By Elstun Lauesen Ring the Bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in — Leonard Cohen, “Anthem” Alaskans seem frozen in place. After a promising beginning 54 years ago, we established a solid foundation for our state. Now, after a pipeline and [...]

By Wickersham’s Conscience The Costa Concordia still lies on her side off the Tuscan coast, with 16 confirmed dead and many still missing. Alaskans know, to their sorrow, that not all ship’s captains are scrupulously careful, not all crew members fully qualified, and not all accidents truly accidents. A Dutch salvage company is struggling to [...]

By Carl Johnson While preparing to head off alone into the bowels of the Death Star to disable the tractor beam holding theMillenium Falcon captive, Obi Wan Kenobi rhetorically asked of Han Solo, “Who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”  I think of such questions sometimes when my legislators act foolishly. [...]

Things We Do for Free: An Open Letter to Russ Feingold Dear Russ, Today is the 60th and final day of signature collection in the effort to recall Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch. This day marks a milestone in a historic victory for all of us, and for me personally in a huge way. I’m [...]

~Shhhhh. Don’t tell him the cat is right behind him! Hello from Kinshasa- I am hoping that this is my last email update from Kinshasa, but it’s almost 4 p.m. local time and I don’t have my exit letter yet. I know that these things tend to come late in the day, but I’m nervous. [...]

by Greg Palast The GOP is pushing a pipeline that could blow you to pieces Palast conducted a five-continent investigation of Big Oil for British TV’s premier current affairs program, Dispatches, and for BBC Worldwide. This report is based on the broadcast seen prime-time worldwide—but not yet in the USA. Whistleblowers have told Britain’s “Dispatches” [...]

By Erin Pohland Days 20 and 21 Good evening from Kinshasa- In 48 hours, I hope to be on a plane back to the U.S.  In 48 hours, I hope to get through customs with the help of someone called a “protocol,” who will deal with the paperwork relating to the baby for me.  In [...]

By Erin Pohland Days 18 and 19 Hi from Kinshasa- The past few days have been relatively tame, in terms of my typical day in Kinshasa. Yesterday, Andrew and I didn’t leave the apartment — and Andrew didn’t leave my arms. I must admit that as much as I love my son, it gets a [...]

By Erin Pohland NOTE: I wrote this post from Kinshasa on June 30, the Congo’s 51st anniversary of independence from Belgian rule. On November 28, 2011, the Congo will hold its second election since the “end” of its civil war in 2002. Whatever your beliefs, please take a moment to think of or pray for [...]

By Wickersham’s Conscience WC’s readers will recall that back in June 2011, WC was critical – well, vitriolic, really – of Governor Parnell’s decision to litigate the endangered species classification of the Cook Inlet Beluga Whales. Because Parnell’s other bad decisions had removed Alaskan officials from the group that develops the recovery plan, Alaska had no [...]

By Erin Pohland Day 14, Kinshasa Hey all- I’m utterly exhausted, so this email will be very short. The good news: we got the visa! The bad news: my agency (via Reverend Bashaka) messed so many things up that I had to spend 4 hours at the embassy fighting with the consul to get it, [...]

Here is the next installment of Greg Palast’s new book Vulture’s Picnic. He has allowed The Mudflats to bring you Chapter 7 – My Home is Now a Strange Place in its entirety. This is an exclusive excerpt, just for Mudflatters. I find it absolutely riveting. If you need to catch up, here are links [...]

By Erin Pohland Good evening from Kinshasa- Andrew and I had a fairly eventful day, starting with a mosquito net maze (he LOVED waking up in it, and played with it for about 20 minutes before he let me take him out of it), proceeded to him bathing himself in peanut butter, and ended with [...]

  Day 11 Hey all- Today was a very easy day, so I’m making this short — I want to get some sleep!! Andrew got bitten by some bug in the middle of the night, and he woke up screaming and scratching at it at 4 in the morning. Needless to say, I’m a bit [...]

By Erin Pohland Greetings from Kinshasa, the city where my baby eats everything he can! So, today it happened — the DHL plane left from Goma, Reverend Bashaka picked up the Swahili paperwork (with translations — certified and notarized! — in French AND English) and brought it to me. I took it to the Embassy. [...]