Here is the next installment of Greg Palast’s new book Vulture’s Picnic. He has allowed The Mudflats to bring you Chapter 7 – My Home is Now a Strange Place in its entirety. This is an exclusive excerpt, just for Mudflatters. I find it absolutely riveting. If you need to catch up, here are links [...]

  [This is the third installment of Chapter 7, My Home is Now a Strange Place from Greg Palast's Vulture's Picnic. Many thanks to Mr. Palast for providing The Mudflats with an exclusive of this story that is so critical to the state of Alaska, and reveals so much about the corporate interests that still [...]

By Zach Roberts It’s weird where life takes you. In 2006, I started working for Greg Palast. He was one of my heroes. Most people know him for breaking the story of the stolen 2000 election. That was how I was introduced to his work as well, but the story that made me want to [...]

Forgive me a second while I try to calm down. I… it’s…. I’m sorry. Just… just give me a second. (You kindly wait while I compose myself) You know how Governor Parnell tells us that we have to give $2 billion back to the oil companies every year? It’s not that he really wants to, [...]

Senator Bill Wielechowski and Rep. Les Gara held a press conference yesterday talking about how corporations attempt to wield their power over the Alaska legislature through the use of the Alaska Business “Report Card.” Let’s listen to what this is all about from Rep. Les Gara. Now, think about corporations for a moment. I have [...]

The recent oil tax debate has raised more questions than answers for many Alaskans, including the majority of state Senators.  Today, in a press release from Senator Bill Wielechowski, a few of those questions were answered. BREAKING:  Data Shows Even As Companies Invest, Alaska Takes A $10 Billion Hit  For Immediate Release:  April 13, 2011 JUNEAU: [...]

There was a lovely little piece of deliciousness in the Alaska state senate yesterday. It’s the kind that doesn’t come around very often, but will be talked about for a long time. And it’s the best kind because it has added another nickname to the one man moniker lexicon that is Governor Sean Parnell (aka [...]

~Oil sheen from the Exxon Valdez spill fills a footprint on the beach 21 years later in July of 2010 Tomorrow will be a historic day. After 22 years, the final word will be had on the long-term environmental damage from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Last summer, I traveled to Knight Island in Prince [...]

By Rep. Les Gara (D-Anchorage) The slick oil tax ads are starting. And when political ads begin, you start to wonder whether telling a fib is cheaper than telling the truth. Well, because political ads cost lots of money, and they tend to be more fib than truth. So, fibbing must be cheaper than telling [...]

My last two 4th of July’s have been challenging. Two years ago I lost my radio show. It was the best thing that could have happened, though it didn’t feel like it for at least three days.  I’ve recovered. Last year Sarah Palin threatened to sue me. She didn’t. She just wanted me to “Sit [...]

Alaskans are watching the news, like the rest of the nation watched us after the Exxon Valdez slammed into Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound more than 20 years ago.  Helpless.  Far away.  Filled with grief.  We look at our screens and monitor a growing black sheen of oil spread and we can’t do anything [...]

UPDATE:  According to this bill tracking page, the meeting is delayed. We have less than 36 hours until the end of session.  I realize I sound like a telethon, but “call now”. Alaska was taken off guard with the recent Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Corporations now have “freedom of speech” [...]

  It’s Christmas morning! (Yes, I know it’s January, but this is my story and you’ll have to humor me) It’s Christmas morning!  It’s snowing outside, just like it should be on Christmas morning.  Our boots make a nice little crunch, crunch, crunch when we walk, big puffy flakes get stuck in our lashes and we [...]

A potentially precedent-setting ruling in a case involving Alaska resource development came through the Supreme Court yesterday.  It involved the legal contamination of a naturally occurring fish-bearing lake on the one hand, and the economic interest of a mining corporation on the other.  I’ll give you one guess who the court ruled for…and it wasn’t [...]

On March 24, 1989 I was living thousands of miles away from Alaska.  I had never been to Alaska.  I had never thought about going to Alaska.  I sort of remembered some nature show I’d seen on TV that told me that during the summertime, there were actually flowers, and the snow melted and there [...]