Dennis Zaki Blog - AlaskaReport

Fake it ’til you make

UPDATED (See videos below)

I went to the Alaska Women’s Political Caucus forum in Anchorage on Sunday. There was one person everybody wanted to hear from. Lt. Governor Sean Parnell. He managed to dodge this one too. He was slapping hands at the Governor’s picnic in Fairbanks.

I’d say the forum was a tie. All three candidates did very well, even Coconut Don. At one point Don said “My ethics and my wife’s ethics and my families’ ethics should never have been questioned” to quite a few chuckles in the audience. We were all waiting for Don to explode but it never happened. Why the hell else would we be inside for three hours on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer. We wanted action.

Rare sighting - Don Young without his glasses

Ethan Berkowitz

Diane Benson

Coconut Don wasn’t drunk at the forum. When you take a lot of pictures of people you get quite a few outtakes with closed eyes, smirks, and sometimes gold like this one. Don Young is by far my favorite photography subject. I’ll miss him after his election defeat. I guess I’ll still be able to get pictures at his corruption trials though.

Diane Benson on Earmarks

Ethan Berkowitz and Don Young on ethics (yes, Don actually talks about ethics)

Ethan Berkowitz on the Iraq War

The annual Governor’s Picnic was held yesterday in Anchorage. Here’s a few pictures.

Governor Sarah Palin and her son Trig Van Palin

Todd Palin and daughter Piper

Sarah and Piper

Todd and Trig

Bristol Palin

Tasty Burgers

Tasty KTUU reporter Layla Santiago

Ray Metcalfe’s bus. You too can hop on Ray’s bus for a three hour tour around Anchorage and hear Ray talk about Mark Begich and his real estate deals.

FBI special agent Mary Beth Kepner investigating Republican crime political corruption in Alaska. I asked her if the FBI would have a booth at the Don Young picnic next month, she just laughed. Wouldn’t that be a great photo op?

In the past two years of covering Alaska governor Sarah Palin I’ve never seen her mad before. She was glaring at somebody during the Governor’s Picnic in Wasilla Friday night. My guess is Corrupt Bastard CEO/apologist Lyda Green. I heard she was at the picnic to throw a wet blanket on everything.

Words we’ve been waiting to hear for years.

From Frank Rich in Sunday’s New York Times:

“So hot is the speculation that war-crimes trials will eventually follow in foreign or international courts that Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, has publicly advised Mr. Feith, Mr. Addington and Alberto Gonzales, among others, to “never travel outside the U.S., except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel.”

WE know what a criminal White House looks like from “The Final Days,” Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s classic account of Richard Nixon’s unraveling. The cauldron of lies, paranoia and illegal surveillance boiled over, until it was finally every man for himself as desperate courtiers scrambled to save their reputations and, in a few patriotic instances, their country.

The men were John Ashcroft’s deputy attorney general, James Comey, and an assistant attorney general, Jack Goldsmith. Their sin was to challenge the White House’s don, Dick Cheney, and his consigliere, his chief of staff David Addington, when they circumvented the Geneva Conventions to make torture the covert law of the land. Mr. Comey and Mr. Goldsmith failed to stop the “torture memos” and are long gone from the White House. But Vice President Cheney and Mr. Addington remain enabled by a president, attorney general (Michael Mukasey) and C.I.A. director (Michael Hayden) who won’t shut the door firmly on torture even now…..

Picture from Down With Tyranny!

From Wonkette:

This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude’s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG’s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details.

AG in question is Troy King, who, of course, is only interested in outlawing homosexuality and sex toys. His gay lover is either a college “buddy,” or a very young youngster and “Homecoming King” from Troy University. What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with a Homecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel. (Is this what that Will & Grace was about?)

“Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter”

George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

From The Guardian (UK)

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world’s richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: “Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America’s record on pollution.”

The smartest radio babe in Anchorage, Shannyn Moore, was on the air this morning at 106.5 KWHL. Shannyn was “fired” by the clowns over at KUDO last week and is now on one the most listened to shows in the state. Way to go Shanny! Way not to go KUDO. Another major screw-up. You’d think Randy Ruedrich was running KUDO with all of the poor decisions being made over there.

UPDATED: My mistake, Shannyn was a guest today and she’ll be back on tomorrow. She just told me she’s not employed there. Sorry.

I can’t believe it. I expected to be blown off. Yesterday I got a notice from the Committee on Arrangements for the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Dear Media Credential Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in covering the 2008 Republican National Convention and applying for Special Press Credentials.

This letter is to inform you that Alaska Report has been approved to receive one (1) Special Press Credential for the purpose of covering the convention.

On June 19th the Democrats credentialed me to their Convention.

PS I’m the only news guy from Alaska going to either convention. How bout them apples. I’ll get to see George and Dick up close and personal. If I go missing, send help to Guantanamo!

The early run of the Kenai river reds is deader than a doornail. At least the scenery was good.

Hope you had great weekend. Going fishing on Monday, back on the beat Tuesday.