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Wednesday
April 19, 2017
Deer Mountain Sunset
In the forefront is the seventh figure of The Rock monument: Chief Johnson, a Tlingit, stands on top of the monument, symbolizing that his people were the first to make their home in Southeast Alaska. The Rock tells the story of how Alaska's First City came to be. The other six figures on the monument are: a fisherman, a miner, a logger,a bush pilot, a frontiers-woman, and a Native drummer.
Front Page Feature Photo By CARL THOMPSON ©2017
Alaska: Remembering Operation Magic Carpet; 70 years ago, Alaska Airlines airlifted nearly 50,000 Yemenite Jewish refugees to the new state of Israel By DAVE KIFFER - In an era in which airlines tend to trumpet their public goods works with great enthusiasm, it is interesting that very few people, even in Alaska, are aware of Alaska Airline’s efforts to rescue nearly 50,000 Yemenite Jews from danger on the Arabian Peninsula and relocate them to the newly created state of Israel in 1948.
Photo courtesy Jewish Museum:
Anchorage, Alaska
Operation Magic Carpet – the official name was Operation Wings of Eagles but that was almost never used - was one of the largest airlifts in history and was a complete success, Not only did it save a population of refugees that was in significant danger because of the anger than many Arabs felt over the creation of Israel as a Jewish homeland by the victorious countries at World War II, but it also helped Alaska Airlines quickly expand from a tiny Alaska carrier to an airline capable of eventually growing into the fifth largest airline in America.
According to Robert Serling’s 2008 history of Alaska Airlines “Character and Characters” Alaska Airlines had, in 1947, recently begun to expand its small fleet by buying surplus military aircraft from the United States government at 20 percent of the cost of new airplanes. As a result the airline quickly became capable of bidding on government contracts using its fleet of DC-3s, DC-4s, C-47s and C-46s.
The first use of some of these Alaska acquisitions was during the famed Berlin Airlift in which supplies were flown into the former German capital that was physically cut off from the West by the Soviet Union. The Alaska Airlines planes didn’t fly directly to Berlin, according to Serling. Instead they ferried supplies into cities in West Germany like Munich and Frankfurt where they staged for the Berlin flights.
During this time, James Wooten, the president of Alaska Airlines, signed a contract with American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee which was attempting to relocate nearly 50,000 Jewish refugees from the seaport of Aden in Yemen, an Arab country at the bottom of the Arabian peninsula near Saudi Arabia. The Committee wanted to move the Yemenite Jews to the comparative safety of the new Jewish state of Israel which had been created in 1948.
The Yemenite Jews had lived on the Saudi peninsula for centuries and were considered one of the fabled Lost Tribes of Israel. But their life, as nomads in Yemen, was not a good one. Yemen had become independent from England after World War I and anti-Semetic laws were quickly established.
“Jews were not permitted to walk on pavements; in court a Jew’s evidence was not accepted against a Muslim’s;” wrote Joe Spier in a recent story about Operation Magic Carpet on the AISH.com website. “Jewish orphans had to be converted to Islam. Some Jews were able to escape to Palestine but most were trapped.”
Then in 1948, when the United Nations apportioned Palestine and created the state of Israel, things because worse for the Yemenite Jews because of Arab anger over the creation of Israel, according to Spier. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017
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Alaska: Alaska Lawmakers In Overtime & Still No Budget Resolution By MARY KAUFFMAN - Today was Day 93 of the legislative session putting the Alaska's lawmakers in overtime and there is still much left to be done. On April 15th, the Alaska House of Representatives narrowly passed a budget bill, HB 115, referring it to the Senate for consideration. That was the 89th day of a 90 day session.
Governor Bill Walker speaking during a press conference Tuesday AM. To listen to the full conference.
Snap-shot from conference video - Office of the Governor
In the meantime, as the Alaska Legislature has moved past the statutory 90-day session they are still discussing a fiscal plan. The Alaska Senate’s intent is to shut down most committees and only work on essential items: the budget, fiscal plan and priority bills that must be passed this year.
“I want to make this perfectly clear. If the Senate thinks we’re going to get out of here with just a POMV, they’ve got another think coming.” This is a quote from House Rules Chair Gabrielle LeDoux at Tuesday morning’s press availability.
There are two budget proposals from the Alaska House and Senate that the two chambers have not yet settled, and there is no sign of a deal on the state's budget.
The House Majority's pieces of the fiscal plan reduces spending by $82 million, includes a structured use of the earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund, and an oil tax credit and subsidy reform, and a school tax. Their plan a state income tax.
The Senate Majority also supports the use of the Permanent Fund in a limited way and rejects an income tax. There are mixed opinions in the Senate about cuts to drilling subsidies. The Senate Majority would cut the budget in future years to make up the difference in the budget plans, but has yet not identified what would be cut.
The Alaska House is keeping all committees open and continuing their work as usual. Currently, it is unknown when the session will end or what the final package will look like but the House Majority Coalition and the Governor are adamant that the fiscal plan be comprehensive with a broad-based tax.
In a press conference held Tuesday morning, Governor Bill Walker reaffirmed his desire that the lawmakers should solve the state's $2.8 billion deficit this session. Walker said he supports a comprehensive plan to balance the budget. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017 |
Southeast Alaska: Forest Service Loses On Tongass Timber Sales Costing Taxpayers & Alaska Schools Big Money - Recent timber sales from Alaska’s vast Tongass National Forest have been financial as well as ecological debacles, according to internal reports released this month by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER asserts that in violation of its own policies, the U.S. Forest Service let timber operators benefit by cherry-picking more valuable trees and leaving intended salvage trees standing.
A June 20, 2016 Forest Service “Washington Office Activity Review” released earlier this month examined two large Tongass timber sales and found:
- Staggering monetary losses in each, “close to 2 million” in one sale, an amount “more than double the original stumpage” according to a post-harvest Monitoring Report. In the other sale, Forest Service maladministration led to “a reduction in sale value exceeding $1,700,000”;
- Despite being stewardship sales to improve forest health, the agency allowed companies to ignore prescriptions by “favoring removal in the larger diameter, more valuable species groups, such as western red cedar and spruce” while significantly undercutting far less valuable hemlock; and
- Required law enforcement timber theft prevention inspections appear to have been bypassed. Nor could the forest produce a written contract or other “pertinent documentation” for this high-volume sale. That sale also allowed “purchaser selection of trees without prior marking” and the forest’s only follow-on monitoring was completely “reliant on the purchaser’s own data.”
“This national forest runs major commercial timber sales like a cookie jar without a lid,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that the review’s call for “an independent review [to] inform solutions and prevent similar issues in future timber and stewardship contracts” has run into a stone wall. “These reports read as if some Forest Service staff are coconspirators in wholescale timber fraud.”
Under the Secure Rural Schools program, a portion of all Tongass timber sale proceeds go to local communities and schools. Depressed sale values therefore cost both the U.S. taxpayers and Alaskan schoolkids. PEER is asking the Inspector General for the U.S. Forest Service’s parent agency to perform a “forensic audit” of recent sale proceeds to calculate total losses, as well as recommend steps to ensure that these sales yield the fair market value they are supposed to produce. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017 |
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COLUMNS - COMMENTARY
DANNY TYREE: Have You Talked To Your Children About Marijuana? - Although I got vicarious pleasure from the American Dope Growers Union spoof on "Saturday Night Live" in 1977, my curiosity has never led me to sample marijuana, and I hope my preemptive talks with my 13-year-old son have persuaded him to confine HIS curiosity to more productive inquiries.
I bring this up because of a helpful ABC News story ("How To Talk To Your Kids About Pot") by Dr. Carolyn Certo Gnerre. The article is a timely one because one in five Americans now live in a state where marijuana is legal without a doctor's letter, a Yahoo-Marist poll reveals that half of American adults admit having used marijuana at least once in their lives and Canada is poised to become the first industrialized nation to legalize pot.
I recommend you Google the ABC story, but in the meantime I'll supply my own tips on heart-to-heart talks about recreational weed.
If you're going to take a fire-and-brimstone approach with your kids, don't be TOO "over the top." ("Marijuana leads to exposed ankles!And dancing the Charleston!And that legislation in Canada is just the first glimpse of the long-prophesied Four Mounties of the Apocalypse!")
If you prefer to take a more nuanced, open-minded approach, just be aware that your youngsters may have already assembled a pro-puffing PowerPoint presentation. Don't let your kids sway you with that stuff about being on "the right side of history." It's funny that they can cite details of which pharaohs and statesmen used marijuana but can't remember where they last left their expensive cashmere sweater.
Don't let your kids con you into believing that the dope is essential for their "spirituality." Jesus appealed to those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness," not those who "develop a case of the munchies for Funyuns and Mountain Dew."
Watch out for the argument that marijuana is NOT a gateway drug. Such high praise! Too bad other products didn't use the motto to boost their public image. ("The Ford Edsel: NOT a gateway drug!" "New Coke: NOT a gateway drug." "Samsung Note 7...") - More...
Wednesnday PM - April 19, 2017
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Editorial Cartoon: Kim Jong Schwarzenegger
By Nate Beeler ©2017, The Columbus Dispatch
Distributed to subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
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Budget Vote By Rep. Dan Ortiz - For those following the issues facing our state, it’s no surprise that Alaska’s $2.7 billion budget deficit is the biggest issue. For the last five years, Alaska has had a budget deficit. Those deficits have caused the state to burn through at least $12 billion in savings, and we are quickly running out of savings. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017
Alaska State Income Tax is Wrong By Chris J. Herby - I am writing this because yesterday my day started off with one of the biggest and worst shocks in recent memory. The headlines read AK House OK's income tax. As a community, we must stand up and show our outrage. We have been fooled by a con-man. As a ploy to get elected, Dan Ortiz ran as an Independent when he is clearly a Democrat. He joined with the Democrats in the State House to support our first state income tax in decades. We all realize that our state is in a budget crisis and something needs to be done to correct it. However, a state income tax is the worst possible thing that could be done. This will take hard working Alaskans' paychecks and make them smaller every week of the year. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017
Kill The State Income Tax By Ken Leland - Lance Clark is right,once established any tax only increases, look at our local sales taxes. Looks like the "Dammed Democrats" with their tax and spend agenda are at it again, although some Republicans are also complicit. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017
THE GREAT WHITE HYPE By David G Hanger - I actually had high hopes for Rodney Dial’s candidacy, a prospective breath of fresh air into the stale, insipid policies of dullness and torpor that permeates local and state politics. Instead in classic Randian fashion he calls upon us to kill or to displace the poor because they so obviously are the fount of all of our fiscal problems, that if these mooches, leeches, and parasites were to disappear (in Randian terminology to “perish as they should’) all of our financial problems would be solved. He even gives us a long drawn out description of his own PTSD in this regard, all incurred as a state cop. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017
Degrade North Korean Economy By Donald Moskowitz - President Trump has pointed out the strong linkage between China and North Korea, and he correctly assumes China can influence North Korea's weapons development program. We must work with China on resolving this situation, and also on the Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea and the trade deficit imbalance. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 19, 2017
Oil Revenue - Senate Budget By RK Rice - "Meanwhile, there is no consideration of oil tax subsidies for which next year's bill will be a cool $1.37 BILLION when the state will earn production taxes of just $87 MILLION. While schools are denied the funding they need, the oil and gas industry rolls along untouched by cuts. The contrast could not be more stark." - More...
Monday PM - April 10, 2017
No to Alaska Income Tax By Lance Clark - In response to Rep. Dan Ortiz' letter, he mentioned a modest income tax. There is no such thing. Once an income tax is established it just gets bigger and bigger. - More...
Monday PM - April 10, 2017
Budget Proposals; Let your voice be heard By Rep. Dan Ortiz - As expected, it’s been a challenging legislative session, and from here on, the budget will be the forefront of every discussion. Both the House and the Senate are creating Alaska’s budget, but it’s clear that the bodies have differing approaches. - More...
Saturday PM - April 08, 2017
Thomas Basin, Spruce Mill Sheet Pile Fix By Charlie Freeman - It is my understanding that the proposed fix for the rusted out sheet pile in front of the old Spruce Mill property is to dump rock and fill in front of it, on the basin side, to contain the sluff. This, if true, may well be the worst idea since the T-pier. - More...
Saturday PM - April 08, 2017
Private Health Insurance is gouging us By Michael Spence - According to Alaska Dispatch News, Premera Lifewise of Alaska recently announced it had profited $18 Million from Obamacare plans last year, and another $20 Million in Individual Health plans. These figures were sharply higher than what the company officially predicted which was $2.7 Million.During the same year, it was reported, the deficit-bound State of Alaska subsidized Health Insurance industry in Alaska to the tune of $55 million dollars. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 05, 2017
Walker's big take from economy By James Dornblaser - The Ketchikan Borough Assembly faces a dilemma! Sales tax issues are foremost on their agenda. Same is true with most of our state's local governments. They face the question of how to make up the shortfall caused by our governor's brainchild of confiscating 1/2 of all our permanent fund dividends last fall. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 05, 2017
Think About It By Donald A. Johnson - I noticed with interest that Lisa Murkowski voted with the Democrats to fund elective abortions thru Planned Parenthood. This is just one example (and there are many) of why we have excessive taxes and the average working man cannot make ends meet. - More...
Monday PM - April 03, 2017
HB 159 is a State Government overreach By John Suter - In regards to HB 159, prescription pain medications are regulated by the Federal Government and Medical Professionals. HB 159 is a State Government overreach, which will consequently cause harm to seniors, the chronically ill and those who are recovering from surgery. HB 159 is treating monitored prescribed pain killers as if they were illegal drugs. Taxing prescribed opioid drugs is attacking the weak; those who are undergoing treatment for pain. Limiting prescribed opioid drugs will make it more difficult for those people who are ill because they will have to rely on others to take them to the pharmacy on a weekly basis vs. a monthly basis. Right now under Federal Law people who need prescribed pain medicine must see their doctor on a monthly basis. If HB 159 passes then, those who are in need of pain management will need to see their doctor on a weekly basis. - More....
Monday PM - April 03, 2017
What’s obvious to Alaskans continues to bewilder legislators By Curtis W. Thayer - Decisions regarding the size and funding of government impact all Alaskans so it’s important to have current, comprehensive information to help make wise choices. Each year, the Alaska Chamber asks Alaskans a broad range of topics. When it comes to funding State government, we find issues like taxation and use of the Permanent Dividend will forever be contentious. Alaskans are evenly split on restructuring the Permanent Fund to pay for state spending. How these overarching issues color Alaskans thinking is obvious when you look at the numbers. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 29, 2017
Oil companies bought Alaska legislature back By Ray Metcalfe - In 2004 I speculated in an ADN op-ed that several members of both houses of our legislature were taking bribes from oil companies with Bill Allen and VECO acting as their surrogate. While I only had a smattering of hard evidence, my real confidence in risking that the most powerful people in Alaska would not sue me for saying it stemmed from my confidence that bribery was the only logical reason any legislator would pretend to believe that profits to the big three producers needed to be increased at our expense or they would leave. Over and over I had documented that oil company profits in Alaska dwarfed oil company profits in other parts of the world. Over and over I documented that other countries kept a much larger share of the profits than we were keeping. Over and over seated legislators would pretend to believe and act on oil company rhetoric that I knew that they knew had to be false. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 29, 2017
Alaska Income Tax By Lance Clark - Here we go, a nice new income tax to punish anyone who is even a little successful. All an income tax does is take money away from private businesses and service providers and feed it to the government greed monster, which will always need more. Unlike the state, when our income goes down we spend less. The less we spend the more businesses suffer and either lay off or drop out. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 29, 2017
Invitation to Welcome Interim Pastor By Steve Kinney - Please join us at the Ketchikan Presbyterian Church on April 2nd to welcome our interim pastor, the Rev. Dr. Robert Nicholson. He is eager to share God’s Word with us! Worship is at 11:00 followed by coffee and conversation. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 29, 2017
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