I’d like to thank Bill Sherwonit for his thoughts regarding my latest blog. I may disagree with his comments, but I respect and appreciate that he took the time to express his views.

That being said, I will further explain the reasons for my anxiety concerning a CHD in Cook Inlet…

I was in third grade. At the time, my family was living in Oregon.

Every night I would watch the local news. And every night their would be pictures of environmental protesters, loggers with chainsaws, and an owl.

A Northern Spotted Owl.

Officially, the controversy centered on the owl. However, the real debate was whether or not to allow logging in old growth forests.

A leader has a dangerous obsession with a white whale… Facts are irrelevant. Costs to human life are ignored.

The Captain? Not Ahab – it’s NOAA…

Yes, folks, last month, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) announced that it would set aside 3000 square miles of Cook Inlet as “critical habitat” for Beluga whales.

Call me concerned...

But, before we get into the many ramifications of critical habitat designation (CHD), a little background information is in order.

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a young, popular mayor who wanted to become a Senator. Now, the current Senator was a living legend; a man who had done many great things for the people of his state.

But the living legend was no longer omnipotent. He was now covered with a great cloud of suspicion. There were whispers that the Senator had not been putting Alaskans first; that he had betrayed the people -- for money and power.

All the young mayor had to do, therefore, was to convince Alaskans that he would be an independent voice in Washington.

And that’s exactly what Mark Begich did.

Twas the morn before Christmas, when all through the House
All looked to the Senate – and gazed at the Fausts

Their bill was well hidden and crafted with care
In hopes that the public wouldn’t know what was there

The Dems were euphoric, all smug in their heads
With visions of socialism married with meds

Obama their chief had promised a cap
Of 1 trillion dollars – but that was a trap

For within four short years, there would be a great clatter
As the price went way up – and the money would scatter...

With nifty maneuvers the Senate passed quick
A health bill that was most assuredly a trick

I remember my first economic lesson. Reagan was president and I was in the second grade.

“Dad,” I asked. “What is the difference between Democrats and Republicans?”

“Well,” he answered. “Democrats like to tax and spend.”

Yuck. That didn’t appeal to me at all (even eight year olds understand the concept of stealing).

“What about Republicans?” I asked hopefully.

My dad hesitated. “Well, unfortunately, they like to borrow and spend.”

“Oh…” So neither party could control themselves… I was crushed.

Fast forward to today. The Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform has released a report that shows that America is in a full-blown deficit crisis.

Drill baby drill.

The electric chant of the 2008 Republican Convention…

Now, as a Republican, I am not opposed to drilling for oil. In fact, I believe that Alaska should expand its oil production…

But, that chant was a disaster. I believe that many America, myself included, wanted to hear words that would lift and inspire (or at least, incentivize) us to new heights of greatness. To hear creative ideas that would marry free market principals with innovative energy solutions…

Instead, we got a chant that would have played well in the 1908 convention…

Wait, wait, you’re saying. You recently wrote a couple articles that savaged Al Gore et all for the belief in fossil fuel driven global warming… And now you’re attacking “drill baby drill?” What gives?

And now it’s time for… Superfluous Points.

54 points for… Political Waltzing.
Harry Reid engineers a compromise regarding the public option. It still keeps the Feds firmly in control of the private insurance companies (allowing Reid’s liberal base to vote for it, without looking moderate), while officially, diminishing the public option (allowing Reid’s moderate base to vote for it, without looking liberal).

4 points for… Charades!
The best part about Reid’s maneuver: it’s all meaningless. The final health care bill will be completely rehashed by a committee of House and Senate partisans. And make no doubt about it: Pelosi will shove the full-fledged public option into the final bill.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds ~ Emerson

A few weeks ago, I was watching former Vice President Al Gore talk to Charlie Rose about global warming (November 4, 2009). What amazed me was the absolute certainty of his convictions. He simply had no doubt.

Rose: “Is there anybody that you know, who you respect, who comes to a different conclusion than you do?”

Gore: “Not on the basics of global warming science, no.”

Gore would later add that “there’s no serious disagreement on the basic science and the range of reductions that are needed.”

My grandma once gave me a sign that read, “Don’t drive faster than your guardian angel can fly.”

That said it all. In my late teens, I was not the most careful driver on the planet. My driving record reflected my lack of self-control, and I became rather familiar with frowning, mustached officers, and their speeches regarding all things safe and slow (During such monologues, I quivered my brow, and frowned appropriately… and then went back to speeding).

In fairly quick succession, everything changed. I began to spend hundreds of dollars on skyrocketing insurance rates. And, I got another speeding ticket... One more ticket would result in a lost license.

It was January of 2007. The war in Iraq was going badly. Very badly.

U.S. General David Petraeus advocated an audacious counterinsurgency strategy. It would involve a massive troop surge. Senator Barack Obama disagreed, calling for a “surge in diplomacy.”(1)

Few thought the Iraq surge would work. The vaunted Iraq Study group dismissed the suggestion as inane.(2) A Republican Senator called the idea “Alice in Wonderland.”(3) Senator Obama voted against the surge, predicting failure.

Fast-forward to 2008. The violence in Iraq had plummeted. Sectarian killings had gone down by 50 percent nationwide and by more than 80 percent in Baghdad.(4) Even then candidate-Obama admitted that “the surge” had “succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated.”(5)