April 07, 2019
Sunday PM

First, in your thinking. Then, in fact. This is indeed “a time that tries men’s (and women’s) souls.” History will record the series of governors beginning with Sarah Palin and concluding with “Days of Misery” Dunleavy as the “Oil Governors,” in hindsight recognizing that for any and all practical purposes these people were owned by the oil industry. History will further record Governor Michael Dunleavy as the worst governor in a series of pathetic examples of the genre, and a name that will be vilified beyond all others in this state a century and more from now.

The insane arrogance of this mad man you all have elected governor is fully evidenced in this 415-word qualifier one must sign in order to be allowed to even enter into one of his presentations of his budget. “This is a private, policy focused event dedicated to discussing Americans for Prosperity’s issues. As an express condition of admittance to the event, attendees are required to abide by and agree to the following terms: ………………………….”

IN OTHER WORDS, RATHER THAN WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, AND RATHER THAN COMING BEFORE THE CITIZENRY OF ALASKA TO PRESENT HIS BUDGETARY VIEWS AND PROPOSED POLICIES, GOVERNOR CRUDE IS EXCLUSIVELY EMPLOYED AND WORKING FOR AN ORGANIZATION CALLED "AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY” AND WILL BE PRESENTING HIS VIEWS TO AN EXCLUSIONARY AUDIENCE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO ENSURE VIRTUALLY ALL ALASKANS CANNOT ATTEND. AND IF YOU DO ATTEND, YOU MUST ADHERE TO A DRESS CODE, YOU MUST FORFEIT MULTIPLE CIVIL RIGHTS, AND PERMIT YOUR IMAGE TO BE USED FOR PURPOSES OF PROFIT OR POLITICAL ADVANTAGE, ………..ALL BY A COUPLE JERKS WHO LIVE IN KANSAS, THE DAMNED KOCH BROTHERS.

Governor Crude thinks he has all of us by the shorthairs to the extent that he does not even have to pretend anymore. “THIS IS A PRIVATE, POLICY FOCUSED EVENT DEDICATED TO DISCUSSING AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY’S ISSUES.” Americans for Prosperity is a Koch Brothers front. Governor Crude is working for the Koch brothers, he is flat out admitting it, not for us, not for the state.

This is the end. The so-called government of the state of Alaska has now forfeited all of its legitimacy, and as currently constituted should be expunged in its entirety at the earliest possible moment.

GOVERNOR CRUDE IS NOT HAVING TOWN HALL MEETINGS; HE IS STAGING KOCH BROTHERS RALLIES. Instead of being a governor he is stooging for the Koch brothers; the perfect goon.

This tragically is the blueprint for the entire state government which is owned by the multi-national oil companies. This government does not represent the state, its interests, or its people. Indeed, current intent for Southeast Alaska is to impoverish it to the point of bankruptcies by the hundreds, if not thousands, while expecting Southeasterners to in fact pay for their own impoverishment.

In desperation and in fear I have seen any number of my neighbors, including my own sister, literally groveling for a state income tax that is not needed. Others prefer a state sales tax, somehow not understanding that any state sales tax imposed on top of the local 6.5% sales tax already assessed makes a whole lot of local businesses pretty much pointless because they will be so non-competitive. A state income tax does pretty much the same thing; at that point relocation will become the primary option.

Nor will either make that much of a difference. The state income tax would take in $300 to $500 million if the rates were draconian, and that does not cover the ground. A state sales tax will just enrich the freight company as everyone shops online or out of town, out of state.

So the solution proposed by some is to cut government down two-thirds to three-fourths, and to try the idiocy of privatizing highways. Austerity is what we all need to get used to; it is the way of the future.

A return to those thrilling days of yesteryear around here circa 1965 to 1970, and here is what you have: A road paved as far as Refuge Cove north and Hole-in-the-Wall or so south, some pavement in town, and dirt roads everywhere else. Every neighborhood will be all dirt roads. As you are walking down the dock, if Bob needs to use the can at the restaurant across the way, out it plops for all to see at first flush. That is just the physical infrastructure; life support will suffer much more than that.

So imploring any or all of this and being willing to be taxed extra to pay for it is lunacy.

Any extra taxes imposed will be diverted to the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor for their benefit and security, not ours. This is what Governor Crude wants; he wants you to voluntarily accept a state income tax that won’t begin to solve the problem. That being the case then he will say too bad, there still is not enough, and shut it all down anyway. You cannot effectively kick the can down the road with a state income tax.

THE BIG PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THE STATE OF ALASKA IS PRODUCING MORE OIL THIS YEAR THAN IT DID FIVE YEARS AGO. PRODUCTION IS NOT DECLINING IN OUR OILFIELDS; IT IS INCREASING.

SO THERE SHOULD BE NO NEED OR REASON FOR A STATE INCOME TAX OR SALES TAX. OUR “PARTNERSHIP” BETWEEN THE STATE GOVERNMENT AND THE OIL COMPANIES SHOULD PROVIDE ALASKANS WELL FOR MULTIPLE GENERATIONS INTO THE FUTURE.

BUT FOR THE FACT THAT THE ALASKA STATE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY CO-OPTED AND IS NOW OWNED BY THE OIL COMPANIES WITH SIGNIFICANT INVOLVEMENT OF THE KOCH BROTHERS.

No longer do we have a state government but instead a criminal enterprise that is and has been funneling the wealth of Alaska and Alaskans to a select group of multi-national oil companies in what may be the greatest theft of wealth in the history of the world.

WE ARE TALKING HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF STOLEN DOLLARS.

Now they want to flip your wallet on end to subsidize even less with more.

Here are the facts, and I am sick and tired of the liars and the idiots who don’t pay attention to simple published fact. The oil companies are not going broke; they are gorging on windfall profits, and have been for most of the past decade. They have not been paying any taxes or severance on the oil they are stealing from us.

Now you have elected an arrogant ideologue as governor of this state, and the very first thing that sonofabitch has come up with is to crush the ferry system, the university system, the fisheries, and pretty much everything else that matters to Southeast Alaska; and then to set you up with a sucker play to get you to pay a whole lot more for a whole lot less.

ARE YOU ALL REALLY THAT STUPID? THAT EASY? THAT GUTLESS?

This is not an issue of Democrats vs Republicans, of rednecks vs libtards. This is about money. This is about your children’s children’s future, which right now they are not going to have. Because you persist in allowing these people to steal all of this money.

Nor is this about whether we have a small government or a big government. That is another argument, an argument for some time after we have secured the money. It is being used as a smokescreen by Governor Crude and his handlers to convince you there is a need for a smaller, more efficient government; an enticing image.

WHAT IN FACT GOVERNOR CRUDE IS DOING IS FACILITATING STEALING THE MONEY. HE IS SO BOLD AND ARROGANT ABOUT THIS THAT HE HAS SHED HIS GOVERNOR’S CLOAK TO ROBE HIMSELF IN THE FILTH OF THE KOCH BROTHERS WHILE PRETENDING YET TO BE GOVERNOR. HE IS A FRAUD IN THE FIRST INSTANCE, AND A CROOK IN THE SECOND.

About four years ago the price of a barrel of oil went down briefly to $28 a barrel. At that time production in Alaska was at 492,000 barrels a day on average. The first thing that happened when the price of oil went down to $28 a barrel is oil outfits the world over reduced production levels, were forced to shut down, and in some instances even went bankrupt. MEANWHILE, IN ALASKA THEY INCREASED PRODUCTION.

The amount of money involved in producing this stuff runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars within a couple weeks, so there is very little logic to producing when you are losing money. In Alaska at $28 a barrel the oil companies were still profiting so substantially that they increased production levels to underwrite their losses in other parts of the world. ISN’T IT FUN TO BE A PERPETUAL PATSY? TO BE PLAYED AS A RETARD BY SOMEONE WHO’S SOLE MOTIVE IS TO STEAL YOUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE? AND YOU, SO GUTLESS YOU CAN’T STAND UP FOR THEM.

This year production levels for Alaska oil have increased to an average of 527,000 barrels a day. The oil fields are not declining. They are still sipping the straw, going after the easy stuff.

FACT: BRITISH PETROLEUM WON THE BID TO RESTORE THE IRAQI OIL FIELDS, BEATING OUT MULTIPLE INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS, AND IS THRILLED TO BE PROFITING $2 A BARREL FROM THIS ENDEAVOR.

FACT: AT $75 A BARREL THE OIL THIEVES OF ALASKA ARE PROFITING AT LEAST $50 A BARREL, AND AT LEAST $40 A BARREL OF THIS BELONGS IN THE COFFERS OF THE ALASKA STATE GOVERNMENT PENDING TRANSFER TO THE PERMANENT FUND.

THAT IS A MINIMUM OF FIVE TO EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR THAT IS BEING STOLEN FROM US.

I make the simple observation that it is better to argue about how much a bureaucrat is being overpaid than it is to argue about whether or not we can afford to employ a bureaucrat. We can argue about how to spend the money after we get it secured. Right now the issue at hand is to stop the thieves.

The oil companies have used a combination of money and fear to co-opt our government and make it their own. The web of payola is complex. Many of our state senators are actually oil company employees; many others in both the state house and the senate are members of boards of directors of multiple oil-related businesses. There is no conflict of interest in law because they have changed the laws to ensure they can continue their stealing; there is no conflict of interest in fact because the elected officialdom of our state government is on the oil companies’ payroll. THE OIL COMPANIES AND THE STATE GOVERNMENT ARE ONE AND THE SAME.

KISSING GOVERNOR CRUDE’S ASS AND GIVING HIM WHAT HE WANTS WILL NOT MAKE IT BETTER. It will just accelerate your move-out day. This whole state income/state sales tax nonsense is a setup play for patsies and fools.

Nor is it possible to change things through ordinary means. Dan Ortiz is a decent man, and definitely not part of the cabal that owns this government. Bert Stedman is a spineless pensioner who on occasion whines a tad before selling us all down the river again. There are other outliers not yet completely bought off by Big Oil, but not enough, nor can there be enough; because the oil companies have already bought enough seats to guarantee that.

So throw it out. Throw the whole goddamned thing out. It is less than worthless. It has been feeding on you for quite some time, via reduced PFDs, increased ferry fares and other user fees, increased freight, fuel, and food costs. Now they want more, oh so much more!!! For nothing in return. In effect they are stacking one theft on top of another. How grandiose. We pay even the carrying costs of their thievery.

The specifications of Virginia’s and New York’s ratification of the Constitution of the United States, dated June 27, 1788, and July 26, 1788, respectively, pointedly address the remedy to our unsolvable plight, to wit, “the powers derived from the people of the United States may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression,” and, “We the Delegates declare and make known that the Powers of Government may be resumed by the People, whensoever it shall become necessary to their happiness.”

So, too, at the state level: THE POWERS DERIVED FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA MAY BE RESUMED BY THEM WHENSOEVER THE SAME SHALL BE PERVERTED TO THEIR INJURY OR OPPRESSION, AND THE POWERS OF THE GOVERNMENT MAY BE RESUMED BY THE PEOPLE, WHENSOEVER IT SHALL BECOME NECESSARY TO THEIR HAPPINESS.

AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF ALASKA IS BEY0ND DOUBT PERVERTED AND CORRUPT AND IS DOING US CONSIDERABLE INJURY, AND WITH THE ADVENT OF GOVERNOR CRUDE’S ON THE JOB EMPLOYMENT BY THE KOCH BROTHERS IT IS BEYOND DOUBT YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE OPPRESSED IN A BIG WAY, TOO.

The old “Pulp Mill Game” is being played on the dolts in the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor, considerably magnified to be sure. Greedy sots they are, no doubt, who are prepared to feed on you like so many vampires just to sate their appetite, but patsies still whose fall will be greatest of all. (If they can defer that 10 years by feeding on you, well, maybe that’s good enough from their point of view.) The old game of extractive industries, i.e. constantly threatening to leave if they don’t get their way, when it comes to the oilfields of Alaska is so much nonsense. The issue with the pulp mill was an annual net profit of give or take $20 million, which some industry might walk away from were it too much hassle to make; but with the oilfields even after the state takes as much as $8 to $10 billion a year what is left is still billions (not millions) in net profits. No one walks away from billions in net profits even if it is only $2 billion to $7 billion instead of $20 billion. That is a simple guaranteed fact.

Right now our oilfields are being raped by outside interests for their purposes only. The people of Alaska have been paying them to make their billions for quite some time. And now they want more. Now they want all of it: Your ferries, your pioneer homes, your university system, your fisheries, the list goes on and on. First, Days of Misery proposes to wipe all of these services out, then expects you to fork out even more for whatever might be left. Our state government is owned by the oil companies; there is nothing that can change that.

The people of the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor need to wake up to the fact that Governor Crude and his oil-soaked buddies are doing more damage to you ultimately than to the rest of us. Because we are just going to tell you to go to hell. We in Southeast have gone through thick and thin in the last several decades with our economy, and we have created by our own devices a moderately functional economy which we have financed by collecting taxes from ourselves. You in the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor have not paid a sales tax during all these decades, and like a giant succubus you have sucked most of state government financing to you. Now you want to rape us, so you can stay fat. You are willing to sell out the future of your own children because a bunch of oil stooges threatens you with their imminent departure. So long as there are even a few billions to be made they will be around; you don’t need to sell your children to them.

Every year the Permanent Fund should be increasing by several billions of dollars, probably about five. Every year sufficient funds should be available to continue our long-running argument about how many is too many overpaid Alaska bureaucrats.

Those of you in the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor who get it, and I know there are a fair number, unite with the rest of us. Discard party labels, and call for an immediate Constitutional Convention for the purpose of restoring the government to its people. Call for investigations by the state police and the FBI, including the employment of independent outside forensic accountants, of the intricate web of payola and corruption these bastards have established; and purge them.

Begin by re-establishing the state senate districts of 1959. The state senate should never have been apportioned by population. The senate should represent property, regions in the state, and those district lines should never have been redrawn. While there is occasional consternation expressed about the consequences of the U.S. Senate representing property, i.e. two for each state no matter the size or the population, and while there are multiple reasons why they did this, the great wisdom of this construct by our founding fathers is it prevents regions from dominating other regions merely by virtue of larger population. This unbalancing of regional interests in the Alaska example has created the situation where one region only of the entire state is dictating everything to the rest of the state and is stealing from the rest of the state, which means that no one who lives outside the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor has any real political power at all. Recognizing this, the oil companies have concentrated their attack on our state government by emphatically controlling the state senate. The state senate does not represent Alaskans; the state senate is the exclusive property of outside oil interests.

Next, no elected or appointed official of the state of Alaska can be a member of any board of directors, of anything, while in office, and for five years thereafter. Nor can any former elected or appointed official be employed in lobbying at either the state or national level for a period of no less than five years.

Next, no elected or appointed official of the state of Alaska can be gainfully employed in any manner by the oil companies, nor can any immediate member of their families be employed by the oil companies. BIG OIL IS ALASKA’S EL CHAPO, AND THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN BEAT THEM IS TO NOT ALLOW THEM IN. They will steal everything, including that which is nailed down. They will use money to buy off anyone and everyone, and they have enough money to do it. They will do anything and everything to steal us blind, and to keep us divided so they can continue to steal us blind. THEY ARE NOT GOOD STEWARDS; THEY ARE GREEDY, SELF-ABSORBED RATS WHO IN MOST INSTANCES DO NOT EVEN LIVE HERE. (And they just love seeing you grovel, begging for a state income tax or sales tax, so they can increase their level of stealing by having you underwrite it.)

It is likely that excluding the oil companies to the ultimate degree is challengeable in court, so we have to figure out mechanically how to do it. This probably means in the first instance full-time elected officials, but we can afford to pay those salaries if it avoids the rip-off annually of billions of dollars of your money and mine, of your grandchildren’s money. This, too, obviously implies there have to be strident limits on the amount of money that can be put into state politics. If we cannot see our way clear to do that, the alternative is to acknowledge in perpetuity that we are dictated to and controlled by multi-national oil companies for their interests only. (Or we can just cease having elections, since they are a complete waste of time, money, and effort.)

Since it is obvious that both the oil companies and so many of our politicians are fully prepared before the hat hits the floor to sell us all down the river for their own personal gain it must be written into the Constitution that the oilfields are managed for the well-being of the citizens of and for the state of Alaska, not for the damned oil companies and a handful of local greedy pigs wallowing in the accumulation of their filth.

Restore the state corporate income tax which has been suspended for virtually all corporations.

I have heard from plenty of locals who just really hate bureaucrats and don’t think they add a dime to their business, and they would be really happy right now if two-thirds to three-fourths of you bureaucrats were summarily fired; they don’t seem to care if the ferry shuts down. A few even prefer the way it was in 1940, albeit they were not around in 1940. In the meantime I have a whole bunch of fools groveling in the dirt and howling, “Tax me, tax me. Tax my neighbors, tax everything.” (It is a fair guess that this bunch of fools is skewed toward bureaucrats, but there are a lot of business people who think the same way; they obviously do not endorse increased sales taxes.)

In my own case I make money from a state income tax because I will prepare state income tax returns, but I am not too partial to extra work just to pay another tax bill. My analysis is not personally motivated; I am concerned with what is really going on, and what can really happen. A state income tax does not begin to cover the ground, so all of these groups will be deeply disappointed. The bureaucrats and the ferries will go anyway because Governor Crude is only concerned about the oil companies and the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor. Your taxes will go to pay for bureaucrats up there, so you who want to go back to those thrilling days before you were born will have the privilege of paying taxes for someone else’s bureaucrats as the community hollows out around you. As the desks are emptied around you and ultimately sold for scrap, those among you bureaucrats left for another cycle or two will have the dubious privilege of watching all those state income taxes you so avidly begged for paying some bureaucrat’s salary in the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor who is signing government credit checks over to the oil companies. Isolated and without ferry service all of you business folks will be watching your prospective markets truncate, your freight rates jacked more through the roof than already they are, and on top of all of that a new and very high (10%+ is being discussed) state tax rate, all of the proceeds of which will be used in other regions of the state to your detriment in all possible ways.

NONE OF THIS JACKAROUND IS NECESSARY. ALL THAT IS NECESSARY IS THE GREATEST TREASURE THAT THIS STATE HAS, THE OIL, BE RESTORED TO THE STATE AND TO ITS PEOPLE RATHER THAN BEING STOLEN BY A HANDFUL OF THIEVING RATS.

THAT CANNOT BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH ORDINARY MEANS BECAUSE THE OIL COMPANIES HAVE STOLEN THE STATE GOVERNMENT.

THIS GOVERNMENT IS, THEREFORE, NO LONGER A LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED THROUGH A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF WHICH IS TO CLEAN UP THIS FOUL MESS AND TO HOLD THE THIEVES ACCOUNTABLE, THEN TO RESTORE GOVERNMENT TO THE PEOPLE BY FIRING THE WHOLE LOT, AND REPLACING THEM ALL BY NEW STATEWIDE ELECTIONS WITHIN SIX MONTHS. (And no, the thieves do not get to participate.)

Either that, or how much more of your income do you want to fork out next year for the oil companies’ benefit without getting a dime’s worth of anything in return?

Undeniably, we in Southeast ignored this crap for more than 30 years. The oilfields are thousands of miles away from here, and we have had plenty to deal with here in our own region; and we asked very little of any of you up north. In the meantime you ran away with one fortune, and gave away a much bigger fortune, and now while there is plenty left you are playing a goddamned game on yourselves and everyone else, oh poor, poor pitiful you, and so you come to steal from us. And because you are such a weak, paranoid little thing you are willing to give away untold billions just so you can have a nickel-dime job in the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor for just a while longer.

All those so-called town hall meetings Governor Crude is having are, of course, limited to the Anchorage/Fairbanks corridor only. We who are about to be fed to the lions need not participate and in fact are specifically excluded. These are not in fact town hall meetings; they are Koch brothers rallies, and Governor Crude is embezzling his salary as purported Governor while in the employment of the Koch brothers.

When next someone tells you they are going to give you back everything that has been taken from you in order to get elected, ask yourself the simple question where the jackass is going to get the money to do that. Maybe next time you won’t elect a lying fraud like the Koch brothers’ Governor Crude.

WAKE UP, ALASKA, AND TAKE YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THE THIEVES.

David G Hanger
Ketchikan, Alaska

Editor's Note:

Some profanity was edited out by the SitNews Editor.

Received April 03, 2019 - Published April 07, 2019

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