The Mudflats

Today, on the Shannyn Moore Show, I got to break the news on KUDO 1080am that right wing talk radio host Eddie Burke’s show on KBYR has gone dark. >poof!<  Lights out.  The man who put the “S” in Racist (see above) is on the air no more.   Burke says he resigned, others say it was the “you can’t fire me, I quit” scenario.

I noted that when his show was cut from 3 hours to 2 hours a day, he said the show was now in a “super drive time” slot.  As opposed to the regular 3-hour drive time, which somehow isn’t so super?  So, now by his own standards he’s hit the big time with the Super Dooper Drive time slot that goes from nowhere to … nowhen.

Will he show up elsewhere on the dial?  He’s already hopped around a bit, and he may resurface eventually, but for now…. let’s enjoy a moment of blissful radio silence.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….

Yes, I know that they’re just going to fill up those two hours with some other godawful nonsense.  But at least it won’t be HIS godawful nonsense.

So what will become of our vile friend? Personally, I’d love to see him run for governor. Talk about giving us something to write about. We’ve listened for years to Eddie Burke talking about what he’d do, and how things ought to be run, and bla bla bla. And he’s run for office before, but now he has a ready-made band of followers.  And now that he has time, I think he ought to be Alaska’s very first Tea Party candidate.  Or he could take up macrame.  Or perhaps go on a spiritual retreat in some nice cave somewhere and come back a changed man, and get an in-your-face liberal talk show.  But I think running for office is the more likely of the three scenarios.   

Actually, I think he’d round out the non-Democratic field nicely. So any Teabaggers out there (and I only call you Teabaggers not Tea Partiers because your future candidate says DemocRAT Party), it’s time to draft your newly retired leader to run for the state’s top spot. He’s got nothing else to do, so why not? 

Eddie Burke actually called into the show to say that he had “resigned,” and that he didn’t think that the Tea Party was organized enough to endorse a candidate, or shouldn’t be organized, or something.  And then he started rambling on about socialists and France. 

 And I wanted to ask him if he’d ever heard of the Treaty of Paris, or if he ever thanked France for saving our asses during the American Revolution, and remind him that without France we’d all be subjects of the Queen and have socialized medicine, so as a patriot, he ought to be thanking France for the very existence of our country.  But one does not interrupt an on-air conversation between Shannyn Moore and Eddie Burke with a history lesson.  It was quite a moment in radio.  And you can still tune in to hear Shannyn for 15 hours a week.  Eddie Burke?  Not so much.

And this is what it looks like when a H8R leaves the building.

That’s right!  Tonight the Shannyn Moore Show is taping and it’s going to feature a citizen panel!  That means you could be one of Shannyn’s guests on the show that airs on KYES on Saturdays at 4pm.

All you have to do is send an email to mooreupnorth(at)gmail(dot)com and tell Shannyn and her producers why you’d be a great panelist.  Then come to Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge on D St. between 6th and 7th Ave. at 5:30 tonight to be part of the taping!

This is your chance to throw your 2 cents in about Sullygate, or KABATA, or ACES, or predator control, or whatever is on your mind.  Don’t miss out!

And don’t forget that today is Thursday, which also means “Thursdays in the Mud!”  I’ll be on Shannyn’s show the third hour from 1-2pm on KUDO1080 AM which you can stream HERE.

OK, as much as I want to just copy and paste the entire thing here, I don’t want to make the Anchorage Daily News mad at me.  They live off clicks, and I don’t so I’ll send you over there, and then you can come back here.  And while you’re over there, do leave a comment.  They’re filling up fast.

The ADN has weighed in on Mayor Dan Sullivan’s latest ethical lapse.  I refer to the fact that he accepted payment for a faux insurance policy for his father that came out of city coffers.  Despite apparent attempts to make this one fly under the radar, it didn’t.

And when the Anchorage Assembly tried to put a hold on the payment of $193,000 until we figure out if it’s even legal – oops!  Bad news.  Looks like the city cut that whopping huge check at the speed of light, and it got “disbursed” by the Trustee….aka Mayor Dan Sullivan.  Most of us have to wait six weeks for a check.  Strange.

For all the background, I refer you HERE.  And don’t forget to follow the links!

So, Anchorage is $193,000 poorer, and Mayor Dan Sullivan and unnamed parties (we were told it’s none of our business by the Mayor) are $193,000 richer.  And the “contractual obligation” the Assembly was told about doesn’t appear to exist.  Cries of “Show us the contract!” have gone unanswered.

Hmmmmm.

So here’s the “bottom line” from the ADN editorial staff:

In defending his actions, the mayor stresses his fiduciary responsibility as trustee to seek payment. What about his fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Anchorage? That comes first.

Mayor Sullivan didn’t seek these circumstances, but he should have been able to deal with them in a straightforward and ethical way.

After heated public reaction, the administration says it has no problem with an independent legal review. Late, but good. We’ll wait for the outcome of that review before we pass judgment on the propriety of the insurance payout.

But this much is clear now: Where there’s a conflict of interest, the mayor has to make clear that he serves the citizens of Anchorage first and foremost. In this case, he did not.

BOTTOM LINE: The mayor’s conflict of interest was clear.

(clap clap clap clap clap)  Well done, ADN.  You nailed it.

Today at 2:59pm Alaska time, three time Iditarod champ Lance Mackey glided across the finish line in Nome, Alaska to do what no musher has done before.  He became the race’s only four-time consecutive winner, and he even did it sober this time.

The Iditarod champ, a throat cancer survivor whose body has been wracked by the disease and the radiation treatment, has a medical marijuana permit card and has openly used it during past races.  So why the fuss this year?

But here’s the thing — Mackey is very, very good at racing sled dogs. In fact he might be the best there has ever been. Over the last six years he has won three Iditarods (in a row, and easily) and four Yukon Quests (the only other 1,000-mile sled dog race in the world). Two years in a row he won the Quest one month then the Iditarod the next, a mushing feat never previously accomplished.

That kind of success breeds resentment and jealousy. It seems that powerful, but petty, emotions have led the Iditarod rules committee to declare that this year they would enforce — for the first time — a 26-year-old rule banning marijuana use by mushers. It’s worth noting that growing dope for personal use is legal in Alaska. So what’s the issue here?

When asked if this enforcement was directly related to Mackey’s success — after all, Mackey has openly admitted to smoking on the trail — Iditarod officials responded that it would be “hard to deny.” They further added that it was at the urging of Mackey’s competitors that they took action.

But even the killjoys couldn’t sabotage Mackey’s unbeatable winning streak.  Fifty one seconds short of 9 days exactly, he crossed the finish line to cheering crowds who stood in Nome waiting to greet the man who has done what no one else has ever done, and may never do again.  And, of course, mushers can only claim part of the victory.  The dogs do the real work.  Mackey finished up the race with 11 of the sixteen he started with.

Under a bluebird sky, Mackey’s dogs trotted down Front Street while the big afternoon crowd surged forward, narrowing the slot of snow through which he could pass.

“I drew the right (bib) number, 49, representing the whole state of Alaska and the people who believed in me,” he said. “It was an amazing welcome as usual. People were cheering as if it was my first one.”

Two of Mackey’s stalwart dogs, Rev, who’s missing his left ear tip, and Maple, sat with Mackey under the burled arch, adorned with collars of yellow roses. Mackey draped his arms around them and planted a kiss on their fur.

“They may not be the fastest team in this race,” Mackey said. “But they’ve got the biggest hearts.”

Hans Gatt pulled in at 4:04pm to take the #2 spot.

But just because we have a winner, that doesn’t mean the race is over.  Not by a long shot.  Many teams are yet to arrive, each running their own race.  For the rookies, just finishing is a win.  For the veterans, it’s a personal best.