Boots on the Ground – Torture Judge Comes to Anchorage
~Ruth Sheridan and Tom Macchia By Ruth Sheridan, Alaskans for Peace and Justice On Thursday, May 5, three activists from Alaskans for Peace and Justice were in the Federal Courtroom in Anchorage where a panel of three judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals were holding hearings. One of those three judges was Jay Bybee, author of the “Bybee Memo” aka “the torture memo.” When the session ended at about 10:30 and before the judges left the room, we stood up. One person held a banner reading – Impeach Bybee War Criminal and said “Remember the torture memos!” …
Wisconsin Republican Party Election Fraud Exposed: Breaking.
By Patrick DePula As if the Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice “recount” isn’t a big enough mess, It appears that the Wisconsin GOP has been engaged in widespread fraud surrounding their attempts to recall democratic senators. Inexplicably, the Republican Party of Wisconsin had relied heavily on people they hired from out of state to collect signatures against democrats, even paying to house these folks in hotel rooms. In all cases, they paid by the signature. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? The decision to pay out of state people when there are plenty of unemployed folks that reside in…
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell Endangers Children’s Health for Political Posturing
Alaska is a land of extremes, both good and bad. We have the most coastline, the most islands, the best fishing, the most park land, and I can confidently say the most natural wild beauty of any state in the nation. On the flip side, we have the most earthquakes, the most infant botulism, the most alcoholism, the most mosquitoes, and the worst rate of chlamydia of any state. We’re second in the nation for gonorrhea. ~Chlamydia The state has been first or second in reported rates of chlamydia every year since 2000, state public health officials said. Alaska’s rate…
Say it Ain’t So, Joe! Co-Author of Leaked Palin Book Speaks Out
By Ken Morris, co-author of Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years Mudflats Friends: When I first appeared on Jeanne’s ground-breaking pages well over one year ago, I wrote about participating in the eBay auction to buy a meal with Sarah Palin to benefit a worthy veterans’ charity. A short time later, after losing that auction to what looked like a rigged bid, I then offered through Mudflats an additional $200,000 to that charity if Sarah would answer civil question over a second meal, on the record, with the likes or Jeanne, Rachel Maddow, Shannyn Moore, and Keith Olbermann. While…
Boots on the Ground – Scott Walker Cuts the Cheese
Wisconsin’s Walker Cuts the Cheese A most powerful stench sponsored by Koch Industries, et al. By ‘Anonymous Cheesehead’ On Friday, February 11 an e-mail from Governor Scott was sent to me and 382,780* State of Wisconsin employees outlining Walker’s plan to address the state’s “very serious and undeniable financial challenges” including how Wisconsin “face[s] of budget deficit of $136.7 million” in the current fiscal year. (*Full and part-time employee data retrieved from the US Census Bureau.) Despite Wisconsin Club for Growth’s TV and radio ads depicting state employees as having an unfair advantage and gliding through the recession without sacrifice,…
Alaska Dispatch Addresses Copyright of Leaked Palin Book
The news organization that broke the story about the unauthorized distribution of the draft manuscript of Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin – A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years has issued a statement. After being contacted by Bonfante Steinbeck, the legal firm representing authors Ken Morris, Frank Bailey and Jeanne Devon regarding use of their copyrighted material, they responded: The editors of the Alaska Dispatch respect intellectual property rights. They strongly support the rights of authors, including your clients, to exploit their copyrights so that writers and their publishers have the necessary incentive to invest time and energy to produce works…
Oyster Roundup! Fake Palin, Heckling Cheney & Dirty Valentines
Greetings from CPAC! Former Vice President Dick Cheney got a heck of a greeting at CPAC, the yearly Conservative Political Action Conference where conservatives of all stripes come together to wallow in varying degrees of narrow-mindedness, religious zeal, military might, fiscal conservatism, and social backwardness. There are usually some internal squabbles about things like LGBT rights, and how they do or don’t fit into the conservative platform. But back to Cheney’s greeting. It was spirited and passionate, but not what the former Veep expected. When Rumsfeld’s name was announced, and he took the stage to accept the conferences “Defenders of…
EPA to Review Proposed Pebble Mine Project. Thanks, Feds! (we think…)
“We don’t need no stinkin’ feds telling us what to do!” Ah, the mantra of the 49th state. It’s true that there are many great points to support local governance. Communities themselves are often the best at determining what the needs of their residents are – especially in areas that don’t fit the “norm” of the country. In towns with no indoor plumbing, fuel at more than $10 a gallon, and communities where schools can be hundreds of miles apart, it’s understandable that Alaskans find it difficult sometimes to “go with the flow” and let those bureaucrats in DC legislate…
Coffey Stains Anchorage City Plan
It was a little before Mudflats’ time as a blog, but Anchorage residents may remember the best piece of political theater since… OK, it was the best ever. It all had to do with a conversation between Assembly members Dan Coffey, and Bill Starr when we all got to eavesdrop on – how shall I put this – their “coarse language,” a scheme to force the Anchorage Police Department to approve a shooting range in Eagle River, and some illegal fund raising activities by a certain Mr. Dan Coffey. Alaskans fondly refer to this telephone call as “the butt dial.” …