NO MORE LIES
1002 facts vs. the propoganda of greed and corruption.
On the evening of November 2, 2005, the PBS news hour with Jim Lehrer featured a Gwen Ifill segment dealing with the arctic drilling debate. Embedded within the preface of that segment was the presentation of the greatest lie passed as matter of fact: "2000 acres" is a lie. The subsequent dialog was so misleading, so greatly in error of fact that I cannot be certain whether or not this was a deliberate and orchestrated attempt to deceive the public, or just a pathetic representation of how blind the human being becomes when afflicted with the sickness of greed.

The fact that PBS presented at least one picture (an aerial shot of snow covered tundra) , titled "ANWR- wasteland", that was provided by Arctic Power, a private lobby group (in support of opening the refuge) that receives funding from the State of Alaska, I question the extent their influence colored the entire presentation.

Sen. Ted Stevens said ".... I defy anyone to say that that is a beautiful place that has to be preserved for the future."

Well, I am anyone, my name is Arthur Cooke Smith III. I defy the senator: I state with the conviction of my life that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is beautiful; not to preserve this last 5% of undeveloped arctic coastal plain is an affront to the core of human decency. Yes, we need oil. Yes, we need to continue exploration. But the human species also requires the space that reminds us that we are only human.

'The race of modern man stands on the threshold of a time and place that here-to-for no human species has ever confronted. There are no places left to discover, no newly found lands to accommodate the historical movements that define the history of man on earth; the frontier is gone, the earth is settled. The need for discovery, the need for challenge, the freedom to relocate and resettle, to begin anew unbounded by the domination of oppression: this is who we are. The only remaining spaces that afford the human race the challenge of a frontier lost, are our protected wilderness regions. The loss of wilderness will speak to an end of man's ability to embrace this innate aspect of our being. To live in denial of who we are, to live in a state of total disconnect from the terms of life that support us: one only needs look to the emergence of "subhumans" as the tell, the dismal future to come. In denial of truth, overcome with the blindness of greed, the subhuman condition can and will legitimize any and all so far as it achieves the goals spurrned of greed. My case in point is this very Arctic National Wildlife Refuge debate. Those persons so wholly disconnected, so blinded, are those that seek the compromise of this arctic region. By the very process of deductive reasoning, a force that seeks to destroy a thing, can in no way be a force that respects or supports a thing. One can argue caribou and tundra till eternity passes but a certain fact remains: when the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge yields to exploration, construction, drilling, gravel roads, pipelines, drill pads, truck traffic, offshore facilities, housing, motels, warehouses, repair shops, oil company buildings and relate infrastructure, air pollution, ground pollution, water pollution and sound pollution: what once existed as a wilderness refuge for the animal known as man, will be forever lost." © copyright 2005 Arthur C. Smith III "Divine of the Maddening"

SEN. TED STEVENS: "This is the area in wintertime. And I defy anyone to say that that is a beautiful place that has to be preserved for the future. It is a barren wasteland, frozen wasteland and no caribou there during that period of time at all."
Polar Bear sow and cub - within 1002
"The porcupine caribou herd uses the coastal plain for only six to eight weeks. This is what it looks like in the summertime. With one well drilled, there's a six-foot pipe sticking up, the rest of it is just constant, constant, constant tundra, no trees, no beauty at all."
Actual 1002 tundra- look closer, See below ....
Central Arctic Herd- in 1002 area 11 to 12 weeks of the arctic summer
..... closer look at the tundra.
Ptarmigan nest with eggs Rock Ptarmigan - female
Rock Ptarmigan - Male Least Sandpiper
Long Tailed Jaeger at nest Oldsquaw - male
Lapland Longspur - male Lapland Longspur - female
Dunlin Rock Ptarmigan on 1002 tundra
Red Fox Arctic Ground Squirrel
This is but a small sampling of life in the 1002. As time permits, more documentation will be posted but the theme should be self evident: the 1002 region of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is true wilderness, a wilderness of dimension and scope such that no national park, no "designated wilderness area", no region of any North American space rivals the state of being that exists within the arctic refuge. To actually live within this refuge, to experience the full cycle of life that occurs, one may easily conclude, as have I, that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not a refuge, it is an "Eden": a last remaining Eden for the refuge of mankind.
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