Recall Lindsey Holmes Meeting Sunday
They say elephants never forget. Donkeys apparently don’t either. This Sunday will be an organizing event for the effort to recall Rep. Lindsey Holmes. She’s the one who ran as a Democrat, raised money from Democrats, joined in on fundraisers with other Democratic candidates, garnered campaign workers from a thinly stretched pool of Democratic volunteers during a busy election cycle, and then decided to become a Republican before she was even sworn into office. The price of her political soul? A seat on the finance committee. Not a co-chairmanship, a SEAT. While there are Democratic legislators who choose to caucus…
Rally at Tonight’s Assembly Meeting
At some point, Anchorage residents are going to believe Mayor Dan Sullivan when he tells them who he is. At five minutes before quitting time on Friday afternoon, Mr. Mayor decided he’d tell municipal employees that the very next Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly was going to be taking a vote to freeze their pay and benefits. Forever. Yes, forever. Not only that, they’d be deciding whether to gut their collective bargaining rights. And guess when these employees who were notified at 4:55pm on Friday were told they could meet to learn all about these huge changes to their jobs? 8am…
Alaskans Gone Wild – Say No to Frankenfish!
(Insert Jaws theme here) The Frankenfish is coming! Unless we all speak up… The push to introduce a genetically-modified, farmed Atlantic-Pacific-Salmon-Eel hybrid into the marketplace continues, but we have time to stop it. Alaska’s entire congressional delegation is all on our side on this one, so no excuse to call it a “partisan political issue.” This is about Alaska’s greatest sustainable treasure, our wild and wonderful salmon. The FDA has already issued a draft Environmental Assessment with a finding that genetically modified Atlantic salmon caused no significant environmental impact. Really? Sorry, FDA. Alaskans are smarter than that. We know that contamination…
They’re Coming for Your Uterus
Make no mistake, Constitutionalists, they’re coming for your uterus. Alaska Republicans, who seem to believe that their beloved Constitution stops with the Second Amendment, are doing all they can to chip away at the ninth, the fourteenth, and the fourth – you know, the ones that tell you that you have a right to be left alone, to your privacy, to enjoy personal liberty without the interference of the state, and to be secure in your person. I guess by “person,” they mean “man.” New Senate Majority Leader John Coghill addressed a crowd of about 100 people on the Capitol…
Alaskans With Backbone
Today, Alaskans rallied in temperatures well below freezing to show their support for bipartisanship, for comity, for those who work for Alaska first. Join them tomorrow at the polls, and support candidates with a willingness to work across party lines – candidates with statesmanship, and a broad vision for Alaska’s future. Vote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Spouse for Senate!
Spouse is running for Senate. I know, right? It’s been pretty exciting around here I can tell you. He’s running for State Senate in “District N” a giant and beautiful swath of Alaska that stretches from South Anchorage, down Turnagain Arm to include Girdwood, and Hope, and then over to Seward, and on to Sterling and Nikiski, with all points in between. Every race is important but, I’m going to tell you why this one is the most important to me. When Ron was a little kid, living in Anderson in the Territory of Alaska – back in the days…
Eastwood, Palin and the Long Goodbye
Tropical Storm Isaac put a damper on the first day of the Republican National Convention. But nothing hit Tampa by surprise quite as much as what happened on the last day. Tuesday, it was announced that a special mystery guest speaker would appear before Mitt Romney on the final night of the convention. The most famous of the small tribe of Hollywood Republicans, Clint Eastwood took the stage. Dirty Harry looked a little more like Crazy Uncle Harry as he stood on the podium. But he’s 82, after all, and it happens to the best of them. The difference is…
Happy Walter J. Hickel Day of the Arctic!
“All of us own the seas in common. We own the air and space. If we can learn to use these resources productively for the benefit of all, not just for a few powerful groups or a handful of corporations, the world would stand today on the threshold of wealth and social advancement we cannot yet imagine.” —Former Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel On the day I was born, Wally Hickel was the Republican Governor of Alaska. On the day I moved to Alaska, Wally Hickel was the governor of Alaska for the second time, having run successfully as an Alaskan…
Mudflats ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Coverage
TheMudflats.net and yours truly have been singled out for honor by the prestigious magazine The Atlantic this week. Was it for our amazing investigative reporting? For the awesome photo spreads we do? In depth coverage of the proposed Pebble Mine? Unfortunately, no. It’s because I nearly got my head beat in at Occupy Wall Street. I’ve written about 15,000 words, and taken about a terabyte of photos at OWS over the past year – witnessed the worst and best of America, broke news stories, got shots that no one else did – and yet this is what we get singled…
Open Thread – Rally Against the War on Women March!
This Saturday, about two hundred or more women and men gathered at the Park Strip in Anchorage, for a march to Town Square Park to participate in a national event. All across the country, people have joined in solidarity to protest the hundreds of bills that have sprung up nationwide that seek to limit women’s health choices, and reproductive rights. The day was really wonderful, and there was so much good material, I’ve decided to spread this post out over a few days of open threads so you can really enjoy it. This first video was at about the midway…