Thursday, November 20, 2008

Alaska Report:  Big Opportunities for Sarah Palin

by TheTruthSquad

Sarah Palin has settled back into her multi-tasking family and professional life in Alaska. The Men for Palin are monitoring the news reports from the 49th State.  While the demise of Senator Ted Stevens is the talk of Alaska, behind the chaos of the election there are some compelling opportunities for Sarah Palin to prove her mettle.  Both of the major issues are related to energy and to the price of oil:  Construction of the gas pipeline and the state budget.  In both area’s, Sarah’s energy expertise will benefit Alaska, and the lower 48.

There are big challenges ahead in Alaska.  In the past, Sarah has proven that challenges are opportunities.  Over the next two years of her term, Sarah will have the opportunity to show leadership on some very important fronts.  MFP starts discussion of two of the developments in Alaska right here:

1.  The Natural Gas Pipeline: One of Sarah’s early accomplishments was to get the long-awaited trans-Alaska and trans-Canada natural gas pipelines moving toward contstruction.  She worked with both Republicans and Democrats to move the project along.  The Anchorage Daily News summarized the importance of the pipeline:

“With the nation sliding into recession and state oil revenues plunging, the gas line seems more important than ever to Alaska. Crossing the next big pre-construction hurdles would give Palin a big achievement to trumpet.

But there are plenty of perils in the next two years. The looming challenge involves the so-called “open season”—persuading the oil companies, through tax incentives, legal pressure or superior poker strategy, to commit to ship their gas reserves through the line.

Meanwhile the state will seek help from the Obama administration on rights of way and federal loan guarantees. Palin’s pitch: that getting gas to the Lower 48 will lead the nation away from oil and provide a bridge to a new era of alternative energy sources. Obama did say during the presidential race he supports getting the gas line built.”

2.  The State Government’s Budget: The Alaska state government draws over eighty-five per cent of its revenue from oil.  The current fiscal year budget was based on an average price per barrel of $83.  The average price per barrel for this fiscal year is $103, so the challenge might not come this year.  The price per barrel is dropping toward $40.  During the next fiscal year, Gov. Palin will have the opportunity to show that she can be tight with a buck.

MFP will follow the pipeline’s progress and the budget as part of our comprehensive discussion of Palin’s Alaska.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Congratulations to Team Sarah!

by John Philoponus

Congratulations to Team Sarah.  As of this evening, they are up to 57,854 members.  (I can’t resist the comparison of the membership of Sarah’s army, which is more than triple the 18,717 members of Huck’s Army.) All Men for Palin members are required to join Team Sarah.  We encourage you to visit their dynamic site and register.  It is a wonderful hub for pro-Palin activity.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Palin Calls on Republican Governors Association to Find Conservative Solutions

by Charles W. Fairbanks

When Governor Sarah Palin addressed the Republican Governors Association today, she urged them to find conservative solutions to the nation’s current economic problems.  She called on the govs to find free-market solutions.  That’s a tough road when everyone in Washington - Democrat, Independent, Socialist (Bernie Sanders) and unfortunately Republican - is trying big-government-tax-and-spend-come-socialist solutions.

Below is the Minnesota Public Radio broadcast.  The audio of Sarah’s address begins at 17:32.  You can move to the beginning by clicking the play button, then dragging the status bar to the right with your cursor.

What are those solutions?  No doubt, Sarah sees as one of the top solutions the development of more domestic energy.  She has made very clear that we should be (1) drilling for more oil in Alaska and that Alaskans want to drill more oil; (2) developing wind energy in Alaska and in other states; (3) developing tidal energy in Alaska and in other states; and (4) developing geothermal energy.  The fact is that we are throwing our money away by sending it overseas for foreign oil.  Free market reform of the domestic energy industry would bring tens of thousands of new jobs to the nation, lower energy costs to the nation and stop the cash hemorrhage.  Let’s get started.