The Long Dark Tunnel Has Begun

That sounds ominous, doesn't it?

I refer to "the long, dark tunnel" of winter here, when we drive to and from work, and do after-work activities in the dark. Sunrise today is 9:43, sunset is at 3:54, and the winter solstice is still 22 days away.

So for the next six weeks we revert to mole people, learning to function mostly in the dark. We've had about four feet of snow already, and proper winter is just beginning. 

A lot of the snow melted or compacted over the last 10 days, with moderating temps, but the icebox seems to be returning. Of course, many of you live in areas where temps are also falling, so it's hardly a news flash. 

On another note, we've all but stopped watching anything resembling the news. It's depressing, maddening, and quite predictable. Kind of like a soap opera: watch it once a month only to find that nothing has changed. 

Only the faces of which dancing monkeys are currently chasing the cameras.

Sigh ...

Pay No Heed to the News

Be of good cheer, folks: it's only the news. The broadcasts are full of sound and fury, protests, politics, wars, skirmishes, intrigue, this, that, and the other.

But that's NOT what's important.

What's important is family, friends, and loved ones. What's important is spending time with them, and letting them know how much they mean to you.

For those who can't be with your loved ones, know also that you're still loved and appreciated. Your worth is not determined by whether you have family close by. If you're alone this holiday season, reach out - and know there are those who are reaching out to you.

Peace, my friends.

Napolitano Resigns as Homeland Security Chief

McClatchy News is reporting:

Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano is leaving the Obama administration to become president of the University of California system.

... But not everyone praised her tenure. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, declared that it was "defined by a consistent disrepect for the rule of law" and he specifically cited what he called her "aggressive non-enforcement" of immigration laws.

Read the whole thing here.

Alaska Digest, 5/9/13: Nautical Edition

Mystery of the Sea Dept:  You might think someone around Haines would remember the sinking of a 180-foot-long, 30-foot-wide steel-hulled vessel of some kind near the main dock on Lutak Inlet just north of the Southeast Alaska town. But so far, the ship 200 feet offshore is a mystery to Haines Borough officials, reports the Chilkat Valley News.

[Hydrographer Ben] Hocker said the sonar technology revealed the majority of the vessel’s exposed surface is smooth and flat, leading him to believe the boat is overturned. If it were right-side up, the imaging would likely show some sort of superstructure or hold, he said.

The smooth surface also suggests the hull is made of steel, as wooden hulls tend to deteriorate and appear potholed and uneven on imaging software.

Because the imaging doesn’t reveal any material spilled out alongside the vessel, Hocker said the ship likely sank empty or full of cargo that floated away. “I wouldn’t be sitting back here if it was full of gold, let’s just put it that way,” he said.

Hocker couldn’t estimate how long the boat has been on the seafloor but said its partial burial in the sediment indicates it didn’t likely sink in the last several years.

Troubled Waters Ahead Dept:  When a charter boat is fired back up in the spring, you never know what is or isn't going to work ... until you try.

I had to use the restroom, and I’d better do it before we left the harbor or else endure the stigma of being one of those people who actually uses a marine toilet.

The toilet on Captain’s boat was merely ornamental. That the boat contained an enclosed restroom was an advertised feature. A girlfriend recommended the boat, not for the potential success of the charter or the demeanor of the captain, but for the enclosed toilet. Should anyone aboard the boat make use of the feature, they must do it with skill and diplomacy. The captain had many times instructed guests on the proper use of the head. I’d taken a few notes over the years: “No butts in head” is not a personality prerequisite for marine toilet use.

Don't Hurt the Ones You Love Dept:  Vessels operating inside Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Southeast Alaska are being required to slow down in order to protect humpback whales from injury.

Park officials say in the last week 17 different humpback whales have been observed feeding in the area. Humpback whales come to Glacier Bay in the summer to feed on fish. They winter in the Hawaiian Islands.

Just a Bit More

To the previous post with news from the Anchorage 2nd Amendment Task Force, they add this:

Examiner-Military installations sidestep questions on brass destruction
One source the civilian market particularly looks at is for cartridge casings, and in a time of high demand, having them available for reloading ammunition becomes a significant interest. One of the prime suppliers for expended brass is the military, so their compliance with appropriations requirements and public law becomes a matter of heightened public interest.

READ MORE


Townhall by Katie Pavlich

Here is a short article that explains the Paul-Cruz filibuster strategy regarding the upcoming gun control bill. Their strategy could affect the Begich election and this explains why. The latest move from Begich was to vote against the Lee Amendment which would have made it more difficult for the Senate to pass anti 2^nd Amendment legislation.

READ MORE

Second Amendment Updates

From the Anchorage 2nd Amendment Task Force:

UPDATE

Biden: Gun-Ban Legislation "Just the Beginning" -- Pelosi: "Not the End of the Day for this Issue"

This week, Vice-President Joe Biden, and House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), showed us--once again--how thorough their contempt is for our Constitutionally guaranteed Second Amendment rights.

READ MORE

"Undead" U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Lurches Forward Despite Second Failed Conference

On March 28, the "Final" Conference on the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty came to a close without reaching its goal of consensus support for the treaty from the 193 nations in the body.

READ MORE

Obama uses executive power to move gun control agenda forward

The moves, which have not been widely touted by the administration, come as Obama ups his pressure on Congress to take action on gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. The Senate is expected to begin floor consideration of legislation when it returns in April.

READ MORE

Rubio joins group threatening to filibuster gun control legislation

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday joined a group of Republicans threatening to filibuster gun control legislation in the Senate.“We, the undersigned, intend to oppose any legislation that would infringe on the American people’s constitutional right to bear arms, or on their ability to exercise this right without being subjected to government surveillance,” he wrote in a statement on his website.

READ MORE

Rand Paul:

When Congress reconvenes next month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to bring gun control back to the Senate floor. If this occurs, I will oppose any legislation that undermines Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms or their ability to exercise this right without being subject to government surveillance.

READ MORE

Secession in the News - Again

Click the link to read the entire Congress.org article - and a h/t to The Maritime Sentry for first linking to this story:

The political message underlying last week's Hawaii celebration outside the White House was clear: The island state wants out of the union.

~~snip~~

Hawaii isn't the only state whose citizens believe the U.S. is occupying it unfairly. Secession movements persist to this day in border states like Texas, Vermont, Alaska, and parts of New York.

The Supreme Court ruled in the years following the Civil War that it is illegal for states to secede from the union, but that hasn't stopped people from trying it.

~~snip~~

Vermont's push for independence stems from opposition to war policies that began under President Bush, while Texan secessionists complained last year about having to pay for the health care overhaul.

The motivation differs slightly in Alaska and Hawaii, which have always had a secessionist impulse driven by their distances from Washington and local cultures.

"The idea is, 'We're so remote from the mainland that we should really be doing things our way,'" Paul Starobin, author of "After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age," said.

So What Else is News?

Okay, Jacko the whacko "King of Pop" (and that's so 1985) has died. Maybe it was a morphine overdose. Maybe it wasn't. People wonder! People pontificate! Fox News and most of the MSM are devoting hours to covering speculation in the absence of facts.

It's a shame, and I'm truly sorry for his family. I know his fans (and apparently he still had some) are disappointed and saddened. But there are madmen with nukes on both sides of the planet, and Americans are at risk. Could we not focus on things that will truly matter?

The U.S. Congress is set to vote on the largest tax increase in our history, in an effort to: a) combat global warming? b) generate billions of additional tax dollars so they can go on spending trillions we don't have? c) control our lives for the foreseeable future, in ways we can't even yet imagine? d) all of the above?

If you consider any answer other than d), you're sadly mistaken. It's not about global warming; it's about control. The elected autocrats, who are somehow magically transformed into a sort of omniscient godhood by virtue of winning an election, have determined that they will NOT be happy until we are all poor, disarmed, crawling in the dirt, and utterly dependent upon them for any and every scrap of income, food, or whatever that they in their beneficence deign to give us.

But MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD!!!!! Well, so is the American way of life, if cap-and-tax is approved. Maybe someone in the media will eventually figure it out. We already know it, despite the empty-headed prattling of the MSM.

Yeah, I'm steamed. Given what the gummint has been doing to us, shouldn't you be?

Alaska News Round-up: Mid-Week Edition

Hikers (1 male, 1 female) near the Arctic Valley ski area in northeast Anchorage were reported to have fallen yesterday during a storm. When rescuers arrived, it was discovered that they'd fallen because they were struck by lightning. The male hiker was able to walk, but the female, injured more severely, had to be carried out – a three-hour rescue.

Federal and state officials are visiting the villages along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, assessing damage from the severe flooding due to ice jams earlier this month. Many homes and other structures were literally destroyed by the ice floes. At the same time, there’s a wildfire burning north of McGrath (west-central Alaska).

As of this morning, it was at 12,000 acres, and is only four miles north of McGrath. The people living there are understandably nervous. That fire, along with several others including those near Sleetmute and Lime Village, were started by lightning on Tuesday.

There has been a strange rash of deaths and severe injuries due to young people climbing out of, or falling off of, moving vehicles in the Anchorage area. Apparently this is the new thing to do. As I mentioned to a friend recently, I did some particularly bone-headed things in college – like driving my '68 Dodge Super Bee on the highway at three times the speed limit - but climbing out of a moving vehicle is not among them.

The National Park Service has discontinued its search for a Colorado man who was doing a solo climb of Denali – sorry, that’s Mt. McKinley to you folks Outside. He hasn’t been seen in a week.

Gas prices in Anchorage rose to $2.61/gallon, last week. Prices elsewhere in Alaska are higher. The reasons appears to be a) gas speculators continue to drive prices up, and b) Memorial Day. Gas prices have always gone up right before Memorial Day, as far back as anyone can remember.

Foggy Again

Our weather pattern appears to be stuck. Although it has warmed into the double digits (currently 12 degrees) we have ... drum roll, please ... dense freezing fog. Ta-da!

There's a chance of snow, which is not much of a stretch for Anchorage in December. The visibility is poor (again, no surprise there) and caution is advised.

Go figure.

The biggest news story of the morning, other than the dense fog advisory, is the torching of the church which Gov. Palin's family attends, in Wasilla. Some ivory-skulled lunkhead probably thinks he/she is doing the Obama camp a favor by burning a church building. Don't waste your time trying to figure that out ... if it were rational, it wouldn't have happened.

Our gasoline remains at $2.43/gallon, for no apparent reason other than greedy refiners. Family in Missouri told us their prices went from $1.39 to $1.59 over the weekend; again, apparently unrelated to the actual cost of oil. No one will admit to knowing why ...

The local #1 TV station continues its 90-minute morning broadcast in the other room, despite the annoyance of a lack of significant stories. No matter: they simply recycle reports from last week as if they were new.