Globe & Mail by Jeffrey Jones.  Imperial Oil Ltd. told regulators the estimated cost of its long-delayed Mackenzie Valley Project has surged more than 40 per cent to at least $20-billion since its last tally almost seven years ago, and that it has no idea when North American gas markets might turn around to rescue the project from limbo.  (See our related commentary)

In Tomorrow's Commentary, We will Bring Readers Our Historic Gas Pipeline Christmas Commentary: "All I Want For Christmas"

Remembering Bill Tobin and The Anchorage Times At Christmas

Bill Tobin, Anchorage Times, Dave Harbour PhotoOn Christmas eve, we remember how our friend, Bill Tobin (NGP Photo), used to include this Christmas Tree every year on the Anchorage Times editorial page, courtesy of Publisher Bob Atwood.  We appreciate the editors of the the Anchorage Daily Planet for carrying on the tradition and reprint Bill's Christmas Tree below as a tribute to our great Alaska predecessors and as a commitment to honor and propagate their pioneering spirit.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Editor's note: Each Christmas over the years, veteran Alaska newsman Bill Tobin offered his own Christmas tree to readers. In his memory, we offer it today:

 

On 

This Eve 

Of Christmas, 

We Once Again 

Decorate A Little 

Tree To Say Thanks To 

All Of You Who have Blessed 

Us With Your Friendship Over 

More years Than We Care To Count. 

And 

As These 

Have Unfolded, 

More And More We 

Have Come To Realize 

That The World Is Filled 

More By Goodness Than It 

Is By Evil, And That A Smile 

Goes Much Farther Than A Frown. 

We Are 

Reminded That 

It's Better To Light 

One Little Candle Than 

It Is To Curse The Darkness, 

And That Mostly Has Been The 

Mission Of This Little Corner Of The 

Times For All These Years That We Have 

Been Enriched By The Opportunity To Be 

With Faithful Readers, Week After Week. 

And 

At Almost 

Every Christmas 

We Have Offered Here 

The Holy Prayer Of St. Francis 

Of Assisi, And With Joy We Do So 

Again, In Hopes It Reflects Simple Ways 

We Each Could Help Build A Better World: 

Lord 

Make Me 

An Instrument Of 

Your Peace. Where There 

Is Hatred, Let Me Sow Love; 

Where There Is Injury, Pardon; 

Where There Is Doubt, Faith; Where 

There Is Despair, Hope; Where There Is 

Darkness, Light; And Where There Is Sadness, 

Joy. 

O Divine 

Master, Grant 

That I May Not So 

Much Seek To Be Consoled 

As To Console; To Be Understood 

As To Understand; To Be Loved As To 

Love; For It Is In Giving That We Receive; 

It Is In Pardoning That We Are Pardoned, And 

 It Is In Dying That 

We Are Born 

To Eternal 

Life. 

                                                                                 – William J. Tobin

Anchorage Daily Planet Editorial: We can highly recommend a recent editorial in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner to provide a clear explanation of the difference between Alaska’s old, failed tax system – Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share – and the new reform that tax-and-spend advocates are pushing to get rid of without even understanding what they are trying to do.