Read about the ridiculous fees the State of Alaska (under former half-Gov. Sarah Palin and now) requires citizens to pay for public information!
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Thank you!
Though many of us suffer from Palin Factor Fatigue, it is irrefutable that there is a nagging curiosity to have the question answered, ?How in the world did Sarah Palin become so popular and why do we still need to hear about her?? My book answers these questions in detail and urges us all to be vigilant. She is one of a small pool of ?rising stars in the republican party? as John McCain stated as recently as January 25, 2009 on Fox News Sunday.
As unbelievable as her meteoric rise was we cannot delude ourselves, turning our backs once again, into thinking that she and those like her are going away. This woman is joined by millions of loyalists whose perception is that she was persecuted in the media, stifled by McCain, and mocked by liberals - and now the theocratic conservatives are regrouping with a vengeance!
"Blue Oasis" began in 2005 in its Blogger format (now an archive) and became possibly the first Alaska Blog on Progressive Politics. At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis was honored to represent Alaska as the state blog.
Transition--Community Blog
In September 2008, Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis moved to a Soapblox Community Blog format. Readers can become full participants by registering on the blog to comment and write "diaries." Diary titles appear on the right sidebar for folks to read and provide comments. Blog editors may choose to move some of these diaries to the front page.
While this Community was formed specifically with Alaska in mind, all "friends of Alaska" are welcome as members!
**Note about registering** Scroll down the right side until you find the link to register. Then, just follow the instructions!
**Note about comments** To comment on a story, click on the heading and then look for the "comment bar" at the bottom (it's light grey, I can't seem to change it). I believe the font color NOW permits you to see the "post comment" text.
YOUR BLOGMISTRESS
My name is Linda Kellen Biegel and I am a former 15-year Federal employee. Thirteen of those years were spent working for the US Army Corps of Engineers. I am also semi-retired from the Alaska music scene (singer, sound tech, stage manager, logistics).
When the blog was chosen to represent Alaska in the DNCC State Blogger Pool at the Denver Convention, I attended with the help of Alaska Real blogmistress, Writing Raven and my daughter Morrigan. On August 29th, one day after Barack Obama's inspiring speech at Invesco Field , my life took another turn as it did for all Alaska bloggers when Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen to be John McCain's VP running mate. Since then, I've either assisted or have been interviewed by media from the UK, Italy, Australia and Germany as well as national media outlets such as Wall Street Journal, NY Times, ABC Good Morning America's Kate Snow, National Journal, Dallas Morning News, LA Times, and NPR.
Presently, I work as a freelance writer, PR, event coordinator, community organizer, wife to computer programmer Josh and mother to 11-year-old Morrigan. Our family especially enjoys our summers in Alaska where we get to subsistence set-net fish Sockeye salmon as well as halibut fish/whalewatch in the family's homemade aluminum boat, "The Neverdone" (when it's working). We reside in Anchorage, Alaska.
Origin of "Celtic Diva"
I've used "Celtic Diva" as a screen name since the early 1990's on Web TV.
"Folks have asked about my Celtic heritage, especially in light of my name. What they don't realize is that I'm adopted. I was born Valerie Morehead of the Clan Muirhead. I was adopted at three-months-old by the Kellens. I always "knew" I was Celt even before really knew. I was drawn to all things Scottish, especially music. That's why my parents eventually told me at age 16."
"Linda is well-known in Alaska & beyond as the prominent progressive political blogger Celtic Diva of Celtic Diva?s Blue Oasis. But back in the day, the early 1990s, I knew her as Linda Kellen, a member of the local folk/rock band Sky is Blu, which amongst other things performed in at least a couple or so of the annual women?s show Celebration of Change, in which I also performed. And if you don?t already know, let me tell you: Linda is one fine damn singer."
I went on after the break-up of "Sky is Blu" to perform with various Alaska musicians and work with national folks like Bo Diddly, Coco Montoya, Debbie Davies, Taj Mahal, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Bad Company, Creedence Clearwater, Carny Wilson, etc...
(Please register to participate in diaries and comments! We'd love for you to join our Community!)
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A cousin of mine recently emailed: "Did you hear that guy from Texas apologizing to the BP guy? The Texas congressman is shoulder deep in money from Big Oil." Not only is the TX congressman shoulder-deep in money, but as an NPR commentator pointed out, many of the Republicans in congress probably think that BP is the victim in this mess.
Just to be "fair and balanced", our president is also shoulder-deep in money from Big Oil. So are Alaskans. Ultimately, the world's economy is balanced on the shoulders of big oil. We're all shoulder-deep in this.
So what do we do? Make big oil go the way of the buggy whips. Whale oil was used until the turn of the last century, in perfume, lubricants, food, lamps, etc. If cars had been mass-produced back then, they probably would have been whale-oil cars. As the whales died out, can you imagine the discussion? "We must cut our addiction to whale oil! The Big Whale Conglomerate has to go! Can it be done? O, what evah shall we do?"
Baleen and tortise shell and clam shells were used, too -- they were the era's plastic. Then along came mass-produced autos, and a use for oil was developed, and then came plastic, and every one of us who love and care for the environment stood up and yelled hooray! because clams and tortises and whales would no longer be slaughtered to the brink of extinction.
Today, a hundred years later, we no longer need whales for anything but what they are. [Unless you're Japanese, that is.] The Big Whale system changed. America ended a dependence on whale oil. An entire industry changed, and cultures and economies survived.
So it's time for us to change. Again.
The universal constant "Change or Die" applies across the board -- the soul, the family, the community, the country, economies, nations, ideologies, religions, geology, the Universe --- everything. Change or die. If the system resists change, the system experiences friction. Want a good example? The '64 Earthquake was five minutes of 9.2 friction and change, baby. Or watch an episode of A/E's Intervention. Boy howdy, that's Change or Die 101. America is right on schedule with friction and resistance to change from or about Big Oil.
I'm part of the problem. I have two cars. One doesn't burn much gas. I use it in the summer, when I'm not hauling heavy loads up and over Alaska's mountain passes. So despite the Big Oil "addiction" of owning two cars, I'm actually burning less fuel. But somebody out there says I'm sposed to somehow make a better choice? I don't think so.
That's like telling overweight Americans that it's their own fault they're obese when there's nothing but Crispy Cremes on the menu, no matter which restaurant or grocery store they shop. Or like telling women, "Breast cancer is somehow your fault. Doesn't matter that we don't know the cause or that mammograms aren't effective or we don't yet know the risk factors. It's up to you, girlfriend. You must avoid fats, coffee, and hormone replacement therapy, and you gotta do self-exams. And if you are diagnosed with breast cancer, it will somehow be your fault."
Detroit says we Americans haven't asked for alternative fuel vehicles. Oh really? We didn't ask for antibacterial soap, Facebook or Kate Gosselin, either, and yet here they are. The last time I priced an alternative fuel vehicle, the average sticker was nine grand above that of an otherwise comparable gas-fueled car. And don't tell me to switch to solar energy, not when to do so requires that I educate myself and build a system from the ground up -- about which the building inspector knows nothing -- and then tell me I have to stay the hell away from the grid. Those aren't choices, that's manipulating the market to guarantee there will be no demand.
Would someone please tell me how any of this makes sense? Until we are offered real choices in automobiles or transportation or alternative energy, we consumers are not the ones to solve this problem or upon whom they can heap their blame. Don't tell me I'm the addict when the only thing coming out of Detroit -- or my light switches -- is directly linked to Big Oil.
To paraphrase something some wise person once said, Hitler wasn't stopped because Americans recycled scrap metal. The planet won't be saved by the trees that you and I plant. It will be saved when the mega industries decide to make some real changes. When Detroit shuts down, retools, and cranks out affordable vehicles that aren't dependent on gasoline.
Just wait for the next one! "If NASA could save Apollo 13 by basically rewiring a flashlight -- from a couple thousand miles away -- and with no computers --- what's the holdup on fixing the oil blowout in the Gulf?"
Patti Greene
Patti Greene is a life-long Alaskan musician, event organizer, retired(?) activist, writer, evil over(land)lord and businesswoman extraordinaire. She is best-known for her periodic appearances in the outrageously popular band "The Aquanets," her eclectic email newsletter/flea market called "Gear Junkies" and her occasional "Compass" pieces for the Anchorage Daily News.
Rose of Sharon tree at the beautiful rock garden behind along Campbell Creek behind "The Local Burgerman" the famous "Arctic Roadrunner" burger joint.
When I came down with the contagious bronchitis everyone seemed to be getting, I didn't believe them when they told me it was going to take four weeks to get over (at least). I became a believer since now it has been over four weeks and I STILL get the occasional coughing fits in the mornings or at night. Last week, I finally emerged from the house after weeks of coughing and took the girls out (I'm watching Isabella this summer) to the oldest burger joint in Alaska. It was a nice day and they have tables outside along Cambell Creek to eat. They also have a lovely rock garden. I took some pictures with my new Nikkon (yay for tax refunds!)
Along Campbell Creek...
The Arctic Roadrunner is one of those places that decorates its walls not with celebrities (though there are a few) but with the pictures and bios of frequently-pioneer Alaskans who made the restaurant a local staple. It was nice to see the some faces I knew from 20 years ago who have since passed on...musicians I got a chance to play music with along the way.
However, in the summer it's all about the outdoors...
And I did mention the rock garden...
Oriental poppies--many varieties of poppies do quite well up here
Primula...I think...
I finally got back to working in the garden again last week--I'll post some of those photos over the weekend as well.
I woke up Sunday and did something that had become second nature over the past few months--found where my puppy, Katy, was sleeping against my back and moved her so I could get out of bed. I also saw a tissue she shredded on the floor and threw it away, grumbling a bit. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, I double- checked that I'd shut the bathroom door (she frequently tore apart rolls of toilet paper). Coming back to bed, Katy was so excited to see me that her tail and butt were wagging in opposite directions.
This is how I woke up every morning since we brought Katy home in February. If I'd only known that Sunday was the last morning I'd have those moments with her.
About 3:30 that afternoon, I was sitting on the bench in the front yard resting after doing some planting. My husband was outside putting away his tools after finishing some work on my raised garden beds. Katy was right there with us...hooked to the 20 ft lead attached to a stake in the front yard. She was playing with the pug from next door, who was on a leash held by the neighbor's six-year-old visiting granddaughter. I was enjoying watching Katy play with the much-older pug, Titus, when I saw a large, white blur in the corner of my eye. I heard an ominous growl and the blur raced in a direct line to my Katy, grabbing her midsection in her large jaws before I could even move, breathe or scream.
The dog immediately started violently shaking her side to side, the same way my Katy would play with her toys. And Katy almost looked like a toy in comparison to the larger dog...but then Katy started screaming. I already was.
My husband tried grabbing the dog, but it didn't have a collar so there was nothing to hold on to. By the end of the third or forth horrific shaking, my husband had the dog by the ears and was laying on top of it...and still it wouldn't let go. Neighbors came over with wood, metal even a piece of a skateboard and tried prying it's jaws open, beating it on the head, anything to help...one neighbor tried to gouge its eyes.
It still wouldn't let go.
By now, my 12-year-old daughter heard Katy scream and had come racing out of her room. She had a piece of plywood in her hand and she was beating the dog over the head through her screams and sobs. I was hysterical...sobbing and begging the lady at 911 to get someone here. Finally, another neighbor came racing over with a heavy chain and started choking the dog.
It finally let go...but I knew it was far too late. I didn't tell my daughter when she scooped up Katy and raced for the SUV that I'd heard the crack of our beautiful puppy's back breaking during the second shaking...the one where she screamed and went limp. As it was, Katy's heart was still barely beating and there was still breath in her body so as far as we were concerned, there was still hope. My husband pealed out of the driveway and the lady at 911 told me to wait for the police...and also told me she'd let the police know not to stop the speeding Ford. I found out later that a few minutes into the trip, my daughter felt Katy's last heartbeat against her body and heard her last breath as she died in my daughter's arms.
The owners of the dog? They finally came AFTER Katy was out of its mouth and he proceeded to walk it back across the street, ignoring me when I said he needed to wait for the police. He took it behind the aunt's house and...let it go...
Yup...he let it go to avoid the police and Animal Control. He and his girlfriend have spent the last several days defying the order to surrender the animal.
The point of me telling this whole, horrific story is this...WE DID NOTHING WRONG. We were obeying the law and the rules of the trailer court management...we owned a dog that would never get larger than 30 lbs. We made sure she was leashed AT ALL TIMES. We didn't allow her around non-neutered males while she was in heat. (...but dealt with plenty of them coming to our yard and did so in a civil manner.) The dog that killed my Katy was with visitors who didn't even own a leash or a collar, were keeping her in a yard with a broken fence and didn't bother to stop her when she raced into our yard. And now, they are defying the law by not bringing her in to Animal Control.
What my family has once again learned from this incident is that when people don't follow laws, rules, ethical standards, etc...the people who DO follow the law are usually the ones to get hurt. Then, the law-abiding victims spend excessive amounts of time, energy, money, etc...attempting to get justice from immoral, unethical people who act like they are the victims.
It was a cold night in February. Citizens young and old of every color, rich and poor crowded into the parking lot of Begich Middle School. People driving from work listened to KUDO's Aaron Selbig on the radio as he attempted to guide folks through the traffic to the site of the Democratic Caucus in Anchorage 2008.
Many dedicated Democrats used to modest participation in such affairs, were pleasantly surprised to discover this would be one of the best attended political events in Anchorage history. No one could have predicted the turn out that filled practically every hall, alcove, nick and cranny of the newly opened middle school named for the father of Senator Mark Begich.
I can remember being pressed against the wall down the hallway in this picture. People crowded against the table behind which I stood filling out form after form as new voters swarmed to register as Democrats. My throat tightened with emotion and pride to see so many people inspired to participate in their government. These wonderful people came to the middle school to vote for their Democratic presidential candidate. Many them had never voted before in their lives. Some them were switching party affiliations in order to try and change the direction their country had taken politically. All that mattered was to get them registered and encourage them to jump into the fray with both feet. Jump they did, and the energy and determination of these new voters renewed the hope and strength of many life long voters.
If you took a left hand turn before reaching the hallway in this picture, you would have found yourself in the gym surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting patiently and not so patiently in lines waiting to caucus for their Democratic Presidential candidate. The atmosphere was loud, hot and confused. People milled about impatiently with many bewildered as to what to do at a caucus. No one had planned for the massive crowd that showed up. No one had fully anticipated the power of Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and all the other candidates offering change to inspire heretofore unregistered voters in Alaska to come out and have their votes counted. Elderly citizens shifted painfully on their feet for hours as they waited, but wait they did, and they were determined to be heard.
I remember standing in the center of the gym surrounded by folks with a burning desire to caucus for their candidate, but first they needed to register to vote. There were so many of them, and the lines were confusing. The air in the gym was thick and hot from the sheer volume of people. I had lost all hope of finding my own District 19 in the crowd. I registered anybody and everybody. From behind me, somewhere in the bleachers, a voice roared out over the crowd. I recognized the voice of Shannon Moore as she invited, nay insisted, that people come to her to register to vote. All I could see of her was her hard hat. Pens flew, and the ranks of new voters swelled. Later, above the din and confusion, swelled another voice from the glory days of KUDO, CC, armed with a bull horn, began directing traffic from the balcony above the gym floor. The voices of those two women never faltered that evening, and from what I learned later, neither did the voice of Mr. Selbig. I am forever grateful to them for their help and support during that amazing evening.
That amazing evening more than fortified my belief in our system of government, a government of, by and for the people. It blew that belief out of the water, and for the next several months sustained me through long hours as volunteer to register and educate voters in my beloved District 19. I do not believe in term limits, because I have never stopped believing in the power of the people to effect change through the power of the vote. If a politician remains in office for too long, the blame rests on our shoulders. If we didn't get the votes to bring in a new, better candidate, then we didn't try hard enough, and the hard work, grass root campaigning and volunteer work that led up to the 2008 Presidential election reinforced that belief.
Midterm elections are just around the corner. President Obama and the progressives currently serving in U.S. Congress have done a lot of heavy lifting. President Obama has been methodically and without much fanfare putting the pieces of our government back together rebuilding such departments as the FDA, Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor to name only a few, while progressive Congressman have worked feverishly to create legislation to restore some semblance of regulatory sanity to our nations laws.
Now it is time for We the People to pick up our share of the load once again. We need to get voters out to the polls, and the push to do so begins this weekend as Organizing for America launches its Adopt a Voter campaign. Sarah Mouracade of OFA explains the strategy in this statement:
We decided to do this campaign, which is unique to Alaska, because it helps volunteers reach out to first-time voters from 2008 and share President Obama's accomplishments with them. We believe talking to first-time voters is very important because many progressive candidates in Alaska who fight for issues that correspond with President Obama's agenda will benefit by having these first-time voters go back to the polls in 2010. In fact, they are likely to be the critical votes in both local and federal elections this November. People who adopt first-time voters will be assigned 10 - 15 people who live in their community and asked to help get them back to the polls in 2010. Simply put, the message the volunteers are delivering to these first-time voters is, "It's time to make your voice heard once more."
A painful lesson was learned with the election of Mr. Sullivan into the office of Mayor. He won because we failed to get out and get the vote. We left the polls open to the conservative. We forgot to reach out to those voters whose power was felt on that cold night in February when hearts in Anchorage burned bright. The formula for a healthy democracy is very simple. Get citizens to participate in the process of elections and of governance. We who claim to support the progressive idea of freedom and justice for everyone should feel compelled to get out and register as many people as possible to vote, then get those newly appointed guardians of freedom to the polls. The people who showed up at the caucus are still eager and hopeful to have a chance to determine their own future. Some have no transportation. Some do not know how. Some are just overwhelmed and need some encouragement. Those of us who can need to step out of our comfort zones, and reach out to other citizens whenever and where ever possible. Reach out and adopt a fellow citizen and pass on your love of democracy.
Learn how to Adopt a Voter this weekend. To attend and one of 16 house meeting in Alaska this Saturday, June 5 or Sunday, June 6, visit http://bit.ly/9htaLY to find a list of events.
Tonight I actually felt sick about filling my gas tank. What can I do to end this addiction to fuel? I am overwhelmed by my oneness in a nation of millions all slogging down a cultural highway designed by our great grand parents, heralded by our grand parents, perfected by our parents and now laid at the feet of the grand children. How can a nation built around the American weekend, a concept created by Henry Ford to encourage his plant workers to buy cars in which to travel, make the sort of drastic changes necessary to reduce the use of fossil fuel? Most of our major cities were designed around the concept of nuclear families commuting from suburbia to the city.
I traveled around Europe. Those cities grew up long before the advent of the combustion engine. They actually struggled to accommodate vehicle traffic. Rearranging their transportation network will be much simpler for them. The American city looks and functions literally like a human artery, and like that artery feeds the vast network known as the American Dream. Will Detroit, the once King of the Auto empire, show us the way as the Mayor flattens out suburbia to save the heart of the city? Could his courage lay the foundation of change for a nation raised on the milk and mythology of the open road?
All the joy of life I profess to cherish interconnects with the creatures struggling through oil laden marshes in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. I smell the tarry ooze because I spent three months up to my armpits in the stuff cleaning it off the beaches in Skan Bay, Alaska. I know how depressing it is to scrape, shovel and heave bag after bag of the stuff into super sacks while you wonder to what destination will the filth be sent, and will that place suffer just as badly?
Can not we humans appreciate the struggle of a mother to raise her children, a father to feed his young? Can we not grasp in the most basic of creature terms, the essence of the struggle of the animals trying to live in spite of the odds against their doing so? If we could but grasp this in our bellies, deep in our collective wombs as a fellow species seeking survival, perhaps we might be able to take the baby steps to put us on the path that might save our planet. Decrying that this is an act of fate is ludicrous. We humans caused this catastrophe. We must take responsibility for what we do. Tonight I will. I don't know how to change it, but at least I can face my part in the blame squarely, and be willing to at least be willing to change.
There can be no fouler stench than that produced by rancid, congealed oil wrapped around decayed vegetation and animal remains, and it cuts me in two to imagine some animal struggling through it on its way to feed, to tend its nest, to live. This is my page and I'll cry if I want to, and right now, I want to. It is just a bit more than I can bare, and I don't buy for one minute that this is some media hype by Greenpeace or a plot by the Obama administration. I know what 485,000 gallons of Bunker C looks like, and if it can mess up as much of Skan Bay as it did, I have no problem what so ever visualizing the enormity of six million gallons. This is real, and you'd have worked in it to fully appreciate the power of the devastation to the wildlife and eventually to the humans living in Gulf of Mexico.
It must be possible to cherish and save what we have on earth today. God created man in His image, therefore it stands to reason we must be capable of carrying out our stewardship of this planet with His grace and dignity, magnanimity and love. How can we stand idly by to see the fall of animals God tasked man to name each one? "Thy kingdom come. They will be done. On EARTH as it is in heaven..."
Every spring the Anchorage School District rents out the Sullivan Arena to put on a concert. It's specifically so the parents of 6th graders who have suffered through the first year of squeaky clarinets, screechy violins and booming baritones get an opportunity to hear their kids in a huge, real band/orchestra. It's also a great opportunity for the kids to learn how much fun continuing in band/orchestra will be as they move up to larger and more advanced groups.
We had a little bit of drama--major traffic jam getting there and an able-bodied jerk who wouldn't evacuate the handicapped section for a woman with a cane (me). All of this is reflected in my Twitter feed:
As we hit a (for Alaska) traffic jam OTW to kid's band concert, she mentions BTW that it's for ALL grades--6 thru 12--thus the traffic
6:05 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
I can't wait for the day where the schools email all information DIRECTLY to the parents...so that we actually get it.
6:06 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
Both cars, a snowmobile, & a couple of caribou? #alaskatrafficjam (via @count_01) // Anchorage, 4-lane hwy each way--trucks w gun racks tho
6:20 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
At daughter's band concert--Sullivan Arena. Bad stairs & no railings (handicapped--on cane)--HC section full of healthy people--(cont'd)
7:07 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
Healthy man in HC section was angry when I pointed out my cane, his lack of infirmity & HC sticker at his feet http://bit.ly/bkpjzq 7:14 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
Here is HC sticker at feet of all folding chairs in HC section http://twitpic.com/1lo074 7:19 PM May 6th via Twitpic
Thank you Sullivan Arena folks for getting me a folding chair of my own http://bit.ly/cmPR7p 7:20 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
Here's the guy that got angry when I pointed out HC sticker--he didn't move http://twitpic.com/1lo2j0 7:27 PM May 6th via Twitpic
I think that all HC folks should be armed with smart phones and Twitter.
7:30 PM May 6th via Twitterrific
Despite the distractions, it was a great experience and we saw our dear friends Rebecca and her daughter Isabella, who plays in the Orchestra. My clarinet player's facial expression was just because it was windy and chilly...she was very happy when it was over...they had to memorize their music for the first time!
The video I took is of the finale song, titled "Sonic Boom" and written by a former music teacher specifically for this annual concert. Enjoy!
(Note: you might be able to tell--my favorite thing to watch was the rows of Glockenspiels--my former instrument!)
I knew that I'd been neglecting the blog badly, but I just figured everyone would have seen my posts over at Mudflats and known I was being pulled several different ways.
However, when I got an email from a friend who is a local news anchor...and THEN an email from an ACTUAL HATE-MAILER who was wondering what was going on...I figured I'd better let you guys know something!
Jeannie Devon asked both Shannyn Moore and I to be contributors to her wonderful blog The Mudflats. Since then I've posted several articles over there and sadly it's more effort to switch them back and forth between Wordpress and SoapBlox that I've had time to do. Sooo...I'll figure that one out when it comes to the political posts and eventually you'll find them in both places.
However, I can guarantee that you'll find the gardening and Alaska posts here throughout the summer...as well as if I have any major rants!
And I adore and appreciate Jeanette expressing herself here as often as possible!
I'll be working out the kinks to all of this and trying to work it all in to a very busy summer.
This picture of Senator Murkowski, Mayor Sullivan and Assemblyman Honeman from the Alaska Peace Officer's Memorial just cries out for thought bubbles, doesn't it?
I also want you to know that I'm still stirring the pot with my favorite thing...research! You know there's plenty of that still to do!
So, I'll be around at Mudflats and here at Blue Oasis...as well as http://twitter.com/celticdiva and Linda Kellen Biegel at Facebook.com!
I read this excerpt from yesterday's MSNBC update on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"More than 200,000 gallons of oil a day are spewing from the blown-out well at the site of BP's Deepwater "Horizon rig, which exploded April 20 and sank two days later. Crews are using at least six remotely operated vehicles to try to shut off an underwater valve, but so far they've been unsuccessful. Meanwhile, high winds and waves are pushing oily water over the booms meant to contain it. Besides BP, a slew of federal and state agencies are scrambling to minimize the onslaught of damage."
I worked for three months as an oil spill technician cleaning up Bunker C fuel that had spilled from the wreck of the Selandang Ayu. The Selandang Ayu, a cargo vessel transporting soy beans and the fuel oil to ports in Indonesia, broke apart in heavy seas at the mouth of Skan Bay near Unalaska Island, Alaska.
The Selandang Ayu belched approximately 450,000 gallons of Bunker C into the areas of Scan and Makushin Bays. For months and months the oil spill techs scraped, shoveled, scooped and bagged many thousands of twenty pound sacks of Bunker C mixed with soybeans off of the beaches around Scan Bay. Bunker C is the heaviest of fuels distilled from pure crude. This relatively inert fuel oil coagulated and formed balls and strings of oil. It was buried in the sand, packed between tiny rocks and huge boulders. We even found it high up on cliffs where the twenty five foot waves that pounded the vessel on the night of the storm had deposited it. When the sun came out and the temperature rose, we watched helplessly as it melted and bled down further into the rocks.
By contrast, the broken well in the Gulf of Mexico where the rig caught on fire is spewing pure crude oil out into the Gulf at a daily rate that is half of the total amount spilled from the Selandang Ayu. This crude contains every form of gas and oil that can be distilled. There are organic volatile compounds containing toxins and the denser oil that would be distilled into the heavier fuel oils. I cannot imagine the difficulties faced by clean up crews in the days, weeks and months ahead. A part of me wishes I could be there to help, but I don't think my body could withstand the strain. I was exhausted mentally and physically after I returned from Dutch Harbor at the end of my contract. I was thirty eight then. I am forty-three today. Still, I part of me...
The migratory season has begun along the coast of the Gulf. I wept to see the flocks of sea birds landing on the lines of booms set along the coast. For whatever reasons, birds and mammals cannot seem to differentiate between the oil and the water. They invariably end up landing and diving into it to find food with disastrous effect. Because the oil contains so many toxic components, the animals will die from contact with it if not treated immediately, and even with treatment they often suffer the long term effects of ingesting the oil when they preen their feathers or clean their fur.
I wish everyone who uses products derived from crude oil could spend a day heaving a thousand bags of oil into super sacks. I wish they could spend a week caked in the stuff as they try and scoop gallons upon gallons of oil as it seeps down between rocks, coats every strand of saw grass and sticks to your tyvex. Would it make a difference if they could feel the sweat pour down the hollow between their shoulder blades as they crouch down in front of a hillock of saw grass cutting down a two foot swath by hand using only a butcher knife?
Cutting back on our thirst for crude would have been difficult enough in the seventies when most of what we consumed was in the form of fuel oil and gas to heat our homes, run our cars, trains and heavy equipment. We were so blessed then to have our homes heated with such a convenient fuel. Our parents didn't have to haul in wood, coal or oil each morning to warm their families. We could have reigned in our thirst then, but we needed more. Now our need for plastics competes with our need for fuel. Each barrel of oil must stretch much further than it did in the seventies. How much more difficult will it be now in an age when plastic makes up so much of our physical world and supports so much of the infrastructure of our culture?
I see the oil advancing on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico not as raw crude but as advancing formation of millions of laptops, cell phones, plastic toys sold with burger meals, gas tanks on lawnmowers, snowmobiles, and the countless millions of other items distilled and produced from crude. I threw my share of junk into the that cesspool that could potentially devastate yet another patch of nature on the planet. I am no saint even after I waded through the muck and fought to save a patch of planet.
I am writing this today to share my shame, and tell the story of my experience. I want to give a different perspective on this latest and potentially greatest oil spill. Maybe I can jog a thought or two. Maybe not, but I needed to get this off my chest. I don't have the final answer, but the problem is quite literally "blowing in the wind" and the wind is relentless, and it is heading for shore. If we could just make a dent in the debris of our lives, we would be astounded and amazed at the beauty to be and beheld by not only ourselves but our future generations.
Visit daytodaydemocracyalaska.com for the article with pictures attached.
Give me a friggin' break...you are saying that the supposed "iconic" picture that was ALL OVER GOOGLE IMAGES starting IMMEDIATELY after the Republican Convention that Dr. Chill photoshopped for Blue Oasis was stolen FROM YOUR EMAIL?
Did anyone tell you that exaggeration, creative stories and outright lying usually DOESN'T MIX WELL WITH A TRIAL?
(h/t Immoral Minority and Palingates)
Dear Readers:
I've been doing most of my posting over at Mudflats the last several weeks now that I am a contributor. I will still be using this blog and will have something up this weekend. I have to make some changes here, though, in order to more easily post back and forth.
Enough is enough. The gauntlet must fall in Alaska, and those who support health care must in no uncertain terms speak in favor of it. Thank you for the article.
A brief history of another age when rich people used state's right to inflame and control the populace:
Prior to the outbreak of the civil war, the cotton trade in the south was booming. Cheap labor in the form of slaves was driving the working class land owner into poverty. The British textile mills wanted cotton for their cloths, and the market was very competitive. Wealthy land owners using slaves could put out greater quantities for a better price. Smaller farms with no or few slaves could not, and the middle class in the south suffered. Before the war broke out, many farmers had begun to sense this inequity in the market, and some of the southern leadership had begun to question the fairness of slavery in the "free market" of the day. Some historians have made the argument, and I agree, that a political solution to the slavery issue was underway, but the landed wealthy in the south understood this and took action to curtail those efforts to find a peaceful solution. Sound familiar? What is terribly sad about that period of history, is that hundred of thousand southerners whose livelihood had been negatively impacted by the depressed job market created by slavery, marched to their deaths in defense of those landowners, cotton gin barons, and speculators who professed to be the guardians of southern principles. Ultimately, much of what was admirable about the south, was laid to waste in defense of a principle that was based on greed.
I have no doubts whatsoever, that a group of wealthy individuals, seeing a threat to their so called financial empires (the ability to thrive and flourish on the hard work of others and the money they generate in the labor, insurance and investment markets), seek to once again uphold the principle of "profit at all cost", and go to any lengths to fan the flames of war to defend it. How sad it is, that once again, those who suffer the most under these principles, choose to defend those who would abuse such loyalty. Those who have abused our economic system care very little for those beneath them, and if they can convince them to fight their war for them, so much the better.
I have had enough of being told that our government has grown too big. The Bush administration and the Republican Congress (federal and state) whittled down those parts of our government that watched over our best interest. The Kings of Cotton in their modern day guises have run rough shod through Wall Street for too long. The Obama Administration has been working feverishly to rebuild and restructure a badly damaged system of civil service. If you don't believe me, look up the raw numbers for the actual sizes of the individual Departments in our government (Government Accounting Office GOA). Read Thomas Frank's, the Wrecking Crew, to understand how this practice of dismembering the regulatory arm of government was devised and executed by those Kings of Cotton.
The politicians who seek to manipulate the public, who dance the dance of double speak between Capital Hill and the rallies for Tea Baggers keep shouting to whomever will listen that MOST Americans do not support health care reform. Those of us who DO support health insurance / health care reform must speak up now, as loudly and as coherently as possible. Our leaders fought a grueling 72 plus hour battle on the floors of Congress to secure for us a way to reform our health care. We cannot let them down. We must make our physical, electronic and paper presence known. We cannot wait until we hear a shot such as rang out on a cold afternoon in the harbor around Fort Sumter. We cannot allow this all out bashing of the federal government to continue unchallenged. We must be willing to say that we support our governments attempt to make reform a reality.
Alaskans - I know you have been manning the phones, sending the emails and doing your utmost, but I implore you to dig even deeper, reach out to the moderates, and be willing to speak out whenever it is reasonable to do so. I know it is not often comfortable. The progressive movement in Alaska has come so far in such a short time, but we must advance farther. Governor Parnell must be told by all those who can, that we do not want him or the state's Attorney General to fight the federal government's implementation of the Health Care bill. This is not a question of state rights, but of corporate rights, and the right of corporations to dominate Alaskan politics. When the oil is gone, when the fishing plays out in the Bering, when the timber has been harvested, those corporations will leave as surely as the they have come and gone in other cities, states and countries.
I love this state, my country, and all the people who dwell within my six degrees. I see how hard we work, and know how difficult it can be to have a political voice when you pull two shifts, and take care of a family. It will be worth it if we dig deep.
Yesterday's election results will be spun into a Conservative triumph over the "evil Liberals" by Alaska right-wing talk radio. We'll hear suggestions from various media eager to sell advertising that this perhaps is a portent of doom and gloom for Alaska Progressives.
Amazingly, THIS is how Dan Fagan is spinning yesterday's election--that the extreme Conservatives were actually too "apathetic" to vote.
Let me get this straight...
The folks who listen to right-wing talk radio, including Fagan and Biegel, include many members of the "Conservative Patriots" organization. That's the "tea party" here in Alaska. So you are telling me that this "passionate movement" is too apathetic to vote? You are telling me these self-styled patriots won't legally attempt to change the face of Alaska politics? So how do they plan to make these changes?
Or, has it been about the armed revolution all along?
Turnout was an embarassing 16+% By all rights, as anyone who knows the history of Anchorage voter apathy can tell you, this should have been a slam-bang Conservative free-for-all.
It was far from it.
The first indication of this was the fact that 4 out of 5 bond issues passed. The transportation bond failed by about 5% that would have benefited the People Mover system. In elections past, a low-turnout usually resulted in bond propositions going down to defeat en masse.
Ultra-conservative candidates Adam Trombley and Andy Clary both lost to their moderate competitors. Granted, the Traini/Clary race is close enough that it won't be called until after the absentee ballots are counted, but that shouldn't have been necessary if this truly had been a Conservative "statement."
Moderate Ernie Hall (who has run as a Democrat before) did beat Liberal Matt Claman. However, Hall had the Union endorsement and while Claman is hated by the right, he also managed to alienate a significant number of folks on the left through his tactics. The other less-than-Liberal candidates who won were incumbents up against relative unknowns. In the School Board race, Jeannie Mackie easily retained her seat over another ultra-Conservative Bob Griffen and while Conservative whack-job Don Smith won Seat A, it was a result of two strong Progressive candidates splitting the vote. Had one of those candidates (coughO'Malleycough) stayed out of the race when he saw that the other Progressive candidate (LaBelle) was already there, we would have watched a blowout for Progressives. Combined, their total was over 60%, far exceeding Smith's 40%. Thanks to the shunning of common sense, we're now stuck with a racist whack-job deciding what's good for my mixed-race Middle-schooler.
Yes, I was a LaBelle supporter and yes, I'm bitter...but I digress...
2) This this CAN NOT ACCURATELY be portrayed as a sweeping "move to the middle" by Anchorage voters.
I watched discussions on Anchorage news shows last night claim that voters sent a signal they wanted a more moderate Assembly. I was baffled how they could come to that conclusion, considering the candidates we actually had to choose from. While some "moving to the middle" could perhaps be inferred from the Ernie Hall victory, I explained above that Progressives were already split over Claman PLUS Ernie received many endorsements from popular Progressives like former mayoral candidate Eric Croft. The victories of Paul Honeman and Dick Traini were significant not because of their more moderate leanings, but because these candidates garnered the unapologetic support of Alaska Progressive donors, politicos and activists. As someone who lived in Midtown for a number of years, if you'd told me a year ago I'd be voting for Dick Traini this election, I would have laughed. Yesterday (because I didn't change my voter registration in time) I did just that.
It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we'd had an actual lefty running in those races who was supported by the bulk of AK Liberals. As it was, Anchorage voters chose from the menu and recommendations they were given...by Progressives. You won't hear that from the Conservatives. I have no doubt that talk radio hosts Glen Biegel and Dan Fagan, who laughably attempted to cast Traini as an "ultra-liberal," will back-pedal furiously today and more accurately point out his moderate stances. We can't make this any kind of a victory for Liberals, after all! (By the way, I spoke to Dick Traini yesterday and he was surprised that Glen was portraying him as ultra-liberal in that they worked together against the IM testing. OMG--is Glen a closet Liberal, too?)
My message today for Anchorage Liberals is four-fold:
1) All things considered, yesterday's election results provided some surprisingly positive information.
2) If you did vote, thank you!
3) If you didn't...WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU YESTERDAY? WHY DIDN'T YOU VOTE? WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?
4) There are some valuable lessons to be taken from this for November. I hope we learn them.
[...]"The board insisted that references to Margaret Sanger be included because "she promoted eugenics." Also insisted upon was language that would tout Ronald Reagan's "leadership in restoring national confidence," following, as it did on Jimmy Carter's weaknesses. Also to be included as essay assignments for Texas students, "describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, theContract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association." The board also required consideration the contributions of "great Americans" that included Billy Graham, Newt Gingrich, and William F. Buckley Jr., and that students were to compose essays noting the contributions of these Americans. Diminished to the maximum extent achievable were positive references to Thomas Jefferson, because of his Deist proposition there ought to be a "wall of separation between church and state;" a proposition the Texas board members cannot abide.[...]
While Anchorage or even Alaska doesn't have influence over textbooks effecting all of America's children, the Anchorage School Board definitely has the power to decide some of what OUR children can and cannot hear within the classroom.
Don't fool yourself, there are some folks out there determined to limit those choices for our kids. Take a look at Right-Wingnut candidate for Anchorage School Board Seat A, Don Smith:
Mr. Smith was recently attending a Bartlett Club meeting. After the meeting, Don was overheard speaking to someone regarding immigrants. Apparently, he was feeling particularly candid, as he started to talk about how "We should get them out. I don't like the way that this country is going." Not an entirely unfamiliar sentiment, considering the rhetoric that's been tossed around lately. But then he went on to explain his solution, " See, the problem is that once these people enter the country, they disappear. We never hear from them again. What we need to do is track them like sled dogs, implant them with a tracking device so that we know where they are and we can ship them out."
So, for clarification, Don Smith doesn't reserve his vitriol for illegal immigrants. No, he remembered that some people coming into the country go through an entirely legal process, get a work or school Visa, and are allowed to walk freely around the country. Don Smith has them covered. They just need to be implanted with a GPS.
As The Alaska Commons later points out, the students in Anchorage School District speak over 94 languages (including the multiple languages of the Alaska Native tribes). Like the rest of the US, Anchorage students are increasingly multi-racial and multi-cultural.
And Seat A is in danger--we have two "progressives" running (James LaBelle and Tommy O'Malley) against the very-scary Smith, threatening to split the vote and allowing Smith to win.
In other words, we have to pick one Progressive candidate and support him in order to keep that seat from a nutjob. In my opinion, there is a very clear and superior choice to be made in James LaBelle.
LaBelle himself characterizes both he and Tom O'Malley as "Progressive-minded guys" and acknowledges O'Malleys years of experience as an Kindergarten teacher. However, just teaching one grade can severely limit the "view" one has of the educational system. James points out his own extensive experience with the upper-level grades and those ages are the ones to target to fix Alaska's dismal graduation and drop-out rate. LaBelle has worked in the field of employment training, helping students to find their career tracks, as well as child welfare and the Court system. He also very poignantly described himself as a former high-school dropout who found his way back to get his diploma. This lack of understanding beyond the lower grades may be why Tom O'Malley refuses to support the use of Resource Officers to help maintain safety in some of the more challenging Middle and High schools.
Like O'Malley, LaBelle was born and raised in Alaska. However, he has the added benefit of growing up in urban Anchorage and spending his summers in rural Port Graham. LaBelle's personal experience and his role as the Child Welfare Liaison for the Cook Inlet Tribal Council gives him an intimate understanding of the difficult transition village kids must make when they move into Anchorage as the result of unemployment and poverty. Unless drastic changes are made in rural Alaska very soon, this migration will continue to be an issue as well as challenge the usage of ASD resources. James LaBelle seems to be the candidate who has the experience to meet these challenges head-on.
For Seat B, the choice is simple...Jeannie Mackie has proven herself to be a worthy incumbent and deserves to go back to the schoolboard.
While we find the alternative back in right-wing world...
Don Smith has been campaigning with "soulmate" Bob Griffin, Candidate for Seat B (also covered in the Alaska Commons article.) Both of these men, through their own public statements and alliances, have espoused, albeit more crudely, the same beliefs which directly led to the anti-science pro-theocratic shifts in the Texas text books. This is just a part of a larger movement to make the US truly a Theocratic nation by basing all laws directly on Christian teaching.
The only way to combat this is one election at a time. Make sure your voice is heard in this one!
KTVA Channel 11 seemed to catch Eddie a bit off guard...which is rather stupid for him to be off guard at his own press event. They showed picture of his son and fellow caucasian friends in blackface that's on his son's My Space.
The caption reads:"'me and my nigs' crazy news media people attacking my dad"--Yeah, crazy...
Why they never removed it, I'll never know. Eddie's reaction, however, was the biggest gaffe I've seen in a long time:
It was a "joke" among his son's "colored friends?" "Colored?" Really...in 2010? Considering the only friends in blackface are white, you'd have to do better than that.
The beauty of Eddie Burke running for office is we won't have to do a thing...he's done it/will do it all to himself.
At the Anchorage Assembly verbally beating-down the gays
Recently, Eddie Burke left the employ of KBYR Radio as their evening drive talk show host. There are...ahem...conflicting reports as to how that parting-of-the-ways occurred. Eddie says he "resigned"--sources say he was asked to leave "earlier than he wanted to resign." Eddie said it was to be "a cost-cutting measure" and they would have national feed during his slot. Yet, starting tomorrow, Glen Biegel will be filling the 4:00 to 6:00 pm slot and it has been renamed "Hometown Talk" after Glen's long-running Saturday Show.
Also, Eddie claimed that he no longer works his mortgage business because he "gave his life to radio." Yet, real estate sources claim that Eddie was unable to pass the test now required to write mortgages...a test installed as part of the reform package passed by Congress to help fix the problems with the housing market.
As someone once said, the truth is so limiting!
Now Eddie, wants to bring his crystal-clear honesty and razor-sharp business acumen to the Lt. Governor's Office! Much as the previous Governor discovered, if one has a problem with the truth and a complete inability to be successful in the business world, elected office might just be the place for you!
I received this press release in my email today:
--ANCHORAGE - April 2, 2010 - Former Anchorage radio talk show host and small
business owner Eddie Burke has entered the race as a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Though Alaska has financially benefited from its abundant natural resources, particularly the success of the oil and gas industry, Eddie understands that current state budgets are unsustainable over the long term. Therefore, he will encourage and support the Governor and State Legislature to be fiscally
responsible in the governance of Alaska. Eddie knows that thoughtful actions taken
today will help secure the future for Alaska's children.
The issues important to Eddie Burke are those that are important to the livelihood of all
Alaskans. As a well-known and outspoken media personality on local radio, Eddie has
been a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, the rights of the unborn and the concerns of Alaska's veterans. As he campaigns for Lieutenant Governor, he will continue to be a passionate proponent of these important issues, while also stressing the importance of the responsible stewardship of the State's financial resources.
Eddie Burke has been an active member of the Alaskan community since he arrived 38
years ago. In addition to his media career, he has been a small business owner and
active on the boards of Special Olympics, Crimestoppers, Anchorage Chamber of
Commerce, Legislative Committee and President of Alaska State Snowmobile Association. Furthermore, Eddie gained valuable legislative experience as a Chief-of-
Staff in the Alaska State Legislature.
Eddie Burke resides in Anchorage, Alaska with Linda, his wife of 28 years. They are
the parents of four children, and the proud grandparents of three young Alaskans. Eddie
Burke is seeking the office of Lieutenant Governor in order to secure a bright future for
his family and all Alaskans.
Jeannie at The Mudflats posted about it, including her pictures of "the real Eddie" from his homophobic ravings at the Assembly Meetings this past summer.
But don't take my word for it. Compare the vitriolic, name-calling diatribe Eddie spat at the Anchorage Assembly to the poignant presentation from Alaska Statesman and member of Alaska's Constitutional Convention Vic Fisher regarding proposed cuts to the arts, library and public transportation.
Keep in mind, Eddie is so fanatical about Palin that, as a friend says, he practically "drinks her bathwater." I can only hope and pray that Palin openly backs him for this race. I'd like nothing better than to be able to attach all of his really smelly, disgusting dirty laundry folks will be dragging out right to Sarah Palin's backside.
--The CNN article where a "Palin spokesperson" (Rebecca Mansour?) and John McCain claim there's NO WAY Palin could POSSIBLY mean to incite violence!
--The Huffington Post story on the Arctic Cat complaint with a copy of her statement and a link to the complaint.
------HERE IS A LINK to my summary of the "photoshop incident" back in June.
--HERE IS A LINK to the post on Conservatives4Palin which initially whipped up the faux-frenzy...thanks to Rebecca Mansour (RAM). A day later, ex-spokesperson Meg Stapleton picked up the charge and made the "desecration of an iconic image" statement.
One of the many hysterical photoshopped images that followed in the wake of Palin's (via Rebecca Mansour) faux-outrage. Unfortunately, so did many threats.
Last night Rachel Maddow did an excellent if not chilling review of the violent threats and episodes made against Democratic Congressmembers surrounding the Health Care vote:
