Over Memorial day weekend Libertarians came together from across the country and around the world to nominate their president and vice presidential candidates at their annual national party convention. And for many the top of the ticket for the fall and the general election season is troubling, deeply troubling.
But lets look at it from this perspective for just a minute, shall we? My prediction is that the Johnson-Weld ticket will be Libertarian-lite in that they’ll run under the Libertarian party banner but will, instead, draw from the well of the Never Trump Never Hillary movements in a kind of “A Coalition of the Willing.” Or as Bill Clinton and Dick Morris did so infamously in the 1990’s, “Triangulation.”
In either case I like Bill Weld and have enormous respect for Gary Johnson, ever since 2011 when he first ran for the presidency. Then as now Johnson stands for some of the same things that I do, but with Charles and David Koch, through Bill Weld, pulling on Johnson like he’s a puppet and they’re the masters even I can’t stomach that!
I hate Charles and David Koch with every fiber of my being for what they have done to this great country of ours and this beautiful world in which we all live. They are evil incarnate, in my opinion, and hell itself would be a far worse place with them in it.
I call LINO – Libertarian in Name Only! And for those disgruntled and disaffected Libertarians I offer this as your Battle Cry:
Hold fast, and as Jesse Ventura says, “Stay Vigilant…”
–Rhett.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, SHARE! PLEASE? THANK YOU. COME AGAIN.
Miner’s from the 1890 Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska (photo courtesy of DD’s Ranch wear)
That all-important. All-encompassing. Once in a lifetime opportunity to make a name for yourself. There have been many men, women and children who braved the elements, the plants, the animals, and their fellow-man in search for gold, peace, and adventure.
The point being is: Is that Alaska, the Arctic Circle, all of it matters a great deal, especially now. And in a time when Capitalism and Unitarianism are in this kind of push-pull battle ,like two Bull Moose fighting in the Great North Woods the greatest little Continental Nation in the World, Alaska and her Arctic Circle, of wills that matters a great deal in regards to; the peace, prosperity, and adventurous spirit that is synonymous with Alaska and her Peoples.
And sooner or later one of the two have got to give.
As you know the Environmental Protection Agency recently granted Shell Oil Company a much coveted drilling permit in the Arctic Circle, [drilling in Alaska and the Arctic circle is] something that Greenpeace USA as well as other climate change activists have been staunchly against for decades, as evidence in the video above.
NEW YORK, New York – Even though my father is white we do have American Indian blood in our family. My Great-Grandfather, Ivory Henson ‘Ike’ Gregory – born five years after the Trail of Tears walk in Fairdealing, KY. in the back of his family’s grocery store to Charles P. and Annie ‘Sharpnack’ Gregory (A full-blooded Cherokee Indian Maiden who walked from King’s Mountain, N.C. with her family but who could make it only as far as Fairdealing in the late winter of 1831 befriended a white store keeper and tradesman named Charles P. ‘Charlie’ Gregory after he gave her a cup of water. They fell in love, Charlie married her, and they had nine children – 8 boys and 1 girl who died of pneumonia when she was just five years old – with my Great Grandpa Ike being the eldest son.), was three-quarters Cherokee Indian, his ancestors walked the Trail of Tears or the great forced migration of the American Indian from out of the Southeastern United States starting in 1831.
The town sign for Fairdealing, Ky. U.S.A.
Ike Gregory grew up in South Marshall County, Ky. Was fifth grade educated but had ‘good common horse sense’ – as family would later put it – dropped out of school to work on his parents small farm and in their grocery store because his father had a bad heart. His tag line was, “Born in Fairdealing. And been dealin’ fair ever since then” would go on to start his own general contracting business, a family farm of his own raising three children – two girls and a boy – and their families in Paducah, Ky. (McCracken County, Ky.) on a farm out on Clarks River Rd. The street that the Gregory Family farm was on is named in his honor, to this day, Ike Ave.
He was, for all intents and purposes a good man, but he was awfully restless. My Great-Grandmother Rita Evelyn Walters-Gregory, who was the 12th of thirteen children to Urn Riley and Viola Davidson-Walters of Sharpe-Palma, Ky. in North Marshall County, Ky. You’ve no doubt heard of the terminology, “a wandering Jew”. Well. My great-grandmother would call her man her ‘Restless Wandering Indian’. There’s was a love story that would last sixty years until my Great-Grandpa’s death, on his birthday in October of 1975 when he has a massive heart attack while celebrating with family and friends in his backyard.
Although I never knew my great-grandpa personally believe you me when I tell you I have heard enough stories from my father, and others in my family to make him seem as personal to me as any face to face meeting ever could. Family makes him seem almost mythical, at times, and biblical at others.
He built roads, bridges, houses, factories, farms, hells bells whole towns and small communities – or so I have been told. ‘There’s not a rock or a road your great-grandaddy didn’t overturn or build in this here state.’ Family would say. ‘And that’s a fact.’
But when asked the source of his restlessness the answer was always the same, “His mother’s hurt and pain at the loss of loved ones on the trail of tears son. It would make any man restless.” Because my great-great-grandmother, his mother, would tell her children stories of the family. Seeing that they understood clearly that the white man was to blame for the ‘restless hurt and pain.’
I thought about those stories, and Ike Gregory as I read through this story from The New American [Magazine]. It seems as though the American Indian has truly had enough. And he’s going to the United Nations to ask for help to, in his words, “end the occupation of our native lands”.
Self-styled leaders of the native secessionist movements in the two U.S. states blasted American policy on everything from the environment to world affairs. “In 1959 Alaska and Hawaii were seized by the U.S. as a result of deception and deliberate violation of the UN mandate and principles, and self-determination process,” the alliance of Hawaiian and Alaskan natives said in a statement. “The UN can correct this error.” The group raised similar issues with the UN in 2010 but went largely unnoticed.
Speaking to Moscow’s TASS agency, Ronald Barnes, the Alaskan representative for the alliance, said the U.S. government is “mismanaging the property they have no right for.” “They take our land and mine mineral resources in large amounts damaging our environment,” he was quoted as saying, adding that his group would seek Russian assistance for its cause.
“It will be 150 years since the sale of Alaska by Russia to the U.S. in 2017,” Barnes continued. “If we could work with the Russians to present the historical truth and reject the distorted concepts about Alaska and our people’s, I believe it could be a good way to amend the situation.” It was not immediately clear why or how the Kremlin might “help,” or why potential Russian rule would be preferable to remaining under the protection of the United States.
Some Russian leaders, though, have apparently taken an interest in at least some U.S. secession movements. Late last year, the Texas Nationalist Movement, which hopes to see the Lone Star State regain its independence, was in Moscow for a summit of separatist organizations. While the leftist-dominated meeting was hosted by a Russian anti-globalization group, analysts said the Kremlin likely had a keen interest in the event.
“This conference could not have occurred without Russian government support. Its program is completely in line with Russian strategy,” argued anti-communist analyst and author Trevor Loudon about the summit in the Russian capital. “It is evidence that Moscow is working with both its old leftist base and less than stable elements of the ‘right’ to export chaos and revolution to the West.”
Leon Siu, a representative for the anti-U.S. “occupation” alliance and the self-styled “foreign minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” explained his ostensible reasoning for the effort to involve the UN in declaring independence. “Our culture is being suppressed,” he was quoted as saying. “But U.S. actions target not only our culture, but also world peace, because it has a military base in Pearl Harbor. They pollute our land and water during exercises. People get sick because of it. It’s an affront to our land and our people. We don’t want to be part of a war machine.”
Of course, the Hawaiian independence movement gained prominence more than two decades ago when then-President Bill Clinton signed an “Apology Resolution.” The text of the measure “apologizes to native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of native Hawaiians to self-determination.”
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Native American Indian. Because his blood is my blood. His hurt and pain is my hurt and pain. But as with anything you can only sweep it under the rug or just outright ignore it for so long before it becomes an even bigger problem. A restlessness that even you yourself cannot control much less contain.
An anti-KL Pipeline Protest from 2014…
That’s why the Great White Father Barack H. Obama, II. better start paying attention. He better starting listening to the hurt and pain of the Indian. Start hearing his cries, whipping away his tears, and doing what he says.
Because there’s no more peace pacts, treaties or admissions of guilt that will satisfy the restless soul of the Native.
— Rhett.
40.712784-74.005941
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, SHARE! PLEASE? THANK YOU. COME AGAIN.
Ms. Charlo Greene, former KTVA T.V. News Reporter, A CBS News Affiliate Station, Social Media Screen Grab, 2014 …
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Admittedly I didn’t know a thing about Ms. Charlo Greene until the F-bomb heard round the world this week. But and what I have been able to learn of the now former KTVA Channel 11 News Reporter has impressed me to no end.
I believe with all my heart in what Charlo and the faithful of the Alaska Cannabis Club are trying to do. I believe also in the all natural healing power of marijuana.
Medical Marijuana or THC has been known to cure everything for Juvenal Diabetes to Seizures …
Now and for the record I heart Pope Francis. This Pope is truly a man of the people. A man for the ages. And a man who has come to be a physician to the sick or as Christ Himself said, “.. to those who have need of a physician..”Or so I thought.
social media screen grab, 2014
But on this the Pope is way off base! So to are those who are against Alaska’s Ballot Measure 2.
Those of us who are for the all natural healing qualities of and medicinal uses for marijuana only want the very best for our fellow-man. Helping those who truly have need for a physician. And that’s what marijuana does!
It lends itself as a physician to those who have a need.
It matters not your age, race, ethnic or national origins your socioeconomic stripe what only matters is that if you are sick or have some other serious medical need marijuana can and could well cure you.
SO, why not then legalize, tax and regulate this wonder-working power? Why not make it available to those who have need for a physician?
Past that I can’t explain anymore but I will however leave you with the parting words of Charlo Green herself. Words which sum up this posting for today. See if you don’t agree and see if you to are willing to say, on principle, on need, “‘F-it I quit,’ because I know that this can work”?
Peace.
–Rhett.
61.218056-149.900278
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, SHARE! PLEASE? THANK YOU. COME AGAIN.
BRISTOL BAY, Alaska — I just finished reading this posting from my friends and colleagues at Natural Resources Defense Council. The NRDC, actor Robert Redford and countless other Non-Government Organizations have joined the call to the EPA to PROTECT the Bay and the Pebble Mine from Koch Industries who wishes to strip mine the area of valuable resources, and in the process destroying a natural and stated habitat for plants and animals as well as human civilization.
FROM The Center for Biological Diversity… PRESS RELEASE.
For Immediate Release, June 24, 2014
Contact:
Kiersten Lippmann, Center for Biological Diversity, (907) 793-8691
Hunter McIntosh, The Boat Company, (360) 697-4242
Joe Mehrkens, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community, Community@gsacc.net
Larry Edwards, Greenpeace, (907) 747-7557
Petition Seeks to Protect Tongass’ Ancient Yellow Cedars as Endangered Species
Cedars Threatened by Climate Change, Logging Would Be First Alaska Tree
Ever Given Federal Protection
ANCHORAGE, Alaska— Conservation groups filed a formal petition today to protect yellow cedar trees under the Endangered Species Act because of ongoing threats from climate change and logging. Vast swaths of yellow cedars have died off in the past century, with more than 70 percent of these long-lived, beautiful trees now dead in many areas of Alaska. If approved, yellow cedar would be the first Alaska tree species, and only the second plant in the state, protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Yellow cedar foliage and cones. Photo by Walter Siegmund. This photo is available for media use.
Yellow cedar (Calliptropsis nootkatensis) are killed as the climate changes, spring temperatures warm, and snow melts: A lack of snow exposes their fragile roots to freezing temperatures, resulting in root freezing and tree death. Despite the trees’ decline, timber sales selectively target remaining living yellow cedar because of the wood’s high quality and market value.
“Unless we act now, yellow cedar will join the long line of species headed for extinction because of the climate crisis,” said Kiersten Lippmann, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “While the tree is naturally highly resistant to rot, disease and insects, it has no defense against a warming climate. Our actions caused this decline, and our actions can save it — if we act right now.”
“It is long overdue that scarce resources such as 1,000-year-old cedars get the legal scrutiny and protections they deserve,” said Joe Mehrkens, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community board member.
Yellow cedar is found from southeast Alaska to Northern California and is most common in the Tongass of Alaska and British Columbia. These trees are a central part of the region’s forests, historically greatly valued by Alaska natives for carving, medicinal and ceremonial purposes; they’re also an important food source for Sitka deer and brown bears. They hold massive amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, and their extinction would be a devastating loss.
“Yellow cedar is a key part of the coastal forests of Alaska and British Columbia, and its loss would leave a gaping hole in this extraordinary rainforest,” said Lippmann. “If we don’t take action quickly, we’re going to lose so many iconic Alaska species.”
“When we first started offering nature-based wilderness cruises in southeast Alaska 35 years ago,” said Hunter McIntosh of The Boat Company, “the region’s predominant mixed-conifer slopes generally looked healthy, with only a few dead-standing yellow cedars in evidence here and there. But now we see mile after mile of slopes where almost all the yellow cedar trees are dead. We should be protecting the remaining healthy mixed-conifer enclaves wherever they may still be found in the region, not clearcutting them.”
As the climate warms, scientists predict, suitable habitat for yellow cedar will disappear. More than 600,000 acres of dead forests are already readily visible from the air. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at their current rates, researchers predict that the tree will be driven to extinction. Projections show yellow cedar inhabiting only tiny fragments of their former range by the year 2085. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same time eliminating any live-tree harvest by logging, is yellow cedar’s best hope for survival.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must respond to the petition — filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, The Boat Company, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community and Greenpeace — in 90 days and determine whether listing is warranted within one year.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 775,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
The Boat Company is a nonprofit educational and charitable organization with a 35-year history of offering wilderness cruises in southeast Alaska, helping to build a strong constituency for wildlife and wildlands conservation through personal experience.
GSACC’s mission is to defend and promote the biological integrity of Southeast Alaska’s terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems for the benefit of current and future generations.
Greenpeace is the leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
We’re just inviting you to take a timeout into the rhythmic ambiance of our breakfast, brunch and/or coffee selections. We are happy whenever you stop by.
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