Vulture’s Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 4)
Here is the next installment of Greg Palast’s new book Vulture’s Picnic. He has allowed The Mudflats to bring you Chapter 7 – My Home is Now a Strange Place in its entirety. This is an exclusive excerpt, just for Mudflatters. I find it absolutely riveting. If you need to catch up, here are links to the first three installments. Installment 1 Installment 2 Installment 3 ********************************** Chapter 7, continued By Greg Palast STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA We also needed witnesses. I needed insiders who would spill to outsiders. To find them, I needed a hound dog. I needed a blonde. I…
Party Planner Tries to Crash Alaska’s Filmmaking Party?
When I moved to Alaska more than twenty years ago, I was expecting something like the TV show Northern Exposure. I figured Alaskans would be really happy and proud that the show “put them on the map,” as it were. Invariably, when I mentioned it to anyone who had been in Alaska for a while, I got a big fat eye roll. “Yeah, they film it in Washington. They don’t even film it here. And we don’t have crickets, and we don’t have raccoons, and it doesn’t get dark in June…” They would have a list of all the mistakes…
Clueless Racist Casey Reynolds of KFQD Speaks to Environmentalists
There are some times when you tune in to right wing radio in this town, and the jaw-dropping willful ignorance is so overwhelming, so stupefying, so abhorrent, that no commentary is necessary. There are times when all you have to do is print a little bit of transcript, and let them out themselves for who they are. This could be one of those times. I really don’t have to say anything. I could just print a paragraph for you – a few lines spewed forth from the yammering maw of right wing talk show host Casey Reynolds on KFQD 750am…
Crude Awakening – Intro and Discussion for Your Reading Pleasure
I had great fun hosting Firedoglake’s book salon yesterday. Authors Amanda Coyne and Tony Hopfinger were there to answer questions about their new book/stocking stuffer Crude Awakening – Money, Mavericks and Mayhem in Alaska. For those of you who weren’t able to make it, below is my introduction with a link to the conversation at Firedoglake at the bottom. Enjoy! ************************* “Only in Alaska.” We hear that said up here in the Last Frontier all the time. In the case of the rise of Sarah Palin, the fall of Bill Allen and the larger-than-life legacy of Ted Stevens, it is…
Corrupt Bastard Doesn’t Like Being Corrupt Bastard – Sues
Just when you thought it was over… Convicted Corrupt Bastard Vic Kohring, doesn’t much like being called a corrupt bastard. So, he’s is suing fellow corrupt Bastard Bill Allen, federal informant and former CEO of oil services company VECO for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and damage to his business and personal reputations. He has also named CH2M Hill, the company that purchased VECO in the suit. Vic Kohring, as you may recall, is the former Republican legislator from Wasilla who pleaded guilty during his October 21 retrial for accepting bribes to keep oil taxes low in Alaska. The…
A Tale of Transfer – How Northrim Bank Lost My Money
I have to confess, I felt a little wistful about Move Your Money Day. The idea was that on Saturday, November 5, everyone who was fed up with the big banks, their unsound business practices, their bailouts and bonuses, should pull their money out of those banks, and instead open an account at a local bank or credit union. I thought this was a great idea, and I planned to promote it on the blog. But that’s where it would end for me, because I already have my money in a local bank. I’ve had multiple accounts, both personal and…
Blinky on the Warpath – Cain Goes Ballistic on Perry Campaign
It’s been a busy week for Herman “Blinky” Cain. All that dodging and deflecting, all the blinking and stuttering, doing interviews and trying to keep stories straight… grueling work, that. And now he’s added a new activity to his already busy calendar – blaming. No, he’s not blaming the women he sexually harassed (although he may just be saving that one for another day), he’s blaming Rick Perry. What better way to start your Thursday morning than with a little elephant-on-elephant violence? That, and a cup of coffee, and you’re all set. Cain is not just accusing Rick Perry –…
Where’s Don? Rep. Don Young is Most Absent Member of Congress
Once again, Alaska has topped the charts. Even though we have but one lone congressman, he holds a dubious dishonor. Yes, folks, Don Young is the least present member of the United States Congress. Representative Don Young of Alaska likes to get around his home state, and he does not let his voting schedule get in the way. One Tuesday in July when his fellow House Republicans voted for their signature budget measure, known as Cut, Cap and Balance, Mr. Young was the only one among them to miss the vote, for a charity fishing trip in Whittier. OK, a…
Alaska Disasta! Conoco Net Income Looks Grim…
Forgive me a second while I try to calm down. I… it’s…. I’m sorry. Just… just give me a second. (You kindly wait while I compose myself) You know how Governor Parnell tells us that we have to give $2 billion back to the oil companies every year? It’s not that he really wants to, but you know, they have to make a living. They invest a lot in our state, and we need to show a little gratitude. We can’t be all greedy and hog it all to ourselves, or they will just be lose their incentive, and will…