GOP Lineup Goes Byzantine
The shakeup in the Alaska GOP continues. Our three party system (Dems, Republicans, and Tea Partiers) is going “byzantine,” according to the Alaska Ear. Yes, it’s inside baseball, but that’s really the only baseball that counts. The powerful finance committee is where bills go to live or die, and it seems like a couple of entrenched GOPpers find themselves on the outside looking in – or potentially so. Bill Thomas (R) who was assumed to be a fixture in said committee, finds himself suddenly in a race for relevancy with the awesome, out-of-nowhere Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins. Their race, as you…
Parnell – Time to End the Hypocrisy
Earlier this month, Governor Giveaway asked for disaster relief funds from the federal government to help Alaskans. This week he refused to set up a state-run health care exchange, which would have helped tens of thousands of Alaskans buy insurance cheaper on the free market by pooling together. That’ll teach the federal government! It reminds me of when I was a teenager. I wanted to go out with my friends. It was a Friday night, and I was 17. “Be home at 10,” Pop said. “What? 10?! Are you kidding me?” “OK, 9:30.” “But Pop!” “9 is fine.” “That doesn’t…
Oyster Roundup!
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Here’s your news on the half-shell for this week. Belly up to the oyster bar! Busting a Move Elizabeth Warren, the new Democratic Senator from Massachusetts has been up front with her declaration that she’ll be a senator of consequence. To that end, she plans to start off her freshman year with a bang. Or a bust. She wants to bust the filibuster. Republicans in the senate have effectively rewritten the spirit of the Constitution which requires a simple majority to get things done – to a…
Twinkie’s Last Stand?
The last Twinkie rolled off the Hostess assembly line this past Friday after labor negotiations broke down, resulting in a work stoppage by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union which affected nearly two-thirds of Hostess’s factories across the country. Hostess responded by closing up shop on three factories and giving the workers until Thursday to return to work. It didn’t happen. The company is blaming the union saying that they can’t afford to keep going. The union is blaming the company and poor financial and operational management, noting that there were some pretty sweet pay increases for…
Palin Picker says Rice “Not Very Bright”
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ~Charles Darwin The reason Great Britain remains a top-tier international economic and political power today is because it did a great job adapting from one reality to another. Seeing the heads of monarchs rolling across Europe, our mother country decided to give this whole parliamentary democracy thing a go, while repurposing the House of Windsor as stately and impotent figureheads and turning Buckingham Palace into Disneyworld. Apple Computer learned some tough lessons at…
Study Will Not Avert the Crisis
. One of our most dangerous self-deceptions these days is the belief that simply studying the impacts of climate change will somehow avert the crisis. It won’t. Studying climate change will not keep one carbon atom out of the global atmosphere. We already know enough about the disastrous impacts of climate change to know that we need to take bold, urgent action to solve it, and we know exactly what steps to take. Yet many in government, industry, and academia continue to insist that more study is needed before we take difficult steps to solve the crisis. Scientific uncertainty is…
Anchorage Redistricted with No Public Input
It was a big night at Tuesday’s Anchorage Assembly Meeting. The Anchorage School District Budget was passed, as was both the Municipal Operating Budget and the Municipal Capital Budget. However, I was there for the item that was slipped in towards the end. It was the first, last and only public meeting dedicated to Municipal Reapportionment…another word for Redistricting. You may be surprised to hear that the Assembly has been working on Reapportionment at all. You are not alone. If you remember the gerrymandering farce known as the State Redistricting process, the public meetings went on for months before anything…
Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen
By now, we’re into the seventh layer of complexity in the real-life spy thriller “Homeland meets The West Wing meets Melrose Place” – otherwise known as the Petraeus sex scandal. For those of you who haven’t tuned into the news recently, here’s a recap of what we know so far that led to Petraeus’ resignation as Director of the CIA. Republican ideologue working at the FBI sends Jill Kelley, a military Party Planner (not kidding) with whom he has an unknown relationship, shirtless pictures of himself. Later, said Party Planner gets harassing anonymous emails of the “I saw what you…
Mat-Su Surprise!
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. – Hamlet If anywhere in Alaska can be relied upon for its lobstery redness, and overabundance of bootstraps and red pickup trucks, it’s the Mat-Su Valley – home of the ex-half governor, home of the State Rep who held up honoring the Girl Scouts because he heard a rumor on the internet they were in cahoots with Planned Parenthood, home of the former State Rep who tried to outlaw Sharia Law, home of the High School that covered up their 1% for art because…
Jesus Gets Punked by Exxon
Election day may be over here in Alaska, but now is when the fun begins. The results of a couple close races are hinging on absentee and questioned ballots yet to be examined, and shiny new lawmakers are angling for committee assignments and chairmanships. Pundits, meanwhile, examine and expound upon the results of the Citizens United meets Big Oil meets Jesus campaign machine. Let me be one of them. During this time, it’s good to remember the lessons of the past. The genius of Ronald Reagan was his ability to unite two completely different groups of people—with completely different policy…