el ártico bar and grill

Good Lord, Uncle Ted. You idiot. You could have done a graceful retirement lap as part of the state's 50th birthday celebration. Gotten lots of love and accolades. But no, you jerk, you had to over-reach and figure that you were above the law and the consequences of bad actions. So now the state gets to listen as the news tolls the information that you couldn't keep from taking minor bribes and presents which pretty much made you a tasty target for the feds. Fool. Alaska Public Radio Network NY Times "The Caucus" Some information about how this happened YouTube: Video of indictment announcement The Daily Show: Who The F** is Ted Stevens BBC News Seriously, Uncle Ted: Why?

The other night was an interesting turn back to my past. I was late getting to the monthly Interior Democrats' business meeting due to a phone call with my cousin,the actor Mirron, who was leaving the next day for a trip to China. Needless to say it was alot more fun talking to him than hustling over to yet another business meeting, so I was very late. To kind of make up for my tardiness I hung around a little afterwards and ended up going with a group to the Big I bar. I've spent lord knows how many hours of my life in that bar and have some memory associated with every square inch. I haven't been in since the memorial for the original manager, Hap Ryder, who died last year; I'm not much of a bar person, so it was a definite call-back to times past being there. What made it even more of an old-timey experience is that I was in there discussing political stuff - namely a big fund raiser and state-wide committee meeting the Interior Democrats are hosting in September. Th...

Ok, ok .. I've been pretty remiss at this and don't really have a good excuse. I've been busy, bummed, burned out or just too bored with the current state of affairs to do much writing. Everyday seems to bring more of the same old, same old: the Repubs keep lying and lying about what the current administration is really up to, the Supremes are hell-bent on getting rid of our rights as citizens (see: The State of Alaska vs. Exxon), and the D's (my people) keep stumbling around like a bunch of sailors on shore leave. Grrr ... Here's an example: last Saturday was the Golden Days' Parade. Not only is this the largest parade of the year, it's THE LARGEST PARADE IN THE STATE - period. I'm out there to cheer on the kids, ogle the firefighters and generally enjoy the decidedly old school entertainment value of getting free candy (without some deluded young woman flashing her tetas). I happen to have my camera with me; the one I have yet to really learn how to wo...