Sarah Palin: The Caribou Predator.

Caribou Barbie (otherwise known as Sarah Palin) was seen again recently traipsing through the mighty, Alaskan wild. Critters, campers and remote, cabin dwellers, beware because she's always packing a thunder stick!! News reports out of the Alaskan frontier seem grim to be sure. As it turns out, Palin gunned down a caribou for her "realty t.v." show. It has been asserted that it was hunted using, "fair chase" rules that are supposed to be an ethical way to hunt. One of the criteria is that you do not bring dishonor to the prey, which is great, but Palin did no such thing.

She killed an innocent animal in the name of: entertainment, financial benefit and political pandering. According to this environmentalist, that's not bringing honor to the animal. She callously and needlessly snuffed out the energy of that noble, sacred being. How can it not be dishonorable to kill a child of Mother Nature, which is the foundation for native, Inuit culture; in the name of entertainment? That would be like a Christian killing an angel. It is said that, "Every caribou has a bit of the human heart in him; and every human has a bit of caribou heart." So, how honorable is it to destroy a bit of the human heart? It's deplorable. With the exception of the bear, none are given higher recognition than the caribou within the native peoples of northeast Alaska and northwest Canada.

She also dishonored that caribou when one realizes that the caribou was traditionally hunted for survival. I am not against hunting (except for sport) but It's hard to say that the ridiculously wealthy, Palin family would have starved had she not murdered that animal. She said a very short, "thank-you" in a vain attempt at the bare minimum toward honoring the spirit of the animal. Sarah Palin is no friend of the environment, which she claims to cherish and love so much. She is a usurping, manipulator of nature, and a woman who could churn up nature faster than a tornado churns up a shit storm. If my animal friends up in Alaska around Sarah Palin's hunting range could hear me, I'd be screaming, run!!

PHOTO CREDIT: George River Caribou by Robert Bateman

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Still Affecting Alaska Communities.

(Green Man's commentary follows the news article below):

From Dan Simon and Augie Martin, CNN

Cordova, Alaska (CNN) -- For third-generation fisherman John Platt, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill is a financial and psychological nightmare that won't end. Three years after the 11 million-gallon spill in Prince William Sound blackened 1,500 miles of Alaska coastline, the herring on which he and other Cordova fishermen heavily relied disappeared from the area. Platt and some others stuck around, fishing for salmon and hoping things would improve. The herring never returned to Cordova. Platt's income plummeted, severely straining his marriage and psyche. He dipped into his sons' college funds to support his family.

"I wasted 20 years of my life," he said. Platt and other people in the Alaskan village of about 2,500 people say they still are suffering economically and emotionally 21 years after the oil disaster. The herring loss alone has cost the region about $400 million over the past 21 years, according to R.J. Kopchak, a former fisherman who is now developmental director at Cordova's Prince William Sound Science Center. The average fisherman suffered a 30 percent loss in income after the spill, but those who specialized in just herring lost everything, Kopchak said.

The surface oil from the spill had largely disappeared within three years of the spill, according to studies conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Response and Restoration. But oil residue still can be found on the shore. "It is a lingering problem, as they say, with no easy solution," Kopchak said.

Money from Exxon hasn't made the fishermen's problems disappear. Besides the $2.5 billion that Exxon is estimated to have paid for the cleanup, it reportedly paid $300 million soon after the disaster to 11,000 fishermen, fish processors and others affected. In 1994, a federal jury ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion in punitive damages, but appeals reduced that award to $507.5 million. Last year, a federal court ordered Exxon to also pay $470 million in interest on the punitive damages. Platt says he has received about $600,000 from Exxon. But most of it was used to clear liens on his fishing permits and boats, he said.

Green Man: This makes me think about all this talk about "cleaning up" these oil spills. We need to be careful when talking about "cleaning this up" because it will never be fully cleaned up, and after the cameras and journalists go away the people who live there can't as easily leave. Their whole lives are there in that region (families, friends, churches, schooling, etc) and their way of life, (whether it be fishing or farming) is all they know how to do.

It's good, honest work but even their strong traditions can't over-come a disaster like this. They're stuck in this oily nightmare for decades at least. Perhaps what's worse though is that the oil guys will have to go back to doing that dangerous and dirty job again because that's what they are trained in. Yet B.P. will recover and be back to making billions every time their CEO takes a breath that they'll be fine. They won't be the one's to feel the brunt of this disaster that they caused.

In a related note, as you know I adore animals and seeing all these sea turtles, birds and fish sick or dying because of this disaster makes me wonder if we can nail these oil bastards with animal cruelty laws. I bet we could. We should be hitting them with every charge we can think of but even then it wouldn't make up for this nightmare. The tooth paste (or oil in this instance) can't be put back into the tube.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Obama Reverses Campaign Message. Will Allow Offshore Drilling.

Feel that sharp pain in your back? It's a big knife driven into the collective backs of liberals, Democrats and environmentalists of all political persuasions. And it's not dripping blood but black, toxic oil. That's because despite campaign promises to the contrary, President Obama is now announcing that he will allow for oil drilling offshore from the pristine Florida beaches as well as others along the East coast. And additional drilling off the coast of Alaska--America's last wild frontier.

Et Tu, Barack? If you don't think this is a big deal then travel to the gulf coast off Louisiana and see the eye sores that are the line of oil pipes and rigs doting the coast line. Would you want to go to the beach in Florida to see the ocean only to have it scarred by oil platforms? And that's not even taking into account the oil spills that are likely to come with time that wreck havoc on the fishing industry and the ecology of marine life. Opening up these new regions to drill for oil is like handing a needle to a heroin addict.

We are addicted to oil and it will continue to cause wars, destroy the environment, pollute the atmosphere, which in turns damages our health. We need to go into rehab and get clean. The technology for a green energy plan is there but the political will is another story. The oil and natural gas lobby has oceans of money and have infested t.v. advertising with propaganda that oil and natural gas is essential to our modern way of life. This is a bald face lie, however but with their slick "family friendly" commercials I can see why people buy into this notion that oil companies are our friends.

I am seriously disappointed with the president on this one. It appears that he's doing this to try and get support from Republicans but they aren't slapping him on the back. They are still criticizing him regardless saying it doesn't go far enough. I expected the president to make monumental changes on green energy to get us off oil. I agree that oil will most likely be needed in a small amount for our military but other than that we should be moving toward weening us off oil--not doubling down. But the best defense against what Obama is now doing is from---OBAMA HIMSELF!!

~The Green Man has Spoken~

PHOTO CREDIT: Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images