Open Thread – Fuchsias (LKB)
I have tons of work to do in my garden, but fortunately, my hanging plants are absolutely gorgeous this year. Here’s my 2-tone pink/lavender fuchsia combined with blue, lavender and white lobelia, and… Here’s the one with pink/lavender flowers with just blue lobelia. I’m hoping to have more garden pictures for you this week…if I actually get some work done in between doctor’s appointments.
Open Thread – Laughing Liberally
The Alaska crew is finally home from Netroots Nation 2011 in Minneapolis. A great time was had by all, but it was an exceptionally busy week for me and I will be catching you up on all of that as I have time to get it down on “paper.” The first night in Minneapolis we got a great treat. The Minneapolis chapter of “Drinking Liberally” met in a local watering hole with very special and amazing guests Thom Hartmann and Lizz Winstead. It was great to see both of them again, and they certainly had a very appreciative and warmly…
Palin Emails: Todd is a “private citizen”…except when he’s not…
I have a little bit of personal experience with this Palin email thing. However, mine were so redacted, they were no fun at all. So, like many others, I’ve enjoyed making up my own searches of the awesome 2011 Palin Email Database, courtesy of MSNBC and Crivella West. The REAL fun happens when I’m searching on one topic and stumble upon another quite accidentally. For example, I was doing a search on a lobbyist name or two and found this email from Palin’s assistant/residence manager: From : Erika Fagerstrom [erika_fagerstrom@gov.state. ak.us] Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 1:43 PM To: Governor…
The Anti-Public Education Agenda Comes to Alaska…
…And Hardly Anybody Knows It Many of us have heard the stories: new Republican Governors and Tea Party majorities in state legislatures across the country have been targeting public employees and their salaries, pensions, health benefits, etc… Along with this, there has been a major push at another budget-cut target — public school systems. Public Education faces massive cuts in Texas ($4 bil), huge cuts in Wisconsin ($900 mil), more cuts in North Carolina, budget cuts and a removal of the school districts’ tax authority in Pennsylvania (inhibiting individual districts from raising property taxes), and a governor-declared “financial emergency” in…
Open Thread: The Mudflats and Sleeping Lady
Over the last 3 weeks or so, I have been taking some pictures with my Sony Bloggie, a little video cam that I got for my birthday in April. It’s like a “Flip” only better. The photos are HD quality until I shrink them for the blog, but I obviously get better shots with my Nikkon. Still, it’s a nice, portable little gadget that I can use if I happen to go to the Hillside on a nice day to look at the Mudflats (above) or Mount Susitna (called The Sleeping Lady) below: I thought the story of Sleeping Lady…
Locked Up or Locked Out?
Want to see the Arctic Ocean? Just start driving the Haul Road north of Fairbanks. You’ll pass through miles and miles of rugged, beautiful, unfenced land. The road is rough and there aren’t many amenities like gas stations, toilets or cell service. And before you make it to the ocean, there’s one other complication: the security gates. The gates belong to the oil companies. In the past few years, all of us have spent more than a billion dollars to “beef up” the road, which is owned and maintained by the State of Alaska and considered a “road to resources.”…
Open Thread
“The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea.” –Isak Dinesen
Open Thread: Rescued Dogs from Montana Creek Ready for Adoption (by LKB)
I went into Petco yesterday to buy food for our Sheltie and saw several dogs wearing “adopt me” signs (like “Baron” below). It turns out that Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue were there with a few of the animals available for adoption. Baron was a sweet dog but very shy and the folks from the Rescue explained he was one of the over 150 starving huskies removed from a Montana Creek kennel (near Talkeetna) this past January: Alaska State Troopers arrived Monday evening at the Montana Creek home of 53-year-old Frank Rich of Willow, near Mile 92 of the Parks…
Open Thread – Argh!
The internet connection at Mudflats Central is finally restored. A day without internet is a day like… this. Chatter on, Mudflatters…
Solidarity: The Alaska-Wisconsin Connection
By Ryan Marquis (Kenai, AK) Ryan Marquis (at right below) serves on the Kenai City Council and as a local Vice-President of the Alaska Public Employees Association. Ryan and several of his fellow APEA activists were on the ground in Wisconsin last month to help organize against the attacks on collective bargaining rights in that state. In February 2011, the Wisconsin State Senate introduced a bill at the request of Governor Scott Walker. The bill was crafted to destroy the public employee unions within the state and, prior to the 2010 mid-terms, this would have sounded crazy. Wisconsin is recognized…