Time Flies
I’m not sure why 2013 seemed to fly by. I’ve always heard “the older you get …,” but this year seemed to go faster than some months in 2012. Some years it’s better to close the chapter and start writing the next but indulge me for a minute of retrospection. One year, while I was home from university, mother asked my sisters and me what we had resolved for the New Year. I said my resolution was to say whatever I thought, to not keep my opinions to myself. Mom shuddered. My sisters laughed. I was just aiming for something…
Parnell: Progressive Activist of the Year
We’re coming to the close of 2013, and top 10 lists are coming out of our ears. Top movies, albums, people (The pope! Time’s Person of the Year!). We seem to feel compelled to wrap up our year in nice little boxes. I have my own list I’d like to trot out. Hang on just a minute. Last week the governor released state revenue projections and his budget. His projections are based on the information oil companies give the state about how much of that sweet oil they plan to send down the pipeline. The administration takes those numbers and…
Shannyn Moore Show – The Pope vs. Rush Limbaugh and more
Tonights show we discuss a Pebble Mine Presentation, Mike Huckabee’s Hero and Rush Limbaugh has a fight with the Pope. Pebble: It’s About People – Peeble Mine Powerpoint Presentation (check out slide 2) http://www.akrdc.org/membership/events/conference/2013/presentations/shively.pdf Mike Huckabee labels Lara Logan a ‘hero journalist’ for discredited Benghazi report http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/27/mike-huckabee-labels-lara-logan-a-hero-journalist-for-discredited-benghazi-report/ Sorry, Pope Francis: Reproductive justice and LGBTQ rights are economic issues, too http://www.salon.com/2013/11/27/sorry_pope_francis_reproductive_justice_and_lgbtq_rights_are_economic_issues_too/ Rush Lashes Out At The Pope Over Critique Of Inequality http://mediamatters.org/video/2013/11/27/rush-lashes-out-at-the-pope-over-critique-of-in/197083 New Politics Progressive Podcasts with The Shannyn Moore Show on BlogTalkRadio
Parnell Targets Former First Lady
Obama is a socialist. Health care is communism. Closed parks are fascism. It’s weird the way words and labels get thrown around these days. Apparently dictionaries are one of the things some people no longer believe in. Here’s a word that doesn’t get thrown around but should: corporatocracy. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a society or system that is governed or controlled by corporations.” I joke about living in a resource colony but it isn’t actually funny. When the Corrupt Bastards Club was running the Legislature, then-Gov. Frank Murkowski asked them to effectively strip Alaskans of the right to…
Salmonstock in Photos
A few weeks ago I traveled down to Ninilchik, Alaska—population 883. The sleepy little hamlet saw it’s temporary ranks swell by more than six times, as thousands made the pilgrimage to SalmonStock III, a music festival celebrating the one things that all Alaskans love – wild fish. Even for those very few who don’t like fish and keep that horrible secret to themselves, fish drive the economy, tourism, support subsistence users, sport and commercial fishermen, and a culture that has existed here for thousands of years. In one way or another, Alaskans are bound up with fish. When fish prosper,…
Do Alaskans Like Fish More than Pot?
Me: Hey, Alaska! Alaska: WHAT? We’re busy fishing. Me: Just a couple quick questions… you can keep your line in the water. Alaska: Make it fast, the silvers are running. I don’t want to get distracted. Me: Would you rather have more money in the coffers of the state, or make sure you always have fish? Alaska: Fish. Me: Would you rather have people earning more money and boosting the economy, or make sure people can earn a living fishing. Alaska: Fishing. Me: Would you rather smoke pot, or salmon? Alaska: I can’t do both? Me: No. Alaska: OK, salmon….
Salmon: Feel the Love, Have the Party
I fell completely in love with an ad campaign. I know. Between the halibut haters at Domino’s and “The Salmon Project,” I should have whiplash. The campaign is brilliant. It’s got a fantastic kiss mark with a salmon in it! If I were a tattoo girl, that would be my pick. It’s genius. Salmon is more than something on a plate — it’s a lifestyle. I first noticed all this when I stopped to get supplies at the Seward Safeway on the way to my very own salmon project: Operation “Acrobatic Coho!” (Mission accomplished. Thanks for asking!) Even if…
Parnell & Crew “Summit” Mt. Hypocrisy
Two weeks ago I wrote about the upcoming, state-sponsored “Federal Overreach Summit.” Well, Alaska, they dug to the bottom of the barrel and managed to make a meeting of it — trotting out all the usual tea party nonsense about how tapping Alaska resources without having to answer to the feds on environmental issues is the embodiment of democracy. But this summit wasn’t just a pathway to pillaging resources. It was a dog-whistle concert for every wing nut they could get in the door. The governor’s policy director, Randy Ruaro, said there had been a funding request for “proactive science.”…
Gov Parnell Smacks Down Feds
Yesterday, a “Federal Overreach Summit” began in Anchorage. For two days, lawmakers and administration officials will gripe about the “feds” and what is described as intrusion into Alaska’s affairs. But the federal overreach discussed on the first day of the summit didn’t touch on Stand Your Ground law, or issues of reproductive choice, or gay marriage, or even voting rights which have been so much in the news as of late. This federal overreach is quite specific, and gets to the heart of what this administration considers important. It’s all about land use and resource extraction. A Department of Natural…
Mudflats Chats: Paul Begala on Pebble & Democrats
I sat down with Presidential adviser Paul Begala, and asked him his thoughts about the proposed Pebble Mine project, Senator Mark Begich, blue lawmakers in red states, and what it really means to be a Democrat. One of the lead advisers to President Clinton, Begala and James Carville shaped a moderate campaign agenda that focused on balancing the budget and creating 22 million new jobs. I’d been told that Begala is an avid hunter and fisherman, and has been fishing near Bristol Bay. So, I knew where I wanted our conversation to begin – with an issue that is of…