Phil Munger at ProgressiveAlaska has a good summary of recent events. Things are getting quite contentious in Alaska.
Sarah Palin - Sucking So Bad, She Was Keeping Alaska's Volcanoes from Blowing Too Hard - Until Today
On the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, as Redoubt Volcano threatened a long-neglected retainment dike system holding 6 million gallons of crude oil, on Alaska's pristine Cook Inlet, Gov. Palin erupted again and again about media unfairness.
Both Gov. Palin and Redoubt Volcano have been erupting periodically over the past week. The height of eruptions for both occurred Tuesday, the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and 45th Anniversary of the Great Alaska Earthquake.
Another Palin eruption occurred this Tuesday. Alaskan progressive blogger, Linda Kellen, filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Palin at the beginning of the week. Here's Linda's press release:
http://divasblueoasis.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=478The governor, in what was perhaps an unwise move, almost immediately posted a response to the complaint at the Governor's web site's press page:
March 24, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin issued the following statement in response to another ethics complaint filed today. Filed by an Anchorage political blogger, the complaint alleges the governor “… improperly used her position and state resources to serve her personal financial interests by being a walking billboard for Arctic Cat ...”
"Are Alaskans outraged, or at least tired of this yet - another frivolous ethics charge by a political blogger? This would be hilarious if it weren’t so expensive for the state to process these accusations and for me to defend against these bogus harassments. Yes, I wore Arctic Cat snow gear at an outdoor event, because it was cold outside, and by the way, today, I am wearing clothes bearing the names of Alaska artists, and a Glennallen Panthers basketball hoodie. I am a walking billboard for the team’s fundraiser! Should I expect to see an ethics charge for wearing these, or the Carhartts I wear to many public events? How much will this blogger's asinine political grandstanding cost all of us in time and money?"
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Meanwhile, today, as Redoubt Volcano again is erupting and sending ash up to 60,000 feet into the atmosphere, closing airports and roads, Gov. Palin announced just minutes ago, that she has appointed one of Alaska's most cantankerous characters as her new Attorney General.
Wayne Anthony Ross, Alaska's best-known 2nd Amendment advocate, and a member of he NRA's national board, is intensely disliked by rural Alaska Natives. He has been, over the years, the most staunch advocate of the diminution of subsistence rights for Alaska Natives, to benefit mostly White urban and out-of-state hunters. Recently, Ross defended now-convicted ex-Alaska Representative Vic Kohring, in the closing stages of Kohring's battle against his Federal corruption conviction. Kohring is in the middle of the first year of his sentence.
Before that, at the beginning of the Iraq War, Ross defended a man in Kenai, up on charges for dumping water on anti-war protesters in Kenai - in sub-freezing weather. Both the Kohring and Kenai cases were taken by Ross pro bono.
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It's hard to keep up with all her scandals.