11/6 Signature Submission!
After months of amazing and sustained effort, the Recall Lindsey Holmes crew is delivering the necessary signatures to the Division of Elections tomorrow. Rep. Holmes is the one who pulled that audacious D—->R switcheroo right after the 2012 election, shifting the balance of power in the Alaska State House and giving the big political bird to everyone who worked to get her elected, and donated money to her campaign. Join in at 10 AM TOMORROW at the corner of Northern Lights and Wisconsin to wave signs, and make a ruckus. The media will be there, and the dedicated Recall crew…
Parnell Hides Medicaid Study
Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska. We all know that. But there’s a big community here that often gets overlooked. It encompasses 10,000 more people than the populations of either Fairbanks or Juneau. It has 36,000 more people than Homer. Eighty times the population of Aniak. And who populates this would-be second-largest community in Alaska? The 41,500 uninsured Alaskans who would benefit from a state expansion of Medicaid. Contrary to a popular stereotype, these are not people who loaf and live on the dole. For the most part, they are men and women who work hard for not…
A New Age of Aurora Viewing
Back in 2002, I was only three years into being what I considered to be a serious nature photographer. What was that dividing line, you may ask? There were two things that happened that helped me to understand I was getting more serious. One was beginning to truly understand how light affected film, and the other was switching from color negative film to color slide film. I had only been living in Alaska for three years in 2002, and the experience was overwhelming. So many new sights, new places to explore and photograph, new friends, new work obligations, and a relationship that was…
BREAKING: Conoco Rakes in Your Money
ConocoPhillips makes a lot of money. This seems like an obvious statement, but its one that Governor Sean Parnell, and his oily ilk in the Alaska legislature are hoping you and everyone you know will forget when it comes time to vote on the repeal of SB21. So they run around with their hair on fire yelling things like “Incentivize production!” and “It’s complicated!” and tell us that if we don’t start sobbing and throwing cash at the big 3 oil producers, and if we repeal SB21, well… they’re going to leave us for someone else like Libya or North…
Greed ‘n Guns – a Very Palin Christmas
The reason we are launching ourselves a couple pages ahead on the calendar to talk about Christmas, is to celebrate one of those very special holiday events – an event that has only happened twice before, and of which this blog has felt compelled to comment. That’s right kiddos, our former ex-half-governor has written another “book.” She’s figured out that politics is kinda hard, so her books have gone from fantabiography, to fantahistory, and now to that despised and maligned holiday that’s about to go the way of the dodo because of liberals and communists, and “politically correct Scrooges,” and…
Three Dans Too Many
An invitation! We got an invitation! And it’s pink and blue and calligraphied all fancy-like! Are Mayor Dan Sullivan and Bill and Michelle Bittner going to have a baby? Are Dan Coffey and his wife Pauline going to get married again? No, wait. It’s an “announcement of great importance to the future of Anchorage.” Wow. Hold on just a second… We’re getting a Red Lobster? Alas, no to all of the above. Instead, Dan Coffey, the former Assemblyman and Sullivan minion/mancrush, has decided to run for Mayor. Not really that surprising. You may recall Dan Coffey is the…
The Great GOP Cannibal War of 2013: News from the Front
I return to you breathless, stumbling into camp, clutching a piece of paper. Think of me as your scout, bringing the latest dispatch from the front. I report to you from the Great Cannibal War of 2013-2014, which some of you may know as the Alaska GOP Senate race. General Joe Miller’s’ forces are all in line. They’re hanging around, polishing their buttons, steam ironing their Snake Flags, and running a lint roller over their three-cornered hats. But the other side, the “moderate” side is in disarray. What could have been an easy primary battle, has turned into what the…
Alaskans Call Out Bully Governor
About 80 people gathered in the spirit of righteous indignation today outside the Anchorage office of Governor Sean Parnell. Protesters called on Parnell to drop the administrations campaign to recoup legal fees from a lawsuit involving the proposed Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay. He’s demanding a million dollars from 88-year old Vic Fischer, an original framer of the Alaska Constitution, and 80-year old former First Lady of Alaska, and others. The stalwart bunch fought the state and sued unsuccessfully for the public’s right to know about exploration work at the mine site. And if you’re wondering about the answer…
Militia Documentary Off Target?
There has been a little flurry in the news about an upcoming documentary in the works featuring Schaeffer Cox, and the Alaska Peacemakers Militia. The film about “Plan 241” is spearheaded by filmmaker Joshua Ligouri, but any reporting on it so far has been brief and peripheral. Let’s take a closer look. Here is the “sizzle reel” for the proposed film. Schaeffer Cox To some, Schaeffer Cox is a domestic terrorist, who conspired with members of his Alaska Peacemakers Militia to murder employees of the federal government including a judge, and amassed an arsenal of illegal weapons he’d use to…
Parnell Tells Jewell, “Call my people.”
Alaska Governor Sean Parnell has earned himself a reputation for not being very assertive, a bit of a pushover if you will. Typically, this criticism comes from the governor’s own party. Even Alaska’s lone Congressman has referred to him as a “zero” on more than one occasion. That, coupled with the fact that it is totally en vogue to bash every facet of the federal government, might explain Governor Parnell’s latest bout of nastygrams sent to federal agencies. Last week, the day prior to the end of the federal government shutdown, Governor Parnell sent Interior Secretary Sally Jewell a letter. The…