Walker or Begich? The Moderate’s Dilemma.
Alaska voters, we need to have a conversation. And I know this may hurt a little. It’s about Bill Walker and Mark Begich, the two “moderates” in the 3-way race for Alaska governor – the first, a former Republican and incumbent, the second, a Democrat and former US Senator. The third player in our little melodrama is Mike Dunleavy, a former Republican right-wing conservative state senator from Wasilla who quit in the middle of his term. In the end, your vote is your choice and yours alone, but I can’t let you step behind the red, white, and blue curtain…
You Don’t Know What Liberal Means
I get lots of e-mails from Jenny. She’s always asking for money. There’s always some looming threat from “LIBERALISM!” or “LEFTISTS.” Which is weird, since as a leftist and a liberal, I feel like there’s always a looming threat from CONSERVATISM and FASCISTS. Now I’m not Tea Party Patriots founder Jenny Beth Martin’s equal. She’s the head of an enormous organization with hundreds of thousands of members and millions of dollars. Her group sways national elections. I’m just a journalist who notices things. From the e-mail above she writes: “[Obama] has unions, leftist legal groups, and every liberal lobbying organization…
The Pete Kelly Lisa Murkowski Surreality Show
State Sen. Pete Kelly, a Republican from Fairbanks, has introduced a bill to allow University of Alaska students to carry guns on campuses and into dorms. That’s public policy even more harebrained than putting pregnancy tests into bar bathrooms. Did Pete go to college? Did he live in a dorm? If so, he apparently didn’t notice that dorms aren’t exactly hothouses of good judgment. Adding firearms just increases the opportunity for adolescent bad judgment to become truly tragic. I sure wouldn’t send my kid to live in a dorm populated with gun-toting teenagers. I haven’t figured out what Kelly does…
Justice Scalia’s Black Beemer
By Greg Palast | For OpedNews It was one of our team’s weirder investigative discoveries: The recently departed Justice Antonin Scalia— alev ha shalom — in 2011, was ticketed for recklessly driving his black BMW. To his family, I offer condolences. To my readers, I offer the facts. A man’s soul must be laid to rest, but history must not be buried as well, especially now that the Justice’s passing has become grounds for stories that border on historical obscenity, cf. the New York Times, “Liberal Love for Antonin Scalia.” Love?? Well, if you want a Valentine, this ain’t it. There’s been a…
At the Historic Stonewall Inn – Gay Marriage Celebrations in NYC
On a week of historic Supreme Court decisions and non-stop breaking news, the decision that gay marriage was constitutional has swept the Nation like a cool breeze on a Summer day in Fairbanks. I’m stuck in New York City for the time being so hearing the news, I ran to the Stonewall Inn, the place many call the home of the LGBT rights movement in the USA. The celebrations were just ramping up as it was only an hour after the official announcement from D.C. but the crowd was certainly celebratory. Here’s a couple of my best shots – I’ll…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska Juneau Empire – Senator plans to investigate Guard situation State Sen. Lesil McGuire says the Legislature will hold hearings into sexual assault and other allegations involving members of the Alaska National Guard, but she’s getting push back from the Senate president. ADN.com – Alaska land access fights hinge on one word in 34-year-old law The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected two high-profile Alaska cases dealing with federal authority in Alaska, largely because of a six-letter word Congress inserted into a sentence in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 34 years ago. In both cases, the court…
The Weekend Off – The News You Missed
Alaska The New York Times – Past Road’s End, Democrats Dig for Native Votes “NAPASKIAK, Alaska — No roads go this deep into the tundra, especially not for Democrats. Not that politics weigh too heavily on the mind when people are consumed with more basic needs, like catching enough fish to eat or scraping together the $6 a gallon it costs to fill up their boat with gas.” Alaska Dispatch – For Senate candidates, no escape from “trackers” on the trail “The Chamber of Commerce, and other groups involved in Alaska politics, are on the alert for “trackers” — the entry-level political…
The Floodgates are Open
This week I listened to one of the right-wing sock puppets yammer on about what a victory for freedom the most recent campaign finance court decision was. Honestly. The guy was more about “free and dumb” than freedom. The court, in yet another 5-4 decision, basically created eBay for elections. What we didn’t need was more stinking money in our election process but the five say otherwise. Freedom of speech is now equated with how much money you have and are willing to spend. Of course, the reverse doesn’t work. You can’t walk into a store and purchase items with…
Lizz Winstead Takes on Hobby Lobby
From the Daily Show and Air America’s Lizz Winstead: So the Green family, billionaire owners of Hobby Lobby, a Christian Craft store (whatever THAT means), don’t want to cover certain birth control options in their employee healthcare plan because Jesus, or something. In fact, this brood are so rich they just paid millions to take their fight to keep ignoring science all the way to the Supreme Court. Yep, this is what passes for democracy in 2014. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear Hobby Lobby v. Sebilius, and these dangerous religious gajillionaires will argue their corporation…
Rove’s North Carolina Plan Under Attack By DOJ
Editors note: In 2011 Karl Rove wrote a column called “Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012” – Rove was betting on North Carolina to be a swing state for the Republicans… Romney took the state but to Rove’s surprise he failed at stealing Ohio for the third time. Just Google “Karl Rove Meltdown,” and you’ll see a video from Fox News election night, he did not take it well. After the knock-down of the Voting Rights Act by the US Supreme Court earlier this year North Carolina jumped at the chance to change their voting laws – claiming, as these states…