BP’s Greenwashing
You may have noticed a new PR campaign by British Petroleum carpetbombing our airwaves. Its laughable, self-congratulatory commercials attempt to portray one of the most notorious polluters in human history as a sort of Jaques Cousteau. Unbeknownst to those of you constrained by reality, there is apparently an alternate universe wherein BP is all about abundant marine life, crystal blue waters, and photogenic young families frolicking amid aquatic activities. To hear them tell it, BP is the best thing to have ever happened to the Gulf Coast it devastated. You know, kind of like OJ Simpson introduced us to the…
Alaska Readies for Voter Photo ID Bill
Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, the chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, reportedly plans to introduce a voter photo ID requirement in the Alaska Legislature. He says this photo ID law isn’t based on the so-called “model statute” developed by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, a national organization that promotes conservative model legislation. Even though Lynn is a member of ALEC. In state where village residents, who famously vote Democratic, don’t have or need a photo ID, this law will provoke a lawsuit before the ink is dry on Captain Zero’s signature. It’s all about equal protection. If you have a photo…
The Audacity of Failure – She’s Back!
She ran for governor of Georgia in 2010 and lost. Then she took one of the most beloved and successful non-profits on the planet, set it on fire, and shoved it out to sea like a viking funeral pyre, before resigning in disgrace. Then she wrote a book with the painfully prosaic title “Planned Bullyhood,” in which she called members of Planned Parenthood “a bunch of schoolyard thugs.” So, what’s next for Karen Handel, disgraced and ostracized former head of the Susan G. Komen foundation? She’s considering a run for the U.S. Senate, of course. If she ran, she would…
Weed, Serial Killer & Berlusconi!
Egyptian President Muhamed Morsi has decided he likes democratic reform when it brings him to power, but finds dictatorship preferable once there. Speaking of “same as the old boss,” disgraced Italian Casanova Silvio Berlusconi is poised to make the most implausible political comeback since Bibi Netanyahu Richard Nixon. Don’t make us come over there, Syria. Mining companies in Canada are discovering these renewable forms of energy are pretty nifty, especially when they’re the only ones available to you. Oh, the irony. Colorado and Washington went to pot a month ago, and now Uncle Sam has to decide how firmly…
Latinos Roll The (R)s
Off The Cliff And Into The Fire President Obama plans to push for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship, early in the new year. The LA Times reports that this will be the President’s legislative priority once we’ve resolved the fiscal [insert metaphor of choice here]. If you think the debate over taxing the top 2% has put the GOP in a bind and on the wrong side of public opinion, just wait until the party has to confront immigration reform. Post-election navel gazing by Republicans has boiled down to content-free variations of “we have to do a…
Jenny Sanford for U.S. Senate
News broke today that Sen. Jim DeMint (T–SC) is quitting the US Senate to head up the Heritage Foundation. The reason for DeMint’s abrupt departure is unclear. Assuming there are no skeletons that were about to come to light, or someone having dirt on him—and there’s no indication such is the case—my own guess is he may have realized the future for himself and his Tea Party caucus in the Senate isn’t very bright. DeMint’s is a minority caucus in the minority party. Because he’s been such a thorn in the GOP establishment’s side—recruiting and organizing primary opponents to Republican…
OMG! Liberal Palin Freak Out!
I think I heard something… That familiar grinding sound like when you’ve worn through a pair of brake shoes. Shhh… Hear that? Ah! Yes. I’ve got it. That metal on metal noise used to be Alaska’s governor. She’s managed to grab a moment in the spotlight again by… wait for it… saying dumb stuff. Shocking. After the last election cycle in which her party was soundly thrashed, she lost her one remaining claim to anything remotely serious. She’s now no longer the immediate past Republican Vice Presidential nominee. That embarrassing mantle is now worn by Congressman Paul Ryan. That makes…
Gender Gap Widens
Democrats are poised to shatter two more notable glass ceilings in the coming year. Fresh off their success in adding women like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin to the US Senate in last month’s election, the nation’s two largest cities are both a good bet to elect their first ever female mayors in 2013. Incumbents Mike Bloomberg of New York and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles are both termed out next year, with the former likely to be replaced by NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and odds being the latter will be succeeded by either LA City Councilwoman Jan…
The War on Christmas is a Civil War
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you…
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…