Protecting belugas ‘right’ and reasonable
Maybe George Bush wasn’t our most eloquent president. But he did use the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate national monument status for roughly 200,000 square miles of marine waters — the largest such designation by any president in history. That’s because, from Teddy Roosevelt to Barry Goldwater, and from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan, conservation has been a long-standing staple of American conservative thought and politics. And rightly so. As preeminent conservative Russell Kirk aptly put it, “Nothing is more conservative than conservation.”
Beluga habitat designation, imagine an alternative
This week marks the end of the official comment period for the beluga critical habitat designation. And over the past few weeks and months we’ve all heard some pretty scary assertions about what this decision will mean for Alaska. It is only understandable that emotions fray and charged comments fly when people feel their lives may be impacted by the simple stroke of a pen in a far away city.
But imagine the alternative; imagine a day when beluga sightings in Cook Inlet, already increasingly rare, cease to be. There will be no ceremony to mark the sad day that these creatures stopped living among us, no announcement, no headline.
Let’s get this done
My wife and I are two of the many parents who are currently facing an absolutely unacceptable situation here in Razdolna. I am sure the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is aware of the fact that some of our children are learning in one of the most rundown and horrific shaped buildings in the State of Alaska.
Not so fast
Dear Holly Johnson,
You don’t speak for all Alaskans when you say we are “open for business.” You underestimate the tourism industry’s effect on what has made Alaska a great place to live. I see great personal benefit for several high-end tourist businesses on the pro side, and lots of tourist-related junk and jewelry for the rest of us to wade through as our towns become faked-up mirrors of the perceptions of Outsiders.
The rule every ruling party hates
Some movies live for generations. One movie that has deservedly lasted is the great classic, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” The movie stars Jimmy Stewart as Jeff Smith, a Boy Ranger leader. He is specially appointed to the Senate for the sole purpose of being clueless, and thereby enabling the corrupt establishment to pull off a graft scheme. When he learns the truth, the establishment sets out to crush him. So he uses the one tool left to him against the power of the political machine — the filibuster — to hold the Senate floor in order to try to speak to the people.
Giving food is a beautiful thing
Looking back over 2009, the Homer Community Food Pantry had a record year in terms of income contributions, donations of food and the yearly food expense we spent. We also saw the completion of a long term goal via the installation of a walk-in freezer. It was installed by Andy’s Refrigeration.
Stand up for Alaska tourism
An open letter to my fellow Alaskans:
I’m feeling great frustration with the situation we face in tourism today — as an individual and as an Alaskan. I have been asked how and why I can spend so much of my personal time with this new organization AlaskaACT? My answer is, how can I not be involved? How can I not try to make our situation better? I am a shareholder in an employee-owned/locally owned floatplane company in downtown Juneau.
Why does he do that?
If you are continuously beat up emotionally, psychologically and perhaps physically by your so-called “partner,” you are not alone. Abuse of women is the cause of half of divorces in America. Experts estimate that 5 million children per year witness assaults on their mothers that can leave them traumatized. Furthermore, physical assault is only a fraction of the abuse some women are subjected to. Millions of women who are not beaten physically, live with repeated verbal assaults,
Alaska: Leading the way in civil rights
This coming week, on Tuesday, Feb. 16, many Alaskans will commemorate “Elizabeth Peratrovich Day” — or as it is also sometimes called, “Alaska Civil Rights Day.” We in Alaska are unique nationally in having our own “civil rights day,” and the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 was the first of its kind in the nation. The passage of this act was due to the courageous men and women during Territorial days who stood up for and supported the idea of equal rights for all a full two decades before the National Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. One person in particular pushed the issue to its climax in Alaska: Elizabeth Peratrovich.
‘Tear down this wall’
Following World War II, The German Democratic Republic was formed in East Germany under Russian Leader Joseph Stalin’s control. His plan was to undermine the British and American position, to where all Germany would be unified under his control. Stalin’s policies crushed any chance of a rebirth of freedom in East Germany. Property and businesses were nationalized, Marxist propaganda was made mandatory in the schools and the police kept the population under a tight fist — punishing dissent sometimes with death. Masses of East Germans fled to West Germany, where a capitalist government — formed after the war under the influence of Britain and America — was allowing the economy to flourish and the people to live freer lives. As East Germans left the mess that Communism had created, Stalin and the German Communist leaders began to look for ways to stop the departure. After several failed policies, they realized that the best hope was to create a wall dividing Germany.
Advertisement
