by Alex Gimarc                                Mon., March 24, 2008

Interesting Items 3/24 -

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy -

In this issue:

1. F-117
2. Obama
3. Clarke
4. Gas Pipeline
5. Memorial
6. Trinity
7. Sea Ice

1. F-117. The USAF quietly announced the retirement of the F-117 “Black Jet”, “Nighthawk” or “Cockroach” from active service. The first operational stealth jet will be returned to the Nevada Test Range for long term storage, the location where it first st arted flying in 1981. The aircraft was operational for 27 years. The mission will be handed off to the F-22 and F-35 which have better operational and stealthy capabilities. According to AP on Mar. 11, there were 59 of these jets built; seven have crashed; and one was shot down in Bosnia in 1999.

2. Obama. Barack Hussein Obama had a Very Bad Week last week, completely botching his explanation of Reverend Wright’s Black Nationalist preaching. Instead of transcending race, Obama has instead embraced it, painting himself as the black candidate instead of the candidate who happens to be black. During the week, FNC ran innumerable video clips of foul, hate-filled rhetoric from the pulpit of the Trinity United Church of Christ featuring the Most Reverend Wright’s greatest hits. Other media st arted picking up on the same video clips. They are easy to get, as the church sells DVDs of his sermons. As a result, Obama’s polling st arted cratering among everybody but black democrat voters, where he is enjoying about 90% support. This puts the democrats in an interesting position – with Obama most certainly going to be going into the convention with a lead in delegates and the popular vote, but completely unable to win the old Reagan democrats and moderates who he and Reverend Wright managed to drive away via their embrace of Black Nationalism from the pulpit. On the other hand, we have Senator Clinton, who will be viewed as having stolen the nomination should she obtain it via support from the super delegates, who does not have support from white men, and should she be nominated, the black democrat voters currently supporting Obama may very well stay home. Then entire episode underscores the problem with pandering to people based on race for decades. Eventually it divides Americans among one another – between those that believe they are owed something (the believers in Black Nationalism) and those that believe the race wars have been won already, and that the Good Guys who pushed (and led) the move toward a colorblind society won a greater victory than they would have ever imagined 40 years ago. That belief in the win is the foundation of Obama’s stunning rise to national prominence and the source of his spectacular fall in the polls.

3. Clarke. Science Fiction writer, novelist and visionary Arthur C. Clarke died last week at age 90 in his home in Sri Lanka. Clarke was most widely known for his screenplay for the movie 2001, A Space Odyssey. His technical background was in electronics, and he was p art of the group that worked on early applications of radar in Great Britain during WWII. He identified geosynchronous orbits as prime locations for communications satellites and pushed the notion of space elevators for access to space. Some space enthusiasts are in the process of renaming geosynchronous orbits into Clarke orbits in honor of his work. If you were a fan of old time science fiction, you read a lot of Clarke. He was active up until his death and will be missed.

4. Gas Pipeline. The discussion on construction of a natural gas pipeline continues in the legislature, with the Alaskan congressional delegation st arting to push hard for resolution. The problem is that TransCanada, the only company the Palin administration said has filled all the AGIA requirements, does not have any natural gas, nor does it have any commitment from the producers on the North Slope to sell any. TransCanada also may or may not owe former p artners billions of dollars. In order to meet the problem of lack of commitment from the producers on the North Slope, TransCanada wants a congressional guarantee for payment as a bridge shipper. None of this is going to make it through congress. Waiting in the wings are the producers, with Conoco-Phillips proposing a fully self-funded pipeline, complete with enough natural gas to fill it. Unfortunately, as of today, their proposal sits outside of the requirements of AGIA, so it was not considered by the administration. The ChiCom company Sinopec also has sufficient money to construct a natural gas pipeline. The sticking point for the Conoco-Phillips proposal is their desire for fiscal certainty – a guarantee from the Palin administration and the legislature to hold taxes and royalties stable for the lifetime of the pipeline – the next 30-40 years. So far, the Palin administration has been unwilling to even tell the producers what the taxes may be, which has not allowed them to plug in a number – any number - into their financial planning models. This negotiating ploy is mystifying, for any one of us who buys a house – typically, the largest personal investment we make – we always want to know the cost of the house and the interest rate of the loan right up front so we can figure out if we can afford it. Fiscal certainty for the natural gas producers means the same thing. In a related move, state taxes on the North Slope producers are well on their way to killing the oil industry here in Alaska. Last year’s ACES legislation taxes current production at 85% at current per barrel prices. At oil prices hovering just over $100/bbl, there is a worldwide boom in oil exploration and production. There is no such boom here in Alaska. Why? Because we have taxed and regulated our way right out of business. This state is no longer a friendly place for oil and natural gas exploration and production. Be had best get off the dime and cut taxes, regulations, and give sufficient protection from lawsuits so that the producers can do business up here. We have a recently earned – and unfortunately very well deserved – reputation in the industry as a difficult place to do business. And when places get too difficult to do business in, the businesses go elsewhere where things are more stable, peaceful, and they can make more money; places like Venezuela.

5. Memorial. Local anti-war vermin defaced the Veterans Memorial here in Anchorage last week. They dumped red paint on it and fled. The vandalism was discovered the next morning. To date, nobody has been apprehended. Anchorage is a pro-military town, and this nasty little act has tightened a lot of jaws.

6. Trinity. As the media looks into the festering sore of resentment, race-baiting, and Black Liberation Theology that calls itself the Trinity United Church of Christ, more of their p articipation in other liberation movements has st arted to see the light of day. For instance, the July 22, 2007 church bulletin reprinted a LA Times column by the Hamas leader, describing its goals for “all Palestine” – which normally includes the complete destruction of Israel – on the pastor’s page. Interesting form of worship, is it not? Praise the Lord; pass the ammunition to the Islamists. PowerLine, Fri.

7. Sea Ice. What happens when actual observations collide with government funded religious pronouncements? In the case of manmade Global Warming, the observations are said to be ephemeral, not to be trusted, a blip in the overall movement toward global catastrophe. This winter, which has been harder than the last several up here, Arctic sea ice has magically recovered and now covers 4% more than its normal area. Due to the cold, it is also significantly thicker than it was the last several years. What does this mean in real terms? It aint any warmer in the Arctic. It is colder. And when the ice is thicker, it takes longer to melt and longer to open up in the spring and summer. If this keeps up, the rationale for listing the polar bears as an endangered species will be changed from no ice to too much ice. If those animals, which sit at the top of the aquatic food chain along with killer whales in this p art of the world, can figure out how to make it through the last several ice ages without the assistance of the US Government, the greens, and other manmade Global Warming acolytes, I expect they will be able to make it though the next one also. I almost forgot: the feds who have only been monitoring sea ice coverage since the 1970s, called the return of the ice a welcome event, but not any indicator of a shift in the climate. And it will be really, really bad this summer as all the thin, new ice melts completely. ADN, Weds.

More later –

           - AG

"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.