Open Thread – Porcupine
One of Alaska’s most under-rated members of the animal kingdom – the humble porcupine. Hard to hug, but easy to love.
Open Thread – Shark!
No, The Mudflats hasn’t “jumped the shark.” This picture was taken on a street in Puerto Rico after Irene passed through. Another good reason not to go swimming after a hurricane. Sending good thoughts to all Mudflatters on the east coast. Stay safe. UPDATE: OK, we were wrong. Mudflats DID jump the shark. Turns out this “too good to be true” photo was (wait for it) too good to be true. Behold the miracle of Photoshop! We’ll give it an A for effort and believability, and ourselves a less flattering grade for not checking. Hope all are weathering the storm.
Ocean Acidification – The Other CO2 Problem
By Jim Thrall The public is generally aware of climate change, or, as it is more commonly known, global warming. Despite the efforts of the climate deniers, largely funded by the oil, gas, coal and auto lobbies, rational and informed members of the public understand that the major cause of climate change is our continual addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere, through the use of fossil fuels to power our industrial society. As discussed below this increase in CO2 has two separate effects on the earth that we should be concerned about. One is climate change the other…
Parnell and Pebble Try to Silence Alaskans
I will argue with people about voting. More vehemently if they don’t vote than if they vote for someone different than me. No, candidates aren’t all the same, and it’s a form of freeloading if you don’t vote. If democracy were a religion, voting would be the sacrament. Alaskans have an amazing record of being forward-thinking on who could vote. In 1912, a Tlingit, Charlie Jones, voted in Wrangell. He was assisted by Tillie Paul Tamarre, and they were both arrested. A federal court granted Alaska Natives the right to vote in territorial elections and the charges were dropped. It…
Ben Stevens – the One that Got Away
An Open Letter from Wickersham’s Conscience to Attorney General John Burns about Ben Stevens, former State Senate President and son of the late Senator Ted Stevens. August 11, 2011 John J. Burns, Attorney General Department of Law PO Box 110300 Juneau, AK 99811 Re: Ben Stevens Dear Attorney General Burns: The Anchorage Daily News reports today that Ben Stevens will not be subject to federal prosecution. Based on the federal prosecutors’ track record in Operation Polar Pen has been pretty pitiful. But just because the Feds have abandoned their claims against Ben Stevens doesn’t mean the State of Alaska has to let him…
Fuglvog Pleads Guilty to Falsifying Fish Records – Heads for Canada
For background on this story, read The Mudflats’ previous post HERE. What better way to spend a sunny summer morning in Anchorage, than to attend a nice arraignment in the Federal Courthouse. Today’s defendant is the man who is quickly becoming known as Alaska’s most infamous fish crook – Senator Lisa Murkowski’s top fisheries adviser, Arne Fuglvog. There were about a dozen observers in the courtroom, mostly media, and Fishermen’s News Magazine was hooked up via telephone. No electronics are permitted in the court room, so you’ll have to rely on the drama and accuracy of my courtroom sketch. I think…
State of Alaska Supports Pebble Partnership’s Attempt to Silence Alaskans
~The original Captain Zero Before I go off on some rant about how my forefathers fought the British to birth a country that could VOTE, and how siding with the British to take away the right of Americans to vote should be called treason, I’ll take a deep breath and explain a few things. Since one has been filed on your behalf, Alaska, you may want to know what an amicus brief is. Commonly known as a “friend of the court” brief. An amicus brief provides individuals or organizations (such as government agencies or disability organizations) without a direct stake…
Mystery Goo Identified! Sort of…
For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath regarding the mysterious orange slime that washed up on the shores of the remote Northwestern Coast village of Kivalina, Alaska, the algae experts have spoken. It’s not algae. This is why we need such folk, ready to analyze and evaluate on a moment’s notice. It turns out that the mystery goo is actually zillions of microscopic eggs. What kind of eggs? Nobody knows. They’ve never been seen before, and nobody has any clue what they are, or what affect they may have on local flora and fauna, or what…
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….
What’s it all about…. Algae?
~Chinese children swim along the algae-filled coastline of Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province on July 17, 2011. (STR – AFP/Getty Images) So, last week I was captivated by a story out of China. Apparently for the fourth time in as many years, China has an algae problem. I read about the new and mysterious “green blob” of algae, but the pictures of it were truly stunning. The blob, it seems, has covered more than7400 square miles and has blanketed China’s east coast. The algae itself is not toxic, but depletes the water of oxygen, endangering marine life, fisheries and…