Oyster Roundup!
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more!
Chuitna Coal Comment Period Extended
The comment period for the petition to make the Chuit River and its tributaries declared unsuitable for coal strip mining has been extended! That means if you had all the best intentions of emailing and saying, “I think it’s a really bad idea to dig up 11 miles of productive salmon stream for your crappy coal mine” and just didn’t get around to it, you have another chance! The new deadline is tomorrow, February 2, at 5pm so click HERE and jot down a couple lines. The form even gets you started. If the Department of Natural Resources says it’s okay to mine here, they can do it anywhere. Please voice your opinion.
There is also going to be another public hearing in the village of Tyonek, tomorrow. The village is closed without prior permission to enter, but it’s a great thing that the people who have been living in the area for thousands of years will have the opportunity to make their voices heard on the record.
Though Not Dead
A big congratulations to one of our favorite Mudflatters, New York Times best-selling author Dana Stabenow! Fans of Dana’s will be happy to know that this is publication day of Though Not Dead, the 18th Kate Shugak novel! The festivities kick off at 7pm this evening at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona. There will be a live webcast if you can’t make it in person. For those living in points north, here is her schedule of appearances:
February 2, Seattle, Third Place Books, 7pm
February 4, Juneau, Juneau Public Library, 7pm
February 5, Anchorage, Loussac Public Library, 3pm
February 6, Fairbanks, Wien Public Library, 2pm
And as you know, there is a television series in the works which will bring all Dana’s characters to life for a wider audience, and it will be filmed in Alaska!
Well, how about that. Here we thought that after dropping the election integrity ball at the one yard line, he had walked off into the sunset. But look who I found in my in-box today – It’s Joe Miller! And the thing that struck me is not what he had to say on the face, but the seeming “strategery” if you will, of how he said it. Remember how he was all about hating Lisa Murkowski, and she was the worst thing EVER, a disgrace to the party, a spoiled daddy’s girl? Well, he seems to have softened a bit in his regard for Senator Murkowski, which is counter-intuitive because if anything, Murkowski has tilted a bit to the left since her election.
But check out this blurb on the SeaAlaska Lands Bill. It’s a complicated bill, and we’ll leave the dissection of it for another time, but check this part out (my emphasis added):
APRN recently reported that the Sealaska Lands Bill will be proposed again in the 112th Congress. SB 881, sponsored by Senator Murkowski in the last Congress (Rep. Young sponsored the House companion), was widely criticized as being a special interest boondoggle. It was one of the defining issues in the US Senate Republican primary election last August, and primary winner Joe Miller today expressed concern that the issues raised by critics of the bill may not be addressed. While Senator Murkowski has expressed a willingness to go back to the drawing board, Representative Don Young appears impervious to the fomenting discontent in Southeast Alaska over the legislation. Alaska’s lone representative in the United States House has said he plans to introduce the bill again in its original version in spite of the controversy.
“It is encouraging that Senator Murkowski has agreed take another look at those portions of the bill that have stirred up so much controversy,” said Miller. “Certainly everyone will not be happy with the final product, but hopefully most of the issues can be addressed. However, I am very concerned with the fact that Rep. Young apparently hasn’t been listening. I hope he will follow Senator Murkowski’s lead and take all of the interests of the region under advisement before putting his bill forward.”
Our heads cock to the side like a puppy who has heard a strange noise. Murkowski = encouraging. Young = concerned. If we check our political decoder ring, what this means is that our friend Mr. Miller seems to be taking a shot across the bow of the 20-term Republican congressman for all Alaskans who voted for him. Interesting. Rumors have been bubbling about a primary challenge to ol’ Yon Dung, and if there’s one thing Mr. Miller can put on his resume it’s an unlikely primary win. Stay tuned…
Here’s a little good news about the proposed Pebble Mine project slated to happen at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The Alaska Dispatch reports on a new survey showing that 51.2 percent of registered voters oppose the mine – 35% responding that they “stronly opposed.” Here’s the part that really made me happy.
“Interestingly, Alaskans support for or opposition to the Pebble Mine is not defined by whether they are ‘pro-environment’ or ‘pro-development’ as over 90 percent of registered voters believe you can support development and still oppose this mine,” said Marc Hellenthal, president of the survey firm.
Of those surveyed, 66.5 percent believe the mine is a serious or somewhat serious threat to Bristol Bay’s salmon, he said.
Nearly 60 percent of those responding believe Alaskans cannot trust the mining industry when they say the mine and salmon fishing in Bristol Bay can co-exist. Respondents also voiced a lack of trust in the state’s ability to protect salmon, and over half of the respondents think the mine permitting process should be independently reviewed, he said.
It sounds like the right message is getting out and that Alaskans understand the issue is important, and completely non-partisan. But, with more than a trillion dollars of minerals in the ground, expect an onslaught of marketing and ads telling you the exact opposite of what you know to be true. There is still much work to be done.
If there’s one thing we love here at the Mudflats as much as we love a good political brouhaha, it’s the wonderful creatures that keep our blood pressure down, and give us unconditional love through all the craziness of life. So, I thought I’d share this little opportunity with you all, in case you are moved to share the love of your life with a wider audience. The ASPCA is holding a photo/essay contest in honor of your four-legged friends of the canine and feline variety.
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the 2011 “My Furry Valentine” Photo Contest in honor of all of your puppy (and kitty) loves. Send us your best shot of that special furry someone—whether a childhood pet or your current “objet d’affection”—the one who opens your heart not just on February 14, but every single day of the year.
Send us your gushing love story (in 100 words or less) and a prize-winning pic of your four-legged amor for a chance to win. Furry, finned or feathered—all companion animals can compete. Please submit your photo and story to PhotoContest@ASPCA.org.
The top five winners—selected by ASPCA staff members—will receive an ASPCA Prize Pack, and winning photos will be featured on our blog, where you’ll also find the contest’s rules. But hurry—the deadline for submissions is midnight EST on February 12!
Not only do we have to worry about the loss of salmon and other fish, and toxic waste, due to the possible Pebble Mine and Chuitna Mine, now Alaskans need to be educated about the affects of a possible dam on the Susitna River….look at the loss the dams caused to the salmon and other fish on the Columbia River; and they are starting to take down dams because of not only loss of the salmon migrating up stream to spawn, but the loss of the juvenile salmon trying to get back out to sea.
I’ll be writing this week to my legislators as they are discussing the Governor’s bill to help finance a dam on the Susitna for electricity. Won’t we ever learn from history?
Please look at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susitna_River
There are other sources for electricity, then building a dam on one of our most productive salmon rivers.
Thanks, E, I didn’t know about this plan (but I’m sure to get a petition to sign from international rivers, and will do so). One would think that Alaska would be at the forefront of clean energy from wind, tidal, and geothermal. That is, if the government in Alaska were as sane as its constituents, at least as far as those represented here at the mudflats. I can dream, can’t I?
Wow, I read your link. Sounds like sport fishing heaven.
Breaking news!!! Janet Napolitano is a secret Muslim!!!
Yes, I’m totally serious. Well, I’M not totally serious about this revelation because I’m not a freakin’ loon, but ultra conservative Frank Gaffney is convinced that Sharia law has infiltrated the very highest levels of our government. Besides Secretary Napolitano, apparently President Obama’s chief counterterrorism advisor John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper are also doing the bidding of what he terms “stealth jihadists”.
I’m SO glad that he shared this information because it seems that NO ONE ELSE in the ENTIRE WORLD knows about it besides him. Whew, it must be a terrible burden to be the only living human(?) to know such dangerous information!
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/01/gaffney-muslim-brotherhood/
(And WHY would any organization actually pay this crazy person to speak???)
And who would listen to him? I’ll tell you who — the folks who share ‘information’ with each other like: “Obama Tells Muslims, ‘Let Us Help You Finance Terror'” http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/video/video/show?id=2734278%3AVideo%3A253829&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video
Once you’ve got these folks scared and riled up enough, they’ll make comments like:
“Of course obozo is willing to aid terrorism because in his twisted mind he wants to be the world leader. REMEMBER is statement in Germany during his prepaid election, ” I am a citizen of the world “,meaning I will do anything to be the supreme ruler over all. May God have mercy on us for letting such an evil person get control of the gift GOD gave us – this country with as a Republic via the Constitution. .” (copied and pasted…verbatim — from the comments section for the video)
and,
“Yes, Obama is the first …but not just black elected to the White House. He is the first foreigner elected , the first Marxist elected and the first Muslim elected. So nothing this usurper does surprises me. He is the most anti American individual ever to occupy the White House. Our Founding Fathers were worried about this type of tragedy happening and that is why they put in place the requirements for running for the Office of President of the United States. Now, it looks like Hawaii is going to help him in his re-election scam by creating a false Birth Certificate since they can’t find the original…. that never existed. We must convince as many of our fellow Americans as possible to not vote for this usurper in 2012. Don’t fall for the scam again …our Country can’t survive 4 more years of this. .” (also copied and pasted…verbatim from same)
The folks who run the site (Constitutional Emergency / Patriots for America) daily feed their members a diet full of the type of ‘information’ seen in the above link/video and include for their member’s edification, Gaffney’s ‘investigative’ insight just about as often as those insights are published. They can’t get enough Gaffney!
I don’t know which is greater: my sadness that these folks are so susceptible to believing the wholly false, or my utter dismay that they also vote. beth.
I looked up Marxism to see what it said about religion, didn’t find much in the cursory look I did but the Wikipedia said that KARL Marx and FREDRICK Engels were married? To each other? Surely I misread that. anyone have any other information or where I could look.
I was looking to see that Marxism and Islam were not compatible,
Funny you should mention Dana Stabenow tonight. I stopped off in the library on the way home from work this afternoon to stock up on some new books just in case I am snowed in tomorrow (I hope our sup’t does NOT subject my little kiddos to a foot+ of snow and zero visibility tomorrow, but he’s been in a peeing contest with the teachers and the parents so he just might!). I meandered down the St- aisle, hoping against hope that there just might be a Stabenow book I had not yet read. Sadly, I had gone through every title there so I guess I’ll just have to wait until they get the newest one in.
Can’t wait… 🙂
I’m going to see her Sunday in Fairbanks, see if she remembers me. We went to First grade together. I remember her because of her hair. Doubt I was that memorable.
I hope the meeting in Tyonek is a raging success, and hope one of the attendees gives us a boots-on-the-ground report. NO pebble mine; NO Chuitna mine. NO more I-me-mine.
As far as the “unlikely primary win” that Joe Miller experienced, wasn’t his “unlikely win” supported by independent and undeclared voters that held their noses and voted for him in the primary so that the favorite Democratic candidate might have a chance in the general election?
I’m still a little mad about this philandering in the last primary.
Winds have blown down my 6′ by 7′ wooden fences in my backyard. Tomorrow will bring a new face to my poor backyard. Told my tenants who have a small dog .
50 mph winds or more. News is wrong where I live, winds are sooo strong. My 100 yr.old brick 2-flat is shuddering. I’m not looking forward to sleep tonight or tomorrow morning.
Joe Miller is not as the predictable bad guy that some of us thought, as is also the case with many others. Though I really didn’t care for him, I was surprised from time to time that his thinking was a little more out of the box (at least the box I would have put him in). Recall, for example, his refusal to jump on the P for Pres bandwagon.
oh good! a new Kate Shugak novel. excellent.
I sent msg to the crappy coal mine trying to hurt the salmon. Thanks for the link.
“Impervious to the fomenting discontent”
Did Miller talk that way when he was concerned with courting teabaggers?
Methinks he doth protest too much!
Just noticed the weather thing on the sidebar. It is 30 in Anchorage and 6 here. with 15 below windchill. Not fair. We also, too, have way too much snow and blowing snow and I feel like I am in the middle of a snow globe. And Mercede is posing for Playboy. Think I will go eat my way out of depression.
Soup, soup and more soup. HOT chicken soup sprinkled with chile peppers.
Put some Cinnamon in your coffee while it’s brewing. Good for what ails ya, and also, too, tasty! :X
Nasty weather here, too. Ice storm on the way, after a day of snow, sleet, freezing rain and ice fog. Niiiice.
Golly, it looks like Joe Miller is $arah Palin with dangly bits – although he might actually try to do something besides sit on the sidelines and whine. However, I’m surprised he would try for elective office again, until I remember GWB got 8 years and Louisiana keeps electing Vitter.
Not to mention the continued use of Diebold voting machines.
What is Scott doing between now and November 2012???