twwwstlij* tells us why not to vote for Koch-n-cake

"Our Senate is the most prestigious deliberative body in the world. One vote there has consequences extending far beyond that chamber."
Words of wisdom from a most unexpected source.

*the woman who was supposed to live in juneau

Mickey or Mighty....

Mouse, that is.
Early reports form a Gubernatorial (took two tries then spell check to get THAT right) this evening in Anchorage show that the "briefs or boxers" style of questioning leaders and wannabe's by the Youth of Today is alive and well.
In a three-way discussion of favorite cartoon characters sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Sean Parnell said his favorite Disney Character was well known cartoon cocaine user Mighty Mouse. Oh wait, this just in, it seems the one "to save the day" was actually snorting "crushed flowers."

A Matt Nicholai Story

One day Frank Murkowski, when he was Governor, stopped by the building I work at to visit the boss and a few other people. For one reason or another I stepped into what might be politely called "protocol duties" and got to greet Frank on the stairwell.
Since I knew he was coming that day I, very out of character, wore a necktie (actually I look good in a tie).
Well, Frank had to make a "head call" so I led him down the hall towards the 3rd floor bathroom. For some reason, Matt Nicholai was tagging along. Getting to the mens room, we found it was in the process of being cleaned (we have an extraordinary housekeeping staff where I work, God Bless 'em, some of the hardest workers in the firm). Anyway, I started leading Frank even FARTHER down the hall towards the back stairs so we could go to the Second Floor bathroom, when Matt pipes up and says
"Take him to (the big boss's) bathroom."
I stopped dead in my tracks and said "What?"
He repeated his original statement that we go to my CEO's "private" bathroom.
Well never had I taken so much pleasure in contradicting someone and never have I been so proud to work for the company I do when I was able to tell Matt Nicholai, in front of the Governor, that my CEO certainly had no executive washroom, in no uncertain terms.
We lost him at the top of the stairs.
The second floor mens room was clean and open and Frank went to do his business.
I was standing by the sink and in walks our then-Contracts Officer.
He looks at me, in my tie and says, "Hi Mark, what's with the tie? Is the Governor here or something?"
Suddenly Frank, without missing a beat pipes up, "Yeah, and he's taking a piss."
Frank was cool that way.

This One's for You, Joe

A tip or the Drudge-like fedora to UAA Music Professor Phil Munger for pointing to this classic of patriotic song.

Young Alaska Natives speak for Scott McAdams

Best. Comments. Ever. On. ADN.

Miller defends bodyguards; security firm chief says he's been threatened

Oh, except the rent a agent says he KNEW he was a reporter

"Koch n cake's" account previously notwithstanding, the rent an agent involved in kidnapping (look it up in the Alaska Statutes, kiddies) tells Craig Medred he knew he Hopfinger was a reporter:
Miller guard says editor refused to leave private event

Yeah, Whatever

Liberal Blogger "Loses It" at Town Hall Meeting
Obsession with Republican Nominee leads to physical assault, publicity stunt

Anchorage, Alaska. October 17, 2010 -- Joe Miller released the following statement:

"While I've gotten used to the blog Alaska Dispatch's assault on me and my family, I never thought that it would lead to a physical assault. It's too bad that this blogger would take advantage of a "Town Hall" meeting to create a publicity stunt just two weeks before the election."

The Miller campaign was required by the facility to provide security at the event. Even though Joe had spent nearly an hour freely answering questions from those in attendance, the blogger chased Miller to the exit after the event concluded in an attempt to create and then record a 'confrontation' with the candidate. While Miller attempted to calmly exit the facility, the blogger physically assaulted another individual and made threatening gestures and movements towards the candidate. At that point the security personnel had to take action and intervened and detained the irrational blogger, whose anger overcame him. It is also important to note that the security personnel did not know that the individual they detained was a blogger who reporting on the campaign. To them, the blogger appeared irrational, angry and potentially violent.

###

Good Luck

You shaved head punks of "Drop Zone Security" must be off-duty GI's or something, wanna be Secret Service HAHAHAHA.
If you ARE GI's, you might recall that you swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Well, news flash. ear-piece wearing poseurs...you might find yourselves culpable in violating your oaths for cuffing a reporter carrying out HIS constitutional right,nay, duty, to hold a public figure accountable.
And by the way, be sure and mention todays little incident on your future applications to three and 4 letter agencies. HR screeners all need a good laugh these days.

Questions of veracity may persist

The Lying Koch-Worshiper raises far more questions than he answers on his UNITED STATES SENATE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORT
FOR NEW EMPLOYEE AND CANDIDATE REPORTS.
Now I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant, but I sure as shit can add.
On page 2, Earned and Non-Investment Income, he claims he earned:
1 Law Offices of Joseph Miller, LLC Fairbanks, AK Salary / Distributions $59,348
2 Fairbanks North Star Borough Fairbanks, AK Salary $38,056

So, a princely sum, eh?
BUT, and here is where my mad math skilz come into play, look at PART X. COMPENSATION IN EXCESS OF $5,000 PAID BY ONE SOURCE which is on Pages 9, 10 and 11. Apart from being a list of his clients, it also lists COMPENSATION ON EXCESS OF $5,000 PAID BY ONE SOURCE.
There are 15 lines on each page. Two pages are full, page 11 has 6 clients listed. Lets see...36 times 5,000 is... $180,000. Wow. Show us da money, mister big time yalie lawyer.
Oh yeah, apart from a West Point Diploma is there anything uglier and more unreadable than a Yale Law degree?

From Joe Miller's Calendar

Town Hall Anchorage
When Sun, October 17, 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Where 1405 E street Central Middle School (map)
Description Why: Because your friends, colleges, family, acquaintances, neighbors, need to be informed and hear Joe Miller speak for himself. Don't let the media skew your views. Make the decision for yourself. Help send Joe to DC!

Soooooo... We have an open invitation to the public, in fact all comers to attend this event.
Tony Hopfinger, editor of the Alaska Dispatch shows up and what happens?
Take a wild guess:
Miller's "security detail" (a fetish for big, strong men, anyone?) handcuff his ass!
OK, Mr. Constitutional Fucking Attorney pipsquak scumbag phony son of a bitch. Explain it to us.

Why I am proud to be an American (didn't we invent the parenthesis?)

What a filthy, socialist regime we find in Switzerland. That impoverished, disarmed, culturally euthanized nation of unemployed clockmakers ruled by a cabal of Obama/Frank-loving "rollers over" to the "concept" of "international banking regulation" just recently "celebrated," in a manner consistent with their new masters in Havana and Caracas a milestone (no pun intended) in the frightening march towards one world economy and, worse, toward the opening (again, no pun intended) of a route for international terrorists (whether of the Baeder Meinhoff set or, even weorse, those Jesus-hating Musselmen that we were warned so clearly about in that classic of Western Literature ((often unheeded in todays troubled times)) - Edward Gibbons' The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire).
I have no doubt that Joe "We can have Koch and cake for lunch...wait, there's no cake!" Miller read it during his studies at the United States Military Academy.
So join me in both rueing the fate of the Swiss, and their TAXPAYER FUNDED railway tunnel and bemoaning their serfdom to the rest of Europe (picture, if you will, trains full of swarthy Europen holiday makers speeding along at 120 miles per hour (sorry, your Both Barrels Editorial Board STEADFASTLY REFUSES to follow the lead of the properly moribund and soon to be shut down National Aeronautics and Space Administration in adopting the marx-inspired metric system) from Italy in the South to Denmark in the North and points in between and let us not forget the literally thousands of Turkmen who will be forced out of their honest labor driving truck along the scenic highways and biways of Switzerland as TRAINS, those most socialist of carriages, haul millions of tons of trans-European cargo through this vile hole in the Earth, all the time the honest bankers and cheese curdlers of Yodelland struggle to pay the nearly $1,300 every Switzer owes to pay for this outlandish project. Can you say "Soverign Debt Crisis"?
But THERE IS HOPE!
The courageous Governor of one of the original 13 Colonies, in an action no less bold than Mussolini's firm hand in making the notorious Italian Railway system run on time, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, that jewel of the Atlantic Coast (in the interests of disclosure, the author went to US Coast Guard Boot Camp in sunny Cape May) took the side of suffering taxpayers in his State and put the kibosh on a tunnel that would have done little more than allow residents of New Jersey to get to that center of human degredation, that sewer of every sort, Manhattan in much quicker fashion. We need look no further than the unqualified support for this project, no doubt a favorite of the socialist Musslemen in the (no, I shan't say it) - the "Executive Mansion" on Pennsylvania Avenue - no, we need look no further than the unqualified, even lubriquious support of one Paul Krugman to give good cheer to Governor Christies' upholding of the principles so clearly espoused by such founders as Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

How Many Votes Will Lisa Murkowski Get in Kivalina

Editors Note:
I am lifting this whole from Mudflats cuz Elstun is my buddy.
His opinions are not necessarily those of myself or the Both Barrels Editorial Board.
However, I do believe in the importance of open dialoogue, and I welcome a response by Senator Murkowski which would be published in whole.
Ed.

By Elstun Lauesen

William Takak from Shaktoolik understands the impact of climate change. The Alaska Native Science Commission quotes him in a survey of the impact of climate change[1]. “Last Spring we only got six walrus because of the weather and the ice moving out to quick. A long time ago it used to be real nice for weeks and even sometimes for months. Now we have a day or two of good weather and this impacts our hunting. The hunters talk about the ice getting a lot thinner. It is going out too quick.”

Hannah Miller of Nome: “The seasons are getting very fast and are all mixed up. The last few years my grandmother was living she said that there was not enough time to put things away like there used to be. When we are done with the willow leaves then comes the sourdocks. These seasons are in too much of hurry now.”

In 2006, the Alaska Legislature established The Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission. In March 2008, the Commission delivered its report[2]. Among other findings, the Commission notes:

“In Kotzebue, the Commission recorded insights into coastal erosion in the region, relocation issues at Kivalina and Shishmaref…”

The report talks about the challenges of community relocation while techniques such as the use of armor rock are evaluated, citing “…As many as twenty other Alaskan Villages may suffer from similar strategic shortcomings”

While the Villages struggle with the consequences of global climate change, politicians in Washington DC have been struggling for years to develop a public policy to deal with the issue. Lisa Murkowski has changed on this issue in a dramatic way.

LISA THE GOOD. 2006-2008

In an article for Mother Jones Magazine[3], Journalist Kate Sheppard documents this change. Sheppard notes that in 2006 Murkowski broke from her Republican colleagues and stated that she not only believes that global warming is a fact, she also believed “…it is a reality that man is contributing to the current warming trend. Accordingly, it is appropriate and, quite frankly, our responsibility to take steps to curb the growth of greenhouse gases”

For the next year, Lisa worked with Senators like Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) on the issue and became a co-sponsor of Bingaman’s cap-and-trade bill, the Low Carbon Economy Act.

During this period Lisa was aware of and moved by the plight of rural communities. In her introduction to the REFRESH Act aimed at reducing manmade impacts of climate change she noted“In Alaska, we have certainly seen firsthand the effects of a warming climate in recent years.”[4]

With this kind of profile it is little wonder that Environmentalists were encouraged by Lisa Murkowski The Good to believe that, with the election of BarackObama and a strong Democratic Majority in congress, real progress could be made on climate change policy. But sometime after the inauguration of President Obama, Senator Murkowski turned bad.

LISA THE BAD

The turning of Lisa Murkowski was just one-more by-product of John McCain’s appointment and ruination of Sarah Palin (I have written elsewhere that I thought Sarah was a pretty good socialist governor). When McCain-Palin lost the election, Sarah returned to Alaska as a celebrity with a national following and fund-raising power. The punditry at the time widely speculated that Sarah would have an easy shot at Senator Murkowski in the Republican primary. As a senator, Sarah would establish her bona fides (the lack of which helped pull down McCain’s candidacy) for a run against Obama in 2012 or perhaps 2016. The victory of Mark Begich over Ted Stevens provided additional trauma to Lisa who was suddenly ‘on her own’ as a Senior Senator. Lisa assumed a leadership role with the McConnell team (no doubt facilitated by Uncle Ted) and, according to the rules of that structure, she had to play ball and, in turn, would face any potential Republican challenger with a strengthened hand of plum committee assignments and national gravitas.

Unfortunately, the playbook the McConnell team was running was obstructionism and Lisa has to move hard to the Right. That meant no more maverick Global warming stuff. While Lisa was increasing her health and armor, as a gamer might put it, she still lacked the weapons and kill points to fend off an assault by Sarah and her Troll Army. This required money—and lots of it. Sarah, after all, now had a national cult following.

So Lisa turned to the only source for amassing a war chest that she knew: PACs, industry PACs including the ever-willing energy PACs. But PACs also mean quid pro quo. For Lisa, who came to the game equipped with both brains and a conscience, this had to be framed in terms of some ‘greater good’ rationalization. Given the narrow set of options open to her, it is easy to guess how her self-justification worked: oppose my own values in the short run and I can do good in the long run; an earmark here, a bill there.

But as the anti-Obama rhetoric stepped up, the McConnell team had to match that heat with political initiatives that fed raw meat to the political mob. For Lisa, her actions were defined according to both her leadership and her committee assignments. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee, for example, became her venue for hitting the “undo” button on cap-and-trade, which she once co-sponsored.

Most shocking to the liberals and moderates who had followed her political career was her direct assault on the regulation of the very greenhouse gases that she once said had to be reduced. Most notable was Lisa’s amendment to bar the EPA from using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide. The Los Angeles Times[5]noted at the time,

Those lobbyists, particularly one named Jeffrey Holmstead, were major facilitators of campaign donations to Lisa for her re-election.

A Washington Post Story[6]also mentioned above notes working relationship between Lisa’s staff and the lobbyists:

“The maneuvering comes as The Washington Post has confirmed that two Washington lobbyists, Jeffrey R. Holmstead and Roger R. Martella, Jr., helped craft the original amendment Murkowski planned to offer on the floor last fall…In an interview, Holmstead said of the Murkowski amendment, “I certainly worked with her staff” on the exact phrasing of the measure in September.”

Politico[7] was even more descriptive of the working relationship:

“Jeffrey Holmstead, head of the environmental strategies division at Bracewell&Guiliani, and Roger Martella Jr., a partner at Sidley Austin, walked Senate staffers through the details of the amendment, via speakerphone, during a meeting held at 8:45 a.m. in Room 370 of the Hart Senate Office Building on Sept. 23, 2009…”

LISA THE UGLY, AND THE CASE OF KIVALINA

Lisa Murkowski filled her war chest with $124,500[8] from the clients of the lobbyists who helped her staff draft the so-called “Dirty Air” amendments to the Clean Air Act. Ultimately, of course, Lisa ended up facing not Sarah Palin, but a much weaker surrogate, Joe Miller,who, despite Lisa’s Right-Wing correctness makeover, beat her. Obviously the base didn’t buy it.

The question Alaskans, particularly Alaskans living in the villages along the coast have to ask is if Senator Murkowski sold you out then, will she do it again? Let’s be clear, Lisa Murkowski did sell out rural Alaskans on the global warming issue, and she did it for both power and money. A Government Accountability Office report found global warming was immanent and threatening as many as 31 Alaska villages because of coastal erosion flooding and climate change. The cost of relocation of those villages could be as high (in current dollars) as $2.4 Billion. These are public costs that will be borne by state and federal governments because, in part, the companies who so generously donated to Lisa Murkowski’s political reelection have been polluting for decades and wish to continue to do so.

What is particularly ugly about Lisa’s write-in is the manner by which it cleaves the interests of coastal villages. The write-in campaign, which is most certainly going to fail, has now pitted most well meaning Alaskans against each other in service to her hunger for power. An example of this cleaving can be seen in the example of the Village of Kivalina, a community located within the NANA region. Many of the residents of Kivalina are shareholders of NANA Corporation, an ANCSA Corporation now committed to the write-in campaign of Lisa Murkowski.

A super-PAC of ANCSA corporate donors has been formed to plow a million dollars of advertising on Lisa’s behalf. I doubt that the Corporation discussed this with their shareholders in Kivalina.

In 2008, the Village of Kivalina filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, BP and more than 20 other oil and power companies alleging that their contribution to global warming is threatening to destroy the village [Kivalina v. ExxonMobil et al (2008)].Some of the defendants, including Duke Energy, are clients of Jeffrey Holmstead. The lawsuit, from what I can tell, was dismissed in September 2009 at the District Court level in California for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Village tried to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court but was turned down. Ironically, the argument by the defendants (in part) was that the lawsuit violated the Article III prohibition of federal Court jurisdiction over matters of politics. The issues in contention, Global Warming and its causes and solutions, were matter to be decided by Congress and not the Courts. The Court agreed. The Irony, of course, is that once the federal District Court in California agreed with the defendants, Mr. Holmstead et al began working to stanch Kivalina in congress. They blocked their liability in court but now they had to wound any congressional urges in the same direction as Kivalina and Lisa Murkowski became their vehicle. She was perfectly suited for all of the reasons discussed above, past credibility on the issue and facing political jeopardy from her conservative base. The political assault on clean air and global warming policy was perfectly aligned with the anti-government sentiment ignited by the corporate-funded tea party insurgency. Lisa could benefit greatly by climbing aboard and she did. In a word: Lisa threw Kivalina under the bus.

Since Lisa got donations from most of the defendants in that lawsuit, including Duke Energy, one of Holmstead’s clients, I wonder how many votes she will get in Kivalina?

[1] www.ser.org/files/ppt/Elaine%20Abraham%20PPT.pdf

[2] www.housemajority.org/coms/cli/cli_finalreport_20080301.pdf

[3] http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/lisa-murkowski-climate-change-double-agent

[4] http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=267610

[5] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/01/murkowski-greenhouse-gas-emissions-epa.html

[6] http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/01/murkowski_and_her_lobbyist_allies.html

[7] http://climateprogress.org/2010/01/15/politico-lobbyists-led-meeting-on-murkowski-epa-amendment-alaska/

[8] http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=341F1A70-18FE-70B2-A8834AE647A29686

__________________________________

Elstun Lauesen is a lifelong Alaskan who has worked for 30 years as a rural develpment specialist, including in Western Alaska.

What do you get

When you put Joe Miller in bed with the Koch brothers?
Oh wait, he already is in bed with them.

Paul Jenkins sometimes hits it RIGHT ON THE HEAD

We've been saying it all along. Joe "rhymes with Koch" Miller has been bragging just a little too much about his stupid Bronze Star. For crying out loud, they were included in the MRE's during the brief "conflict" in Kuwait.
Paul Jenkins, a respectable journalist (despite his flacking forays, but it seems every scribbler gets more than ink on their hands these days) said this recently in the Anchorage Daily News:

"A friend asked me why I have such a low opinion of Joe Miller, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate. It's not because of his ideas, which range from naive to uninformed to flaky. It's not his "It was good enough for me; it's unconstitutional for you" hypocrisy. I'm offended by his Bronze Star, or, rather, the constant, shameless touting of his Bronze Star. It is unseemly, and I'm embarrassed for him.

Virtually everything written or said about Miller quickly turns to that medal. His campaign ads. The New York Times, Time magazine, even Wikipedia and radio idiots. All of them. It is presented in such a way that the average person certainly could be forgiven for believing it was awarded for battlefield valor. Miller's was not. It was for "meritorious achievement" from Jan. 17, 1991, to March 6, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm."

Read the entire piece here.

Friday Night musicale

Is it Wednesday Yet?

November 3rd, that is...
Yeah, that was my thought today, that this frickin' bad dream would just get over and I'd wake up to find it's Wednesday the 3rd.
Maybe if I take a couple of extra Atenolol's I might get lucky and sleep for two weeks.

Controlled Demolition vid of Attu Takedown

Another One Bites The Dust

"Old Joe" Miller had a Farm