The Mudflats

It’s like the end of a magic show.  The magician stands there in the spotlight, all eyes are upon him.  A flourish of the cape, a puff of smoke, and…..poof!  Gone.  The smoke clears, and he is nowhere to be seen.  The audeince stares.  They look at each other.  There is murmuring.  Nobody knows quite what to do.  Is it over?  Should we go home now?  Will he pop up again somewhere else in the room?

Awkward silence.

That’s where we are.  Sarah Palin has left the building.  We think.

Before she surfaces again, let’s take this moment to announce the results of our Mudflats Poll.  If Sarah Palin does indeed appear in a puff of smoke up on the balcony somewhere and announce that she’s starting her own political party, what should it be named? Here’s the Top Ten List!

Drumroll Please…..

#10)  The “I Did It On Twitter” Party – (The IDIOT Party)

#9)  The Know Nothing Party

#8)  I Am Also, Too a Candidate!  Also.

#7)  The Mavwreck Party

#6)  The Pity Party

#5)  The American Sarah Society, Holding America Together (The ASSHATs)

#4)  The Bitter Quitter Twitter Party

#3)  The Party to Nowhere

#2)  It’s My Party (and I’ll Quit if I Want To)

and the best name for Sarah Palin’s new political party is….

The Conservative Republican American Party – CRAP!

Yes, in 2012, you too may be able to step behind that little curtain and vote for CRAP.

Thanks to all who contributed! #10 – rebekkah, #9 – (Secret Shopper, Paula, Gasman, Harley, Seattlefan & others), #8 – Karen, #7 – bucfan, #6 – (powerkb, BWilder, Aussie Blue Sky, Cathy from Colorado), #5 – Gasman, #4 – bucfan, #3 – mlaiuppa, #2 – (Geneva freespeech, Jimmy Wellington), #1 – Gasman

Enjoy the rest of the entries HERE. Don’t forget to read the comments. There were far too many to include them all!

Rural Alaska Speaks

Mudflatter (and Anonymous Blogger) Ann Strongheart will be appearing on Native America Calling, a radio show that is part of Native Voice One and the NPR Satellite System. Tune in on Monday, August 3 at 9am Alaska time to hear Ann (and hopefully Emmonak resident Nicholas Tucker) discuss the salmon fishing ban on the Yukon River.

This is an exciting opportunity for two great Alaskan voices to speak up on issues that are so important to Alaska’s rural residents. Shortage of subsistence foods was a huge part of last year’s horrible situation in Western Alaska, where residents were running out of food, money and fuel during the harsh winter. No two people were more instrumental in bringing that situation to the attention of the national media than Nicholas Tucker and Ann Strongheart.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has banned commercial fishing for king salmon along the Yukon River and is limiting subsistence fishing. The ban is in response to the state not meeting their treaty agreement with Canada for the past two years to deliver 45,000 kings via the Yukon . But groups of Native fishermen are ignoring the ban – facing possible jail time, heavy fines and equipment seizure. How will village residents make it through another tough winter if they’re not allowed to fish this summer? Guests include Ann Strongheart (Yu’pik) from the village of Nunam Iqua.

The show will be accepting calls at 1-800-996-2848 with a live link HERE.

I’ll set Mudflats up to live blog the event when the time comes.

Senator Begich on Global Warming

U.S. Senator Mark Begich is scheduled to deliver his “maiden” speech on the Senate floor Monday, August 3 at approximately 10am Alaska time (11am Pacific, 2 p.m. Eastern Time). In his speech, Begich will announce the introduction of seven bills designed to address the impacts of climate change in the Arctic.

Begich is calling the bills “the Inuvikput legislative package,” from the Inupiaq Eskimo meaning “the place where we live.”   You don’t have to be able to pronounce it, to know that it’s important.  The bills deal with oil and gas development, the need for more Arctic science, Arctic shipping issues, improved Arctic health, better coordination of U.S. Arctic policy with an Arctic ambassador and related issues.

Traditionally, freshmen senators devote their initial Senate floor speech to an issue of concern in their state or a national issue. Begich is opting to discuss the enormous impact of climate change on Alaska, which is “ground zero” for the impacts of such change in the American Arctic.

To view the speech:
Live TV Coverage: C-SPAN2 provides live coverage of the Senate floor.

Live Online Coverage HERE

The speech will be posted on Senator Begich’s website and YouTube channel an estimated 3 – 4 hours after delivery.

Last Saturday was ex-Governor Palin’s farewell stop in Anchorage. I spent the afternoon at the governor’s picnic, fighting my way through packs of tourists with cameras and cell phones, pressing in and trying to snap a picture of the governor. I was told to evacuate the condiment area by some sort of hired picnic security thug. I was overwhelmed by throngs of people wearing t-shirts with pictures of firearms, and wearing actual firearms with ammo clips in plain sight. There were lines, hundreds long waiting to get a hamburger on a wonder roll from Sarah Palin… It was really a sensory overload experience on multiple levels.

Then, I saw this:

My first thought was, “What the Hell is THAT?” I’ve sat through enough Anchorage Assembly meetings watching people from local area evangelical churches wear red as their color of solidarity to take 3 minutes at the podium and read Bible verses, and tell everyone that homosexuality is a choice and a sin and will rob us all of our freedoms, and bla bla bla. So after a dozen hours or more of watching the color red be further co-opted by the religious right, my first thought was that this thing was some sort of homophobic picnic mascot sent to infiltrate the crowd by Jerry Prevo.

Then, I realized, that it was probably a drop of blood… presumably to encourage donations to the blood bank? That’s what I assume, although I didn’t actually ask it what it was. From the look of the security guy, he wasn’t quite sure either. It did do a little sassy leg lift when I took its picture, though….so it appears to have a sense of humor, which the people at the Assembly meetings definitely did NOT.

So, this sort of screams for a caption. Any ideas?

The latest Palin poll numbers are out.  Oh, it looks like those halcyon days of the 89% approval ratings are a thing of the past.  Now we can say that more Alaskans disapprove of the ex-almost-one-term-governor than approve of her.

And the Approval Index (Very Positive minus Very Negative)w  -1.2

Question 1

Would you say you feel positive or negative about Sarah Palin? And is that very (positive or negative) or somewhat (positive or negative)?

Very positive 120/400 30.0%
Somewhat positive 67/400 16.8%
Total positive (very+somewhat) 187/400 46.8%
Somewhat negative 65/400 16.2%
Very negative 125/400 31.2%
Total negative (very+somewhat) 190/400 47.5%
Don’t Know the person 5/400 1.2%
No Opinion  18/400   4.5%
Refused 0/400 0%

Click here and add your email address to our mailing list and receive Statewide Survey results in your mailbox every month.

Question 2

Would you say you feel positive or negative about Sean Parnell? And is that very (positive or negative) or somewhat (positive or negative)?

Very positive 104/400 26.0%
Somewhat positive 162/400 40.5%
Total positive (very+somewhat) 268/400 66.5%
Somewhat negative 22/400 5.5%
Very negative 9/400 2.2%
Total negative (very+somewhat) 31/400 7.8%
Don’t Know the person 31/400 7.8%
No Opinion 72/400 7.8%
Refused 0/400 0%

Here are visual aids in various forms based on previous and current Hays Research Data.

Kudos to the Mudflats Number Crunchery Dept. aka  ‘Number Cruncher’ and Dr. Chill who predicted this earlier.  The lines have indeed crossed.