AAUGHH… Wait. Lisa Did the Right Thing?
For decades, people have wondered what Charlie Brown would have done if he had ever gotten to kick the ball Lucy had been tricking him with for years. I suddenly feel qualified to answer this question definitively. Charlie did the happy Snoopy dance! His eyes may have been a bit wet and he may have whooped too loud for neighbors at 2 a.m., but his joy was known. OK. Maybe that was me during the vote to defeat the repeal of “Obamacare.” There have been many times I believed Sen. Lisa Murkowski would do the right thing for Alaska and…
EPA Should Stand its Ground and Protect the World’s Greatest Salmon Runs
Whenever I give presentations outside of Alaska, I always ask the audience, “How many of you like salmon?” Most hands in the room go up. Then I ask, “How many of you have heard of Copper River Reds?” Many of the hands still remain up. But when I ask, “How many of you have heard of Bristol Bay salmon?” almost all hands go down. And then I tell them the odds are 2:1 that they have eaten some. Nearly half of the commercially-caught Sockeye salmon in the world comes from the Bristol Bay region. The science explaining why Bristol Bay is the…
EPA, Pebble and The West Wing
I’m sorry to report that watching box sets of “The West Wing” isn’t enough distraction from our real politics. I am tired. I can confirm a fresh batch of baby sea otters, riding on their mama’s bellies, blown in by the latest storm can provide some relief. Their cuteness is enough to make anyone ovulate – I don’t care who you are. Their squeaks and mewing are impossible to ignore. I learned about something called “embryonic diapause.” It’s really fascinating and a little science-y. See, lady sea otters can get pregnant and put a pause on implanting the embryos for…
Lee Camp Arrested At Democracy Spring
Lee Camp, host of RT’s Redacted Tonight and resident Palast Investigative Fund humorist was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the Democracy Spring protests in Washington DC. He was one of hundreds who have been arrested in the actions, which are now on day three of ten days of protests. Democracy Sping is a coalition of like-minded groups working together for voting rights, getting money out of politics and protecting the environment. Listen to Lee’s interview with RT’s Eunan O’Neill on his arrest. “There’s a lot of people that are standing up and willing to get arrested to call attention to how money has…
KXL Pipeline Fight Setback – From Steve Horn
US Court Denies Halt on Pipeline Set to Replace Keystone XL Northern Half (via Desmogblog) The ever-wise Yogi Berra once quipped “It’s like déjà vu all over again,” a truism applicable to a recent huge decision handed down by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. A story covered only by McClatchy News’ Michael…
I’m Both Hungry And Pissed Off – Inequality in the USA in Terms of Pie
We always talk about pie charts and people joke saying things like… mmmm pie [in a Homer Simpson voice]. But what if someone actually discussed something like, say income inequality in the United States, through the medium of pie. Not pie charts – but delicious, completely edible real pie. Well, thankfully someone did over at The Atlantic. Business Editor, Derek Thompson bought three pies at the insanely cool looking pie shop Dangerously Delicious Pies in Washington DC and made this video explaining how things look in America these days…. they don’t look good. (The pies look delicious though…) Make sure you check…
Half-Term Governor Palin Speaks on ‘Barrycades’
Half-Term, The Quitter – there are many things that Alaskans call former Governor Sarah Palin. She quit our state for warmer climates but – the one thing that she just can’t quit is opinion-ating on everything. As a person that quit government completely, and ‘shutdown’ her own term of office I find it interesting that she has an opinion to share on the government shutdown. But, of course she does. Here’s an excerpt of stupid: My Call For Civil Disobedience Around The “Barrycades” It’s beyond shameful to see Barack Obama disrespect and mistreat our World War II veterans so blatantly. Obama’s…
UPDATED: Breaking the Law for Lisa Murkowski
[Updated 4:13pm AK Time] So it seems that Lisa is not breaking the law… just being really slimy about it. She has claimed her staff as ‘excepted’ aka essential. Thus they need to show up to work – but don’t get paid until the shut down is over. Mean while 800,000 Federal Employees are deemed non-essential – and don’t get paid at all. Here are some people that are considered “non-essential” – while the person that get’s Lisa’s coffee is considered essential. The Doctors at the Center for Disease Control that run the flu program Employees that run the Department…
Braves VS The Nationals – Photos
I was in Washington DC last week and made my way to a ball game – Nationals vs The Braves. The home team lost but the game was close all the way up to the 7th inning stretch. I’ve never been to a Nationals game so it was my first race of the Presidents… Teddy won, which I guess is a rarity. I usually don’t shoot sports but I’m happy with how these turned out… enjoy.