Alaska Senator Ted Stevens' fourth branch of government

August 25th, 2006

As it looks like there is going to be a real white hatted federal cop for Alaska, a new Attorney General, the writer below has a load of buck shot that could help send Ted Stevens packing. Heavens knows Alaska is withering under his protection (racket).

Picture of one of half a dozen senine boats I've fished on. Doug Ware ran this one. All kinds of government and processor strategies have weeded out thousands of smaller operations like this one.

"John,
Great news about the election !
Other good news is that Ted Stevens just got another award and this one is even better than the ones he usually gets from industry groups that have laws and extra special earmarks pending in front of him. This one is from NOAA - which is heart warming since they are kind of his employees, (these are the guys who grovel in front of Ted to get funding, perks, and career postings.) I also love seeing our government being used so well, I wonder how many tax dollars were spent coming up with an "Exemplary Contributions to Science" award. Ted got his for his advocacy of science-based fishery management. No one has explained how circumventing the NOAA process by earmarking fish to a couple of companies and exempting friends from free enterprise competition is science based.

Some reports I read say what a great job the North Pacific Council does. Why then is it necessary for Ted to change existing laws thru middle of the night earmarks?

How arrogant is it for one man, who has corrupted the free enterprise system with all its normal checks and balances (thereby granting the already-biggest seafood company no competition), not to expect boat prices paid to go into free fall? Have the fees paid by Trident to his son gone up at the same rate?

I am really writing about the recent report you brought to the light, about Ted and one of the richest men in the world. Rupert Murdoch is the recipient of a lovely new gift from Ted, who changed the laws to require cable companys to carry local channels for free, while exempting the Satellite Broadcasters from this requirement. This clears up and dovetails into other news that my friends and I have been tracking, about Ted's $4 billion government giveaway of black boxes to convert digital TV back to analog signal by the year 2009.

Ted is trying to pass a law that makes taxpayers fund another boondogle. This is crazy for many reasons, so we figured there had to be a payoff of some kind to Ted or his family. It was too simple that the company (Motorola) which would make these black boxes for the government should make some huge windfall, and that Ben Stevens and Ted have stock in Motorola. Nor is it enough that employees of the Murdoch empire, such as the president of Fox News, sent $28,000 (peanuts) on June 6th 2006 to Steven's campaign fund. It had to be bigger, and less of a straight line.

I am sure the FCC hearing, scheduled for June 21st to vote on making the same requirement go for satellite tv, was blocked at the last minute by Ted. His office said it was not blocked but "delayed" so that Ted could "take it up some other time." According to reports in the news this was the first major setback for cable since 1994.

What motivates Ted even more than money is power, and the most powerful thing in the world for a guy with a lot of skeletons in his closet is a free pass from one of the the biggest news channels in the world, Fox News.

I have long been puzzled by the total lack of major news on the Ben and Ted story in Alaska. Even without the campaign money from the heads of this huge news channel, what large company would allow its employees to bite the hand that regulates them? Ted is Chairman of the Senate committee that regulates all broadcasters.

Ted was also Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee for years, and presided over some of the largest defence contracts ever awarded. Note that NBC is owned by G.E., recipient of many lucrative defense contracts.

This is Ted's M.O.: introduce a bill to regulate something that doesn't need regulating (for instance, his current proposal to regulate the internet) which results in either (or all) - payoffs to stop the regulations, payoffs to support the regulations, and increased his own power around the regulation."

Another commentator got it right when he asked why Alaskans elect such a person. That's not actually what the commentator called Ted when Ted wanted everyone to pay for Internet usage. There's a poll now showing how unpopular Frank and Ernie, I mean Tony, are. Now, we need a poll to show how unpopular Ted is. Then maybe he won't take such a condescending tone the next time he shows up in Alaska to do anything except fish with his big business buddies.

Folks, this is serious, Ted is leaving a comet trail of ruin to the free enterprise system and I don't know if it can even be fixed once these laws are in place. The whole system just adjusts; opponents are bankrupted and go away, recipients of Ted's "Appropriations Branch" become too powerful to stop. The Republicans are "losing face" big time. Voters could turn on the whole party, like they did on Governor Murkowski. The voters sure turned on the Republican Party in Alaska. The Party wanted Sarah Palin to win about as much as they wanted a new hole in the head, in spite of the fact she was Republican. The Party was just geared to aid and abett Ted Stevens is all.

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John lived in Alaska for 50 years and has run commercial boats and processing plants. John also served as a loan officer and economist for a "fishing bank" and served as the only Fisheries Infrastructure Development Specialist the state has had. He has owned a marine design and fabrication business and created the best-selling "Passport Alaska." All photos on his blog are his own, unless so noted.

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