Are Palin and Moller Lying About Emmonak? - Updated

Last week, Alaska rural affairs advisor John Moller was in the lower Yukon River region, as funds and aid trickle in for flood damage repair, energy assistance rebuilds and modifications, and as subsistence/commercial fishing efforts are attenuated or thwarted by a severe shortage of Kings.

Before Moller left Emmonak for Wasilla to attend a series of events designed to force Native Alaskans to reject their thousands of years of cultural heritage to become fundamentalist and evangelical zombies, he must have given Palin some information from the YK Delta that is beginning to be highly questioned.

On Saturday, Palin twittered from Kosovo, "half of the people in Emmonak have met subsistence needs and the other half believe they can do the same."

But all information coming in from the lower river suggests this to be far from the truth. A poll taken today of 65 people in Emmonak (full results Wednesday) indicates that five people have met their entire subsistence goal, while over 51 people were below or well below 50%.

According to one reporter:

"the hell with Sarah Palin" is the best quote I got. These people get pissed when I tell them what Moller said about 50% having their quota.

Additionally, money for work done for the Federal and State governments by villagers has not even been deposited in banks, well over a week after some of the work should have been paid for, making it hard to purchase fuel for boats to catch the virtually worthless Chums they might be allowed to fish for for four hours (!!!) tonight, having been forced to pass up Kings that were worth over ten times as much per pound as commercial catch.

As I wrote last week, Moller promised a Progressive Alaska interview about two months ago, but has not returned any recent emails or phone messages sent to him, or left at his office. Further attempts to get through to him today have so far failed (5:30 PM).

Don't expect a more detailed version of this serious Alaska rural story to come soon from the Anchorage Daily News, for instance. Their biggest Palin item on the web today was Erika Bolstad's cut-and-paste hack job, running a series of appeals from Palin fundraising organizations, to contribute to her by midnight tomorrow. It appears that at least one of the funding appeals posted by Bolstad may have been run in its entirety, with lots of helpful information, making it extremely easy to get the money to Palin soon.

Not surprisingly, most commenters at this disgusting display of stenography by someone who used to be a decent reporter, are calling Bolstad on this brazen appeal on behalf of Palin, with many suggesting people along the entire course of the Yukon could better use the money Bolstad is encouraging people send to Palin.

Updated - 9:00 p.m:

1) Just back from a board meeting. Driving there and back, I was thinking, "has the Anchorage Daily News ever before printed two emails, one in its entirety, from a candidate who may be running for a statewide office, who is an incumbent, who is soliciting funds for a variety of undefined political and legal objectives, without giving the printing of the solicitations some sort of journalistic context?"

Maybe, but I can't think of any. Can any readers come up with an example?

2) Gryph, at The immoral Minority, has printed an article with more quotes from one of my lower Yukon sources, and from the Emmonak City Manager.


ps - somebody might want to get a google cache of Bolstad's story before they reel it on in...