Dust Biter

Wow, so another dream team wet-dream bites the dust! It was only a matter of time before somebody realized that the Knik Bridge Authority was wasting money at an alarming rate of no return on an investment. 5-years later, no bridge, and 42-million wasted away. And the bail-out has begun, with the Authority’s executives. I guess it is time to find another lucrative ordeal. Where did all that money go too? Most likely to pay the salaries of the appointed BFBBLAT. It means Buddy F%^&#* Best Buddy Licks Ass Too! What I mean is money to those appointed to waste money. Can you imagine what all those millions could have done, like maybe used to build that fish hatchery at Ship Creek instead of that lousy surcharge upon my sport fishing license. Or provide decent pavement for the roads. Anyway, it is just another “pie in the sky” project busted, so just add this failure to the already crowded list of “pork” gone rotten it sounded good. This state thinks just because it is a youngster state with respect to statehood years that it has the privilege to do things wrong. The money waste, because so much payola was floating around since oil started flowing, instigated the Corrupt Bastards’ Club. This corruption infiltrated government and bled over to the private sector. There exist people out there with brain-child ideas that have only one reasonable explanation, to steal away more money in the form of research and projects that would never see a bank’s stamp of approval, or for that matter an SBA approval. And that is why many failed projects here in Alaska over the years relied on “grants” instead of “loans”. As the latter must be paid back wherein a “grant” basically tells one to “pass Go and collect what you don’t really deserve”. The Pork Kings – Ted & Don – they were instrumental in devising this “grant” thing. It is basically free money – stolen away from the taxpayers – and regurgitated for political favorship and friendship. Hey, “money can’t buy me love”, but it can buy a crook a crook! So it doesn’t always go to ethical individuals. Anyhow, lets rekindle the failure list. First came the Alpetco project in Valdez, the state lost millions in revenue. Somebody got that money? Then there was the Delta Barley project, somebody got that money! Then there was Autogenisis, still don’t know if that ever amounted to anything but a highway robbery. Our money did buy a building, which was sold for a profit and we didn’t see any of that profit. Then there was the research to study the penis size of the male Mux Oxen! There is the Don Young wood chip facility over at Point McKenzie, which hasn’t seem an export barge in over 5-years! There is the Kodiak Launch Facility, which costs millions each year to maintain and is yet to launch a private rocket into space. Without Uncle Sam, it would be mothballed and one day it will be a glorious day, as having a high tech project in the middle of nowhere is like a bridge to nowhere. There is the “blueberry” kick upon us, when there are not enough blueberries around so we must “import” the berries to keep this project afloat. What about the fishing boat “buyback”? All the money wasted over the past 30-years, and the villages still have to contend with the “Honey Bucket”. What a freak show we see when one starts to look at the wasted money that had no purpose except to line – silver line – the pockets of friends and acquaintances. When all the time there existed worthwhile projects that were scorned upon, because the proposal didn’t have the right connections. Let us name but a few for a lesson in history. There was the early on interest in a Turnagain Arm wind turbine project. The money lords laughed as back then natural gas was cheap, so was electricity, until Ben Stevens joined the board of directors of Enstar. There was the C-sep project that would have turned the natural gas liquids coming down the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline into electricity. There was the power turbine project that would arrest the momentum of the oil flowing down Thompson’s Pass into, more electricity! And then there was the excess steam power project in Valdez, for yet more cheap electricity. There existed so many good projects, but the good stuff didn’t have that political ball and chain associated with it, so this state lost out. It all boils down to this. We have no forward looking representation. The only thing they look forward too is ripping off the system, either as a representative or paving the way for a lobbying job – thus the creation of the Corrupt Bastard mentality. Anyway, we cannot look back on those projects that were not given a chance, projects that were more then just dreams, but forward thinking in efforts to place this state at the forefront of entrepreneurialship. For some of the “good” and worthwhile projects, it is too late for resurrection, as economics has changed. But we all know that there will again come projects of waste, as that is what this state is accustomed too. Had the good projects been allowed to come to fruition, it would have sparked a sustainable infrastructure, as success breeds success. With failure, it will be yet another ridiculous “pork” fed project followed by a bailout. For this state, it seems failure breeds failure! Just like we see happening today with the Knik Bridge Authority. But I guess, as some see it their way, as long as it provides a great and inflated salary, that is the rule of this land. Alaska, once the “Last Frontier”, now and forever the “Corrupt Bastard” state.

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