Interesting Items by Alex Gimarc, March 17, 2008

1. Economy. I ran across the best description of the change brought to us courtesy of the new democrat majority in both Houses of congress. The following is lifted directly from the Texas Rainmaker’s blog, Mar 12. You want change? Here it is:

2. Salmon. The feds took the first step toward a complete shutdown of all commercial salmon fishing on the Pacific Coast. Location of the shutdown would be from Oregon south to southern California. The commercial shutdown is triggered by a fisheries crash over the last few years, with less than half of the necessary escapement returning to the rivers of Oregon and California. Escapement is defined as sufficient numbers of fish returning to the rivers to spawn to keep the numbers of returning fish in subsequent years at or above that number. We here in Alaska fight the escapement wars between the commercial fishermen and sports fishermen on a yearly basis – some years better than others. These days, the interests of the commercial fishermen here in Alaska are ascendant – something they will come to regret in the long run. Fisheries management is not an exact science, but it is not an unworkable problem. So what is happening in Oregon and California? I suspect that we are seeing the triumph of environmentalism and the tragedy of the commons over sound fisheries management. I will bypass beating up on the commercial fishermen for this discussion; for they are doing what they always have done when there is no ownership of the resource – no property rights. There is no incentive to take action to manage their actions and grow the resource. I will instead go after the second p art of the equation – the greens. The greens are firmly in charge of most land and wildlife management in Oregon and California. One of their tools is the use of the notion that natural, wild fish are somehow better than hatchery fish – even though every single hatchery captures wild salmon and uses them as the source for roe and sperm. They have systematically fought – successfully – the use of hatcheries to rebuild salmon runs decimated by bad weather such as the drought in Oregon’s Klamath Basin last decade, decimated by overfishing by the commercial fleet, and overfishing by native tribes. A few years ago in Oregon, federal fisheries employees were systematically killing and wasting returning hatchery fish before they could swim upriver and spawn. When you do not have enough fish returning to the rivers; when federal fisheries managers kill returning fish because they are hatchery raised rather than wild; you very quickly destroy healthy runs of salmon. Once the runs are destroyed by government mismanagement, the greens then have an excuse to list them all as endangered and get control of all flowing waters in Oregon and California. Salmon are pretty resilient and are not p articularly sensitive to problems with the water. They return to every bit of flowing water I know of here in southcentral Alaska. The only difference is that we have figured out how to manage – sometimes very poorly – the runs for abundance. And one of our tools up here is the use of hatcheries. I would say that this problem is manmade. And if I were to be completely cynical, it is intentionally manmade. This is what we get when we put the greens in charge. We get shortages, economic chaos, and idiotic, faith-based decisions. ADN, Sat.

3. Spitzer. NY Governor Elliot Spitzer, who abused his prosecutorial powers for year in his climb up the political food chain in New York, was caught in an investigation into a prostitution ring. This was a fairly high class business, with fees in the $5,000 range per event. Spitzer was famous as a self-described crusading prosecutor, going after various investment companies on Wall Street with gusto and a complete lack of mercy. He used a very creative interpretation of a 1920’s era state law to leverage his targets into plea bargains. The explicit threat was that if the targeted executives wouldn’t take a plea bargain, they and their companies would be destroyed in court. Spitzer then leveraged this shakedown operation into a 69% vote to put him into the governor’s mansion where he once again abused the law he was supposed to fairly and honorably execute. Spitzer was caught when his bank reported large cash transfers to the IRS, who then referred the movement of money to the FBI which pursued the investigation. All the usual suspects made all the usual arguments about the crime being only a personal foible. But Spitzer was different than Bill and Hillary, for he had a long history of merciless prosecution of all manner of illegalities – some real and some imagined. He also prosecuted prostitution rings in NYC noting quite accurately that they were mob-connected and would compromise their customers, who would then, in turn be targets for mob related activities. Reaction on Wall Street was positively gleeful with the DJIA jumping over 400 points within a day of his resignation. Although I am not a real fan of cheap shot, full body contact, political payback via the courts system, I do not think Spitzer will enjoy much mercy when his case hits the courts.

4. Al Qaida. The Pentagon released a report which included analysis of official connections between Saddam and Al Qaida last week. The drive-by media took the report, completely and intentionally misreported its conclusions beneath screaming headlines that the report found no connection. However, should you have actually read the report – and Steven Hayes has – you find something else entirely. You find that Saddam had extensive contacts with Al Qaida. He provided high-level support, training camps, money, intelligence, and used terrorism as another tool in his arsenal of weaponry against the west. The report is full of these sorts of connections and the drive-by media lied about all of them simply to make a political point that we went to war for no reason. Terrorism requires some sort of state sponsorship. When Saddam’s regime disappeared, it was the most significant blow that Al Qaida suffered in this war. When the Iranian regime falls, it will be yet another huge blow to Al Qaida. Once they lose their free ground in western Pakistan, they will be finished.

5. ANWR. The Alaskan congressional delegation hit upon yet another angle in their continual attempt to open ANWR for oil exploration. This one ties its opening to the per barrel price of oil. They are proposing legislation that will open ANWR for oil and natural gas exploration when the price per barrel rises above $125/bbl. While I don’t think this has a chance in Hell of making it through a congress with democrat majorities in both Houses, I remain ever hopeful.

6. Pryor. I would like to congratulate the Stupid P arty for failing to field a candidate to oppose first-term US Senator Mark Pryor (D, AR). Pryor is running for his first reelection in a reliably red state, and the state Republican P arty could find nobody to run against him. It’s going to be difficult to retake the senate if you can’t even get candidates on the ballot. Hot Air, Tues.

7. FISA. Nancy Pelosi’s (D, SF) House leadership failed for yet another week to bring legislation that will reauthorize FISA. This face-off between the Bush administration and the Senate on one side against Pelosi’s trial lawyer-friendly House leadership on the other has lasted over three weeks. The House intends on using the trial lawyers attacking the telecom companies who have cooperated with the Bush administration on terrorist surveillance as their vehicle to end intelligence gathering against potential terrorists. The Senate version of the legislation contains immunity from lawsuits. The House version does not – which is the entire bone of contention. To Pelosi’s majority, taking care of the trial lawyers and ending the war – at whatever cost – is more important than uncovering the threats and killing the terrorists.

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

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