Joe McGinnis writes this morning:

Sarah told the Sunday Times of London, “I am going to Sudan in July and hope to stop in England on the way. I am just hoping Mrs Thatcher is well enough to see me as I so admire her.”

Aides to the ailing Margaret Thatcher won’t let Sarah anywhere near the former British prime minister. That’s no surprise.

But how about the trip to Sudan, where summer temperatures in the capital, Khartoum, average more than 105 degrees? (Maybe the move to Arizona was to acclimatize her.)

On anyone’s list of the most unfortunate countries on earth, Sudan would have to be near the top. Put it this way: Sarah’s not going there for the shopping.

Can anyone see any reason for Sarah to make this trip other than to give herself another “foreign policy” credential for the 2012 campaign?

Questions:

–Is Franklin Graham paying for it?

McGinniss goes on to ask a series of intriguing questions about the trip. The answer to this one, though, is that the odds are heavily in favor of “Yes.”

Palin is Graham’s political protégé.

In early 2009, as Palin’s executive abilities in Alaska were rapidly declining, and Alaskans along the lower Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers faced severe hardships, Graham was the one to lead her mission of mercy delivery of trinkets and blankets to people along the Yukon. The trip was a public relations disaster for her, surpassed that early part of the year only by her choice of a person mostly despised by the same people along those rivers, Wayne Anthony Ross, to be the discredited Talis Colberg’s replacement as Alaska Attorney General. Her selection of Ross was roundly rejected, and was Palin’s biggest political debacle.
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Alaska blogger and reporter Denis Zaki arrived in Emmonak yesterday evening. He stayed last night at the school, and began interviewing people around town immediately. He attempted to attend a meeting this morning, between recently arrived State of Alaska employees and village officials. Palin’s people wanted him out of the picture though, so the village officials, on behalf of the state, asked him to leave the meeting.

As we enter the second week of public awareness of the Lower Yukon midwinter crisis, the Palin administration, finally reacting, is very aware that this story gained national attention through a few liberal AM radio program hosts, and progressive Alaska bloggers, centered around Alaskans for Truth.

That group, started in response to the September 2008 takeover of the Palin administration’s publicity and administrative apparatus by Bush administration cleaner and hitman Ed O’Callaghan, is the most active and persistent team of critics in Alaska of Palin’s policies, actions and ethical methods. I’m a proud member. Read the rest of this entry →

Dennis Zaki hasn’t made it to Bethel yet, let alone Emmonak. He is stuck at what he calls the "Jay Hammond International Airport." That’s what a lot of us have begun calling the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. The Weather across Alaska has been ferocious for weeks. First, very cold – now warm, windy and wet.

It looks like three of the four huge low pressure systems that smacked Alaska this past week have done their work, so Dennis may be heading on over to the lower Yukon tomorrow. By the time Bethel and Emmonak and the lower Yukon airports and airfields open, there will probably be a backlog of relief supplies coming in from other Alaska Native villages, the huge Alaska Native community in Anchorage, from donations made through our Alaskans for Truth international relief network (handled by Mudflats, so far), and other sources.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin looked really, really, REALLY pissed Friday, when having to answer a couple of questions at her long-delayed energy plan rollout in Anchorage. When I find video or a still picture of that look, I’ll post it.

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She’s got other priorities…
graphic by twolf

Alaska’s Senior US Senator Lisa Murkowski reacted to emerging details of the food and fuel emergency on the lower Yukon River Thursday. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s spokesperson, Sharon Leighow stated that Gov. Palin’s office "may have" reviewed the Emmonak situation in October.

How do I know that Sen. Murkowski is reacting to Emmonak? Not from this cite from this morning’s Anchorage Daily News:

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski evoked Emmonak’s struggles Thursday at a Senate committee hearing on the proposed federal economic stimulus plan.

No, because her Washington DC office tried to get me through to her this morning, but she is already meeting on the lower Yukon problem today, with advisors.

Gov. Palin currently has no plans to comment on Emmonak. She is pretty booked today. And Monday, Palin kicks off Glenn Beck’s new FOX News TV program:

It’s been a highly sought after position—the 1st guest appearance on Glenn’s brand new show on Fox News. After a Blagojevich like courtship for the slot, Governor Sarah Palin will be the first guest with Glenn on Fox this Monday at 5pm eastern. Set your Tivo!

She plans on introducing her long-delayed Statewide Energy Plan this morning, at 11:00 a.m. A large Read the rest of this entry →

Yesterday afternoon, Alaska’s progressive bloggers responded to the growing winter crisis in the lower Yukon villages, most notably Emmonak. As word spread of the looming food and fuel crisis there, we decided to get our reporter in (no simple task!), raise funds, and tell the true story of Alaska bloggers, and how we help each other in the Far North.

Longtime Alaska Report editor and owner (and one-time firedoglake videographer) Dennis Zaki found out about the looming crisis in Emmonak at the beginning of the week. He called around, and discovered that the crisis is real, and that no established news outlets in Alaska or Outside had intentions of going out there and getting some hard news stories and video footage together.

Dennis, though not a member of Alaskans for Truth, the small, close-knit group of progressive bloggers and community organizers who are trying to get our legislature to address executive ethics reform, sought our help early Wednesday afternoon. Collectively, we got out of our moms’ basements, shed our PJ’s, left the twinkies and bags of jolly ranchers on the coffee tables in front of our worn-out couches, and got to work.

Actually, we took time off from our jobs as teachers, Read the rest of this entry →