Saturday, April 5, 2008

Saturday Alaska Progressive Blog Roundup - April 5, 2008

Ishmael Melville at Kodiak Konfidential, beat everyone else, including the Anchorage Daily News and An Alaskan Abroad, to the punch on announcing the publication of a book about Governor Palin. Ish also managed to fool a few people on April 1, when he announced, "That's all, folks! I've been fingered as Ishmael too many times, impairing my ability to comment openly about the goings on here in Kodiak. I get too many truly mean comments that are just too disturbing to deal with on a daily basis. And, really, what else do I have to say? I think I've accomplished all I've set out to do."

He was fooling, as most soon discovered. KoKon is in it for the long haul. And another of my favorite Alaska blogs, Independent Alaskan, is back. The blog's proprieter, a very recent American citizen, honored back at the beginning of the year by Ethan Berkowitz at the monthly Mat-Su Democrats' Egan Dinner, has been hounded by a white supremacist named Carl Loerbs. Loerbs has had a habit of encouraging right-wing hate bloggers to swamp Independent Alaskan with slime and sleaze.

Wednesday's ADN newsreader inadvertently linked to Loerb's racist site in an article about Tuesday's Anchorage elections. KUDO's Aaron Selbig, Progressive Alaska, and others protested. The ADN removed the reference-link, and posted a suitable apology, the next day. Another local, perceived by many to be a white supremacist, Paul Bauer, took a fall this week, as Anchorage voters seem to have experienced a moment of sanity, turning to the left in search of a better future.

Freshwrestler's Reprieve links to a claim that when we vote liberal, we ALL make more money. When we vote conservative, some make more money - the super-duper wealthy. But when Democrats are president, as opposed to Republicans, everybody does better.

Some Democrats, at least. Gryphen at The Immoral Minority, who rarely writes about Alaska stuff, but is spot on when it comes to bringing up absurdities in the HRC presidential campaign, alerts us to the fact that Hillary is $292,000 in arrears in payments on the health care premiums for her paid campaign staff. Sheesh! As Gryphen tersely puts it, "This is stunningly tone deaf of her campaign to have allowed this to happen. When you base your main talking points on providing health care for everybody it does not bode well for your campaign to skip a payment to cover your own staff. No wonder the Republicans want to run against her."

The ADN Recycling & Renewables blog saw changes this week, with the announcement that MOA Renewable Resources manager, Kevin Harun, has moved on, to, as he puts it, "work on an electoral campaign to help move our state forward." Replacing him at the blog is Mary Fisher, Executive Director of ALPAR, Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling.

Unlike lots of Alaska media and blogs, I've avoided discussing the Michelle Linehan trial. The best essay I've read on the case, one called Puppet Master or Media Marionette, was penned this week by Theresa, at My Fairbanks Life.

Dillon, at An Alaskan Abroad, deals with white power more responsibly than some others did last week - the white power of his dog, Kuba, and a YouTube about the real Polar bear agenda.

Steve at What Do I Know? had to make another quick run across the Thai-Burmese border this week, to get his visa stamped. He's posted some nifty google earth-type pictures to help readers understand where he is in relationship to Alaska. I realized, looking at the map, that he's having to travel, on the road from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai, right through the area where Richard Armitage earned his chops in the underworld of off-the-books U.S. intelligence ops, helping Khun Sa come to power in Burma, and feeding the needs of Armitage's so-called "import-export business," based between 1976 and 1978 in Bangkok.

Far North Science blog is following the progress of UAF Prof. Kenji Yoshikawa, as he travels by snowmobile from Emmonak to Kotzebue, documenting presence or absence in a number of places. Great pictures! And, as always, more great pictures and commentary from erin and hig at Journey on the Wild Coast Blog, as they wend their way from Lake Clark to Lake Iliamna, stopping off at Kokhanok (or, Kakhonak, depending on which usage one chooses) to talk to kids. They're checking the route of the proposed Pebble Mine access road, that will go from Williamsport, on Cook Inlet, to the site.

Last, in this week's blog roundup, at the ADN Art Snob Blog, Mike Dunham visited a few First Friday art events, but was miffed when, at UAA to listen to the UAA Trombone Trio concert, he was unable to see Jeff Patrick's marvelous installation in the Kimura Gallery, because the gallery is closed on Friday evenings. Dunham writes very kindly about our efforts in the concert.

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