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 nose at John Boehner. And he completely deserves a gold star for dubbing Governor Sean Parnell “Captain Zero.” But must he wear a propeller beanie on his head in a committee hearing, or wave the penis bone of a walrus at the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

There’s a certain quirky lad who fits this tradition nicely (the mixed bag one, not the walrus penis bone one). He was characterized by Sarah Palin in her book Going Rogue as an “effete young chap,” and came in third in a three-way race for governor against Palin, and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles.

There’s much to like about Republican Andrew Halcro, especially when considering how far his party has drifted into wingnuttery of late. He’s not a bigot, he doesn’t make demands to see the “real birth certificate,” and has spoken out eloquently against right-wing chestnuts like private school vouchers.  The voucher system, he says, does not make economic sense. He rightfully lambastes the Education Committee for passing HB145 on to the Finance Committee with ”no question how we fund a new program when we’re currently struggling to fund our existing education obligations.”

At a time when many Republicans hyperventilate about the secret Muslim Kenyan in the White House, or try to take steps to ban Sharia law here in Alaska, Halcro is a refreshingly cerebral, civilized sort of fellow. Like David Brooks and David Frum, he’s the sort of Republican of whom progressives will sometimes say nice things.

He has even brilliantly poked fun at his own foppishness in an unforgettable fireside reading of that offending passage from Going Rogue.

So, that’s the nice part.

The less appealing side appears when Halcro channels his inner Mitt Romney, resplendent in all his out-of-touch One-Percentish hyperbolic finery.

The Oil Tax Debate

Like Romney, Halcro has assumed the unenviable task of insisting to people who ought to know better, that not enough income has been upwardly redistributed to The One Percent. At a time Alaska faces domestic violence and sexual assault epidemics, chronic poverty in its rural villages, and school districts that are being forced to cut critically important positions, Halcro insists that it is some of the most profitable corporations on the planet and their absurdly compensated executives who require our sympathy, and our money, from our oil. If the Big Three were only richer, we’d have nothing to worry about. This is, to put it politely, a tough sell.

When Alaskan schoolchildren go to Juneau, and beg for desperately needed resources, only to be told “no” by Governor Zero, it’s a bit obscene to suggest that those who deserve our advocacy and our money are a few bazillionaires in Texas and Great Britain.

Halcro may fan himself and gasp “class warfare!” at this, but the component parts of fiscal policy do not occur in a vacuum. That is to say, there are two sides to the ledger, and each dollar taken from the state of Alaska and given to Texan and British oil companies is a dollar that is not going into our Permanent Fund, not building out our young, underdeveloped infrastructure, and not maintaining our commitment to educate the next generation of Alaskans.

The governor can brag all he likes in his State of the State Address about the sweet economic metrics that trickle like fiscal honey across our state budget—relatively low unemployment and foreclosure rates, coupled with budget surpluses at a time the Lower 48 states are running in the red. But if the net outcome of this is at the expense of our most vulnerable – selling out our future in order to subsidize Conoco CEO Jim Mulva’s next yacht – we may as well be Mississippi. And nobody wants that.

“Fiscal Conservatism”

Why is it most Republicans only discover “fiscal conservatism” when it comes to school kids and basic services, but in the case of tax giveaways to obscenely profitable corporations, they turn into drunk sailors on shore leave?  Even Halcro who comes down on the right side of “school choice” is perfectly willing to throw billions to the oil companies, with guarantee of return on investment. He says on his blog regarding vouchers:

It’s a bad idea. This year we’re paying private tuitions, next year were funding private school improvements. Anytime you give groups with political power direct access to state coffers, you’re in for a penny in for a pound.

Yes. Groups with political power always want more. More power, and more money. And it’s up to us to decide when enough is enough, and to restrain the rampant greed that would rob our state coffers and take money from the things we value, in order to enrich themselves beyond excess.

He goes on:

In this case, education committee members appeared to be all to willing to ignore the pesky little details like how do we financially sustain this new program and how will this impact the public school system which serves ninety percent of Alaskan students.

And he asks us to ignore that hypocrisy, and ignore the pesky little details like how do we financially sustain this $2 billion annual give away, and how will this impact the vital services and programs that serve all the residents of the state?

Perhaps the saddest part of Halcro’s sheltered, clueless elitism is that it colors the admirable parts of him. He’s someone whom thinking people want to like. He is witty, and charming, and good company over a martini. I’d like to think he takes his positions against homophobia and school vouchers on their merits, but have begun like many to wonder whether he simply cannot stomach the ghastly, downmarket Tea Party demographic much in the way old-monied Yankees like Bush Sr. of Kennebunkport could never quite stomach Southern rednecks.

Halcro in Carhartts would look as credible as Dukakis in a tank.

Why So Snippy?

Which brings us to a bizarre trajectory played out in the Alaskan media over the past several months—Halcro’s increasingly heated and snippy tone toward those with the nerve to not share his position on oil taxes.

It’s bizarre because, let’s face it, Halcro has much more in common with Bill Wielechowski and Hollis French than with most who share his oil tax position. I could actually conceive of the three of them matching wits in an impassioned but cerebral debate over a good microbrew.

I can not imagine Andrew enjoying himself while listening to monosyllabic blatherings from Cathy Giessel about how our biggest entitlement problem is public education.

Senators Wielechowski and French are not, as Halcro’s predictable, played-out meme has it, “anti-business” or “anti-oil and gas” or “anti mom and apple pie,” and it’s clear to anyone who is even halfheartedly paying attention. Just to set the record straight, they also don’t wish to kick down your door in the dead of night, eat your puppies, and inject you with liquid socialism.

No, contrary to Halcro’s breathless hyperbole about how Sen. French is a “one man assault on Alaska’s economy” etc. etc., the difference between the senator and Halcro is the difference between believing our relationship to the oil companies should be a partnership versus a servile one. Do we acknowledge that the relationship between Big Oil and Alaska has been one of mutual benefit, and move forward together, or do we become the beaten dog who hopes the master doesn’t get angry with us and smack us around with an empty pipeline? Do we simply want to acknowledge that it’s our oil, and it’s our responsibility to get the most we can for it , for the benefit of our future? Or do we want to hand over $10 billion from our bottom line to multinational corporations over the next five years and pretend that it won’t make a very real difference in the quality of our lives?

This flexibility-of-principle is a pattern with Halcro, who currently runs Avis Rent A Car in Anchorage. Happy to support an income tax, a sales tax, the raiding of the permanent fund, and even a head tax on Alaska workers (including children) during his legislative stint, apparently the only people who deserve tax breaks in Halcro’s view are oil …and rental car companies. Go figure.

It’s been correctly pointed out that oil pays 90% of the bills in our state. And the first thing any investment advisor will tell you is to diversify your portfolio instead of putting all your eggs into the same basket. In the case of Alaskan oil, it gives a handful of powerful corporations an undue amount of influence over those we elect to represent us. Alaska’s economy needs more diversity, not less.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Which brings us to the final Romney analogy. While a local right-wing blogger or two and their twelve readers may be urging Halcro to challenge Sen. French, simply because they hate the latter for being a thorn in their side, Halcro shouldn’t kid himself. Supporters of Hollis French will walk across broken glass to get to the polls because he’s likable, he’s effective, he’s smart, and he makes sense. Mental ninja gymnastics are not required to understand his positions across issues. Halcro just doesn’t inspire that kind of commitment from the GOP’s activist base, largely because they correctly view him as not one of their own, accurately remember him giving the Republican caucus the finger during his short legislative stint, and can be forgiven for wondering why, save for his position on oil taxes, he’d even run as a Republican anyway.

He’d probably get a nice check from Rebecca Logan and the rest of the oily “Make Alaska Submissive Coalition,” but good luck getting any of them to knock on doors in freezing weather.

~The President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka in Alaska protesting Remington’s illegal treatment of Anchorage workers  in August of 2010.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess’s 34-page injunction was issued late Friday. Among other items, it includes provisions requiring Remington Lodging and Hospitality to restore paid lunch breaks and employer-paid health care and reduce housekeepers’ daily quota of cleaned rooms.

Remington is the Texas-based operator of the Sheraton hotel in Anchorage. This injunction came over five months after a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Administrative Law Judge found in favor of the obvious – that the hotel had violated numerous federal labor laws, trying to squash its workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 878.

What this means now, said AFL-CIO Alaska President Vince Beltrami at a press conference today,  is that the management of the Sheraton will now have to “admit they were wrong, and go back to when this all started, before they started breaking the law.”  The injunction will require the hotel to restore the terms and conditions of employment as they existed prior to the hotel’s unlawful declaration of impasse in union negotiations. This victory comes after almost three years of struggle by Sheraton workers to protect their benefits, their working conditions and their union from the illegal and unfair practices of Remington.

The victory also comes because of appointments to the NLRB last month, which increased the number of board members to the point where the previously crippled board could now make some actual decisions. Alaskan labor organizations who supported Lisa Murkowski (write-in R) over Scott McAdams (D) in the 2010 senate race must be used to that bitter taste in their mouths by now, so the latest pill to swallow shouldn’t really come as any surprise. The “free and unshackled” Lisa Murkowski, who now supposedly isn’t tied to Republican dictates and is no longer a toady of Mitch McConnell, is one of the 39 Republican senators who signed a letter opposing those appointments and vowing to join a lawsuit opposing them.

How’s that free and unshackled Lisa working out for you guys?

Yeah.

To date, there have been over 40 unfair labor practice charges against Sheraton management, 2o of which are still outstanding.  Remington has even filed two meritless lawsuits – one against the union and  one against the NLRB itself. The ongoing boycott of both the Sheraton and the Hilton will continue, as will the frequent picket lines and marches, and an overwhelming amount of support from the Anchorage community. We don’t like to see our residents, who do some of the hardest and most thankless work in the hospitality industry treated unjustly and illegally by some outside goons from Texas. No, we don’t.

Local 878 represents over 1,400 hospitality workers from all across the state of Alaska.

~One of the Sheraton’s illegally fired workers, who will be happy to begin negotiations again. Marvin Jones, President of Local 878 stands behind her.

~Pastor Glenn Peterson

Pastor Glenn Peterson from Central Lutheran Church spoke passionately today in favor of the workers and their rights. “Jesus,” he said, “is on the side of the workers. This is about greed, and the Lord of the church is against greed. It is one of the seven deadly sins, and we should all speak out against it.” He went on to say that if Remington was listening, he hoped that they would learn a lesson – “respect your workers.”

~Alaska AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami addresses the media

We’ve had several occasions to bust our buttons here at The Mudflats over the last few years. Readers and those in the blogging and journalism communities have been kind to us with various honors and praise over the years.

But today is an especially proud one for us. Our very own Shannyn Moore is taking her radio program to the other coast! The Shannyn Moore Show will now broadcast its first hour live as it happens in our nation’s capital! The over-saturated right wing airwaves and the bloviators who inhabit them love to talk about how Shannyn has “12 listeners.” It’s become a running joke in the progressive community to talk about these faithful dozen as Shannyn has appeared on national TV, substituted hosted for national radio programs with more than a million listeners, gotten a column in the Anchorage Daily News, hosted her own television show which is now in its third season, and contributed her wit and wisdom right here at the Mudflats.

With her amazing talents and abilities, it was only a matter of time before she achieved the national nod she so deserves. Nobody keeps Shannyn in the upper-left corner.

Not only will she be able to share her unique take on national issues, she’ll also be able to bring critical Alaskan issues to the attention of a much wider (and occasionally more influential) audience. This is very good news, indeed.

What that means logistically in Alaska is that The Shannyn Moore Show has now changed time slots and can be heard live from 6-9pm on KOAN 1020am. Same station, new time. The other good news is that it’s now socially acceptable to listen to Shannyn while curled up with a fuzzy blanket, and a glass of wine. Your boss never has to know.

In the meantime, Shannyn’s old time slot will now be taken over by yet MORE right wing nutjobbery in the form of Dan Fagan. And he’s given his old one hour time slot from noon to 1pm on KFQD to… (wait for it)… The Party Planner! Yes, Mayor Dan Sullivan’s “party planner” will be live and taking your calls during “Alaska Live With Bernadette.” It would be so easy to continue snarking, but today belongs to someone else.

Congratulations, Shannyn. Nobody knows better than us here at The Mudflats how hard you have worked, and how much you deserve this honor. And just as we did when you first went on the air at KOAN, we’re dusting off the happiest radio clip we could find. Here to salute you and commemorate your live DC debut are the yip-yips and their classic homage to the radio. It just became a bigger and happier place for you, and for Alaska.

By Shannyn Moore

When I was 33, Mom and Pop Moore were staying with me. Mom was undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for breast cancer. For those of you who have been around a loved one with cancer, I don’t have to explain. For those of you who haven’t, nothing can prepare you for it.

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 a United Wisconsin coordinator for Dane County and a grassroots organizer for the Sun Prairie Action Resource Coalition (SPARC), a local progressive group. And I just finished the hardest political work I’ve ever done or thought I’d do. Yesterday was the final day of signature collection here in Sun Prairie and our office processed exactly 7,900 signatures to recall Scott Walker and just a handful fewer than that to recall Rebecca Kleefisch. We also collected enough signatures from District 13 residents eligible to sign the petition to recall Senator Scott Fitzgerald to make a difference in that effort as well. There were many more petitions from Sun Prairie turned in in Madison, but that’s how many we processed in our office. On Tuesday, I’ll be representing our team and our part of Dane County when I help carry the petitions to the GAB with recall coordinators from around the state. I couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve done, or hold more dear the friendships and connections that this recall has generated. The grassroots networks that were just thin webs before are now sturdy and lasting bonds that permanently and intimately connect individuals, groups, communities and all of the progressive minded people of Wisconsin. With our awakening, we have united, and we take our call to action seriously. In our town, and across the state, people who were never involved in politics at all are standing together to fight to move forward. And we know now that it’s a fight we can’t lose.

One of Scott Walker’s most insulting lies about our efforts has been that recall workers were being paid to collect signatures. Obviously, this is a joke of the lamest order and more of his usual attempt to paint the largest grassroots movement America has seen in decades as a “big money” effort by the “union bosses.” A joke he actually had the nerve to make, most recently, while fundraising (as usual) for big money out of state for his own campaign, and in the face of his connections to campaign fraud allegations in both a federal John Doe investigation and over 1000 violations of campaign finance law in his own fundraising.

But however Walker tries to spin the recall as an “outside” effort, the truth is, it could not be more grassroots, or more progressive, more about the power and necessity of citizen action. In our own office, volunteer funded everything – their donations paid for yard signs, office rent, copy paper, hand warmers, office supplies, flashlights, recall signs, advertisements for our recall events…all of this is came out of our own pockets. If the phantom “union bosses” we’ve heard so much about were supposed to be picking up the tab for this, they can send the check to me any time and I’ll go about distributing the reimbursements.

But if the people who paid for this recall can’t really afford it, they can afford even less to live three more years under a governor who talks constantly about tools and jobs but only has time (and money) for his corporate sponsors. That is price none of us are willing to pay, and we expect nothing but justice in return for fighting against it. As one recall worker, Heather Bott, said:
You couldn’t pay me enough to stand out there in the cold rain waiting for the next signer. If I were doing this for money, I would have packed it in when it got cold. My fingers hurt as they were warming up yesterday, my daughter gently rubbing them back to body temperature. And would that be minimum wage?? Double that? A hundred an hour? No, the biggest wage is the knowledge I have that I did not remain warm, that I did not remain silent, that I did not remain anonymous or hidden. And no amount of money could compensate me for the guilt I would have if I did nothing in the face of the evil that has come to this state.
We have been out there for the past 60 days working, for free, because we share a common goal for the common good. Because we know that if we don’t win this round, we’ve got three more years of being kicked to the ground. Three more years for Walker and the corporate writers of anti-education legislation to continue his war on public ed. Three more years of families getting kicked off the BadgerCare that keeps their kids up to date on their shots, ensures medicine for those who need it. Three more years of watching our resources being sold out to corporate interests as Walker tries to privatize every last enterprise of State affairs. Three more years of Gaylord Nelson rolling in his grave over the shocking attacks on our environment.

But I’m not going to let that happen. I have worked as hard as my busy life would allow, and did it for free. I stood with my brothers and sisters in the Capitol for free. I marched with my kids in the snow for free. I wrote letter after letter to Scott Walker for free. I spoke out publicly against his attempts to destroy public education for free. I volunteered my time as a United Wisconsin coordinator for free. I circulated petitions for free. I give up time I would rather be spending with my family because I know I couldn’t look them in the eye if I didn’t fight as hard as I could to see Walker recalled. And I apologize to them for not having spent more time in 2010 working on your campaign. It’s a mistake I will not make in the future. It’s a mistake I tried to rectify by doing my part to see Walker recalled.

But as monumental as this victory is, it’s just Phase 1. Getting signatures was the easy part. The hard part is getting you elected. We all know Walker has not wasted a single moment of the recall period; he’s been taking in massive funds from around the country in unprecedented amounts. Big Money America would like nothing more than to buy him an extended stay in our mansion. We can’t match that money. But we can work.

I’m ready to knock on doors. I’m ready to make calls. I’m ready to work in the office, ready to do whatever it takes. If you think we worked hard to recall Walker, you can just multiply that by infinity to see how hard we’d work for you. Because the recall means nothing if we don’t win the election. And to so many of us, true “victory” means Governor Russ Feingold.

Don’t get me wrong. We’ve got some other candidates, good and honest people who could win. And let’s face it, some of them are obviously more interested than you are in running right now. I’m not trying to dismiss them. I would vote for any of them.

But I want to vote for you. And, more importantly, I want to work for you.

Wisconsin needs you. And not in a rhetorical, only-you-can-save-us kind of way. Not just because we like you best, or know you best. Not just because we think you’re the most “electable” among our choices. But because you’re the best person for the job. We need you, Russ Feingold, because you have a singular trait that no other candidate in any other state has, and our loss in the Senate would be our gain in the Capitol if we could get you back: because you get it. You get that this is not about politics as usual. You understand what’s at stake here. And the work of Progressives United – the work you have done as a Senator in your service for so many years – all proves that you have the antidote to Walker’s anti-democratic, corporate-run vision of governance. You have earned our trust and our respect for all the right reasons, and we know you won’t let us down.

I have been told that you aren’t interested in running. I have read interviews where you said you didn’t want to run “this year.” I’ve been told that calling for you to run is just a distraction from the job of finding a “viable” candidate. But the people who are telling me that are the same people who said recalling Scott Fitzgerald was a pipe dream not worth investing in. And when you said you didn’t want to run “this year” was 2011. Now it’s 2012. By now you might want to run very much! I understand it might be a long shot, but the grassroots workers of Wisconsin live for long shots. And I’m not going to be counted among those who gave up before they tried. And I’m certainly not giving up on you. So I’m putting this out there and hoping you’ll consider. Knowing where you stand in your support for the future of Wisconsin does not weaken our efforts; it strengthens our resolve to move forward.

Russ, you have proven to us through your years of commitment and service to the people of Wisconsin that you have the integrity, principle, vision and fearlessness needed to enact real change. And now, on this 60th and final day of the recall effort, we hope we’ve proven to you that we have the commitment and power to make your vision a reality. We can do it.

Grassroots action works. And we are ready to work for you.

Please run for Governor.

In solidarity,

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Sun Prairie

08:16 – All is quiet in duarte park

11:26 – Blocked traffic to Holland tunnel for a bit…

11:27 – Things being thrown at crowd from apt buildings on varick and grand

11:39 – On the other side of the fence arrest very likely

11:41 – being arrested

1:50 -

1:51 – in processing

You can see Zach’s outstanding photography of Occupy Wall Street, and his other contributions to The Mudflats by clicking HERE.

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.

Update: We’re happy to report that phone message was received by Zach this evening. He is out of jail, and is fine. He’ll have a criminal trespass charge on his record, he says, and will also have stories to tell and more photos coming soon. He thanks everyone for their love and support.

Let’s play a little game. Imagine this scenario, and then tell me in what country this story takes place. You wake up and go to work. Maria, in the next cubicle over, isn’t there. And she isn’t there the next day. You and your coworkers come to find out that military officers knocked on her door in the middle of the night and took her away somewhere. She was suspected of being an enemy of the government – suspected of being a terrorist. No benchmark of proof was necessary. No presumption of innocence. The executive branch of the government gave the order, and the military responded. You realize that not only do you not know where she is, but she can’t call you or anyone. She has no legal representation. She has not been charged with anything. She can be held indefinitely on suspicion… of something. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

If someone had told you in the year 2000, that eleven years later, a Democratic led Senate in the United States of America would vote to pass a bill including a provision that allowed the United States military (not law enforcement), on U.S. soil, to detain and hold American citizens on a suspicion of terrorism, and to hold them indefinitely without legal representation, and without even a charge, would you have believed them?  Perhaps if you were a Japanese American of a certain age, you might. Almost 70 years ago, Executive Order 9066 authorized the U.S. military to remove any person from designated “military zones” without charge, trial or due process.  What happened next was the forced evacuation and internment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. Many spent years in camps. Their only crime? They looked like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor.

Last week the Senate voted on an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill of 2011. The Feinstein amendment said that it was not okay to use the military on US soil against the citizens of its country. The majority of your elected representatives in the senate didn’t much like that idea, and voted it down 55-45. It remains to be seen if the bill will see a presidential veto.

Every school child learns about Habeas corpus. It is one of those procedural remedies which made us, as Americans, feel grateful for our system of justice. It was one of those reasons that we felt proud to live in a country where individual liberties were valued, where the rights of the citizens meant something. We embraced that ideal of the founders that the people ran the government. We were not a citizenrywho lived in fear of tyrants, of governments who wielded their power by unjustly imprisoning those they wished to silence, those who were considered a “threat” by the subjective standard of the executive branch. This was America, and Americans were free.

But Habeas corpus is only a guarantee and a procedural remedy against illegal detention. Illegal used to mean held without charge for an indefinite period of time. Illegal used to mean that the government could not use the military against its own people. Now, it doesn’t. So, the former best safeguard of our individual liberties has been put through the wringer. Illegal detention doesn’t look like it used to, and neither does Habeas corpus.

And then there’s the Constitution – the rule book, our political Bible, the blueprint of our nation, our birthright as citizens. It had a few things to say about criminal prosecution and detention. Who can forget these old favorites?

‘In the trial of all crimes there shall be a jury, and the trial shall be held in the State where said crimes have been committed.”

No person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, except upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.

As an American citizen, this is what you get.  This is the prize for winning the political lottery. This is why politicians love to say how “exceptional” we are as a country. These are the actual freedoms that our troops supposedly go fight for – the very troops who may now be called upon to seize and arrest you with no charge, no presumption of innocence, no jury trial, no lawyer, no court,  in violation of the Constitution they have sworn to protect and defend.

That’s a nice kettle of fish.

Now, don’t delude yourself. It isn’t like the Bush and the Obama administrations haven’t been doing this already. It’s one of the things for which progressives and Democrats used to love to criticize the Bush administration. But most seem strangely silent about the fact that the Obama administration is doing the very same thing.  And the “Constitutional conservatives”  and small government Republicans who turned a blind eye to Bush, but were happy to criticize Obama, are now strangely silent when the vast majority of Republicans voted against the Feinstein amendment.

So, what’s the difference if all this has already been going on for years?  Why should we care?  The difference is this:

First, this will actually codify unconstitutional acts into our body of law. It condones it. It puts it on the books. It is another hatchet mark in the Tree of Liberty, to use a favorite Tea Party metaphor. And every stroke of the axe brings the tree closer to collapse.

Second, we now have the privilege of knowing exactly who is on the side of the Constitution and the intent of the founders of the country. We also know who is willing to sell your most basic unalienable rights down the river. They do it because of political calculation, ineptitude, or desire to keep the nation in a perpetual state of war with an amorphous enemy that exists under every rock, and behind every tree until the end of time. The battlefield is everywhere, and the enemy is “terrorism” – the dark art practiced by those who “hate our freedom.” Ironically, we just gave them less to hate.

I was pleased to see that there were Republicans who actually walked their small government, individual liberties, Constitutional talk. Kudos to Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mike Lee of Utah for breaking with their party and standing up for the people of the country.

It would have been nice to see Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have the courage to do the same. She has been criticized by the far right for being centrist, and moderate, and sometimes even liberal. The reason Democrats were given by the Murkowski campaign to vote for her in her historic and victorious write-in campaign (against far right Republican candidate Joe Miller, and progressive Scott McAdams) was that if she were re-elected in this way, it would free her to be more “herself.” She’d now be unshackled and not beholden to the pressures of the Republican party. She could vote her heart.  Well, take a good look, Democrats who voted for Lisa Murkowski. Peek in to that heart and tell me what you see – it either belongs to someone too weak to buck the party that threw her under the bus in the 2010 election, or an attorney who thinks nothing of voting against the Constitution she swore to uphold.

Ironically, both of her opponents in the 2010 senate race would have voted for the amendment, despite their very different political philosophies.

When asked if he would have voted for the Feinstein amendment, Joe Miller said in a statement to The Mudflats, “I absolutely would have voted for it.  Please note that my position on the Constitution and the liberties it guarantees has been consistent, no matter the position of party leadership.  I am very concerned about the increasing reach of the federal government to the detriment of individual liberties.  Alaskans can rest assured that whatever I do in the future, I will continue to fight aggressively to protect their fundamental rights.”

Democratic candidate Scott McAdams agreed, and told The Mudflats, “Empowering the executive branch with the power to arrest, detain and deprive a sovereign citizen the due process rights promised in our constitution is undemocratic and anti-American. No amount of security is worth demolishing the civil liberties that make America great. I am appalled Senators from a state that values individual and civil liberty above all would support this horrible affront to the core of who we are as Alaskans.

“As a locally elected leader, I have seen inconsistencies between a governing body’s intended purpose of a policy or ordinance and the manner in which such is carried out by staff. As community members, we would rally against an official who misused their authority, suspend a child from school without a stated purpose, or fire a public employee without just cause. It is outrageous to imagine that we as citizens would ever allow our local police departments to arrest and indefinitely hold a suspect with no promise of a trial. Our senators can’t possibly be naive enough to believe that the potential for abuse inherent in this short-sighted security measure is not real, and I hope Alaskans let their delegation know it.”

When Lisa Murkowski’s father Frank Murkowski lost the gubernatorial primary to Sarah Palin, the bumper sticker “Anyone but Frank” was seen on the rear ends of cars and trucks across the state. So, who would have voted for the retention of your civil liberties in the senate? Who would have voted to preserve the intent of the writ of Habeas Corpus, and the Constitution?  In 2010, the answer would have been “Anyone but Lisa.”

Now, let’s look at the Democrats who voted against this amendment – those who bucked their party in order to do the wrong thing. Here are the Democrats who think that violating your Constitutional rights is OK, as long as it serves their own political purposes – Richard Blumenthal (CT), Daniel Inouye (HI), Amy Klobuchar (MN), Mary Landrieu (LA), Carl Levin (MI), Joe Manchin (WV), Ben Nelson (NE), Mark Pryor (AR), Jack Reed (RI), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), and yes, Mark Begich of Alaska.

Shame on every Democrat who decided to buck their party, only to officially codify the theft of your Constitutional rights.

Any Alaskan who doesn’t have their head in the sand isn’t surprised by Murkowski’s vote. But, in a moment when Mark Begich could have distinguished himself from Murkowski, appealed to civil libertarians in Alaska (of which there are many from the Tea Party to the Occupy movement), defended the oath taken by servicemen and women in the military, and didn’t even have to vote against his party, he blew it.

As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight. And it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air –however slight -lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
– Justice William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court (1939-75)

Fifty five senators who feared to look “soft on terror” have taken away our basic civil liberties in a way the terrorists never could.  Who should we really fear?

Kudos, and a rousing “Ho ho ho!” to Rep. Scott Kawasaki from Fairbanks! He has introduced legislation aimed at protecting children’s health from unnecessary and dangerous chemicals in everyday consumer and child products. The bill would require Alaska to adopt and publish a watch list of priority chemicals of high concern, and would also requires manufacturers to disclose the toxic chemicals they add to products. The bill authorizes the state to require safer alternatives.

“This would be a huge victory for the health of our children,” said Representative Kawasaki, “There are holes in our laws that allow toxic chemicals in everything from rubber ducks to baby dolls. Alaska must ensure that toxic toys aren’t sold to unknowing parents.”

Rep. Kawasaki’s office released a statement explaining that

House Bill 238 would establish Alaska as a leader in safe chemicals policy reform, along with Maine, Minnesota and Washington, which all passed similar legislation. House Bill 238 creates a list of chemicals already known to harm children and a process for Alaska to take advantage of the best scientific research and phase out the use of these chemicals that are known toxins. The bill also requires manufacturers to disclose the use of these chemicals in products and authorizes the Department of Health and Social Services to phase out the use of dangerous chemicals when safer alternatives are available.

“Studies show children are particularly harmed by toxic chemicals even at very low doses because their bodies are still developing and especially vulnerable,” Representative Kawasaki said. “Children inevitably put toys in their mouths and parents deserve to know what is in them.”

Bisphenol-A, a chemical widely used in consumer products such as plastic baby bottles is known to harm children and came under fire recently from government scientists in the United States. The National Toxicology Program reversed a previous opinion by declaring that Bisphenol-A may be linked to a number of common and serious reproductive and developmental problems including breast cancer and early puberty. Under HB 238 Bisphenol-A could be listed as a dangerous toxin which would allow for specific measures to curb its use. The Alaska Public Interest Research Group recently published the 26^th Annual Report: The Trouble in Toyland in advance of the Christmas shopping season. It includes important information and tips on toy buying which you can read HERE.

Please contact your legislators and urge their support of this important bill that will help keep our babies and children safe all year long.

The fine folks over at The Mudflats Forum have now created a special place  to gather and post about your Occupy events and comment on others around the world.  You can join in and participate HERE. The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining steam, and the unique sense of connection and solidarity between cities is made possible through our ability to reach out and talk to each other online, and share our experiences in real time with others.

If you’ve never ventured forth into the Mudflats Forum, you are missing out! The Forum is like a whole other level here at Mudflats Central, where you can post about anything and everything, and enjoy discussions with your fellow Mudflatters out of the confines of the blog or the Open Thread. You can chat about world politics, the economy, your pets, recipes, great books, or organize local events in your area. Since the Forum began in September of 2008, there have been more than 10,000 topics discussed!

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Welcome to our most recent members JasperCat, Janniffi, jcjmoore, emmachen, aklib, kavik, samitchell79, debbie48, liteman and SaminAK!

Why occupy Wall Street?

This one is a four minute, thirty second must-see that gives your four reasons. There is some interesting history from Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson and others that illustrates what’s gone so terribly wrong, and how we need to right the course. Extremely well done.