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…
Chuitna Coal – Dollars and Sense
It’s time for a little Mudflats Theatre. But this time, you get to participate in the drama! It’s kind of like an improvisation. Let’s pretend we’re doing a business deal. We sit down in a conference room overlooking majestic Cook Inlet, which borders the city of Anchorage. You arrive, we shake hands, and close the door. You’re on one side of the table, and I’m on the other. We lock eyes for a moment, and then mine dart down to a yellow legal pad in front of me, upon which numbers have been scrawled. I look back up at you…
Governor Sean Parnell: Lord of the Flaming Pants
Former director of government relations in Alaska for ConocoPhillips, Sean Parnell made an announcement on Tuesday. Some of you may know him by his other job working for the lobbying firm that represented ExxonMobil against Alaskans in the matter of a little oil spill that happened in Prince William Sound. Some of you may also know him as Captain Zero, or Caribou Ken, or SeanocoParnellips. However you know him, he also currently wears the mantle of Governor of the State of Alaska. But it’s been difficult for Sean to turn against his old bosses. He’s a loyal foot soldier, and…
The Only Reason to Stop Pebble is to Keep Fish, Says Pebble Supporter.
Ah, Paul Jenkins. You may remember him as one of our “odd bedfellows” during the reign of Sarah Palin. Normally, wildly off the mark, Mr. Jenkins was actually spot on about Sarah, and surgically shredded her in the Anchorage Daily News on a regular basis. He did this not because he had suddenly seen the error of his political ways, but because she stuck it to the oil companies. And Mr. Jenkins and his oily, resource extractin’ at any price pals were not amused. It’s sad, because Mr. Jenkins is not stupid, nor is he a bad writer. And during…
Open Thread – Are You Ready to Par-TEA?!
Are you ready to par-tea? Not only “Yeah,” but “HELL yeah” sayeth the dozens of mildly enthusiastic Tea Partiers in New Hampshire this weekend. This video from Dave Wiegel was filmed between speakers Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle. Even though my politics may differ radically from those at the event, I really hope nobody got hurt in that crushing rush to the stage. This is the kind of situation where people are likely to get trampled if they’re not careful. The electricity of the crowd, and the raw adrenaline that can only come from communing with masses of like-minded people…
A Lawsuit in Gov. Sean Parnell’s Future? Stonewalling Angers Anti-Coal Groups.
~The mouth of the Chuit River, between Tyonek and Beluga, Alaska Remember, way back last year when I rode a bus in a snowstorm to go hear testimony in Kenai? It was all about whether to designate the land around the Chuit River “unsuitable” for coal mining. The way it stands now, PacRim Coal plans to (for the first time ever) actually dig up eleven miles of productive salmon stream for a giant open pit coal mine. “Don’t worry,” they say. “We’ll just put it back the way it was when we’re done.” Well, it doesn’t take a biologist to…
Open Thread – Top 2 AK Bumperstickers
This Dodge pickup truck that I spotted yesterday was picture worthy. Why? Because it is sporting probably the two most ubiquitous bumper stickers in Alaska. The No Pebble sticker is more recent, and the other (talking about whether to have an all-Alaska gas pipeline route) was more common a few years ago. But as many of both of them as there are, I’ve never seen them snuggled up quite so nicely.
Oyster Roundup – Theft, Shakedown, Hot Sauce and More…
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! [The Walrus and the Carptenter, Lewis Carroll] A half dozen on the half shell. Slurp ’em up! (Links in the titles) Rick Perry, Evangelical Economist Rick Perry thinks that God crashed the economy on purpose to teach us a lesson and return us to Biblical principles. I think that God inflicted Texas with Rick Perry for not allowing gay marriage. Rembrandt Returns! I have conflicting feelings about art theft. While I understand more the impulse and obsession to own great art, rather than simply a desire for…