Lt. Gov’s Discount Fare
If you could be any animal, what would it be? There are completely defensible answers ranging from a pampered house cat, to a wild mustang, to a dolphin or a raven. But there is only one answer to this: If you could be any restaurant in Alaska, what would it be? The answer to THAT, my friend, is Denny’s in Fairbanks. Any other answer is just plain wrong. You may remember that particular venue as the location for the infamous “Denny’s trial” of Schaeffer Cox fame – not to be confused with the Open Carry Day at Carl’s Junior. Schaeffer…
GOP Civil War: State Edition
The most fascinating political fight in the land isn’t between Republicans and Democrats, but within the Republican Party. And it’s full-on war. The RINOs are being exposed for what they are: big government, corporate welfare hypocrites who don’t support the party platform and who will compromise any moral code to accomplish their aims. Thus fumed the GOP’s 2010 (and possible 2014) US Senate candidate Joe Miller on his blog recently. You can skip the following section if you’re from Alaska. ********************************************************************************************************* Forthwith, the Lower 48 Cliff’s Notes on Joe Miller’s view of the Republican Party. His wing of the party…
Crowdsourcing Success
Banking is based on the principle that the more you have, the more you can get. But we reversed the basic principle of banking, saying that if you have absolutely nothing, you are our most prominent client. – Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank. In the 1970’s, a newly independent nation was in the grips of economic and institutional crisis. An economist returned to his native country and became an Economics Professor in Bangladesh. He witnessed rampant poverty and desperation, and noted cruel private lending conditions. Two-thirds of the world’s population is deprived of services available from financial institutions, and bankers told…
Open Thread – INM Rally
IDLE NO MORE RALLY & GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION Friday • January 11 • 12 PM Noon Anchorage Town Square
Big Oil, Big Ketchup & The Assassination of Hugo Chavez
By Greg Palast for Truthout Venezuelan President Chavez once asked me why the US elite wanted to kill him. My dear Hugo: It’s the oil. And it’s the Koch Brothers – and it’s the ketchup. Reverend Pat Robertson said, “Hugo Chavez thinks we’re trying to assassinate him. I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.” It was 2005 and Robertson was channeling the frustration of George Bush’s State Department. Despite Bush’s providing intelligence, funds and even a note of congratulations to the crew who kidnapped Chavez (we’ll get there), Hugo remained in office, reelected and…
“North to the Future,” Indeed
Young people who aspire to—and make the requisite grades for—being a doctor or attorney tend not to be poorly performing students. To the contrary, these tend to be ambitious, achievement oriented pupils. So what does it say about a state which forces them to leave in order to pursue their goals? The phrase “mother of all brain drains” may cross your mind at this point. And yet, that’s precisely the situation in which Alaska finds itself as one of only six states without a medical school and the only state without a law school. Much lip service is paid to…
Militia Leader Cox Gets 25 Years
“Well, this proves one thing. Schaeffer Cox can still draw a crowd.” Reporter Michael Carey made the observation while sitting next to me on a wooden bench in the lobby outside Courtroom 2 in the federal courthouse in Anchorage this morning. It’s true. At the end of the day, Cox will be sentenced to 25 years, 10 months in prison, and his new lawyer will reveal the results of a recent psychological evaluation that diagnoses him for the first time as a paranoid schizophrenic, with paranoid personality disorder, and delusional personality disorder. But as the day begins, the courtroom is…
Shell: The Reckoning
Like any large corporation these days, Shell is making use of social media to spin its damage control about the Kulluk grounding. Whether the company’s aren’t-we-swell message is getting traction is open to debate. More important than getting an earful on its Facebook page is the legal/legislative reckoning the company is about to face. US Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), the United States Coast Guard, the Department of the Interior, and the US House of Representatives are all launching investigations into the matter. Phil Munger over at Progressive Alaska has a nice overview of each of these inquiries. Given the PR…
Alaska-Sized Perspective
Here in Alaska, we always get calls from concerned relatives when they hear about tsunami warnings, or earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions in Alaska. And if we had relatives in Delaware when a natural even such as those occurred, you can bet we’d be on the blower in a flat second to find out if they were alright. But, here’s something to put all your Alaskan news into a little perspective. These maps pop up on Facebook every now and then, but I still find them fascinating. Even living here, you tend to lose perspective sometimes. So, if Alaska were superimposed…
Shell’s Uninhabited Island Has A Story
By Kelsey Gobroski New Year’s Eve 2012, a Shell Oil drilling rig crashed off the shore of an uninhabited island near Kodiak. The landing site lit up on the media radar. The actual setting of the wreck was overshadowed by the fears, aspirations and politics surrounding the drilling rig. To peer into the background of these images, past the drilling rig and the news updates, “uninhabited” does not do the island justice — Sitkalidak Island has played its part in history. The island retired from public eye nearly 50 years ago, but has weathered every major boom and bust in…