“One Anchorage” Takes the Case for LGBT Rights to the People
Last week, an organization called Equality Works launched the One Anchorage Campaign for a ballot initiative to be voted on by Anchorage residents in the Spring 2012 Municipal Election. The initiative would add sexual orientation and transgender identity to the Municipality’s Equal Rights Code. Per the Press Release from Equality Works: One Anchorage Files Initiative Application for Legal Protections The One Anchorage campaign filed an application this morning with the Anchorage Municipal Clerk’s Office to place an initiative on the April 2012 ballot asking voters to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Alaskans in the same legal protections already…
Fill the Boot, and Boot the Mayor
Driving down Northern Lights Boulevard yesterday, through the heart of our municipality on a lovely Friday afternoon, I saw something that made me do a double-take. I saw… the enemy. Not MY enemy, mind you, but the declared enemy of our city’s mayor, Dan Sullivan. Second only to homeless people, the mayor has it in for this sinister duo of panhandling grifters. I speak, of course of… (scary organ chord)… firefighters, and sick children. (blood curdling scream) Mayor Sullivan, and several members of the Anchorage Assembly did their darndest last year to quash the most profitable fundraiser for the Muscular…
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…
Mayor Sullivan’s Appointees Don’t Want to Let the School District Spend Their Own Money
On August 3rd, there was a regular meeting of the Municipality Budget Advisory Commission. (You remember, this is the commission that used to be two — the Budget Advisory Commission and the School Budget Advisory Commission. However, when the word “school” made people think twice about the appointment of one of the Mayor’s LGBT-hating wing-nutter friends, he just combined the commissions.) Anyway, this was the first meeting with two of their newest mayoral appointees: — The most-recently-appointed Amy Demboski, who has worked most of her career in dental offices, was appointed by Sean Parnell to The Commission on Judicial Conduct,…
Treatment of Anchorage Community Leaders and Workers by the Sheraton is No Joke
It sounds like the beginning of a joke: A priest, an African American woman and a “union thug” walk in to the Sheraton… But, in reality, it’s no joke at all for the hard working hotel workers in Anchorage. First, a little background. Currently, two hotels in Anchorage are under boycott – The Anchorage Hilton and The Anchorage Sheraton. The simple reason is that their treatment of employees leaves a lot to be desired. There have even been huge rallies and demonstrations from the labor community, and concerned citizens from many areas in the community on behalf of these workers…
The Hinky Dans are at it again…
Let’s take a little test from the verbal section of the Anchorage SATs. Smoke is to fire, as skullduggery is to: A) Sleeping kittens B) Mayor Dan Sullivan C) Ex-Assemblyman and current Henchman Dan Coffey D) Both B and C. (I push my spectacles down to the end of my nose, examining your answer.) Well done! D is the correct answer. A gold star for you. I’m glad you weren’t thrown off by the image of the sleeping kitten. I wasn’t trying to trick you. Actually I just did it because I like you and I wanted to spare you…
My Spiritual Experience at an Anchorage Assembly Meeting (video fixed)
(Shay Kelly and Shane Patrick of Project 50/50) By Linda Kellen Biegel When I left for the Anchorage Assembly Meeting Tuesday night, there were certain things I already knew to expect: — Mayor Sullivan wanted the ordinance that (among other things) banned sitting/reclining on the sidewalk pulled from the agenda and sent back to a committee to be “fixed” (Translation: Mayor Sullivan was getting pounded in the press and in public opinion and just wanted it to stop) — Debbie Ossiander and/or the Mayor made it clear to the media that public testimony on the Ordinance would still be open…
Sensing Impending Doom, Mayor Sullivan Pulls the Sidewalk Ordinance
Yes, you can still fight City Hall! The latest news from Rosemary Shinohara at the Anchorage Daily News is that Mayor Dan Sullivan has requested a “postponement” of consideration on the new sidewalk etiquette ordinance: The administration asked that it be referred to the city’s Public Safety Commission, said Ossiander. A public hearing on the matter will still be held at today’s Assembly meeting as advertised, said Ossiander. But the hearing will remain open until the measure comes back to the Assembly later for a decision, she said. For those who need a recap… Mr. John Martin, a homeless man,…
Freedom of Speech (that doesn’t offend Dan Sullivan)
By Shannyn Moore My sister and I were doing homework and talking about a boy in our junior high school. We were laughing about the dirty high-water pants he seemed to wear every single day. I looked up to see a tight-faced Pop. I was confused until he said, “There was a time I only had one pair of pants. Do you think he wears them every day because he has a choice? You don’t have to remind him he’s poor; he knows.” I managed a “Sorry, Pop,” and went to my room. I closed the door, sat on…
Mayor Sullivan Seeks to Illegalize His Own Embarrassment
By Jeanne Devon And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me. Matthew 25:40 If that old Biblical saying holds true, it’s safe to say that Mayor Dan Sullivan would have created a law just for Jesus that would have banned him from protesting Jerusalem’s treatment of the poor and downtrodden. And it would have arrested Jesus, those downtrodden in the image above, or anyone else who dared to sit on the sidewalk. Anchorage…