Open Thread – Hidden Alaska
A stunning visual story of a place of wonder and mystique for every American, this book features what is legendary and beloved about Alaska, a land of magnificent wilderness and beauty, virtually untouched by human ambition. It also focuses on the key point of interest in the state today: endangered Bristol Bay, which faces potential mining of the world’s greatest deposits of copper and gold. Its pristine waters are the worlds’ biggest salmon spawning grounds. If the gold is mined, the ecosystem is destroyed —but the impoverished locals have work for the next half-century. After that, the salmon and the mines are gone. Melford, paired with noted environmental storyteller David Atcheson, addresses the dilemma by bowling us over with the beauty and importance of the place for all time. Underwritten by the Renewable Resources Coalition, the book will be distributed among its more than 5,000 members.
This amazing book will be available February 15, and you can pre-order it HERE.
Thanks bubbles it did lighten my day or I guess evening would be better.
Those were some unexpected answers but funny!! Thanks Bubbles for the link!! I signed the petition!!
gotta go now to read a book but here is something to make you laugh and lighten up your hearts:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/family-feud-funny-response_n_820822.html
Rep. Anthony Weiner: Congressman from New York
“Yesterday, 75 of my House colleagues sent a letter to Justice Thomas calling on him to recuse himself from deliberations related to health care. Now I need your help to show Justice Thomas that we won’t accept a biased Supreme Court.
Tell Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from any cases regarding the constitutionality of the health care reform law. Go to ConflictedClarenceThomas.com and co-sign our letter.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-anthony-weiner/conflicted-clarence-thoma_b_821444.html
done. thank you Scout. i was pleased to sign it.
Happy to sign the petition, Scout. Thanks for making us aware.
signed the petition this morning(mainland time). Arizona Senator Kyl is retiring. And the world continues to turn,the worms are twisting all over the place.
Speculation! Perhaps Palin will make AZ her home and run for the vacated office? I mean Sarah – not Bristol. Can you imagine even thinking of them ‘both’ in that scenario – which is based on the recent coverage showing Bristol interested in following her Mom in politics. Amazing – just amazing!
Done.
Love me some Anthony Weiner! We need more like him to stand up to the idiots in Congress (and the Supreme Court) and call them out.
My goodness, Mubarak spews as much word salad as Palin. Too bad he won’t step down after all.
If anybody knows how to contact Shadow’s Heart could you please direct her to this message? Thank you in advance.
Dear Shadows Heart
I hope you read this. I may have a solution for your housing needs and you can keep your dogs/cats. Please email me at bananas at 200 westmain dot com (no spaces) putting mudflats in the subject line and let’s see if we can work something out.
Dear West. if Shadow is not around today and misses your post you can try to get in touch through AKM. we are a bit worried about Shadow and i am thrilled that you may be able to help her.
here is AKM”s email address. thank you so much:
“AKMuckraker .” ,
She was on the forum a minute ago but disappeared before I sould send her a PM.
i sent her an email Irishgirl. perhaps you can PM her just in case.
gee whiz i thought i posted the email correctly:
[email protected]
Contact was made, a reply was emailed. Thank you so much for your help, I don’t like the idea of someone having to give up their pets and become homeless. I have an empty house.
i love you!!!! an empty house and a full and loving heart. you are a treasure. thank you .
(((Waay Out West)))
Waay Out West you are the best. I have different sets of people living with me now because of this recession.They needed a place to stay.
Saw this headline on our local gay news site :
BREAKING NEWS – Racy photo of Congressman via Craig ‘s List ends brutal reign in Egypt
ha!
Hey leenie – are you sick of seeing Chris Lee’s nekkid self yet ?
The real Christopher Lee is one of the top box office. etc. male actors of all time! He is descended from Charlemagne and even produced and put out a cd about Charlemagne.
Scary vampire, too!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000489/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee
I didn’t know that about descending from Charlemagne. Added intrigue to an already interesting character. He always scared the bejeebers out of me.
An interesting Chris Lee movie is “The Body & The Whip.” Bought the dvd for $1-2.
Think you can watch the whole movie in parts on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnikPuOojwk
really? for real? i wonder how he found out about Charlemagne being his ancestor? that’s way cool. i have always loved the Roman general and statesman Sulla. now THAT was a dictator who knew how to get money from the greedy ultra rich then get rid of them. permanently.
i would love to be his descendant!!!
From what I understand, most people descended from western Europeans are in fact descendants of Charlemaigne. He lived in an era when most people didn’t survive long and didn’t successfully reproduce. He and his progeny were healthy, bred copiously, and lived long.
…and another one bites the dust.
Yeah, those family values – aren’t they great? Why is it that conservative politicians are often the first (of course, not the only) ones to fall because they do not practice what they preach?
It’s that darn Republican motto: “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Gets ’em into trouble every time!
“Hey leenie – are you sick of seeing Chris Lee’s nekkid self yet ?”
Oh boy…Y E S S S S ! ! ! Especially in that cheesy pose…puh-leeeeze!
Well, don’t blame me…I didn’t vote for him, the little Chippendale wanna-be. Sheesh!
I know his district extends in your direction…are you one of the lucky ones also, too, or did you narrowly escape?
Whoops…..I forgot to say, it is the idiots birthday tomorrow. 🙂
What a nice present Gryphen has given her, too! Ah, nothing like turning 48 and having poop to scoop up.
Agreed.
Or even 47 🙂
Yes, sorry, 47. Just that her age is showing more I guess.
Yeah, Happy Birthday Sister Sarah!
happy birfday dear Twink. happy birfday to yooooooou!
Fifty-four jewelers have pledged not to use gold from the proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay, organizers claim.
The mine, a project of Anglo American, a shareholder in De Beers, and Northern Dynasty Minerals, would be the largest open-pit mine in North America. It has not yet received formal approval.
Jewelers pledge to boycott Pebble Mine production:
http://www.jckonline.com/2011/02/10/54-jewelers-join-anti-mine-boycott
Anti-mine campaigners claim it will generate up to 10 billion tons of toxic waste that would be disposed in the Bristol Bay watershed, a major source of wild salmon. But mine’s proponents argue it will bring jobs and economic growth to the area.
Among the jewelers who have joined the campaign: Zale, Helzberg, John Hardy, and Tiffany.
“Jostens recognizes that Alaska’s Bristol Bay Watershed is an ecosystem of national and international significance and,” said Richard Stoebe, communications director of Jostens, a prominent class ring company.
Isn’t that great – thank major jewelers are joining the boycott. I’ve been signing petitions like crazy these past few months. Nice to see all the work people have done in this regard paying off! Hit that mining company in the wallet and it might just back off.
Hope this movement spread worldwide, otherwise Pebble Mine will just shop around for manufacturers and retailers who will handle its “product.” Keep signing those petitions, folks, it seems to be working.
After all the information about blood diamonds, I imagine the jewelers don’t want to make things any worse for themselves. But I am very happy to hear that they are joining the fight against the destruction of this beautiful area.
yay!!
Look at that photograph! Wouldn’t a topic like this have made a wonderful subject for some cable station to do a mini-series on? Like maybe . . .I don’t know, the Learning Channel, or the Discovery Channel?
yes. yes it would.
BIG NEWS! IM has just released an interview with Shailey Tripp! You have to hear this!
Just did and it’s a doozy!!
hot damn!!!
Mercy Maude!
That made me laugh. 🙂
Just wow! Does anyone see any loopholes that could be a problem? Fingers crossed here
Twink Palin IS a loophole. she will just say that Shailey Tripp is a liar and move on. Tawd will say Shailey Tripp is delusional and move on.
meanwhile what will happen to the sweet little baby we know as Trig? after all if Twink is absolutely found to have lied about this baby’s birth she will not need him any more and will ( as sociopaths are wont to do) blame him for the fallout. his life won’t be worth living as she throws him under the bus and backs up that bus over his poor little body. i am serious here. i wouldn’t trust that woman to raise a tomato plant never mind a special needs child.
I am sure that by the time this story gets out, she will have come up with a tear-jerker of a tale about why she felt she had to conceal (lie about) the fact that she ‘d adopted this precious little guy to save his life from a (never-to-be-named) mother who wanted to abort him. Or something like that.
And her groupies will love her even more for it.
If I had a weird mind, I’d say both babies are the children of the eldest daughter. It is not unheard of for a woman to become pregnant again within weeks of giving birth, nor of a baby being born before or after its ‘due date.’
If I had a weird mind, I’d say the first child was adopted by the grandparents to keep ‘shame’ from visiting upon the family, but when the second pregnancy happened, there was no getting around the fact that the unwed teen was, indeed, engaging in premarital ess-ee-ex and there was, indeed and again, ‘proof in the pudding’…no getting around it, especially on a national stage.
Now, you understand that that’s just if I had a weird mind… beth.
–Sorry, AKM – just had to go there, what with the far-reaching implications of the Shailey story, and all. Either Shailey (and her family for the next 30-generations) is going to have the ever-lovin’ britches sued off of her, or there is going to have to be some mighty big ‘splanations coming from the $P camp. Either way… b.
She’s being aaaaaaaaaaawfully quiet – no tweets since 28 Feb (Sputnik and SpudNuts).
Something has gotten to her. Something she feels allows her to still go out and talk to select (paid) admirers, but not to the general public at large. She’s all over Rick Santorum –in a paid speech– for a perceived slight (in her inimitable, predictable middle-school mean girl way) but not a peep of indignation or denial about Shailey’s interview/statements.
Zippo about a story that could bring *everything* to a crashing halt *OR* could make her even more of a martyr/hero in the eyes of her ‘bots and the GOP/T-party if it is (as she *isn’t* saying!) a case of Shailey being full of chit and a liar. Odd, that. Extremely odd. beth.
Beth, if the Shailey story is true I don’t see how she can make herself out to be a martyr. She has told too many lies about the circumstances surrounding his birth and her feelings about abortion. She made money from this at speeches. She used that little guy for political purposes and that is very obvious.
The bots might accept it….but I really hope they will wake up. The GOP is dumping her big time.
Shailey says she has documentation. We’ll have to wait and see.
Beth i do have a weird mind at times. here’s what i think. i once knew a woman who had two sons. she said they were fraternal twins. one child was born several months after the first (something like 3 months. when i met the twins they were already men. both very handsome except that the first born was clearly of African descent as was the mother. the other twin had beautiful cognac colored eyes but blond hair and clearly of caucasian descent. it seems that nature sometimes will allow an already pregnant woman to conceive again. just a thought.
Sounds like both Gryph and Ms. Tripp both have already secured attorneys regarding this matter…sounds too like things were OK’d as to what he could release today…sounds like there is more to come. Remember, we have never seen a birth certificate on the little guy, even when Palin was asked for it while on the campaign trail w/McCain.
Tomatoes have feelings!
LOL.
Is there a link? Google has just failed me.
Never mind–I found it!
What is IM? Can’t find anything except gossipy articles on google. Why did Bristol name her kid Tripp???? Strange that.
Lovely picture!
While I don’t agree with the author, I find this op ed most interesting.
What do you think? Is most art created by liberals? Is this some sort of conspiracy? Why don’t conservatives make art? The comments were good, too. Intelligent and added to the conversation. And that’s what true debate is about, right? Having a conversation about ideas.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0209/Conservative-argument-is-no-match-for-liberal-art
Why don’t conservatives send their offspring to conservative arts colleges and quit griping about all the Liberal professors at liberal arts schools? They whine because they like to. Surely they can get a viable,valuable conservative education from Glen Beck Uni or Falwell’s Liberty School of lifelong Learning. There are choices and they don’t want to make the c hoices. They want their gov’t to tell them what to think. I have spoken and it is so.(not really) Hope you have a really swell day.BTW- You have to be a godless commie to be creative.
Well, most artists are poor- look at history. The French Quarter was full of artists who knew little success in their lifetimes. Their works are now collected by the wealthy and museums. What banker or otherwise rich parent is going to encourage their child to become a musician, dancer, actor or artist? There is no guarantee of income there. Artists usually have another job to support their art. Their art is often not even recognized as art in their time. Artists are revolutionaries and express themselves in unfamiliar ways. A majority of the wealthy are republicans and make their money investing in someone else’s ideas, and sometimes off the work of the poor. The creation of new art is not in the realm of the rich and republicans.
I can see a “republican art school” copying the popular existing art styles and exploiting them to the masses. Something safe. Certainly not one that teaches the artist to express himself. Critical?- I guess this sounds so.
If you agree with the notion that, often, “One picture worth ten thousand words,” then conservatives aren’t good at art, because it exposes their “argument” for the hollow authoritarian rationalizations it all to often is.
Art isn’t rational. But we grasp it immediately. Art exposes. Any time it’s co-opted to produce some sort of authoritarian power worship or propaganda, the shallowness of its subject is immediately exposed for all to see and immediately comprehend.
As an example, YouTube.
What I have found is that people who are creative have an open minded approach to everything. They are willing to see the point of view of others, explore ideas from unique approaches. They are willing to try new things, things that haven’t been tried or try things in new ways. Conservatives, imo, tend to be set in one view of the world and are unwilling to expand their view point. You can’t be creative if you don’t explore new things. The conservatives might produce more art, but it’s likely it will look the same. They lack the imagination to create. And they really don’t seem to care about creativity.
My local news is announcing that Mubarek has agreed to step down . Details are coming in.
That’s may be the good news. The bad news is the the new VP Suleiman may be worse.
How come it’s 30 degrees in Anchorage right now and it’s 6 below zero (temperature, not wind chill) in Chicago? That’s not fair!
Fair is defined in my Websters as “according to the rules”. If the weather is the rule, sorry, but that’s “fair”. Most times, when I hear someone complain that “that’s not fair”, they mean they want it to be unfair in their favor. Sorry, Chicago, life IS fair.
Not Fair! I want it my way! Now!
Wow, Carol and Baker’s. It was a thow away line. Take it easy.
aaahhhh!!!!! the little girl from Willie Wonka….who wanted everything right now….
Bad news from Ireland today. A plane has crashed while trying to land at Cork airport killing six people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12415541
Oh, that is terrible, Irishgirl. I’m so sorry to hear this. 🙁
I’m so sorry to hear this. My thoughts go out to them and their families.
Any time the news reports a plane crashes, trains derail, ferries sink, or cars crash, I cringe and send thoughts to the survivors and the families and friends of those lost, but particularly planes.
That it mostly seems to happen just as the plane is at its destination or taking off, unnerves me. There is so much anticipation involved, so much a sense of “we’re/they’re here” involved. It seems more intimate somehow when planes crash at or near airports. The tragedy is somehow intensified.
It may be why we always, always wait until our daughter’s plane has safely taken off and can no longer be seen even as a speck in the sky before we think of leaving the airport (also in case her flight gets delayed or canceled before take-off, but you know what I mean). Until I know she is totally beyond our sense of territory where we could reach out to protect or comfort her, I never rest. Okay, as a mom, I never totally rest on that account, but . . . .
Point is, plane crashes just seem more personal to me. My sympathies to all. It is obvious it touched you in a similar way, Irishgirl or you wouldn’t have posted something about it. Peace be with you and those within the ripples of this tragedy.
How sad. I am sorry.
AKM, this is what happened to one of the most beautiful rivers in Kentucky because of mountain top removal mining.
http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/kentucky/water.php
I think mountain top removal mining is one of the most disgusting techniques ever invented to retrieve coal. I wish we would invest in alternative energy rather than perpetuate polluting, exploitative techniques such as this or unsafe deep mining. We have the intelligence available, we just need the will and commitment to find other paths to follow. Thanks for the link, jimzmum.
May this book and its message touch thousands of readers who will be moved to ensure that natural wonders such as Bristol Bay are protected.
Why can’t politicians understand that employment for those impoverished inhabitants be generated through alternate projects – sustainable, environmental-friendly work? Is no decision maker capable of imaginative vision? Tax dollars could stimulate and help underwrite long-term work that could transform the lives of people living and visiting there in positive ways for generations.
I am so tired of the short-term, quick-fix, get-ours-while-we-can-the-future-generations-be-damned mentality that seems to dominate our political and business landscape right now.
Thank you, AKM, for championing voices such as those in this book and guest posts (as well as your own). You are reaching people who might never have given a thought to the consequences of “business” decisions that are destroying the natural beauty and heritage of the land upon which we depend.
Grandma Shorty, of blessed memory, described her favourite color as “sky-blue-pink.”
This lovely photo captures the color and the tone for me.
Many thanks for bringing Grandma Shorty near and dear to me this morning; she’s just the medicine I need now.
L’Shalom,
thatcrowwoman
Hope you are finally feeling better, now. You’re not having a relapse are you or is it just that the nasty-whatever-it-was is taking longer to recover from that you first thought. I know it took us several weeks to regain our vim and vigor. Stay well, crowwoman, stay well. You are needed.
– and appreciated. 🙂
Joining with ks re: continued healing!
Me too, crowwoman, take good care!
Joining with ks and j’smum in sending continued healing wishes, tcw! Have to chuckle at your Grandmother’s “sky blue pinK”…in our home, it was (is) “sky blue pink, the color of a leek.” Oddly enough, all in our family seem to know exactly what that color is! Hugs at you, tcw, for triggering such a warm memory. beth.
*sigh*
We’re writing about the order you placed on January 27 2011. Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below has changed, and we need to provide you with a new delivery estimate based on the new release date:
Joe McGinniss “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin”
Estimated arrival date: September 20 2011
We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this delay.
What is it with books about her? Can no one get a danged book finished on time anymore?
Thank you for the information about this book. Will order it today!
Gosh, I wish the publisher or McGinnis would explain the reasons for the delays. I fear that the continual pushing-back of the publication date will kill the buzz about the book and undermine its sales.
Why not just prepare another book to quickly follow if new information is available – unless this book is being revised and watered down.
Thanks for the notice! As for the delay, it could be Mr. McGinniss has SO MUCH info to relate it’s hard for him to get it all down, or the lawyers need more time to fact check it.
Or there are negotiations to buy or sell or merge the publishing company.
After all the publisher gets more money if they sell more books, so I doubt they wanted to possibly lose the buzz. Which I sincerely hope will be gone by this time next year.
IMO the best time to release a book about the Neanderthal Princess would be right after she announces she is running for office. It also seems that everytime some piece of damning info seems to be breaking that it can’t be sourced. Sarah must have some of those knuckle, dragging Neanderthals doing backup for her.
To think she kisses her children – only when the press is around, of course – with that mouth.
I suspect both McGinniss and Dunne are adding more to the books (?).
Well I hope Nat Geo didn’t include Sarah-bear the grifter queen.
I took more moments than I’d like to admit trying to figure out who Nat Geo is .
coffee !!
Uh, Oh, Shirley Tripp is doing interviews and has a blog. See IM.
Just listened to it. Wow….