Open Thread – Oc-c-c-cu-p-p-pp-y……
And the Hardiest Occupiers Award goes to….. Occupy Fairbanks! The Mudflats salutes you from the Anchorage Banana Belt.
Battleground Florida: Clown-on-Clown Violence
It’s time to put a couple fresh plump Florida oranges in a tube sock, and let the beating begin. All week long, Americans have been treated to the horrifying yet compelling spectacle of the two frontrunners in the GOP race for their party’s nomination pummeling each other like Roman gladiators before the bloodthirsty crowd. The [...]
Open Thread – Punctuation Desperation
These days, many have fallen on hard times.
The War on Alaska’s Public Schools — The Basic Outline
by Linda Kellen Biegel Last school year, I wrote a post about the proposed cuts in the Anchorage School District budget and how they would affect a family of a middle school student. It was then I became aware of the outrageous fees Mayor Dan Sullivan was charging the school district–for example: 100% of the [...]
Palin’s Newt Testament
After 30 years, Alaska Airlines has decided to no longer include prayer cards on the tray with their in-flight meals. The small, business card sized cards contained short quotes from the Bible and a peaceful image of nature. In a memo sent to frequent fliers, the airline made the announcement on Wednesday that the cards [...]
The Casualty in Alaska’s Culture War
By Elstun Lauesen There is a culture war going on. And the epicenter of that culture war is right here in Alaska. It is outrageous in its brazenness and tragic in its effect. It is political in its tactic and economic in its objective. It is a classic tale of western frontier conquest. I [...]
Open “Thread”
Yesterday, I was able to capture a second-degree felony assault of quotation marks. The perpetrator is still being sought for “questioning.”
It Can’t Happen Here – The Costa Concordia
By Wickersham’s Conscience The Costa Concordia still lies on her side off the Tuscan coast, with 16 confirmed dead and many still missing. Alaskans know, to their sorrow, that not all ship’s captains are scrupulously careful, not all crew members fully qualified, and not all accidents truly accidents. A Dutch salvage company is struggling to [...]
Open Thread – I Like Ike
Remember when THIS was a Republican President, and former General?
A Fool’s Errand – Brought to You by Rep. Kyle Johansen
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. [...]
Open Thread – Political Clouds
Here are two interesting and very different word clouds. The first is from President Obama’s state of the union address. The second is from the official Republican response delivered by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. The more often a word is repeated in the speech, the larger the word will appear in the cloud. h/t The [...]
Kids Under the Bus, and What You Can Do About it.
There’s no doubt about it. Alaska is blessed. Just ask Governor Sean Parnell. These are golden oily days indeed. In his state of the state address last week, he told us that financially, we’re doing just fine, thankyouverymuch But what if… What if some day we aren’t? We should really start cutting the budget just [...]
APOC Ruling Assigns Large Penalty to Bob Griffin for Multiple Campaign Violations
by Linda Kellen Biegel Last week, I listened-in on an Alaska Public Offices Commission hearing regarding an old friend of ours here at Mudflats, Mr. Bob Griffin. You remember Bob: – In April 2011, he ran on his status as a veteran and a pilot in order to win a seat the Anchorage School Board [...]
In Parnell’s Administration, Cronyism Rules the Day
By Shannyn Moore The war on science is winning. And I’m not talking about those who confuse weather and climate. Nope. I’m frustrated with the continual election of candidates with a faith-based bias when it comes to policy that should rely on science. In a letter this week, Ed Fogels, deputy commissioner of the Alaska [...]
