Those of you who have been breathlessly awaiting reports on the orange goo that washed up on the shores of the northwestern eskimo village of Kivalina, Alaska will be interested to hear the latest report, and that the mystery is closer to being solved. I deliberately didn’t say you’ll be “happy” to hear the report, because frankly, the latest scenario is creepier than the last one.

At first, no one had any idea what the stuff was. All they knew was that nobody ever had seen anything like it in Kivalina or anywhere else. All they knew was that a thousand gallons or more of mysterious orange slime was covering not only the Wulik River and lagoon, but had also appeared in buckets used to collect rainwater. While algae experts were called in, fertile minds were at work coming up with explanations.

First we found out it was not an algae.

Then we were told that after examination under a microscope it appeared to be crustacean eggs. Sounded reasonable, and they sure looked like eggs… But unless there was some new species of flying tanner crabs, or aerial shrimp, it seemed unlikely that eggs would end up in rainbuckets.

So now, after flying the goo to the east coast for further examination, we have yet another determination that is even more unsettling to some than tiny winged lobsters. They are spores. Fungal spores. They are so small that they can’t be seen as individuals with the naked eye, yet thousands of gallons of them have been flying around the remote Alaskan village and settling out to be discovered on the surface of water.

Spores. Fungus. Yikes.

And here’s where it all gets mysterious again. Nobody has ever seen these spores in Kivalina before, and not only that, nobody anywhere has seen them. No one has a clue what they are except that they are likely spores of a genre of fungus known as “rust fungus” that turns the plants it feeds on a rusty color. There are, apparently almost 8000 species of rust fungus that they know of, and many more presumed to be undiscovered.

The substance quickly dissipated from the village lagoon and the Wulik River. But many of Kivalina’s 374 residents worried about the long-term effect on the water quality — and some wildlife, fish and plants they use for food — from a phenomenon they had never seen before. There was a report of dead minnows found in the lagoon the night the substance appeared.

City administrator Janet Mitchell said those fears will only intensify with the latest analysis, which did not include toxicity tests. She herself is troubled about the community’s dwindling reserves in village water tanks that will need to be topped off.

“We are going have more concern from the public,” she said. “If I’m concerned, then there will be others with concerns.”

Stay tuned for more goo information as it becomes available.

~Chinese children swim along the algae-filled coastline of Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province on July 17, 2011. (STR – AFP/Getty Images)

So, last week I was captivated by a story out of China. Apparently for the fourth time in as many years, China has an algae problem. I read about the new and mysterious “green blob” of algae, but the pictures of it were truly stunning. The blob, it seems, has covered more than7400 square miles and has blanketed China’s east coast. The algae itself is not toxic, but depletes the water of oxygen, endangering marine life, fisheries and tourism.

Chinese coastal waters often contain high levels of nitrates caused by agricultural and industrail runoff, according to the New York Times. The buildup of nitrates often contributes to the growth of algea. Scientists, however, are still baffled as to why algae has spread so far and wide, so quickly.

But China is not the only place contending with slime of unknown origin. Welcome to Kivalina, Alaska, where they’ve got problems of their own in the form of an orange-colored substance leaving a sheen in the harbor and washing up on shore.  After determining that the stuff isn’t petroleum-based, or man-made, the City Administrator in Kivalina has called in the big guns. An “algae expert” has been requested from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to come investigate the situation.

~Orange algae (?) in Kivalina (photo by Mida Swan)

The only thing that mitigates the horror of yet another potentially lethal and unknown organism taking over our oceans, is the fact that it reveals to us that there is such a thing as an algae investigator, which has to be the nerdiest and most awesome job on the planet. I, for one, will sleep better tonight knowing that in the off chance I should ever have an algae emergency, that there is, in fact, someone to call.

By Linda Kellen Biegel

Here at The Mudflats we did a post not long ago about an incident discussed during an Anchorage School Board Meeting. It seems that Bob Griffin, a twice-failed candidate for the school board, was pulled over by the police. Here is the explanation in the words of School Superintendent Carol Comeau at that meeting:

Carol Comeau — I have no idea what he said or what he’s doing. I do know that shortly after the election he was following the bus route of one high school, middle school and elementary school and the bus driver didn’t know who this white male driving the car was [so he] called dispatch. They reported it. A police officer came and stopped him and the bus. He [Griffin] wanted to know what was wrong. The police officers talked to the bus driver. The bus driver says, “I don’t like the fact that somebody in the same car is following me on all three routes. I don’t know who he is and we’re very concerned about this. This is one of the major signals of a pedophile or someone who is going to snatch a kid.” So, the police officer talked to him and explained basically the same thing and that [he] should have notified somebody at some point that [he] were going to do this. He [Griffin] said, “Don’t you recognize me? I just ran for the School Board.” The police officer didn’t recognize him and said, “Be that as it may, it’s not a good idea for you to be following school buses because when we hear about it, that’s the first thing we suspect” — that someone is going to snatch a kid or is a pedophile.

Mr. Griffin claimed to be doing “research” on how many children were actually riding the busses. However, he didn’t do the more statistically accurate method of counting the kids while they were getting on the busses at the individual schools. Of course, that would involve actually coordinating with the Anchorage School District rather than furtively following the busses around.

Last night, the Anchorage Assembly voted along partisan lines to put Mayor Sullivan’s appointee, Bob Griffin, on the Municipal Budget Advisory Committee.

Bob Griffin has run for Anchorage School Board (and lost) twice. Both times he was promoted openly by Mayor Dan Sullivan…this last run included personal donations from Sullivan and his wife. His campaigns were notable for the amount of questionable information he presented as “truth”. It took time and resources in order for the Anchorage School District to refute the falsehoods.

This appointment confirms how far Mayor Sullivan is willing to go to “get his way”…including appointing someone with, in the very least, incredibly poor judgment.

This appointment also confirms my fears regarding why the Budget Advisory Committee and the School Budget Advisory Committee were combined as part of Sullivan’s most recent attack on transparency. Last year, Mayor Sullivan was thwarted in getting a controversial character, Dave Bronson, on the School Budget Advisory Committee. The public was concerned that someone so partisan would have influence over the School District budget. Now that the word “School” has been removed, Bob Griffin was appointed without a whimper.

The good news: Something can still be done if we do it before 5:00 pm!

If one of the Assembly members who voted for Mr. Griffin can be RESPECTFULLY convinced to vote against him before 5:00 pm this evening, there can be a move for reconsideration and Bob Griffin’s appointment could be overturned.

Those Assembly members who voted for him are:

Ernie Hall (Assembly Vice-Chair) — HallE@muni.org
343-4115 (voicemail)
562-2088 (office)
561-6018 (fax)

Debbie Ossiander (Assembly Chair) — OssianderDA@muni.org
529-6356 (cell)
688-2308 (home)
343-4113 (voice mail)
688-2338 (fax)

Bill Starr — StarrWE@muni.org
350-5481 (cell)
694-5060 (home)
343-4313 (fax)

Adam Trombley — TrombleyAR@Muni.org
830-0378 (cell)
343-4120 (voicemail)

Jennifer Johnston — JohnstonJ@Muni.org
346-1087 (home)

Chris Birch — BirchC@muni.org
346-3265 (home)

Since time is of the essence, a phone call or a call combined with an email (as most of these folks have day jobs) is the best way to go. If you wish to email the entire Assembly at once, here is the address: WWMAS@muni.org

Thank you for your support of Anchorage’s school children!

Brace yourselves Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, and Seward. If you think hard and make your eyes go all blurry, you can just imagine two lanterns hanging in the church steeple warning you of the coming invasion. That’s right, a horseman is galloping by to remind you of the signal – one if by land, two if by sea.  Well, it seems the dark forces have chosen the sea route, and they are coming.

Intelligence tells us that they will enter Alaskan waters at the end of August making land in Ketchikan on the 28th, Juneau on the 30th, Skagway on the 31st and Seward on September 2nd. This should give you plenty of time to stock up on non-perishable food, toilet paper and basic necessities, shutter your windows with plywood, and shove that big heavy bureau in front of the door.

Would that it were only the British that were coming. But it’s so much worse. Coastal Alaska is about to be besieged by…

The Tea Party at Sea – a cruise boat filled with teabaggin’ scallywags and miscreants including the founders of the uber-right wing propaganda site WorldNet Daily.

The adventure-seeking fiscally conservative wingnut can spend $699 per person to book a basic cabin at the early bird rate, but for those who are a little less concerned with pinching a penny, the Royal Suite will relieve you of a cool $4678 per person, double occupancy.

Those traveling north to the homeland of likeminded Tea Partiers such as Sarah Palin, Joe Miller, Sean Parnell, Scheaffer Cox, and oh so many more, receive the following call:

ENLIST NOW to be on board with the most freedom-embracing and liberty-loving navy at sea: the WND Navy and the Tea Party at Sea!

Your week will be filled with shoulder to shoulder time during our teaching sessions with Joseph Farah, Jerome Corsi, David Kupelian, Aaron Klein, and Floyd Brown while sailing the pristine and majestic Alaska coastline.  During our week together you will hear inspiring and challenging messages and critiques by our esteemed panelists, participate in vigorous question and answer periods, and engage the issues  of the day during our dining and conference times.  In between our times of sharpening and edifying you will relax and marvel at the magnificence of God’s creation, while we sail aboard the five-star Celebrity Millennium.  All of this, and at an incredibly low starting price.

Just imagine yourself rubbing shoulders, and ruminating about how the elite are the problem while enjoying the ship’s facilities:

Ship Highlights
- AquaSpa, featuring a hydropool, message (sic) rooms, sauna, and body treatments
- The Olympic, a specialty restaurant with demonstration kitchen
- Cova Cafe di Milano and Tearoom
- Outdoor jogging track
- Aquadome featuring 4 swimming pools and six whirlpools
- Sports Deck with full sized basketball court, compact football field, golf simulator and volleyball court
- Special lounge just for teens

Ah, does anything beat a sauna and a soothing Swedish “message” after a tough day of anger and outrage at sea?  Spelling classes are clearly not part of the “teaching sessions,” more’s the pity.  Photographic evidence from Tea Party rallies around the nation would seem to suggest that’s one of the more critical pieces of learning that needs to happen. Maybe next time.

And while the description of the cruise touts the “pristine” Alaskan waters, we wonder if this very cruise by its nature might just violate the Clean Water Act.

Your Crew:

Joseph Farah, the founder and CEO of WorldNet Daily. I swear, I did NOT Photoshop that on there. It’s really his.

Alan Keyes – ran for president in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2008 and Senate in 1988, 1992 and 2004. Lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, aaannnnd……lost.  He also went to Harvard, which somehow did not disqualify him from the cruise.

That’s no William Shatner impersonator, that’s Jerome Corsi, author of the perennial favorite “Unfit for Command – Swiftboat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry,” and “The Obama Nation.” I don’t know about you, but the Shatner impersonator would be far more appealing, especially if he read Palin’s tweets. Just saying.

And here’s David (Dr. Evil) Kupelian, culture warrior and author of “How Evil Works.”  His first book was, “The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom.”

Aaron Klein is WorldNet Daily’s “Jerusalem Bureau Chief” and “is known for his regular interviews with Mideast leaders and terrorists.  He has interviewed jihadist leaders from every major Palestinian terrorist organization.” Can’t wait to pal around with him on the Lido Deck!

What would the Liberty Boat be without Floyd Brown, founder of Citizens United? Back in the day, he was the brains behind the Willie Horton ad, and he’s now the editor of the website ExposeObama.com.

Your cruise brochure says of the self-described Christian supremacist who stands in staunch opposition to “casual faith”, “You’ve probably never met anyone like Molotov Mitchell. (born in 1979)” I don’t know about you, but I’m OK with that. Mr. Mitchell’s credits include making commercials and music videos with a political bent, and running from knife-wielding voodoo priests.

But, wait! They’ve saved the best for last. That million dollar smile belongs to D.J. Dulce, who is “a Christian who’s been in entertainment since she was a little girl, works behind the scenes on “For the Record.”  She also practices an Israeli martial art, and is a member of Mensa.  I guess she’s a member of the non-elite part.

Coastal Alaskan Mudflatters (but only those with a steely spine) are encouraged to lurk in the bushes and report to Mudflats Central with observations and pictures as the invaders disembark.  For the rest of you, bar the door and stay inside.

150,000 people show up to support the Wisconsin 14 and protest against Scott Walkers Brutal Assault on the Middle Class.

Madison, WI. Yes, Glenn Beck, I mean you.  Your Rally To Restore “Honor” as you called it, drew approximately 87,000 people.  You, the national conservative media darling who works for the network with the “highest rated news programming”, couldn’t beat the true grassroots effort that is occurring in Madison, Wisconsin.

Trust me Glenn, we’re educated here, and we can count; largely due to the quality of our teachers.

150,000.  Let me say this again…150,000 or more people attended the protest against the Walker administrations wholesale assault on the middle class Saturday.  There was no national coverage, no organized busing from other states, no large marketing budget and no glitzy promotional campaign.  Yet through word of mouth and social media alerts, they came to be heard.

~Sen. Jon Erpenbach, member of the WI 14, addresses the crowd

First, wall street destroyed our economy, surely motivated by greed and corporate largesse among top executives. Then right wing media found the perfect scapegoat; the middle class.  And the assault has been ramping up over the course of the last 27 days.  The Tea Party, and it’s various out of state Koch-funded front groups has been trying hard to organize recall efforts against the 14 democratic senators who fled the state in order to delay a suspect “Budget Repair Bill” that included the removal of nearly all collective bargaining rights for public employees.

And delay they did. For weeks, the capitol has been protest-central with cops, teachers, firefighters, farmers and citizens from all walks of life protesting around the clock,  fueled by pizza kindly donated from people around the world.  This isn’t hardcore labor activists or fringe groups standing vigil nearly every day.  This is grandparents,  young families with kids in strollers, farmers(who traditionally vote conservative) and diverse folks from all walks of life.

Tony Schultz, a third generation Vegetable and Beef farmer of Athens, Wisconsin spoke eloquently and with passion about the shared values between organized labor and family farms. “After college, I came back to the family farm because of my values, and it’s my values that I’m reminded of every time I look at the little red barn on our state’s license plate, values that I believe over-lap with those of the labor movement. Family farmers, like the labor movement, value the dignity of being able to have some control over your work and your life,  to be empowered by your work, and not be alienated by it”. He continued; “what is a union anyway, but a group of people coming together to improve their lives! And that is what we’re here to do, we are saying that we reject union busting, and we reject this budget!”  He went on to discuss the avalanche of cuts coming his way, from  funding for rural schools to the drastic roll back of Badger Care, which is state sponsored low cost health insurance available to those that income qualify.

Mr. Schultz was joined by many other farmers who came to the rally as part of a “tractorcade.”  Approximately 55 Tractors drove around the capitol square, nearly all of which were adorned with signs such as “Corporate Greed is the Worst kind of Weed” and “ This Family Farmer Supports Teachers”.  Todd Pulvermacher, a dairy farmer from Bear Valley, pulled a manure spreader decked out with a tongue-in-cheek sign that read “ Walker’s Bill Belongs Here”.

~Manure spreader

Rep. Peter Barca, Assembly Minority Leader, led the crowd in a particularly fiery call and response; “Repeat after me. Badgers are strong! Badgers are rightous! Badgers are fighters! We will not rest! Until our rights are restored!  Can you hear us now, Governor Walker?

~Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca addressing the demonstrators

Actor Tony Shalhoub, a Green Bay Wisconsin native representing the Screen Actors Guild,  had this to say to Mudflatters; “ I hope the people of Alaska are paying attention.  There is a national effort underway to deny worker’s their rights. This isn’t just a protest at the capitol in Madison, this is the beginning of a national movement to restore the middle class”.

~Actor Tony Shalhoub pauses while addressing demonstrators…

Later, as he addressed the massive crowd, he stated; “We’ve been hearing a lot of things from places like Fox News..” which was then interrupted by the now common Madison refrain of “Fox News Lies!” chanted in unison by 100,000 people. After a brief pause, he then introduced “One of the meanest, and most dangerous union thugs in the land”, his little sister, who happens to be a 25 year educator in the Denmark, WI school district. The crowd erupted in applause and chanted “thank you”.

Marty Beil, Executive Director of AFSCME council 24,  had this to say: “To Scott Walker and his band of liars and thieves, let me speak directly to them.” “I’m sure they’re scurrying around somewhere with their armed guards.” Bell said. “Scott, you will not steal the heart and soul of Wisconsin because We are Wisconsin.”

~AFSCME council 24 Executive Director, Marty Beil

The Saturday protest was likely the largest labor demonstration in United States history.  Governor Scott Walker has managed to galvanize not just the labor unions, but average Wisconsin citizens into action.  We’ve probably seen the last of the large rallies in Madison this past weekend as work now transitions into the massive recall effort against 8 GOP state senators, and ultimately, Governor Walker himself.  Recalls are notoriously difficult, but this one is powered by sustained outrage and vengeance that will likely result in at least several recall elections to be held this summer.

~The Rev. Jesse Jackson watches the Wisconsin 14 speak

It was reported today that Scott Walker’s appearance at a Brown County Republican Lincoln dinner was protested by thousands of people.  The protesters outnumbered the residents of the town nearly 3-1. That’s significant and should be cause for Walker to be very concerned as those typically rural areas are his base.   And the nation seems to be largely supportive as well. Today, a friend sent me some photos from the St. Patrick’s day parade in Trenton, NJ, my blue collar hometown.  My heart swelled in my chest when I noticed that the firefighters were carrying “We Support Wisconsin Unions” signs featuring the blue solidarity fist shaped like our great state. We are Wisconsin indeed,  and we’ve had it.

Patrick DePula
Madison, WI
For themudflats.net
Twitter: pdepula
Facebook/patrick.depula

I found something for you to be thankful for, right off the bat today. You can be thankful that you are smarter than me, and that you didn’t buy Sarah Palin’s newest book.

A while back I promised to blog the new book, like I did with Going Rogue.  I have to tell you though, that at the time I expected it to be a book that went something like, “I really like this quote from George Washington because he’s my favorite founding father, bla bla bla.”  Instead, we’ve got Going Rogue, the Sequel.  From what I can tell it’s not going to be a cakewalk, but I did promise, and I intend to make good.  At least it is smaller and thinner.

I purchased the book today at my local Carr’s grocery store.  I was there, just like everyone else in Anchorage, buying some last minute things for Thanksgiving dinner, and I saw it there at the checkout.  It had actually come out the day before, but I was procrastinating.  Now I had no excuse…  I quickly looked around and grabbed one, turning it upside down on the conveyor belt and hiding it under a bag of candied pecans.  I felt like I was buying Preparation H, tampons, condoms, and Monistat all at the same time.  Throw in some of that warming lubricant while we’re at it.  All I wanted to do was tell my checkout guy, “I swear it’s not for me!  OK, it is for me but I’m not going to like it!”

But knowing that it would require too much explanation and that he probably wouldn’t believe me anyway, I stayed silent and uncomfortable. It may have been my imagination, but I do believe he did a little tiny double take when he turned the book over and saw what it was.

I dashed out of the store like I’d committed a crime, and tossed the book in the back seat.  So now, here it is on my desk, and her airbrushed self, bedecked in all sorts of sparkling flag jewelry, is staring at me.

I got none of the pleasure I usually do when I open a hardcover book for the first time and hear that little sound it makes.

Here’s the dedication:

For Trig.
I’m glad you’re here.

(Read: “I’m glad I didn’t have an abortion.” That didn’t take long…)

And our first founding father quote:

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day,
that my child may have peace.”
~Thomas Paine, Founding Father

(Somehow, I have a feeling that we are about to enter a world of neither Common Sense nor Reason. Paine would probably not approve, but if he were here, he might stick up for the fact that common sense is TWO words)

Buckle up boys and girls, this might be a bumpy ride.  I’m goin’ in…

In this video, Dennis Gann of Cook Inletkeeper explains the who what and where of the proposed Chuitna Mine on Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

The coal mining project would go right through highly productive salmon streams and dump seven million gallons of mine waste and toxic runoff every day into the waters of Cook Inlet, which borders several small communities, and Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. This will affect every salmon swimming up the Inlet to Ship Creek in Anchorage, and popular fishing streams north of there, like the Deshka, the Little Su, the Talkeetna and dozens more.

Please watch the video and send an e-mail saying NO to the mine, and no to any mine that threatens Alaska’s great renewable resource – fish! This mine will affect sport fishermen, commercial fishermen, residents of Anchorage and other coastal communities, rural subsistence, wetlands and waterfowl, sport hunters, endangered beluga whales and other species, and tourism. The comment period closes on October 13 at 5pm. Send your comment to russell.kirkham@alaska.gov

Every comment will count, no matter how long or short. Please help us speak up for Alaska’s wild salmon, and Alaska’s people.

You can read the story of my trip to the Chuitna River with Zach Roberts, Chuitna and the Curse of Coal HERE. Thanks to Truthout and the Huffington Post for featuring this story.

Also, for more information you can visit http://www.chuitna.org

[This article is cross-posted at The Huffington Post where you can become a fan or follower!]

You look at me. I’m normally about as white as they come, but today you notice something else. I seem a little ashen, even for me. Maybe actually a little greenish. “Yes, I am feeling a little unwell,” I say, thinking how kind you are for asking.

I realize, though, that I am not alone. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It reminds me of the only time in my life I ever got seasick. It was right her in Alaska on a Kenai Fjords tour boat – a big catamaran that holds a couple hundred glacier gawking, puffin lovin’, whale watching tourists and the locals who love them. That fateful trip had high seas, and biiiig looooong rollers that were coming right in from the Gulf of Alaska. They were relentless, and three quarters of the passengers were not doing very well at all.  The college kids working on the boat for the summer were passing out barf bags, and they had many takers.  “Ha!” I thought to myself. I’ve never been seasick a day in my life, and I’ve spent a lot of time on boats. I feel bad for these poor saps, but it’s not going to happen to me. Why I’ve seen seas twice this high. I’ve been stuck in these very conditions in this very place and never got sick.

15 minutes later, I was leaning over the side, chumming the creatures below with a big helping of recycled vegetable lasagna.  That’s how I feel now.

I get emails all the time that say “That Sarah Palin! She makes me sick! She makes me mad! I can’t believe she did (fill in the blank)!!! How can you do it every day???” And I think to myself. “Yup. Seen it all before. Same old Sarah. I can take it. Nothing can faze me.  She was my governor. Why, I’ve transcribed her speeches in their entirety and lived to tell the tale.”

But today, I am hurling my metaphorical veggie lasagna over the rail and into cyberspace. The funny thing is, that there were three emails in my inbox, as I sat down to write this -  all from men I admire greatly, who pretty much have seen it all too. The subject lines?

1) Lord, take me now….
2) Better get a barf bag
3) I think I’m going to puke

And that made me feel like I did that day on the Kenai Fjords tour boat. I may be engaging in undignified public regurgitation, but at least I’m not the only one. As I said, it’s a good thing and a bad thing.

So get your candied Ginger, or your double strength Dramamine, or your shiatsu pressure point wrist bands or whatever you use. Because we’re going on a cruise.

Sarah Palin’s new book has a title, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag, and a release date, Nov. 23, publisher HarperCollins announced Tuesday.

The Alaska ex-governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate, whose memoir Going Rogue has sold more than 2 million copies, has been working on a tribute to American values.

It will include “selections from classic and contemporary readings that have moved her,” according to HarperCollins, along with “the nation’s founding documents to great speeches, sermons, letters, literature and poetry, biography, and even some of her favorite songs and movies.”

The book is inspired not only by her “strong belief in the importance of family, faith, and patriotism,” but by some of the people she met last year while promoting Going Rogue. Palin skipped major cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles, traditional stops on most author tours, and instead focused on smaller communities more receptive to her conservative message.

“The book will also include portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her deep love of country, her strong rootedness in faith, and her profound love and appreciation of family,” the statement from HarperCollins reads.

Yes, boys and girls, just in time for that money making holiday the liberals are trying to destroy, you too can buy a collection of stuff other people have written, with comments that Sarah Palin’s ‘collaberator’ has written, that Sarah Palin herself read, probably, and approved.  All for one green Andrew Jackson, give or take a Lincoln.

I can hardly wait to find out what her favorite songs and movies are. In our Dramamine induced haze, we start to hear a voice…. soft at first, then increasing to a loud discordant screech:

“I just totally love Toby Keith, and anything by Big & Rich.  And any song about red, white and blue stuff because they act color-wise as the symbolization of flagginess which wraps right around faithy family priorities that speak to ordinary real Americans that don’t live near large bodies of water.

And my favorite movie is that one, you know, about the sports team that nobody thinks will win, with that guy with an injury that nobody thinks is any good, and someone dies, and then they pray and the team pulls together like the founding fathers and it’s all miraculous going to show there that if you work really hard and if God opens a door you can just plow right through it and get a movie made about you.”

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that she will use her experiences from the Going Rogue book tour as padding for America by Heart , thereby paving the way for the use of her experiences on the America by Heart tour to pad her next big project – Just for the Halibut: Sarah Palin Cooks Up Real Alaskan Food for Real Americans or wherever the Hell the Gravy Train stops next.

And maybe it’s just because I’m wasted on my Ultimate Drowsiness Formula seasick meds, but hand on my heart, and the other clutching the rail, I promise that just like with Going Rogue, I will read and blog the book so you don’t have to…. I love you, Man.

OK, you better head off now.  I’m thinking about what’s in store and suddenly I don’t feel so good.

XXX WARNING! XXX

Normally this is a family blog, but thanks to Mayor Dan Sullivan, it’s now temporarily for adults only.

Here’s one for the books.

I was waiting in the studio for Thursdays in the Mud, my weekly appearance on the Shannyn Moore Show (1-2pm KUDO 1080am) and I got an email.

“You’ll never believe this!” it said.   And indeed I didn’t.

Mayor Sullivan apparently has a favorite Tweeter or made a giant gaffe. And to answer your question – No, I have no idea what the Mayor was thinking when he added this young lady to his favorites list.  Actually it’s the only favorite.  Hmmmm.   I’m thinking that a public records request for any mysterious trips to Ft. Wayne, Indiana may be in order.

You may be thinking…  “I can’t see anything.”

Exactly, gentle reader.  You’ll need to scroll way down to read.  And you’ll need to promise me that you’re over 18, and that there are no sensitive or impressionable children in the room.  And you can’t blame me if you burst a vein in your head from laughing.  Or if you have fainting spells, or a heart condition.  And you can’t blame me if this puts mental pictures in your head that give you PTSD for the rest of your life, and makes you want to pour bleach in your eyes.   And yes, this was a live link to Mayor Sullivan’s page, and was in no way altered or distorted.  What you see is what you get.

So, if you agree to all of that, then scroll away.  You stand warned.

And I’m going to go add this one to my growing Dan Sullivan photo gallery. I’ll be updating with more info shortly.

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UPDATE:

Here is some clarification for the non-Twitter savvy among us. Here’s a picture of what the top of Mayor Sullivan’s current Twitter page looks like.   If I’m looking down there on the list of all his tweets (messages) that show up on his page, and I want to save it, then I take the cursor and hover over the right hand side of the text box. As if by magic, three options will appear under the cursor -

1) “Retweet” (which means I wants to share this tweet with my followers)
2) “Reply” (which means I wants to answer the person who posted that tweet, in this case Mayor Sullivan)
and
3) “Favorite This Tweet” – With this one, a little star lights up, and the text box appears. If you click this star, the tweet will get saved to your favorites area. Then when people click on the “favorites” bar over on the right, they can see a list of your favorite tweets.

I can also favorite a tweet from my own Twitter page.  It works just the same way. 

This screen capture should help to illustrate what I’m talking about. This is Mayor Sullivan’s response to the fact that he had Ms. Olson’s tweet saved as a favorite. If you look at the arrows, you’ll see his options. The orange arrow points to “Favorite this tweet.”  Investigations are ongoing to find a “Delete” button… (there isn’t one)

And here’s a picture of my Twitter page, showing the most recent posts of the people I’m following, and then my own most recent post up top in grey letters.  If I wanted to “Favorite” Elding’s tweet, I’d just click on the star.

I have no doubt that the Mayor did not purposefully save Ms. Olson’s tweet to his Favorites page thinking that everyone could see it. It certainly doesn’t look very professional. But about the “erroneous setting” … I will defer to the very clear explanation provided by Mudflatter AKDaveDownUnder who says:

I have a twittering lesson for those of you who have asked. Now E in New England @5:55 pm did a good job explaining things quickly, I have a few things to add.

As E in New England said,

1) Anyone can decide to “follow” a public twit (I’m a public twit, BTW). Only the public twit himself/herself can choose to “follow” another public twit.

However, this has nothing to do with following someone, it’s about favoriting a specific tweet.

2) A simple click of a highlighted star symbol next to ANYONE’S tweet will mark ANYONE’S tweet as one of your favorites.

But I can’t see anyone “mistaking” the highlighted star as some sort of delete.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to delete someone else’s tweet! Can. Not. Be. Done! I’ve noticed that at MayorSullivan’s twittering twat page that someone has already used the excuse of: Oops, hit the wrong button and I really meant to delete it.

WRONG!!!! Can’t be done. Period.

In order to “favorite” someone else’s tweet, you must have been READING their tweets. No if’s, and’s, or but(t)’s about it.

You can “unfavorite” the tweet, but in order to that you must have “favorited” the tweet first.

This means that either Mayor Sullivan or one of his “senior staff” (that’s what it says on his twittering twat page) MUST have been reading the tweets from Bree Olson.

DEFinitely “not safe for work” I’d say…. Stay tuned.

Click HERE to visit his website.

He’s a former police officer, and ran in the last mayoral election.  Public safety is what he does.

Paul Honeman is also the guy with THE catchy jingle of the election. There’s always one. Last time it was the “Mike Guttierez” song that was running through everyone’s heads for months after the campaign.  Honeman….the new Guttierez.

If I can find an audio of it, I’ll post it. But it’s sung to the theme from “Rawhide”

Honeman, Honeman, Honeman
Let’s elect Paul Honeman
Honeman for Assembly – East Siiiiide!

It’s been stuck in my head for weeks now, and there are no signs it will leave.

Anyway, Paul Honeman was the interviewee on this week’s Moore Up North, and sat down with host Shannyn Moore to talk about his vision for the city.

I think anyone would be proud to have this guy on the Assembly.

His opponent? A certain – Adam Trombley. Trombley is the “conservative candidate,” and as I checked out his website, I noticed the obligatory red, white and blue, the photo of Adam and his wife, his Alaskan “cred”, the volunteer list of sports he’s coached, all the usual stuff… but then I saw THIS.

Hmmm. The Municipal Budget Advisory Commission.  Sounds like this might be an appointment by Mayor Dan Sullivan.  (I take a moment to observe the red flag being hoisted up the flagpole by my brain).  There are fewer and fewer people in our fair city who like anything about the Mayor’s budget.

Sullivan’s brand of fiscal conservative likes firing “non-essential” municipal workers, and cutting the police and fire departments, and library hours, and city services.  But he loves signing checks on giant payouts to his own family, and suing the feds, and paying himself to be Mayor Elect while we were already paying the Acting Mayor, and new Zambonis…

Yup.  A Sullivan appointee.  You know, I tried using that little drop down menu up top that says “How Do I….?”  I was hoping I’d click it and find the option “get a new mayor” or “replace this clown” or “figure out why we’re paying a party planner more than I pay in property taxes when we’ve never done that before”, but alas.  No such option.

But that’s not to say that everyone on this commission shares Dan Sullivan’s views.  Like that party planner the Mayor hired, for instance.  That’s just the latest in a long series of fiscal gaffes.  We’d never paid an outside source to do party planning before.  The previous administration did it all in house.  I wrote about this before, but I’m sure you remember…

Bernadette Wilson, the party planner, handled all kinds of things for the Mayor.  She was a dedicated campaign worker who put in long hours volunteering.  She was so valuable that she was even chosen to emcee the Mayor’s own inauguration!

~Party Planner Bernadette Wilson emcees the Inagural Ceremony of Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan

And she planned the Mayor’s “Unity Dinner” with its special guest, outspoken conservative and football legend Lynn Swann.  That’s her right there, checking to make sure everyone is happy at the Mayor’s table.

~Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, his Party Planner Bernadette Wilson, Lynn Swann, and Assemblyman Dan Coffey

We’ve puzzled about why this young woman who describes herself as being “the tender age of 25″ with no apparent party planning experience would end up getting paid thousands of dollars for this seemingly “non-essential” job that could have been handled in-house.  There are those who have their theories.

But how does Mr. Trombley feel about the Mayor’s budget?  Someone should definitely ask him about what he thinks of the fact that things like back country rescue, and the swift water team, and the Haz Mat team of the Anchorage Fire Department have been cut.  And while they’re at it, they should ask him what he thinks of that party planner who keeps popping up everywhere and cashing Municipal checks.

Oh. Nevermind.

~Anchorage Assembly candidate Adam Trombley and Party Planner Bernadette Wilson in December, 2009

It’s just amazing what people will publish on the web…