Open Thread – Sandy
[A street in Atlantic City before Sandy made landfall there. Photo from cnbc.com] We’re all sending good wishes to those affected by Hurricane Sandy, or Post-tropical cyclone Sandy, or Blizzard Sandy, or whatever the current categorization of the storm happens to be. We’ve got many Mudflatters in the NYC/NJ/PA/CT area, who have experienced flooding, downed trees, and wind damage. The photo below is from Mudflatter Mrs. D, of the Mudflats History Department who is located in Northern New Jersey. She’s well above sea level, but not immune from falling trees. She’s got no power and the photo was sent from…
Open Thread – Tufty Terror
A little Halloween amusement. I posted this on the Mudflats Facebook page yesterday and it’s still making me laugh!
Alaska GOP’s Radical Agenda for Women
Imagine a country where a woman is raped and forced to have her rapist’s baby. Imagine children shuffled off to schools that teach religious doctrine as science — on your dime. Picture a government that consults with church leaders before making public policy. I’m not speculating about a foreign country riddled with American military bases. This is what Alaska faces right now with the influence of an extreme agenda imported from Outside. Hear the warning bell, brothers and sisters. This agenda is backed by deep pockets like Exxon and the reactionary Koch Brothers, and its proponents are dead serious. I…
BREAKING: Bell Sued By Longtime Employee
BREAKING West Anchorage State Senate Candidate Bob Bell (R), who is running against incumbent Hollis French (D), is being sued by a former employee of his engineering firm F.R. Bell & Associates, Inc. Edward Biggs of Wasilla is seeking restitution for discrimination and retaliation in violation of the Alaska Workers’ Compansation Act; interference with his rights under the Family Medical Leave Act; disability discrimination; breach of contract, destruction of evidence, and wrongful retaliatory discharge. Bell was recently fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) for campaign disclosure violations relating to F.R. Bell and Associates. The campaign revelations also…
Wielechowski Wins National Veterans Honor
We affectionately call him “The Best Bill in Juneau” but now Viet Nam Veterans of America have named him the Best Bill in the Nation! Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) has selected Senator Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat from East Anchorage, as the “State Legislator of the Year” for 2012. The award is given only once every two years to one legislator in the entire nation who has exhibited exceptional leadership, support and dedication to veterans, service members and their families. “I am incredibly honored and humbled by this recognition from Vietnam Veterans of America,” said Senator Wielechowski. “We have an obligation to properly…
The Revenge of the Party Planner
11 days until the election, and the hilarious drama is flying. The mayor’s (errr) “Party Planner” has been a busy bee this campaign season. She’s been seen at the event coordinating the merger of church and state that gloated about data mining Alaskans’ private information, she showed up clad in classy faux leopard with “too crazy even for the Republicans” Judy Eledge as her date for a candidate forum, staffed Cathy Giessel at the Running debate, and now this… Petulantly clicking on her 7 inch heels, she stomped up to Senator Hollis French at a recent candidate forum, stuck out…
Religious Groups and Koch Bros. Target Voters
Editor’s Note: The Mudflats team has been reporting on a developing story here in Anchorage (LINK, LINK) . Zach Roberts, whose journalistic efforts on this topic have been recognized on a national level has this piece cross-posted at TruthOut.org. ********************* In audio obtained from a Family Council fundraiser in Anchorage, Alaska, Truthout has learned that a number of right-wing religious groups, including Focus on the Family, have been working with the Koch brothers to target voters across the country using their multimillion-dollar voter database known as Themis. At a fundraiser held at the Anchorage Middle Eastern restaurant Aladdin’s last week,…
Thong Wars
With only 13 days left until the election, we sit glued to the TV watching swing state polls, national trends, and of course the slugfests we call “debates.” We’re spending a lot of time guessing where people will put their votes, and analyzing what campaigns are getting whose money. And yet with all the political speculation, nobody has asked the question – who are we putting in our pants? Sure, people are willing to wear t-shirts with one-liners like: “I’d rather vote for the mormon than the moron” or “Romney for President – of the Cayman Islands” But who gets…
“Good Big Deal” to Russia With Love
I know how much all of you worry about the big 3 oil companies. They’re busy weeping into their hankies, and turning their pockets inside out to show us the lint, and explaining that they NEED that $2 billion a year from Alaska’s treasury or they’re just going to have to take their tin cup and leave Alaska for somewhere they can scrounge a few coins to survive. It’s not that they aren’t making money in Alaska, it’s that they’re just not making ENOUGH money. See, if they don’t get that $2 billion from us via no-strings-attached check, then they’ll…
Money Changers in the Temple
Someone called me a communist this week. Pop Moore was a teacher and principal at Nikolaevsk, a Russian village near Homer, from 1970 until 1992. My mother taught school there. I grew up hearing stories from Old Believers who had escaped Soviet communism, about barns full of men, women and children burned to death for not renouncing their faith. I saw handwritten holy books that had been strapped to the heads of men swimming across rivers into China to escape, before China went communist. I was about as tall as the post office counter when a clerk said to Pop,…