Free Republic

Most Alaska residents will soon be getting a check for $1,174 simply because they live there. Each person's share of the state's vast oil wealth was announced with much fanfare in Anchorage Tuesday, with Gov. Sean Parnell ripping open a gold-colored envelope to reveal the number. This day is so widely anticipated in Alaska that the announcement of the Permanent Fund Dividend amount was carried live on television statewide, and dozens tuned in to watch a live webcast by the governor's office.

Among the many ways Sarah Palin was hit in the media during her 2008 vice presidential bid—criticism now spilling on to current presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann—was that she should forget politics and make time for her kids. GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway has an answer for those who think Palin, Bachmann, or other women with children don't have enough time to raise them while serving in public office...

Sarah Palin is one of the most media-saturated figures today, as filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon of the new film “The Undefeated” points out. Yet, watching the film, the details about the ex-governor that have remained unknown to the ‘lower 48’ will stun the viewer. The film itself has an interesting origin. The Palin team approached Bannon after the 2010 election about a film, but he wasn’t interested in the short video project they mentioned. Bannon decided to do a film that the Palin team had no editorial control over, although they did help him gain access to several key players...

JUNEAU — The state House on Saturday easily cleared a plan to clarify — or broaden, depending on who’s talking — people’s right to defend themselves with deadly force. It would expand the explicit (in state law) right to use lethal force to apply anywhere someone has “a right to be.” Proponents say it will assure everyone in Alaska he or she does not need to back off if they find themselves in a dangerous situation and want to fight back with a lethal weapon. Rep. Eric Feige, R-Chickaloon and a co-sponsor, said the change would send two messages. To...

Senate Republicans are making another bid to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling — but this time they are trying to sweeten the offer by dedicating a quarter of the revenue to renewable energy projects. The ANWR drilling plan is embedded in energy legislation unveiled Thursday by more than two dozen lawmakers, led by David Vitter of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas. The bill also would restrict environmental groups from filing legal challenges to energy projects, force the government to approve a pipeline that would bring Canadian oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast and clear the...

Believe it or not, it’s already high time for presidential hopefuls to kick off their campaigns even though the election isn’t until November 2012 — and we’ve connected some dots that strongly suggest where and when Sarah Palin will be announcing. HollywoodLife.com has learned that Palin has booked an appearance in April on The Bob and Mark Show on 106.5 KWHL-FM in Anchorage. Sarah has said all along — including on the final episode of her TLC show Sarah Palin’s Alaska — that she would announce her candidacy on the radio via Bob and Mark. While the exact date hasn’t...

ron Dog racers spend countless hours preparing for and riding in the 2,000-mile snowmachine race -- the world's longest. It's also hard on their wives, but for former Alaska Gov. and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin it's part of the routine. "It's stay out of the way," Palin said as her husband Todd Palin and his Iron Dog teammate, Eric Quam, worked on their sleds on a blustery Wednesday night in Nome. "Those who are closest to these guys know what they need to do." (snip) "I think these guys are the toughest men on the planet," Palin said. "Girly...

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Friday tried to take the unusual step of attaching a fiscal note from the committee to House Bill 80 in an attempt to dispute the Department of Law’s own note that states the proposed legislation would cost the department $450,000 a year. House Bill 80, which later passed out of the committee, would eliminate a person’s duty to retreat from a situation where that person uses deadly force in self-defense, as long as the defender was in a place where he or she had “a right to be.” The proposed note would...

LAS VEGAS—My nametag revealed I was a journalist from Alaska, so I said I was researching an article on firearms for bear protection in the Last Frontier backcountry. Century International Arms salesman Steve Sanko reached into a glass display case and came up with a bulky, tricked-out handgun. “If you’re looking for a compact bear gun, this is the best we have to offer,” Sanko said. “It’s our new for 2011, Centurion AK 39, semi-automatic pistol.” I handled the gun. It looked more like Han Solo’s blaster pistol than one of the big bore revolvers—.44 magnums and .454 Casulls—that Alaskans...

Anchorage, AK --(Ammoland.com)- The Anchorage Fish & Game Advisory Committee will hold their elections for regular seats on January 4th at 7:00 pm at the Anchorage Baptist Temple Children’s Ministry Gym, located at 6575 E Northern Lights Blvd. The public that is interested in serving on the advisory committee is encouraged to prepare and provide an 81/2 x 11 bio for posting at the meeting for public review. Also on the agenda will be an opportunity for public testimony. For more information contact Steve Flory at 727-3762. This is our list of candidates below. Just like at Matt Valley, the...

GOLD RUSH: ALASKA, follows six men who risk everything in the face of an economic meltdown — their families, their dignity, and in some cases, their lives — to strike it rich mining for gold in the wilds of Alaska. Inspired by his father Jack Hoffman, Todd Hoffman of Sandy, Oregon, leads a group of greenhorn miners to forge a new frontier and save their families from dire straits. While leasing a gold claim in Alaska, Todd and his company of mining rookies face the grandeur of Alaska as well as its hardships, including an impending winter that will halt...

The Arkansas Geological Survey is trying to unravel a mystery: What is causing earthquakes in the town of Guy, Arkansas? Since September 20, the community of 549 residents north of Little Rock has experienced an almost constant shaking from 487 measurable earthquakes. "We've had 15 today including a 3.1 (magnitude) from this morning," Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Geological Survey, said Monday. "These are shallow quakes between two and eight kilometers (between one-and-a-quarter and five miles) below the surface." While earthquakes aren't unusual in the Southeast state, the frequency is. "This time last year we had 39 quakes total...

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) is slamming the Interior Department’s designation of large Arctic regions as “critical habitat” for polar bears threatened by climate change, alleging the decision will slow oil-and-gas drilling. The designation requires federal agencies to consult with Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before allowing or funding actions that could harm the bear’s northern Alaskan habitat. “Such consultations are increasingly being misused to challenge responsible resource development,” Parnell said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “This additional layer of regulatory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation, but will also...

Just heard this on Shep. (Great intel....) Link to come when I find it.

Governor Sarah Palin’s Record That Gave Her A 90% Approval Rating: Energy Independence, Development, and Environmental Stewardship *Governor Palin’s cornerstone accomplishment is AGIA (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act). During the Palin administration, TransCanada and Exxon formed an alliance to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48. Under Governor Palin’s governance, the project was expanded and revised from what previous governors had proposed with an open policy process for the Alaskan people. More progress was made on this effort than in the previous 30 years. This is the largest private sector infrastructure project in North American history and...

An Air Force pilot and his stealth fighter assigned to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska went missing Tuesday evening. The F-22 Raptor was on a routine training mission when it lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time.

After ripping Sarah Palin, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski isn’t mincing words about another one of her high-profile GOP critics: South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint. “I think some of the Republicans in the Congress feel pretty strongly that he and his actions potentially cost us the majority by encouraging candidates that ended up not being electable,” Murkowski told POLITICO outside her Senate office. “And I think Delaware is a pretty good example of that, and I think there’re some folks that feel that DeMint’s actions didn’t necessarily help the Republican majority.” Murkowski suggested the South Carolina conservative and favorite of the...

Princess Lisa now leads by about 1,700 votes after Monday's review. There are still about 8,000 write-in ballots and 600 absentees to be counted. It's not looking good given that the Division of Elections is counting 97% of the write-ins for Murkowski, despite the fact that thousands of the ballots do not spell her name correctly, a requirement in the actual law. Via the Anchorage Daily News: The Division of Elections has now counted 92,164 votes for Murkowski and 90,458 for Miller. Murkowski's number will grow as the state continues to go through write-in ballots today, looking to see what...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller filed a complaint Friday afternoon, demanding access to state voter rolls after alleged instances of voter fraud. Court documents say the Miller campaign has asked for access to election registers from about 30 precincts across the state, which show voter signatures. At a press conference, a Miller advisor claimed that one district showed a 238-ballot discrepancy in write-in votes, and wanted to know where those votes went.

Joe Miller, the Tea Party-backed Republican nominee for Alaska Senate, may be on the cusp of losing the Senate race to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who ran as a write-in candidate after losing the GOP primary to Miller. There were more write-in votes than there were votes for Miller, and the vast majority of those ballots seem to have been cast for Murkowski. Miller chosen to address this by challenging votes that appear to have been for Murkowski even when there is only the smallest of justifications for doing so. Consider: According to the Associated Press, an observer for Miller today...