Vulture’s Picnic by Greg Palast – A Mudflats Exclusive Excerpt
By Zach Roberts Hey Mudflatters – In addition to my duties as New York Bureau Chief of The Mudflats, I’ve taken on working with Greg Palast. You might have heard him on the Shannyn Moore Show talking about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He was a forensic economist for the Chugach Natives – kind of a Sam Spade, except with numbers (not as sexy… and no whips). He uncovered the fact that it wasn’t the drunk Captain, but Exxon being cheap that caused that man-made disaster. The story made him give up his day job and start working as a…
Occupy Alaska! (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Homer, Juneau, Unalaska, Bethel, Cordova) updated
The Occupy movement has reached Alaska! Occupy Fairbanks photos from Mudflatter “Fairbanksan,” and front page coverage from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner HERE. Armed with megaphones, signs and the power of free speech, Occupy Fairbanks protesters occupied downtown for much of Saturday. The group of more than a hundred people marched from place to place, chanting, singing and speaking up about their frustration with corporations’ power in the country. “I’m here today because I grew up loving America,” Marco Lewis, a retired military veteran, said. In recent years, though, he said, the country is different than the one he grew…
How Many Brownies (and Alaskan Jobs) Did Lisa Murkowski Just Give Away?
Friday afternoon, the offices of the AFL-CIO in Anchorage were hopping. Look at the sinister faces of all those “union thugs.” That’s one thing I’ve never understood. How can any Alaskan, in a state with the second-highest union density in the country, think of unions as “thuggery.” Union men and women are your neighbors, your friends, your kids’ soccer coaches, your fellow church members – people who work hard, and enjoy good jobs with benefits that let them enjoy life and give back to their community by volunteering, putting money into the local economy, sending their kids to college… all…
Murkowski Votes Against Jobs, Deficit Reduction, Veterans, Teachers, and Taxing Millionaires. (Rally!)
The Constitution. We’ve seen it wrapped around buses, misspelled on Tea Party signs, hailed and praised by the “back to basics” Republicans who tell us that if we just went back to the wisdom of the founding fathers, life would be good again. It’s been waved like the flag, held up like holy writ, and revered as the greatest document ever written. Yes, the right loves them some Constitution – unless of course it means that they don’t get their way. It’s kind of like the Bible. Just don’t pay attention to all that healing the sick, and taking…
The Golden Calf and the Bronze Bull – What Would Moses Do?
~Photo by Zach Roberts By Shannyn Moore I remember wondering what gold tastes like. As a child sitting in Mrs. Harris’ Sunday school class, I listened raptly to her recount the biblical tale of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai armed with the Ten Commandments. He’d spent the last 40 days and nights meeting with God. Moses unleashed his fury when he saw what his people had been up to: drinking, partying and worshipping a golden calf made from melted jewelry. Moses smashed the tablets carved with God’s handwritten laws, ground up the idol and made them drink it. Those…
Occupy Anchorage!
This afternoon in Anchorage, several hundred people gathered in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protesters. A crowd this size was a fantastic turnout for an event that was promoted largely on Facebook and by word of mouth. The weather cooperated beautifully. It was a gorgeous sunny autumn day in the 50s, and spirits were high. The crowd was full of families with kids, and dogs, young adults, and seniors. There was a great contingent from the Native community as well. Anyone who wanted to could sign up to speak, but the main event was former Mayor of Sitka and…
Mudflats on Wall Street (Video of Arrests at Protest)
The Mudflats’ New York Bureau Chief, Zach Roberts, has been doing an outstanding job covering the movement known as Occupy Wall Street. He has been our boots on the ground since the protests began, recently putting himself in harm’s way to expose the latest happenings. We’ve posted his photos before, but his current shots, and some outstanding video footage show a decidedly different mood than his earlier coverage. The following videos show some of the arrests that happened Wednesday night in the Wall Street area. A quick email from Zach said: People need to see this stuff… They threw…
Oyster Roundup – Rats, Scented Candles, Pebble Mine and more…
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more… A half-dozen slurpable stories for your consumption. All titles are links. Eat up! Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Jobs Funeral Yes, apparently the most hateful, vicious, mean-spirited group of “religious” wingnuts, who made famous the “God Hates Fags” slogan, will be picketing the funeral of Steve Jobs. Why? Because he “served self, not God” and “encouraged his neighbors to sin.” How do we know they will be doing this? (Wait for it) Because they tweeted it from an iPhone. Yes, really. No worries about Westboro appreciating this…
OccupyWallStreet Issues Declaration Through Mastery of the Human Mic
~Photo by Zach Roberts The OccupyWallStreet movement, through consensus, has issued its first official statement. The process took two weeks. It may seem like a long time, but a fascinating article by Richard Kim of The Nation explains why this statement is a Herculean achievement, and it may not be for the reasons you think. Microphones, speakers, and even bull horns are prohibited from the site of the demonstration. If you use one, it can mean 30 days in jail. That means that all communication must rely on “the human mic.” So despite all the attention given to how Twitter,…
Open Thread – Wall Street Occupation Continues (PHOTOS)
Zach Roberts, our NY Bureau Chief has been providing ongoing coverage of the Wall Street occupation. The mainstream media is all but ignoring the demonstrations, so the photographic and video record of this event will have particular historical significance. Zach’s photos have been picked up by more than one of the very limited outlets who have had some amount of coverage on the subject.