by Alex Gimarc                                Mon., April 14, 2008

Interesting Items 4/14 -

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

In this issue:

1. FAA
2. Conoco
3. Mugabe
4. Fish War
5. Columbia

1. FAA. The political wars in DC broke out and touched hundreds of thousands of our neighbors last week, as democrat orchestrated show trials aimed at the FAA ran up against CYA out of the FAA bureaucrats being targeted. At issue were a series of maintenance inspections on the MD-80 intended to correct potential chafing on a wiring bundle. The FAA, Boeing and American Airlines had been working on solving the problem for the last four years and all seemed to be in process until congressional democrats, in concert with the NYT and other democrat friendly newspapers st arted trotting out whistleblowers, and lining up people to testify on lax inspections by current FAA management. The FAA responded by ordering immediate correction of the problem, leading to over 300 canceled flights and over 300,000 travel plans by their customers disrupted by weeks’ end. Note that not a single aircraft was at risk. Not a single emergency was declared. All that was found was minor problems with the spacing and direction of cable ties around the wiring bundle. This is completely artificial, and what we can expect from democrat congresses as they go after industry after industry after industry in their quest to lock up as much power in Washington DC as humanly possible. They will manufacture a crisis out of nothing – not unlike what they did with Alar or the spotted owl decades ago. The media will trot out whistleblowers to tell any number of hair-raising tales of danger to the public at large. And congressional democrats will be shocked, simply shocked at the level of malfeasance between the government agency being targeted, and the companies that are being regulated by that agency, and pass legislation turning the trial lawyers loose on them. Those that play ball will be allowed to survive. Those that won’t will be destroyed in the civil courts by the trial lawyers. The profits of this will go into the congressional campaigns of democrats to elect more of them. Quite the little protection racket. Yet this is what we get when we conservatives stay home and allow these people – and I use the term loosely – to get elected. Think long and hard before you sit the next election out. Elect democrats, and this is what you will see every single week. The episode we saw with the FAA and American Airlines last week was not an aberration. It was a start. Strata Sphere, Sat.

2. Conoco. Last Wednesday, Conoco Philips and British Petroleum announced they would be cooperating in the construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline from the Alaskan North Slope. The two companies will construct the pipeline and will require no special deal from either the state or the feds. They will fill it with natural gas for transportation to and sale in the Lower 48. And they will operate the new pipeline. Contrast this proposal with that of Trans Canada, the only currently qualifying proposer in the state’s AGIA process, who has a several billion dollar problem with former p artners; needs a half a billon dollars from the state of Alaska as seed money; has no commitment from the producers to put any natural gas in the new pipeline; and wants the feds to sign up as a bridge shipper for natural gas, promising to financially cover the difference between what they need to fill their pipeline with and what the producers may or may not commit to send down it. Observers here in the state believe that Governor Palin may have played a very successful hand of poker with the producers, for their proposal covers every outstanding issue regarding a natural gas pipeline except one – that of fiscal certainty, tax policy from the state for the duration of the operation of the pipeline. After some years of frustration, this project has taken a giant step forward. We will hope that this is real and that they will be successful. ADN, Weds.

3. Mugabe. It appears that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe lost his reelection and is now in the process of attempting to steal the election. It has been over three weeks since a national election turned out the old legislature, which was a majority of Mugabe’s p arty. Early returns had Mugabe losing by at least a 60-40% split in the vote. Since then, his government has been arresting poll workers, manufacturing votes, and stuffing ballot boxes. There are some who believe that he is trying to negotiate an agreement that will allow him to step down without being arrested and jailed. As of today, it appears that he is going to use the military to hang on to political power to the bitter end – ensuring a violent end to his appalling government.

4. Fish War. Here in Southcentral Alaska, we engage in a yearly discussion between Cook Inlet commercial fishermen, who believe they are entitled to catch every single salmon in the Inlet and the sport / personal use fishermen, who are typically limited to three a day and three in possession. The commercial guys are few in number but large in political pull, and have managed to push the decision making process at the Alaska Dep artment of Fish and Game (ADF&G) to the point where their needs for more fish in the nets outweigh the needs of everyone else. As of this last legislative session, everyone else is st arting to push back a bit. ADF&G manages who gets what via a series of scheduled openings during salmon runs. When there is a commercial opening, the nets are in the water, and few if any salmon make it past the nets and into the local streams. If there are enough fish and the run is strong, there will be an emergency opening. If there are too few, there will be an emergency closure. There are lots of emergency openings and very few emergency closures – which leads people to believe that the decision making process is based on something other than biology. The largest run of salmon is into the Kenai River south of Anchorage. But due to its location, all salmon going f arther north into the Anchorage Bowl and into the MatSu Valley swim past the Kenai fleet also, so some unknown number of them are intercepted and caught, decimating the numbers of salmon in and around Anchorage and into the MatSu streams. Last February, the Fish Board passed a couple decisions that would make it easier for state fisheries managers located in the Kenai office (sharing office space with several commercial fishing groups), to approve emergency openings for the commercial fleet. This did not sit well with guides, sports and personal use fishermen in Anchorage and the MatSu, who went to the legislature to move that decision making authority out of the Kenai office where there is the appearance of undue commercial influence, and into the Anchorage office where everyone including Anchorage and MatSu biologists can p articipate in the decision. The laws of physics still apply to the political world. When one group over uses their political heft to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else, there will some – and hopefully a lot – of push back.

5. Colombia. House Squeaker Nancy Pelosi (D, SF), poked a finger in the eye of our most steadfast, most ardent supporter in South America last week when she refused to schedule action on a free trade treaty with Colombia. The action was intended as a sop to the labor unions who have become quite protectionist over the last decade. Now here’s the funny p art: There are few tariffs on Colombian goods coming into the US. But there are substantial tariffs on American goods going into Columbia. The agreement removed their limits on our stuff, making it easier for Pelosi’s union droids to manufacture and sell their stuff south of the border. Colombia is the strongest ally we have in South America. They are locked in a death struggle against the narco-terrorist organization FARC, and have recently captured three laptops containing highly interesting materials of interest to their neighbor Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. It is in our best interest to take very good care of our friends, as they will provide leverage into the eventual defeat of Chavez and everything he believes in. Pelosi may indeed end up taking action on this treaty, and with some public pressure may be forced into taking it up.

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.