Election 2010: There’s Only One Road to Transparency in Alaska…
In June of 2009 I embarked on an idealistic journey. Thanks to many Alaskans and folks across the country, I was able to raise enough money so that the State of Alaska would release the Records Request they had been sitting on for months. When the emails arrived and the only “good stuff” was redacted or witheld due to bogus-sounding claims of “privilege,” I was not worried. I was sure that as soon as the email lawsuits brought by Andree McLeod and Don Mitchell against Palin were resolved (in McLeod/Mitchell’s favor…no one thought otherwise), I would then be able…
Help us, Rachel-Wan-Maddow, Scott McAdams Is Our Only Hope!
This election cycle, Alaskans have found it particularly difficult to breathe due to the lack of available air. The reason: it’s being sucked directly out of the atmosphere by the family feud between want-to-be-Senator-again Lisa Murkowski and professional grifter/East German Cold War admirer, Joe Miller. Of course, the person having the most difficult time finding air is Democratic Primary winner, Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams. It’s not for lack of good campaigning…he’s doing everything right. I even attended one of the Townhall Meetings he scheduled and was blown out of the water by his responses to every question asked of him….
Voting Irregularities Reported in Alaska Early Voting
Reports are already being received in Alaska of voting irregularities at early voting booths, particularly as it relates to the Senate campaign of Lisa Murkowski. This is a call to anyone who is early voting or who finds themselves in the area. Please check the booth for any evidence of campaigning. In Homer, apparently, reports were received that each booth had a written list of the write-in candidates posted. This is electioneering, and absolutely illegal. If you see anything irregular when you are early voting, please take a picture of it. Let us know ASAP if you see anything in a…
Guest Blog Post from Wickersham’s Conscience (Updated)
This is for those of you who have yet to discover WC’s blog and his superb combination of legal wisdom, political humor, birdwatching knowledge and gorgeous Alaska pictures. I thought this was a great summary for the weekend of some Joe Miller articles this past week. I found his last comment the most interesting. (By the way, in the picture above, it’s not previously been mention but the other man besides Joe in that picture is right-wing Conservative Patriot member and the Tea Party’s personal radio talk-show host, Glen Biegel.) —————————————————————————- WC isn’t the only blogger who is . ….
Speed Hump Consultant? The jokes write themselves…
There is a rumor out there…that in neighborhoods across Anchorage, some who have problems with speeding traffic and have been unable to get “speed humps” (a “traffic calming” solution) have started to…errrr…improvise with things like traffic cones (see the picture above). The sad irony is that any unauthorized attempt to try and avoid a tragic accident will be removed by the Municipality. Thanks, Mayor Sullivan. Mudflats fans are aware of the excellent job Jeanne and Shannyn have been doing covering the Municipality of Anchorage “Speed Hump” debacle. A short wrap-up may help those of you not as familiar with the issue: –A little girl was hit by a car in…
Voices From The Flats — I Get It, But My Mayor Is Clueless
Post and Photos By Carl Johnson I have lived in two rather large metropolitan areas: the Twin Cities, with its two million people, and Los Angeles, with, well, way too many people. I chose to move to Anchorage eleven years ago not because I was looking for urban, but because I was looking for wild with just the right amount of urban. I have grown in my knowledge over time that I had made the right decision, enjoying many years hiking, biking and Nordic skiing on Anchorage trails, enjoying fishing for salmon in its streams, and enjoying picking berries in…
Voices from the Flats – Sarah Palin’s Oil Regulation Lies
By Geoffrey Dunn Sarah Palin has been busted for so many lies in the past year and a half, it’s become nearly impossible to keep track of them all. Whenever she opens her mouth, she simply cannot stop herself from engaging in duplicities, exaggerations and half-truths that not-so-coincidentally always distort the political record in her favor. It’s a pathology. She did it again this week during a somewhat contentious interview with Bill O’Reilly in which she chastised her Fox News host out the gate: “I kind of have a big beef with you too though, Bill, if you don’t acknowledge…
Documents, Employees Reveal BP’s Alaska Oilfield Plagued By Major Safety Issues
Jason Leopold has written an amazing piece on BP and how they handle safety in Alaska. Here is the article in full, which is cross-posted from Truthout. By Jason Leopold Nearly 5,000 miles from the oil-spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, BP and its culture of cost-cutting are contributing to another environmental mess. According to internal BP documents obtained by Truthout, and after interviewing more than a dozen employees over the past month, the Prudhoe Bay oil field, in a remote corner of North America on Alaska’s north shore, is in danger. After two serious oil spills and other mishaps,…
Alaska Personnel Board Runs Off the Rails
It’s kind of like the Runaway Train at Six Flags. You look at it and wonder how on earth it can possibly stay on the rails with all those twists and turns, and then one day, you’re minding your own business, eating your pretzel or cotton candy, and you look up and see the thing come to a bump in the rails, keep right on going, careen over the side, and splash right into the big duck pond. Welcome to the Alaska Personnel Board. You remember them. They’re the 3-member board of Republican governor appointees that said the investigation by the…