It’s always great to welcome a new advertiser to The Mudflats. It’ our only source of revenue, and I also enjoy sharing great products and services with the Mudflatters who may find them of value. So, when Kellie (not her real name) sent me an email saying she had a client who’d just love to [...]

~”Oh, my” thought Alice as she peeked through the looking glass. Here on the other side, things are very strange… particularly this new set of talking points about Alaska hire… Curioser and curiouser… As you can imagine, the oil tax structure loomed large in people’s minds during the testimony last Saturday before the Anchorage caucus [...]

  Sean-on-Sean Violence: it’s getting vicious. By Thomas Dewar It’s unclear whether Gov. Sean Parnell (R–Exxon) is intentionally stepping on his own message, or whether it’s a case of mistakes being made. Note to the Governor: You cannot simultaneously boast in your State of the State Address about how great we’re doing—citing relatively low unemployment and foreclosure rates and [...]

By Elstun Lauesen The Pebble Partnership has deployed a new ad which closes a circle many Alaskans have noticed: the close knit relationship between the pro-Pebble lobby and the Pro-Oil Tax Giveback lobby called ‘Make Alaska Competitive Coalition’. First, Alaskans have noticed the recycled personalities on the Pebble and Oil Company ads. We see former [...]

By Shannyn Moore Sometimes I have to boil things down. Bear with me on this one. Al is my imaginary friend. For years, Al and his family have owned an apple orchard. Years ago Al hired three of the best apple-picking companies in the world to pick his apples. Al and the Pickers bought a [...]

Alaska is a land of character and characters – colorful folks who’ve become deliciously quirky icons and who, like the late Uncle Ted Stevens, and the current Don Young, are mixed bags. Sure, the Congressman for All Alaska is admirably unafraid of his party’s leadership in DC. It’s always great to see him thumb his [...]

As the immediate past Vice Presidential nominee, it’s hardly surprising that most people outside Alaska view Sarah Palin as a card-carrying member of the GOP establishment. Despite her husband Todd’s seven year dalliance with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, and his quiet conversion to the GOP when his wife decided to run for office, Sarah [...]

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. [...]

  By Shannyn Moore Ever wonder what the world will look like when you’re 95? It’s hard, but I got a little help with it last week when Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that the producers on the North Slope have enough proven reserves to keep the Trans-Alaska Pipeline pumping until 2065. I know, [...]

By Elstun Lauesen No sooner will Alaskans get the New Year party confetti swept up, then we will have to turn our attention to Juneau and the start of the legislative session. And just like the swallows return to Capistrano, so do the oil company lobbyists wing their way to our capital city to convince [...]

~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more… Adorable on Steroids Be warned. Do not play this video unless you are able to handle a serious overdose of cuteness. This is a polar bear cub from the Scandanavian Wildlife Park. His mother was unable to nurse him, so little Siku [...]

Charges that Alaska’s one and only congressman took money for his legal defense fund illegally… (where have we heard THAT before in this state?) have been dropped, and Don Young has been cleared. The complaint stated that he’d taken too much money from an out-of-state bazillionaire donor with massive corporate interests in offshore drilling. In [...]

By Shannyn Moore “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke In 2006, the FBI raided the offices of legislators. Lawmakers were prosecuted for selling their votes to help pass Gov. Frank Murkowski’s Big Oil Bailout, the Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT). The PPT tied 85 percent of state revenue to [...]

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” [...]

~Senate President Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak) Yesterday, Senate President Gary Stevens (R) spoke to Commonwealth North at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage about a variety of issues facing the Legislature in its upcoming Session, including HB 110 (also known as Governor Captain Zero’s oil tax plan). Below, you will find a copy of his prepared [...]