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…
Murkowski Thumbs Nose at Leadership
MEEP! MEEP! MEEP! We interrupt Alaska to bring you this special Sanity Report. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski does not – we repeat – does NOT think that the debt ceiling should be used as leverage for spending cuts. Her sanity runs counter to Republican leadership in the Senate who have no problem creating an economic hostage situation and jeopardizing the US economy if they don’t get their way. Murkowski says that some of her Republican colleagues won’t say it “out loud,” but they agree with her. This means that both of Alaska’s Senators believe that we should, in fact, pay our…
Fiscal Cliff: Alaska Roll Call
I’m always fascinated watching the roll calls for bills that pass through the legislature, especially when we have a rare moment of harmony across party lines in Alaska. On Tuesday, an 89-8 vote in the Senate passed the “Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012,” (aka the Fiscal Cliff Bill) which lobbed the ball to the House of Representatives. Voting yes on the Senate bill were 47 Democrats, 40 Republicans and 2 independents, including both Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D).Voting no were 3 Democrats and 5 Republicans. The 257-167 vote by which the House passed the agreement, hours…
Don Young Will Break You
Guess what, boys and girls? The Food and Drug Administration just announced that a genetically modified, farmed Atlantic-Pacific salmon-eel hybrid (also known as the Frankenfish) is perfectly safe for human consumption! Mmmmmm. Anyone want some Farmed-genetically-modified-Atlantic-Pacific-salmon-eel-hybrid dip on a cracker? Come on, don’t be shy. It’s perrrrfectly fine. The government says so. Ah, the gubmint. Alaska conservatives’ entity of choice when it comes to a target for hurling bile is the Environmental Protection Agency. But with the FDA, Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation comes together in a big bile-hurling kumbaya. “The notion that consuming Frankenfish is safe for the public and…
What are they up to?
Let’s do a quick check-in, and see what people are up to during the lull at the holiday season between the election, and the beginning of the next legislative session Mark Begich – Mark Begich is busy getting gold stars. The latest is for voting for the Feinstein Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which takes steps to end allowing the indefinite detention of American’s in the United States. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Murkowski is “outraged” about the Benghazi incident. And “she has no patience for the constantly changing stories coming out of the White House and even less for…
Seattle’s Stake in Bristol Bay Seafood
One of the newer outrages that Rep. Don Young, Congressman for all Alaskans who voted for him, has to face is the U.S. Senator from Washington, Maria Cantwell. What has she done to incur his infamous wrath? She has stuck her nose in the business of Alaskan resource management. You see, one of Senator Cantwell’s main issues is sustainability of salmon populations and the fishing jobs they provide. Not only has she been working to secure funding for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund – from the Columbia River to Puget Sound, salmon populations are struggling to recover after decades of…
All Hail the Glorious Frankenfish!
There are times when people who have no idea what they’re talking about can really be infuriating. Then, there are other times when their overblown level of ill-placed self-confidence, and the astronomic scale of their own ignorance combines in such a way that it actually turns into comic relief. Case in point – the latest boil on the behind of the internet, The Northern Right blog (which is so thin on intelligent commentary you can actually see through it) has given a platform to one Mr. Alex Gimarc. Mr. Gimarc is not effusing about the usual right wing talking points…
Oyster Roundup – “Freedom,” “Shame,” and Crimes of the Sea
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Here are five on the half shell. Links in the titles. Slurp! Doing Time for Fishy Crimes Arne Fuglvog, the corrupt fisheries aide of Lisa Murkowski will be serving jail time for fish crimes. He called his transgressions a “grand misjudgment.” Yes. Quite grand indeed. Back when he was charged, and confessed, his boss Lisa Murkowski reminded us that despite his confession, he was still innocent until proven guilty. He confessed to overfishing, falsifying reports, and selling his ill-gotten aquatic gains for almost a million dollars over…
Rep. Don Young Loses it in House Resources Committee Meeting (Video)
Apparently someone put something in Don Young’s oatmeal this week. OK, yes… he’s got something in his oatmeal every week, but this week he got an extra helping. Or perhaps he jus needs a bran muffin instead. Or perhaps the propeller beanie he wore to the Resources hearing a few days ago was a liiiitle too tight. Whatever the reason, our “Congressman for All Alaska” was busily at his favorite hobby of seeing how many Alaskans he can get to put bags over their heads. This time, his display came when speaking with Dr. Douglas Brinkley, an “ivory tower elite,”…
Don Young Wants to Annihilate the Last 20 Years of Federal Regulation.
Don Young… what can you say? He’s Alaska’s one and only congressman, and he’s been Alaska’s one and only congressman since 1973. That’s 38 regular years, which feels like 95 in Don Young years. He defies explanation. He’s sort of a combination of the old curmudgeon in the neighborhood that sits on the porch telling the local kids to get off his lawn; the crazy uncle you see at family gatherings that drives you nuts, but loves dressing up like Santa; and the monkey with the typewriter who occasionally types a word, but the rest of the time flings poo. …