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THE BLOG--HISTORY
"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.
"Celtic"
"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."
"Diva"
"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...
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For the Alaska Community and beyond...
A bee on Dragon Tongue Stonecrop in my rock garden
August 2010
(Scroll down to find posts.)
(Please register to participate in diaries and comments! We'd love for you to join our Community!)
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Robert Wechsler 
Fri Jun 05, 2009 at 04:36:12 AM AKDT
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I decided to go to http://CityEthics.org to see what resident ethicist Robert Wechsler thought of the Arctic Cat ethics complaint dismissal, in case he read about it.
Sure enough, he had.
I originally found the CityEthics blog when I filed the complaint and Mr. Wechsler wrote about it in a piece titled Unethical Harassment and Wearing Logos:
When I saw the headline from the Anchorage Daily News, "Palin Calls Blogger's Ethics Complaint Bogus," and saw that it had to do with clothing the governor wore, I thought I might write a piece about using ethics complaints for the purpose of political harassment. But when I read the article, I realized that the complaint was not frivolous, and that the governor's criticism of it was worthy of taking note.
In a June 4th post about the dismissal, titled Misrepresenting Ethics Law in Highly Visible Case, Mr. Wechsler doesn't mince words in reference to the Administration's reaction and the report from Personnel Board Investigator, Thomas Daniel:
The relevant ethics act provision does not require proof of a bribe, which is essentially what the report states. Proving that there was a direct exchange of something in return for an act is not only very difficult, it is also unnecessary under the ethics act.
In fact, the provision only requires that an official "attempt to use" her position for personal gain. No gain has to actually occur. But in this case there was clearly gain to the family in the company's sponsorship of the Governor's husband. Whether or not the Governor was required as part of a deal with the company to wear the jacket at the particular occasion is irrelevant.
He even has a message for the Palin-bots:
I have no doubt that I will be falsely attacked in the blogosphere as a Democrat who never criticizes Democrats, as I was when I wrote about this complaint when it was filed (nor will my post on abusing the ethics process, with respect to Gov. Palin, be mentioned).
And that's why I'm writing this -- because such a highly visible, contentious complaint must be dealt with responsibly. It's not the outcome that matters, it's the honest presentation and interpretation of the law. This was not done here. I don't know if the people who misrepresented the law and the appropriate burden of proof were Democrats, Republicans, or independents. And I don't care
I have not agreed with all of Mr. Wechsler's posts on the subject, but I believe he's got this one pegged.
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Discuss
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Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 21:05:11 PM AKDT
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One of you wonderful readers tipped me off to this blog a few days ago and I was able to read an opinion on my ethics complaint by a true professional. I am going to post the whole thing because it's an excellent read:
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Unethical Harassment and Wearing Logos
When I saw the headline from the Anchorage Daily News, "Palin Calls Blogger's Ethics Complaint Bogus," and saw that it had to do with clothing the governor wore, I thought I might write a piece about using ethics complaints for the purpose of political harassment. But when I read the article, I realized that the complaint was not frivolous, and that the governor's criticism of it was worthy of taking note. And there's even an issue here that local government officials could learn from.
First the complaint. It involved the governor wearing Arctic Cat logo gear during this year's Tesoro Iron Dog snow machine race. Arctic Cat is the sponsor of the governor's husband in this race. In other words, the governor's family is paid, at least in goods, by the company she was advertising by wearing the gear (in fact, the governor's spokesperson could not say whether or not the governor's gear had been provided by the company, which would bring up other, more serious ethics issues). The governor appeared, wearing the logo, in Sports Illustrated and most likely in local newspapers, as well. Was this an appropriate use of her office?
Here is the governor's response, not verbally, but in a press release:
Yes, I wore Arctic Cat snow gear at an outdoor event, because it was cold outside, and by the way, today, I am wearing clothes bearing the names of Alaska artists, and a Glennallen Panthers basketball hoodie. I am a walking billboard for the team's fundraiser! Should I expect to see an ethics charge for wearing these, or the Carhartts I wear to many public events? How much will this blogger's asinine political grandstanding cost all of us in time and money?
Are Alaskans outraged, or at least tired of this yet -- another frivolous ethics charge by a political blogger? This would be hilarious if it weren't so expensive for the state to process these accusations and for me to defend against these bogus harassments.
An elected official wearing the logos of local teams is not only acceptable, but good politics. And Carhartt does not sponsor the governor's husband. If these are the best analogies she can make, even in writing, the governor should immediately admit to unethical conduct, so that the state will not have to expend money investigating or holding a hearing.
In addition, it is common and part of the democratic system to have elected officials, especially high-level ones, harassed by citizens. It may not be nice, it may not be desirable, but it comes with the territory. What doesn't come with the territory is elected officials harassing citizens. Even if this ethics complaint were truly frivolous, rather than simply minor, a governor should not personally attack the person who brought it. Ignore it, settle it, laugh it off. But words like "asinine" and "bogus" do not belong in an elected official's public statement against a citizen.
What should an ordinary local government official do about wearing logos, even when there isn't a question of sponsorship, and Sports Illustrated isn't taking their picture, but the local paper might be? It's not something worth a lot of thought, but on the other hand, it's not good policy to wear a hat bearing the logo of a local company, or a shirt bearing the name of a local store -- both instances of preferential treatment that make people wonder if you owe these companies anything. It's best to stick to local teams and neutral companies with small logos, and keep logos and corporate names out of the picture as much as possible. It was easier in the old days when politicians just wore suits and cloth coats.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research, City Ethics
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I called Mr. Wechsler and had a really good conversation with him about the issues, plus we began to discuss possible reasons/solutions for Alaska's ethical challenges. I was surprised that our conversation lead to another post when I went back several days later, which I'll post in the future.
However, we also discussed a previous post of his...one he made in September during Gov. Palin's campaign for VP.
(more below the fold)
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