>*  I suspect that folks in Alaska who talk about events "back east" aren't
>   referring to Attu.

Actually,  when I lived up in Alaska we referred to it as the "lower 48".
We never considered the fact that it was East of us.  If you want you can
take it up with the State of Alaska considering they put it on their
website as fact.

http://www.dced.state.ak.us/tourism/student.htm

Steven