el ártico bar and grill

Live blogging a little: Rudy Jules is babbling on. Shut up, asshat. You adulterous pig. Ok, heeerrreees Sarah: Thunderous applause. Lots of lots of happy white people. Don't like the color Cindy McCain is wearing & why is she holding Todd Palin's baby? But Sarah looks good. Hmm ... she's working the teleprompter well, and now hubby is carrying his kid - good. Oops ... did the commentator just say that she was born in Sand Point, Idaho? Uh, isn't that the homeland of the Aryan Nation? Yikes ... Talking about her kid who's off to Iraq, said she's proud of him, talking about the rest of the family - pretty good defense of her own kids. The mention of hubby's union membership didn't get much applause nor did his Yu'pik "ancestry" which used to be a big ol secret. But the long time sweetheart comment - awwhhh. Harry Truman mentioned. Wonder who else gets trotted out. Hockey mom, PTA, Wasilla council, Wasilla mayor, Governor. Whoo, some nice ...

Woke up this morning to the less than dulcet sounds of a couple of ravens tear-assing around on the roof. The metal roof. Look, the type of roofing materials around here is limited and the vast majority of the time, I don't think about it. But when you wake up cranky, and stay cranky because of a couple of rambunctious corvids who think it's great fun to chase each other around on said metal roof, then wood shingles suddenly sound good. But since that isn't really an option I got up pissed off and remained that way through a morning of grudgingly done housework and resentfully downloaded email. I was working on a serious case of the mads when I got the fleeting notion that a bike ride might help. Now, a few things to know about me: I don't exercise, I don't even own any exercise-related equipment. I haven't been on a bike ride - for fun - in about 2 years. Sure, I use my urban cruiser bike as transportation in the summer, but I do than even less this summer...

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...

Today started off with imported things, i.e. stuff from Outside: coffee, coffee filters, coffee maker; and the imported political news of the morning; The Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee had decided to seat all the delegates from the Michigan and Florida primaries, but only give them half votes. Oh, and Sen. Obama had decided to resign his politically embarrassing church. Then, my politics turned local and tasty. The doorbell rang and standing there was a well-dressed young man - suit, tie, 3 point handkerchief, dress shoes - with a plastic bag in one hand and my Sunday paper in the other. He handed me both, we chatted for a moment and then he took off. The young man at the door is a member of Alaska State Legislature. What he had in the plastic bag was some of his home-smoked red salmon. The genesis of my morning encounter with this elected official was a chance meeting in the grocery store. I happen to have grown up with the mother of said representative's sis...

Day One, post one. And she's off ... 31 May 2008 starts off with a ton of things to do and not enough healthy me to do them. I managed to come home from the 2008 Alaska Democratic Party Convention with a brand, spankin' new cold. Several days of cold meds, ab muscles so sore from coughing I've resorted to paid killers, and gallons of tea later - I'm still sick. But determined as today is my first planting day. I may not get much done, but I'm gonna try! On the political front I found some so-so blogs from the Convention but I think the bloggers think more mightily of themselves than they need. Lots of coverage of the big stars; the lesser lights (i.e. local candidates) nada, nada, nada y nada. Vale. Here's some linkage - you will need to scroll some Progressive Alaska Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis Once I really get up and running this will be mainly about some of my favorite things: local Fairbanks politics, gardening, fun reads and any other random topics that g...