The Mudflats

I posted a while back about the strange and devolving relationship between Sarah Palin and the GOP when it comes to “making dates”.  Here’s a quick recap.

First Palin says she can’t speak at the GOP winter retreat because she’s got homework in Alaska, and then shows up that same night at the Alfalfa Club Dinner across town in D.C.  Then she commits to speak at the CPAC convention, confirms and then cancels.  Now, she’s all set to deliver the keynote address on June 8 at the Republican Senate-House dinner, it gets announced to the press, and published in all the papers and blogs, and over the airwaves, and then.  Ohhhhhh!   Lucy pulls the football! Again.

Palin remained non-committal about her appearance at the Senate-House Dinner, and poor Charlie Brown was just kind of sitting on the bench, looking all dejected like he does and saying to no one in particular, “Why doesn’t she like me?  Why does this always seem to happen to me?”

Well, it appears as if Charlie Brown has now picked himself up, dusted himself off, and is ready to play with someone else.   Noooo, not Linus.  Noooooo, not Peppermint Patty, and not the Little Red Haired Girl.  It’s… Newt Gingrich?

Here is the official announcement written, undoubtedly, with white knuckles and gritted teeth.

“After initially confirming her attendance, Governor Palin’s team informed the Committees that her gubernatorial responsibilities in Alaska prevented her from committing until the end of the legislative session. We completely understand and respect Governor Palin’s focus on her official state business; however, there is obviously an enormous amount of planning that goes into this annual event. For that reason, we invited and are honored to have former Speaker Newt Gingrich join us as our speaker at the 2009 Senate-House Dinner. As one of our Party’s brightest minds and most energetic speakers, we are looking forward to having former Speaker Gingrich provide the keynote address on June 8.”

The wording is interesting because of course Palin said she never confirmed her attendance at the dinner in the first place.  But the GOP  (sound of grinding teeth) wants to to know that THEY were not the ones that made the embarrassing gaffe.  I don’t know what the next date is going to be, but they may possibly require a confirmation written in blood.

I wonder how Newt Gingrich feels about being Charlie Brown’s rebound guy?

As AKMuckraker is “flat out like a lizard drinking” right now, I thought I would drop in and mention that Krinkle Bearcat Palin has put together a few t-shirts on Cafepress, including Brian as Anonymoose.

Isn’t it gorgeous? And all proceeds go to AKMuckraker, too! Get yours here. If the page doesn’t load for you be patient and try again a little later, as soon as I post this everyone will probably click over there.

While I have your attention, can I mention we have a call to action re emailing the media on the forums. As yet none of the mainstream media has picked up this important story. If you have a moment, why not get the word out? And remember to keep an eye on the Action Alerts area

I am sure AKMuckraker will be back soon, in the meantime this is a new open thread for you “women and out of state” mudpuppies to comment on.  Enjoy!

Here’s a quick open thread to unclog the tubes. A oost  is coming soon. It’s been a crazy crazy day at Mudflats Central.

Shannyn Moore just called from Juneau.  She’s hosting a Town Hall meeting tonight at the Silver Bow at 6:00!  Go say hello!

(update)

To eliminate speculation as to what exactly an “oost” is…  it is indeed a typo and should have read “post”.  This is what happens when a certain blogger tries to put up an open thread utilizing a Blackberry, and the time afforded during a series of two red lights.  As I was about to correct it, it seemed like a shame to waste such a lovely typo.  It almost seemed fitting to add this to the lexicon:

oost (n) – a blog post written in haste without the use of spellcheck, usually from a portable device. 

I wrote an oost on my iPhone in the elevator between meetings.

v. oosted, oosting  -  the act of writing an oost.  

I really oosted that one!  That’ll teach me to blog on horse back!

Well, it was quite a weekend, and it feels good to be back behind the keyboard.

A huge thank you again to the hundreds of you who have reached out with messages of support and solidarity!  You all astound me with your messages which are so full of compassion, insight, intelligence and humor. 

The weekend has seen all kinds of eruptions!  Not the least of which has been our very own Mt. Redoubt.  And if you were wondering….yes, (with best Tina Fey voice)  “I can see the volcano from my house!”  Actually all I’ve seen from my house until today was a very dark area of cloud/ash where I knew the volcano was.  But today, for a brief moment, through the haze, I got to see it.  It’s got a nice new covering of snow on top, and it doesn’t seem to have a different profile than it did before, because the eruptions seem to be happening off to the side of the peak.  One thing I have noticed, in addition to the coating of ash that fell the other day, is that we’ve been having very lovely sunsets because of all the extra particulate matter in the air.  Here’s a nice one with the sun getting low over the mudflats.

Anchorage was hit with a dusting of ash over the weekend.  It was strange to look out and see a blanket of grey snow.  Then the wind picked up, and blew the ash across the surface in little ash devils, and it came to rest in interesting swirly patterns, and settled to the bottom of footprints and animal tracks.

But today we had a fresh six inches of snow that erased all that interesting abstract ash art.  And  we also had a visit from Brenda the moose!  Haven’t seen the old gal around in a while.  Actually, I confess that at first I thought it was Brian.  They have a very similar build.  But upon closer inspection of the antler attachment area, it was clear that there was no telltale circle where antlers had fallen off.  This was definitely Brenda, and we watched as she had a great snack of wild rose bushes, thorns and all.  I have no idea how they do it, but the gums of a moose must be made of stronger stuff than most.

I’d love to tell you more about Brenda, like her surname and where she lives and all her personal details and everything, but go figure.  She wants to remain anonymoose, and well….I just have to respect that.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)

And here’s a link to a great interview that my friend and fellow blogger Shannyn Moore did with CBC radio yesterday.  The subject?  Mudflats!  Kind of funny to hear them talking about us isn’t it?  Shannyn was great as always.  The interview starts at 20:00.  Before this is all over, we may need to have a “navel gazing” category.

Well, goodnight Mudflatters.  Consider this an open thread, since I seriously question whether you want to sit here all night talking about snow, ash and moose!