Cut to the Chase!
Since it’s spring in some parts of the world, this one seemed appropriate. Hope this helps get you through the final day until the weekend! Be happy, Mudpups!
SB21 Repeal Referendum Certified!
After taking the maximum allowable time under the law (go figure), Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell certified the application for a referendum petition filed last week by Vote Yes – Repeal the Giveaway, a grassroots Alaskan group formed to challenge the controversial new law known as Senate Bill 21. The certification allows a signature drive to move forward to put this oil wealth giveaway to a vote of the people in 2014. The group is now waiting for petition booklets from the state. SB 21 dramatically lowers Alaskans’ oil income, transferring billions of dollars from resource owners to multinational oil companies. It…
Congratulations, Conoco.
ConocoPhillips Alaska profits outpace Lower 48, Canada, Latin America, and Europe – Combined Senator Bill Wielechowski (D – Anchorage) applauded ConocoPhillips on another quarter in which profits from Alaska operations exceeded a half of a billion dollars. “After spending three months in Juneau listening to complaints about the competitive disadvantage of doing business in Alaska, public records once again indicate near record profits from Alaska operations,” said Senator Wielechowski. ConocoPhillips financial statements released today indicate 1st quarter profits in Alaska of $543 million. Adjusted earnings in Alaska exceeded those in the Lower 48, Canada, Latin America, and Europe combined….
Bill Walker to Run for Governor
Republican Bill Walker announced today that he is making another run for governor of Alaska in 2014. Known for his founding and continuing role in the Backbone Group, Walker has advocated strongly for an all-Alaska natural gas pipeline, and a fair and reasonable tax on oil development in the state. Backbone has held rallies across Alaska and has been vocal in its disapproval of current Governor Sean Parnell’s plan, supported by the majority of Republicans in the legislature, which would give billions in no-strings-attached money to oil companies. Former mayor of Valdez, Walker made an unsuccessful attempt to secure the…
Palin Denied Lemonade Lawsuit Fees
Some of you are about to have a flashback. What will cause this flashback? Three words: Piper’s lemonade stand. I realize that most of you are still here, but some of you were just transported back to the post-election days of 2009. I’m not doing this just to have fun yanking you around (although that was kind of fun). This is actually relevant to a little piece of news that developed yesterday. A federal judge on Wednesday ruled against Sarah Palin, denying her request to be compensated for more than $22,000 in attorney fees she spent in a case against…
You Can Do This
You can do this. I promise. The week is almost half over. By lunch time, it’ll be all down hill! In the meantime, this guy will help you make it. Even though he appears not to be a motivational tool, exactly the opposite is true. Science proves it! —-> CLICK
Stories We Missed
Between the news from Boston, Watertown and Texas the 24 hour news media seemed to be like a pig in… well you know what. MSNBC, FOX, CNN all seemed unable to cover anything else other than the two big stories – they threw their entire media machine at them. Meanwhile, stories that would normally be headline news went by the wayside – and weren’t even talked about. While I could never pretend to have caught all the really important ones here’s a bunch of the news stories that we at TheMudflats thought were really important and deserve a second shot…
An Unorthodox Tribute to the Bard
It is Shakespeare’s birthday. Or pretty close. It’s also the day of his death in 1616. At this point, it’s probably all been said. Tributes quote his greatest works, praise his incredible abilities, note his human foibles. Conspiracy theorists wonder if Shakespeare really wrote his plays at all. They’ve been translated, dissected, studied, performed, and admired for hundreds of years, and in every major living language on Earth. So, in searching for some novel way to tip our feathered hat to the Bard, we came up with this video clip which seems especially poignant since the actual body of Richard…
Oyster Roundup – Shame Fail, Salmon Fail & More
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Some news nibbles. Eat ’em raw. Pro-Salmon Petition Denied The Commissioner of Fish & Game has rejected a petition signed by more than 6,000 Alaskans asking for a law that would prohibit coal mining activities that destroy salmon streams, because right now, that doesn’t exist. Commissioner Cora Campbell says that her department could already do that, if they felt like it. In Upper Cook Inlet, PacRim Coal is currently submitting permit applications that would create the state’s largest coal strip mine. “PacRim’s plan would set a historic…
The Good We Can Do
Media saturation and outrage fatigue. That’s the kind of week it’s been. There were so many stories — from all over the country and world in such terrible detail. There seemed nothing to do but watch as horror after horror unfolded. When was the last time I heard “Breaking: Good News?” As summer draws near, we watched the U.S. Senate — including both of our senators — fail the victims of past and future gun massacres. On Patriot’s Day blood spilled on the streets of Boston, limbs lost, lives lost. We saw a deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in…