federal government by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over 2007 pre-recession levels;

• Raise taxes onall Americans by more than $2 trillion over the next decade (counting health care reform and cap and trade);

• Raise taxes for 3.2 million small businesses and upper-income taxpayers by an average of $300,000 over the next decade;

• Borrow 42 cents for each dollar spent in 2010;

• Run a $1.6 trillion deficit in 2010--$143 billion higher than the recession-driven 2009 deficit;

• Leave permanent deficits that top $1 trillion in as late as 2020; and

• Double the publicly held national debt to over $18 trillion. Read more

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By Mike Dingman
Alaska Standard Contributor

Stereotypes abound about everything and most are generally based in at least an ounce of truth. One stereotype about the Republican Party is that its composition is of old, well-to-do white men. The old joke says that if you are a Republican in your 20’s you are heartless and if you are a Democrat in your 30’s then you are stupid. More and more, however, we are seeing a change in those demographics.

During the Campus Kickoff event at UAA this year, that stereotype was put on its head. College aged men and women swarmed the College Republicans booth; in sharp contrast to the seemingly abandoned College Democrats booth. There were so many beautiful young women handing out College Republicans material that it prompted people to complain that the College Republican leadership had hired them; this was not the case however, they are all members of the UAA College Republicans. Read more