At least there is some honesty in these remarks from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Opinion Page.  Alaska politicians, both Republican and Democratic,  push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge no matter the cost to the environment and wildlife  because drilling in Alaska benefits Alaskans.  That Iowa politicians like King, Latham and Grassley support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which brings no benefit to Iowa, raises many questions.  So far lower gas prices have not stopped the Drill, Baby Drill crowd from giving away our best places.  Robert Redford was able to bring plans to lease drilling  tracts next to Arches, Cannyonlands and under homes in Moab to  public attention and helped stop these leases from being sold.  Letters to editors and members of Congress help inform.   Phyllis Mains

Thanksgiving Op-ed from Alaska:

 

Alaskans might have some contradictory impulses when pausing to give thanks today. The traditional supplication might go something like this: “Thank you, God, for the falling oil prices. And please, God, raise oil prices.”

Phenomenal returns from the oil patch this year brought riches to the state government, banished talk of pay cuts or layoffs in the public sector, backed up big checks to individual Alaskans and supplied the money for a public works blitz.

The same prices brought true hardship to people who don’t benefit much from the above list yet still must cover bizarre run-ups in the cost of heating oil, gasoline and electricity. The increases have been devastating to those individuals who, every day, leave poorly insulated homes for long drives to low-paying jobs. The effects have been worse for those who have no jobs and sit at home listening to their furnaces firing.

The fortunes of most of us fall somewhere in between the two extremes. We each experience benefits and costs differently. Whether it all balances out depends on where you sit.

As the proverbial two-edged sword swings wildly through our state, it’s hard to know when to duck and when to jump up and cheer.

Thanksgiving Day, though, is reserved, if not for cheering, then for quiet reflection on the positive side of our lives — the gifts we receive every day from those around us and from the greater spiritual and physical universe in which we exist.