We Must Retire Don Young, and Here’s Why
I was about 10 when I heard a sermon I will never forget. The speaker that day drew a few gasps from the congregation of the Homer Christian Church when he disagreed with a passage from the Bible. He quoted from 1 Corinthians, Ch. 13, the passage you often hear at weddings: “Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest of these is love.” “That’s not true,” he said. “The greatest of these is hope.” He explained that his father had committed suicide. There was no shortage of love in their family. His father had simply lost hope that the pain of…
Parnell Ignored Guard Sexual Assaults
By J. Pastrick As a U.S. Army National Guard veteran, I’ve watched with dismay as Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration ignored reports of unpunished sexual assault in the National Guard. The stories sounded all too familiar. When I was in the Alaska National Guard, sexual harassment was all too common. As the only female recruiter in the Alaska Army National Guard, I was subjected to harassment by my immediate supervisor and two male recruiters to the point where it was intolerable. I reported sexual harassment, and a subsequent investigation confirmed it. However, the harassment did not stop. The “good ol’ boy”…
Parnell, GOP Continue Guard Scandal Coverup
Earlier this year I received a loose-leaf notebook bulging with documents that detailed the sexual assault coverups and corruption in the Alaska National Guard. I spent a few months compiling information and interviewing as many people as would talk, trying to understand the players and the broad outlines of a mind-blowing scandal with real victims. People talked to me even though they were afraid. Terrified, actually. For years those who had spoken up against crime in the guard had had their careers destroyed. Nevertheless, a handful of brave souls tried to sound the alarm — even going directly the governor…
Warren’s 11 Progressive Values for Netroots Nation
DETROIT, MI – Detroit’s Democratic Congressman Gary Peters who is running for the United States Senate addressed a packed house at the Netroots Nation convention in his home city on Friday. “I know the power you have to blog, to communicate to tell stories,” he said. “There are many wonderful stories about Detroit, and the wonderful people who make up this city, and the spirit that they have. Tell about how they have been through some very tough times, but they work hard. And if they work hard they should get a fair shot. And if they get a fair…
GOP Leader Threatens Sexual Assault Council
Speaker of the House Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski) is throwing rape victims under the train to get the governor’s out-of-state buddy on an Alaska gasline board. You’ve got to hand it to him; the lengths to which he will go to demonstrate his lack of common decency are not half-assed. In a state where 37 percent of women report having experienced sexual violence, and where rape statistics are three times the national average, Mike Chenault proves that for those like himself, there are more important things. Like getting the governor’s Texas buddy on the gasline board. The premise of Chenault’s latest legislative…
Racist Rant & School Board Voter Guide!
Anchorage School Board Seat D Before we horrify you senseless, we’ll start off with the good news. This one is going to be really easy for you when you stand in the voting booth. The things you read below might even GET you to the voting booth if you were thinking about sitting out the Municipal election on April 1. We give you incumbent Kameron Perez-Verdia vs. Don Smith. Kameron Perez-Verdia has an extensive resume of working in education, especially with high-risk children. He was appointed in a contentious process last year that was documented on The Mudflats. His pragmatism….
Oil? Bloated. You? Shrinkage.
The numbers have been crunched. The “Big Five” oil companies – BP, Exxon-Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and Chevron saw a combined profit of $93 billion last year. Profit. Billion with a B. That’s $177,000 every single minute, of every day last year. Profit. Outrageous! The poor babies… Despite what any reasonable person might think about the money pouring in to the most profitable companies ever to have existed on the face of the earth, they would still like to keep their tax breaks, please. And in Alaska, their best buddy in the governor’s office would like Alaskans to keep subsidizing this…
Parnell Goes ‘Christie’ – Shakedown in Ketchikan
“Gov. Sean Parnell’s warning that he might shut off Ketchikan’s access to state construction funds in retaliation for its lawsuit challenging state education funding reverberated Friday as a kind of ‘Chris Christie’ moment.” That’s not me saying that. That’s Richard Mauer in the Anchorage Daily News. What makes Parnell’s Christie moment even more remarkable than even Chris Christie’s “Christie moment,” is that the statement you’re about to read didn’t come cloaked in speculation. Nobody wondered if Parnell knew about the shakedown. There are no subpoenas, or investigations. There is no in-depth political analysis or speculation about what the governor knew…
Pruitt – Medicaid Recipients Like “Children” With “Toy”
You may remember House Republican Majority Leader Lance Pruitt. You may not want to remember him, but there he is anyway. He’s the one who, on the floor of the legislature last session said it was important that we not let the American people believe that the United States Supreme Court was the final word, judicially. (let that sink in) Rep. Max Gruenberg, an attorney and person-who-must-have-taken-a-Government-101-class, gently informed him that YES the United States Supreme Court DOES, in fact, have the last word. Now, Pruitt has once again put his foot in his mouth – this time in an…
Parnell, Murkowski & West Virginia
Pop Moore was born and raised in West Virginia. I’m proud of our family heritage in a state that includes the original Rednecks in the Battle for Blair Mountain. That’s where my grandfather fought to unionize the coal mines after getting buried in a slide. When I was growing up, we’d go visit my grandmother in a tiny town in Boone County. It was humid and friendly. Tomatoes from the garden tasted delicious, and the people talked funny. The center of town was the yellow line that ran through it. I loved sitting on the porch swing listening to stories….