Something Light for Lunch
Fox News has unwisely accused The Muppets of being left-wingers. Big mistake. Kermit and Miss Piggy respond at a press conference:
Campaign Gone to the Dogs
WC prizes, in particular, the ability of Americans to laugh at themselves. Whether it’s The Capitol Steps satirizing the U.S. Supreme Court or Jon Stewart mocking an issue de jour, it has always seemed to WC that our country is happiest when it is best able to glimpse the ludicrousness of what we sometimes do.…
The Capitol Steps: Comedy for the Well-Informed
The Capitols Steps were at Hering Auditorium Saturday night, brought back to town by Fairbanks Concert Association. You really had to want to see the Steps to make this show: it was at least -45° F outside, with patches of thick ice fog. It gratified WC to see a decent crowd attended. Sometimes Fairbanksans demonstrate…
Simply Despicable
Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal has asked his fellow Republican House members to pray for President Barack Obama’s death. O’Neal made the request via an email he forwarded to GOP colleagues in the State House. In an email sent in December, O’Neal asked his fellow Republicans to pray Psalm 109, which contains the following lines:…
Eye of Newt: An Embarrassment of Riches
The thing that makes Gingrich difficult for a blogger is that there’s such an embarrassment of riches. After more than thirty years of abjectly poor impulse control in the public eye, it’s hard to choose which scandal, outrage or ludicrousness to try to review. But, seriously, this barely scratches the surface. Morality? He was in…
Cleaning Out the In-Box
WC accumulates a lot of stuff that is too short for a full blog post but to good to pass by. Some is from WC’s in-box; some from comments; some from Mrs. WC. At very irregular intervals, all that miscellany gets lumped into a post like this. After going down in flames in the Beluga…
Scalia’s Uncanny Powers: Originalism Exposed
The U.S. Supreme Court was faced this term with the question of whether the Feds can hang a global positioning unit on a criminal suspect’s car for a month without a warrant, and then use the satellite tracking information they acquired to convict the suspect. The answer was an emphatic “No,” which WC believes is…
It Can’t Happen Here: The Costa Concordia
The Costa Concordia still lies on her side off the Tuscan coast, with 16 confirmed dead and many still missing. Alaskans know, to their sorrow, that not all ship’s captains are scrupulously careful, not all crew members fully qualified and not all accidents truly accidents. A Dutch salvage company is struggling to off load the…
Now That’s a Screed: Anonymous Commentary on Mitch Daniels
Andrew Sullivan in his blog, The Dish, had nice things to say about Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels‘ response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. One of Sullivan’s readers was unimpressed, and launched this rebuttal, which gets WC’s Screed Award: You wrote about the SOTU response that “It was what a sane Republican critique…
WC’s Epic Fails: First Cubs Game
WC attended law school in Chicago, Illinois in the waning days of Boss Daley. In fact, the first thing WC saw on arrival at the law school campus was a cop taking a bribe on a parking violation. WC arrived on August 25, 1972. The morning of August 26, 1972 was given over to “orientation,”…
An Open Letter to Commissioner Sullivan
Dan Sullivan, Commissioner Department of Natural Resources 550 W. 7th Ave, Suite 1260 Anchorage, AK 99501-3557 Re: Department of Natural Resources Mission Statement Dear Commissioner Sullivan: The Anchorage Daily News reports that your Department of Natural Resources has recently revised its Mission Statement. WC is doubly annoyed. First, to a very considerable extent, a mission…
Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen
WC is not a huge fan of bluegrass music. As Frank Solivan described a jazz melody he and his band performed last night, “Earl Scruggs got ahold of it and blue grassified it.” To WC, most bluegrass music sounds like Robin and Linda Williams’ brilliant satire, “Marvin and Mavis Smiley and the Manhattan Valley Boys”…
Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway with Ray Troll
Dr. Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll were at Gulliver’s Books in Fairbanks on Friday night, talking about their 2007 book Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway, telling stories and autographing books. It was a hoot. Johnson is a paleobotanist, a fossil-hunter who specializes in the fossils of plants. As he puts it, he goes time traveling with…
Eastman Kodak: An Analog Company in a Digital World
When I think back On all the crap I learned in high school It’s a wonder I can think at all And though my lack of education Hasn’t hurt me none I can read the writing on the wall Kodachrome You give us those nice bright colors You give us the greens of summers Makes…
Second Update: M/V Polar Star
Readers will recall WC was a passenger in November-December 2010 on the M/V Polar Star in the Southern Ocean. Out of a kind of morbid fascination, WC has followed the sad events since her grounding in October 2011 on an uncharted rock off the Antarctic Peninsula. Here’s WC’s first report; here’s the first update. It’s remarkably…
Protect What’s Valuable: A Modest Proposal
One lesson that seems to escape too many of WC’s buddies is the importance of protecting what is valuable to you. WC will grant you that Adelie Penguins have it a little easier than humans, let alone citizens of a republic. Protect the egg. Protect the cobbles that make the nest. Feed and protect the…
Druther Be Fishin’
WC is a fairly serious fly fisherman. The virulence of his affliction varies from time to time. As he reported earlier, WC spent a three month sabbatical in 1993 fly fishing in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. WC started fishing fairly young. They are just Chums – Dog Salmon in a Yu’pik town like Bethel…
Now That’s a Screed: Timothy Egan
Former New York Times columnist Timothy Egan has an opinion piece in Sunday’s Times which heats up the usually staid Grey Lady and shreds the Teabaggers. Sample quote: Thus far, the Worst Congress Ever has done nothing but show that the United States can be a nonfunctioning democracy when it wants to, like Italy but…
Fishin’ & Gamin’ – The Mess at ADF&G
On Friday the news broke that Division of Wildlife Conservation Director Corey Rossi had been charged with 12 counts of criminal hunting violations. Alaskans may remember that Mr. Rossi was originally hired in January 2009 as assistant commissioner of “abundance management” – a newly invented position at Fish and Game – as a Palin family favor. Mr.…
The Lies We Tell Ourselves: The Myth of Upward Mobility
It’s a cherished belief: Americans who work hard can succeed and reach a higher point on the economic ladder than their parents. Anyone can be a Ben Franklin or a Henry Ford and rise from abject poverty to the very highest economic success. It’s a big part of America being “exceptional.” “Only in America, land…
Small, Mean and Petty: Joe Miller’s Lawsuit
Failed U.S. Senate candidate and multiply-failed litigant Joe Miller is at it again. He continues to demonstrate he is unfit for any office, let alone any position of public trust. He is vigorously prosecuting his lawsuit against the Fairbanks North Star Borough and former Mayor Jim Whitaker. He remains furious that evidence of his criminal…
The Real Problems With Romney: The Lies
Presidential Wannabe Mitt Romney famously said, “I like being able to fire people.” And it is perfectly clear that the quote was taken out of context: I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep people healthy. It also means if you don’t like what…
The Real Problems with Romney: Bain Capital
Lately Republican Presidential Wannabe Mitt Romney has been trumpeting all of the jobs he created through his 15 year association with Bain Capital. It’s one of those claims that triggers a “Huh?” reaction from anyone who understands leveraged buy-outs and the track record of LBOs over the last 25 years. Some of Romney’s running mates…
Book Review: The Magic of Reality
The Magic of Reality, Richard Dawkins (Ill. by Dave McKean), ISBN 978-1-4391-9281-8 Richard Dawkins is one of the world’s best known evolutionary biologists. He is also one of the great popularizers of science, especially biology, and has made an international reputation as a tireless advocate of evolution and atheism. It’s safe to say he is…
Alaska’s Endangered Species: Spectacled Eiders
As late as 1995, no one knew where Spectacled Eiders wintered. Despite alarming declines in the Alaska populations, and considerable research, no one really knew where they went. In the summer of 1995, a few Alaska birds were fitted with satellite tracking transmitters. Telemetry from monitoring satellites showed the birds were in the frozen Bering…
Chickadees with Deformed Bills
WC has had emails from several readers reporting Black-capped Chickadees at their feeders with seriously deformed bills. As an example, this photo was taken by WC last week at WC’s feeders: The leading researcher on this issue is Colleen Handel, who works out of Anchorage. WC has relied upon her research for this post, and…
Our Guantànamo Nightmare: Lakhdar Boumediene
The New York Times has an opinion piece today by another innocent victim of the Bush Administration’s war on terror. The essay, by Lakhdar Boumediene (translated from Arabic) is powerful, damning and raises again the question of how the people of the United States let themselves be led so far from the principles of our nation.…
ACES Trump Parnell’s Busted Flush
ACES is Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share. the reformed petroleum tax enacted in November 2007. It’s the focus of a concerted effort for repeal by Alaska’s Governor, Big Oil in Alaska and entire armies of lobbyists. When Governor Parnell announced his effort to have ACES repealed, he offered three primary reasons: (1) The Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPS)…
Finally: Juan Rivera Released
Juan Rivera was finally released yesterday, almost 20 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder. The Lake County, Illinois prosecutor’s office decided not to appeal the Illinois Appellate Court’s harsh criticism of what the prosecution had done. Apparently, they also decided not to apologize for stealing 20 years of the man’s life, for inventing fantasies…
Bucks for Blogging: Who Knew?
WC is apparently the last blogger in America to learn that folks will pay – actual cash money – for product placement in blogs. Or at least give away cool stuff. Who knew? WC may have missed the bus. But in an effort to catch up nonetheless, WC will provide some product placements of his…
Wickersham's Conscience 
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