Murkowski Votes Against Jobs, Deficit Reduction, Veterans, Teachers, and Taxing Millionaires. (Rally!)
The Constitution. We’ve seen it wrapped around buses, misspelled on Tea Party signs, hailed and praised by the “back to basics” Republicans who tell us that if we just went back to the wisdom of the founding fathers, life would be good again. It’s been waved like the flag, held up like holy writ, and revered as the greatest document ever written. Yes, the right loves them some Constitution – unless of course it means that they don’t get their way. It’s kind of like the Bible. Just don’t pay attention to all that healing the sick, and taking…
Vitamin Democracy – Save the Internet
Howdy, Mudflatters! Ready for your dose of Vitamin Democracy? This is where you get to feel important and participatory, and do things that members of free societies get to do – bug your representatives. We don’t ask you to bug them often, or unless it’s really important. This is one of those times. See the little guy with the ‘D’ and the hammer? That’s you. The scary looking green thing is the anti free speech force that wants to tell you how you can use the internet. And your job today is to whack that SOB right on the top…
Arrrrgh. Begich says, “Sink the Pirate Ship!”
Saving Alaska from pirates – it’s the sort of thing I’ll bet those adventuresome souls who join the Coast Guard dream about when they sign on the dotted line. If I’m right, then it was a good day for the crew of the Coast Guard vessel Munro, based out of Kodiak. They seized a pirate fishing vessel on the high seas about 2600 miles southwest of Kodiak, that was full of 30 tons of illegal squid, sharks, and 10 miles of drift net. High seas driftnetting has been illegal since the 1990s because of the indiscriminate netting and deaths of…
Oyster Roundup – Theft, Shakedown, Hot Sauce and More…
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! [The Walrus and the Carptenter, Lewis Carroll] A half dozen on the half shell. Slurp ’em up! (Links in the titles) Rick Perry, Evangelical Economist Rick Perry thinks that God crashed the economy on purpose to teach us a lesson and return us to Biblical principles. I think that God inflicted Texas with Rick Perry for not allowing gay marriage. Rembrandt Returns! I have conflicting feelings about art theft. While I understand more the impulse and obsession to own great art, rather than simply a desire for…
Senator Makes Controversial Appearance at Anchorage Hilton
There are two large hotels in Anchorage that are currently under boycott for mistreatment of workers – the Anchorage Sheraton and the Anchorage Hilton. On Tuesday, August 9, The Mudflats reported that three community leaders were expelled from the office of the General Manager of the Sheraton when they came to express the concerns of the community regarding the hotel’s labor practices. And Friday, The Hilton was the site for the latest event in a long history of protesting and picketing. That day, Senator Mark Begich was slated to address the Building Owners and Management Association (BOMA), and would have…
Something’s Fishy in Senator Murkowski’s Office
In the light of Anthony Weiner resigning over a personal problem affecting his professional life, it would seem that someone actually guilty of a professional misdeed affecting her professional life might be called to account. If Mark Begich had been faced with the situation Lisa Murkowski was faced with this week, we’d likely hear the monkeys howling for his resignation. It’s not uncommon for me to get an email or phone call from someone punctuated with “Have I got a story for you!” December 2008 was no different. I was resting up after a particularly busy and historic election year….
EPA v. Polluters – Senators Begich & Murkowski on the Wrong Side
Alaskans have a (how shall I put this) prickly relationship with the EPA for the most part. You can live most anywhere in the lower 48, and chances are you’ve never had to personally interact with the EPA and don’t know anyone who has. You live in your house, you do your thing, and the only time it comes up is when you hear the Tea Party talk about how all them damn regulations keep mucking things up and killing business and jobs. But in Alaska, the EPA and its involvement in development both big and small seems to…
Oyster Roundup – Shuck ’em!
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Grab your metaphorical cocktail sauce and belly up to the oyster bar for some tasty news nuggets from Alaska and beyond… Bigfoot Goes to Ketchikan? Stop the presses! Mysterious shaggy grey ape-like creature almost clearly spotted through foliage and almost conclusively captured on shaky video by breathless videographer! Is it or isn’t it? You can watch the video yourself and make the call. This is the first time a Bigfoot has been spotted in Ketchikan, and only the 22nd such sighting in Alaska. And frankly, I think…