While at the Democratic convention in Sitka I got a little collection of buttons, one from each Democratic candidate for governor.  I enjoyed comparing and contrasting the buttons, and I thought it might be fun to take a poll and see which one you all like best.  I’ll be comparing and contrasting some other things [...]

  OK, so a Republican lost in a Democratic primary.  We can still enjoy it, right? I prefer to look at it as an entrenched politician with tons of name recognition and money got the boot in favor of a real progressive. See how much better that sounds? Arlen Specter (R) (D) just lost to [...]

~A dead sea turtle washed ashore on the Gulf of Mexico Tar balls from the Gulf Oil Spill are washing ashore on Key West. As of a few hours ago, 19% of the federal waters in the Gulf are closed to fishing, affecting an area of 46,000 square miles. The tourism based economy has already [...]

“I don’t give a damn about her.” -Wally Hickel 1919-2010 Half-Governor Sarah Palin crashed twice-Governor Wally Hickel’s funeral today. Trust me, if Sarah Palin was paying her respects, the check would bounce. The guest list was impressive with many Alaskan dignitaries. And then there was Palin with her daughter Piper, the 8 year old human [...]

This beautiful display of the Alaska State Fossil can be found in the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks. The state fossil of Alaska is fittingly an Ice Age mammal familiar to us all, the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius. This large member of the elephant family was a grazer on lush tundra [...]

As California-based writer & filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn completes the final touches on his investigative opus The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power, The Mudflats caught up with him for a chat about his forthcoming book. The Mudflats: So are you almost done already? Dunn: I’m getting close. I’m [...]

Most of the nation celebrated Arbor Day on April 30th, but Alaska celebrates on the third Monday in May.  That way we don’t have to shovel our way to the trees.  Since my pilgrimage to the trees of the Tongass in Sitka, I’ve had a couple requests for more tree photos.  Believe me, I have [...]

If you missed it, 60 Minutes had an excellent report of the causes of the Deep Water Horizon explosion, and a very compelling interview with one of the survivors. In addition, significant concerns were raised about other drilling platforms, namely The Atlantis and the even greater threats they pose than the Horizon did. See HERE [...]

Here’s something to chew on for a Sunday afternoon. The 2010 election cycle  is upon us, and as progressives we cannot afford to sit this one out. We are the majority and we proved it two years ago.  But as we have all learned to understand, it’s not about the majority – it’s about who [...]

Alright.  I’m prepared to say it.  It is May 15th, and I am ready to be blamed if I jinx it, but I believe that it will not snow again.  There, I said it. Today was gorgeous.  Temperatures in the 50s, with blue sky, cotton ball clouds, and the earth desperately trying to shake off [...]

~Thick and fast they came at last and more, and more, and more! Here’s a round up of all the things that blipped on the radar this week that we would have written about if our request for a 72 hour day instead of the 24 hour one had been granted. Palin v. Common Sense [...]

By Susan B. Andrews and John Creed, Professors Humanities/Journalism Chukchi College, University of Alaska, Fairbanks University of Alaska president Mark Hamilton is forbidding us, as University of Alaska professors, to write about Sarah Palin. For that matter, we’ve been told that commentary about any political candidate, potential or actual, must be approved by a UA [...]

“Look out, Washington. There’s a whole stampede of pink elephants coming.” ~Sarah Palin Yup. She really did.    She said it once before and I guess nobody told her what it meant.  Presumably she was trying to come up with a cute analogy for Republican women, not realizing the expression was already taken. Allow me: “Seeing [...]

For all of you who have been waiting with bated breath for what Sarah Palin did during her appearance at the NRA convention in Charlotte, North Carolina today, wait no longer. Writing on the hand (because that just never gets old) Giant flag pin Giant cross necklace Proud to be a “redneck” You know where I’m going. [...]

Mike Mason is a 27 year oil-industry veteran who worked on oil rigs at BP facilities on the North Slope of Alaska. On January 21, 2005, Corporate Crime Reporter ran an article detailing Mason’s allegations of BP falsifying the results of blowout preventer tests. At the time, Mason was working for Nabors Alaska Drilling Inc. [...]