The Seven Stages of Gun Violence
It is easier for a crazy person to get an automatic weapon than healthcare in America. – Shannyn Moore So, America, here we are yet again. Another mass killing. Another hellish scene of smoke and blood and murder. Another day of death and pain, panic and terror. Another dozen people shot dead. Children. Young people. Sixty more wounded, gut shot, shot in the head, shot through the lungs, bones shattered, flesh torn. Bleeding, hurting, crying, some will die, some will live. People we knew gone in a second, torn apart, destroyed, changed forever. Another hundred American families grieving with loss…
Un-American – The More Things Change…
McCarthyism: demagogic, reckless, hysterical, deliberate, and typically unsubstantiated public accusations and/or personal attacks on the character, loyalty, patriotism, and beliefs of an individual opponent or group. Usually for political gain in the guise of patriotism and/or “national security.” Normally based on widespread racial, political, religious, ethnic, and/or sexual prejudices. Can often lead to persecution, disenfranchisement, mass hysteria, and violent mob behavior. Particularly common during periods of conflict, political unrest, migration, and economic uncertainty. In 1950 a minor freshman Senator gave a speech in West Virginia. A conservative from Wisconsin, he spoke before a chapter of the Republican Women’s Club. Despite…
The Time to Toss Pebble is Now. Really.
Here in Alaska, the proposed Pebble Mine project is not a partisan issue. It’s an issue of fish vs. cyanide, Alaskans vs. multinational corporations, Native culture vs. the bottom line, sustainable jobs vs. instant gratification, and food security vs. greed. It’s a battle between holding on to the best of our state, and the last great wild salmon run in the world, and letting it all slip away to line the pockets of the already wealthy multinational mining conglomerates. We have a lot at stake. And right now, we can actually help to influence how this all turns out. What…
Young Denies Existence of Big Trees
~Photo of delusional person by John Schoen. Do NOT believe your lyin’ eyes. This post is about Don Young. Periodically, Alaska’s one and only congressman makes it a point to embarrass the thinking residents of his fine state. Some times it’s by yelling at his fellow legislators, or insulting them. Sometimes it’s an outlandish stunt like banging the penis bone of a walrus on the table while the House is in session, or wearing a propeller beanie to demonstrate how silly wind power is. But this one is just bizarre. And for Don Young, that’s saying something. But first, let’s…
Who Let the Dogs Out? Romney at the NAACP
Who Let the Dogs Out? Romney’s speech at the NAACP Today, Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney will be addressing the 103rd National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Convention in Houston, TX. No. Really, he will be. Unless he gets a cold at the last second or maybe the family dog gets sick from the ride over – he will be speaking at the convention that has the theme “This is my power. This is my decision. This is my vote.” The likelihood that any of the people in the convention hall will be using their power, decisions or…
Dear Mr. President, “I believe,” is not good policy
An open letter to President Barack Obama: Dear Mr. President, As a woman who worked very hard to make sure your last opponents were not elected — walking door to door in the snow on your behalf, registering more than a thousand Alaskans to vote, exposing Palin in the national media, etc. — I feel obligated to write you about a few of my concerns. Your secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, recently told reporters asking about Shell’s recent drilling permits and Alaska’s Arctic, “I believe there’s not going to be an oil spill.” Sir, he just wrote the headline for the first oil spill under…
Arctic in Crisis
By Rick Steiner The Arctic is one of most pristine and unique regions of our planet, but it is now in crisis from two serious threats — climate change and industrialization. As sea ice retreats, the Arctic has become the “wild wild north” — a last frontier for a failed development paradigm that has ravaged much of the rest of the biosphere. And while governments and industry say they will develop the Arctic “responsibly,” their actions so far suggest otherwise. On climate change, things have quickly gone from bad to worse. The Arctic is warming at twice the rate…
Arctic Drilling – You Just Gotta Believe…
There are those of you who have been worrying about Shell’s imminent offshore drilling plans in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska. You remember the live video of the billowing plumes of oil spewing from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. You remember watching the news from Alaska in 1989, as film of viscous black liquid that was supposed to be seawater slopped up on the shoreline in Prince William Sound. Countless seabirds, otters, and other wildlife suffered death by crude. Many humans also suffered ill effects to their health from a toxic bath of oil and hazardous…
SCOTUS Decision is a Win for Alaskan Women
~President Obama signs the Affordable Care Act in 2010 Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Affordable Care Act means that critical new benefits for women remain intact. The constitutionality of Obama’s Health Care plan was in question, and a 5-4 decision (including Chief Justice Roberts) came down in favor of the President’s health care reform law. Even the individual mandate was upheld, not under the Commerce Clause, but under Congress’ powers of taxation. Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Northwest released a statement this morning stating that under today’s ruling, millions of women will have access to birth…
Mitt the Awkward Runs for Office
Have you ever had a chance to save someone from an embarrassing situation? It doesn’t have to be a big one. More than once I’ve seen women leaving the ladies room with toilet paper trailing their fancy shoes. It’s easy; walk up to them, step on the trailing end and they are free. I have the same uneasy feeling watching Mitt Romney campaign for president. I’m embarrassed for him. I get squinchy and want to look away when he speaks. I want to step on something and free him of his awkwardness. Since he’s been running for office longer than…