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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...
Imbolc is one of the Celtic fire festivals--Feb 2nd
(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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A couple of weeks ago, I did a post on the three bills proposed by members of the Legislature to supposedly "fix" problems with the act. As I discuss in the post, two of the bills, HB 254 (Rep. Bob Lynn) and HB 263 (Rep. Mike Doogan) try to make things more confidential by having complaints dismissed if the complainant exercises his/her free speech rights by even stating that they have filed one. The bills fail to address a much more pressing problem...that the Governor has hiring/firing authority over the very Board that is supposed to hold him/her accountable.
I share a list of reasons why those bills are a bad idea:
1) In Alaska, the general public is not permitted to ask the Attorney General/the Department of Law for an official "decision" on an ethics issue. It can only be done by certain Government Employees, a public officer or their legal representative. The only way the general public can get a LEGAL RULING from the State of Alaska on an issue of ethics is to file a complaint.
2) Ethics complaints from the general public against public officers are based on public information, not employment records, etc...to which the general public does not have access. As there is no airing of information made confidential by Alaska Statute, there is NO REASON for the process not to be completely public.
3) During my experience with the complaint process, I constantly heard the meme from the Palin camp that "If these were ethics complaints against a legislator, mentioning them to the media would have them thrown out."
According to an amendment to the Legislative Code of Ethics, yes that is true...for now...(covered in number 4)
The ethics committee has nine members: two senators, two representatives and five public members. The committee is divided into a House Subcommittee and a Senate Subcommittee for the purpose of considering most complaints. Elected officials, who serve two-year terms, are appointed by the leadership of the appropriate body with the concurrence of two-thirds of the full membership of that house. The public members, who serve a three-year term, are selected by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court and ratified by two thirds of the full membership of the legislature.
4) As I read the Attorney General's conclusion, the two House Bills in the Legislature right now could actually violate free speech rights if taken to court. This could even indicate that the Legislative Ethics provision for complaint dismissal could possibly be thrown out if a case ever makes it to court.
5) I mentioned The Alaska Fund Trust earlier. I have checked into it and STILL nothing has happened with the case or it would have been made public. Did anyone notice that if the report had not been leaked to the public, we would never know that THE ALASKA FUND TRUST IS A POTENTIAL ETHICS VIOLATION (if she spends it)?
What's the Personnel Board waiting for, the two-year statute of limitations to be up on ethics violations so Palin can spend the money?
To me, this is the single-largest piece of evidence that there are MORE PRESSING problems that need fixing with the Executive Branch Ethics process than a lack of confidentiality.
Perhaps...maybe...a lack of accountability?
Today, there is Public Testimony regarding the proposed changes to the Executive Branch Ethics Act:
+ (15 AAC 55.280 - 15AAC 55.811) Proposed
Regulations Relating to Oil and Gas Tax
Credit and Heating Value of Gas (TELECONFERENCED)
-- Public Testimony --
Executive Session
Anyone can participate in the teleconference at one of the Legislative Information Offices (LIOs) across the state. Click on the link to find one near you, if you don't live in Anchorage or Fairbanks:
Anchorage Legislative Information Office
716 W 4th Avenue, Suite 200
Anchorage, AK 99501-2133
If you cannot participate in the teleconference, here are the members of the Administrative Regulation Review Joint Committee. Please send your comments to each of them (click the links for their email addresses).
Today I did some more reading of Todd Palin's revealed emails from MSNBC's records request. I hope to post something tomorrow regarding questions some of you have been asking. I also want to thank all those folks who have been pointing out emails they find interesting. I'm making notes of them and researching to see if they are significant.
It seems that everyone, right and left, are reading the emails. However, this struck me as friggin' amazing on Twitter today. It seems that there was one email from Sarah regarding Piper Palin that a bunch of the Teabaggers thought was "so cute." I expected something like the hair-flattening moment at the Republican Convention so I decided to check it out. Imagine my horror when I read this:
From: gov.sarah@yahoo.com [mailto :gov.sarah@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday , January 15 , 2008 9:08 AM
To: Kelly, Russell T (GOV); Tibbles, Michael A (GOV); Frank Bailey ; Perry, Kristina Y (GOV);
Leighow, Sharon W (GOV); Leschper, Beth (GOV); Frye, Ivy J (DOA)
Cc: Balash , Joseph R (GOV); Todd ; Anders, Bruce F (DNR); Irwin , Tom E ( DNR); Rutherford, MartyK (DNR); Sally Heath ; Molly; Chuck
Subject: Lyda vs Piper
Oh no. Last night Piper overheard me griping about Lyda's action - and she said : "Can you pull her hair?"
From: Frye, Ivy J (DOA) [/O=SOA/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=IJFRYE]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 9:11 AM
To: External Ernailgsp
Cc: fek9wnr@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: Lyda vs Piper
Now that's the best idea I've heard yet! What a smart kid!
So we think it's funny to suggest beating up a grandma who is a cancer survivor? We already knew Sarah's lack-of-class regarding Ms. Green. We have it recorded when she giggled incessantly while Bob Lester called Lyda a "bitch" and a "cancer."
Of course, the spin back then was that she was just laughing because she didn't know what else to do, yet these emails are totally backing the "Mean Girl" persona Sarah's former friends and co-workers have described. Isn't it facinating how the "real" Sarah is leaking out all over from these private-account emails?
The scariest part is that Piper (what was she in 2008, 7 or 8 yrs old?) is being encouraged to exhibit those same personality traits by someone like Ivy Frye who is around her all of the time. ("The Babysitter")
Piper and Willow fighting while Ivy Frye looks on--at the Governor's Picnic in Anchorage, July 2009
My 12-year-old daughter has NEVER said ANYTHING like that before...and she'd be in trouble if she ever said it about anyone, even Sarah Palin.
(I hear banjos in the distance...)
So, on to more pleasant pursuits...
Planting artichokes
I planted my seeds today in the make-shift greenhouse-on-a-card-table I put together in front of a southern window.
I used a tomato seed-starter because they are for larger seeds. While the directions for the tomatoes said to put three seeds in each, I only put one artichoke seed in, since the plants are much larger.
I only planted 12 seeds, since I'm saving 4 of those tomato starters for leeks. Believe it or not, leeks have a long growing season as well and I need to start them in a couple of weeks.
If you look at the picture of the table, I have a pile of seed packets and many more seed starters. As the spring gets closer, I'll be starting more seeds for the garden. I may have to set up another table at a different window!
sigh...back to the quitter...
Sarah Palin's Teabagger Speech
Well, she's trying to go back to those days of yesteryear--the days of the Republican Convention when she was shiny and new...where Sarah Palin could be the smiling hate-monger...the pitbull with lipstick...and have all the Republicans and even some Independents love her.
Sarah, dear, those days are gone. We know you now. The only people you excited with this speech are people that are already excited by you. As I've pointed out the last several days, those numbers are dwindling as your facade cracks and greedy, narcissistic Sarah keeps leaking through.
It's pretty clear that she didn't bring any moderates into the fold today:
Of course, one thing that Sarah Palin single-handedly managed to do with this speech was completely demolish the anti-teleprompter meme against President Obama. If there is any doubt about that, all we have to do is see it in the words of loyal Palinistas:
@BlondeAmerican: @SarahPalinUSA is looking down at her notes a lot. No teleprompter? This is ONE area where she can actually learn from the president.
about 7 hours ago from Twitter
She also made herself a laughingstock by writing notes on her hand like a teenager...and then trying to hide it afterwards.
If you missed the speech, here are a number of links where folks live-blogged it, reviewed it and covered the "hand writing" phenomenon.
There was a section of the Q&A that set off alarm bells as I was busily chatting on Twitter and Political Carnival. I didn't really catch all of it so I went looking for a recap afterwards. Sure enough, my favorite British newspaper, The Guardian, covered it (emphasis mine):
The weirdest part of the evening came not during the speech but during the following Q&A session. Asked what she thought that a Republican-controlled congress's top three priorities should be, she answered: stop spending, energy policy and ... well, here's the whole quote, judge for yourself:
I think, kind of tougher to put our arms around, but allowing America's spirit to rise again by not being afraid to kind of go back to some of our roots as a God fearing nation where we're not afraid to say especially in times of potential trouble in the future here, where we're not afraid to say, you know, we don't have all the answers as fallible men and women so it would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention again in this country, so that we can be safe and secure and prosperous again. To have people involved in government who aren't afraid to go that route, not so afraid of the political correctness that you know - they have to be afraid of what the media said about them if they were to proclaim their alliance to our creator.
She was careful enough to say "God fearing" rather than "Christian"...but I'm sure the people who were supposed to get that message understood it perfectly. This was targetted towards the Dominionists like Fred Dobson and Focus on the Family, Franklin Graham and his followers, and the hundreds of evangelicals out there who have focused all of their time and energy to turn the US into a theocracy.
Sarah Palin used that speech and Q&A to reassure them that she was still their girl.
You KNOW President Obama laughed at THIS one!
Finally, I leave you with one hysterical skit from Saturday Night Live of "Rahm Emmanuel" asking Sarah Palin for an apology. I just couldn't stop giggling and the shots at Palin just made me cheer! (H/T Shannyn Moore)
Last week, I don't think I was the only Progressive who felt a little (OK, a LOT) depressed about the news. The most serious blow nationally was obviously the Supreme Court decision in the Citizen's United case, that Corporations could use millions of dollars under the guise of the First Amendment. Locally, it was our own Alaska Superior Court's (via the "drunk judge") decision to allow public officials to make their emails inaccessible to...well...the public. Then, of course, it seemed that the Sarah Palin misinformation campaigns were winning while the very-real experiences Alaskans and others had with her unethical behavior were being swept under the rug.
What a difference a week makes!
While President Obama helped fuel a certain upswing in moods with his recent brilliant performances in Q&As with Congress, we've had progress on the Palin front as well: her true ethics are now being seen publicly.
--We started to see disenchantment when many grassroots tea partiers discovered that the much-touted Tea Party Convention was actually a for-profit exercise costing each attendee about $500.00. The true disenchantment came when it was revealed that over $300.00 of that cost was a banquet, where Ms. Palin was speaking for a $100,000 fee. While others like Michelle Bachmann pulled out of the event (BTW...she was doing it for free) because of the unrest and even some sponsorship bailout, our Sarah stayed strong and promised to "stick with it." She also stated that she wouldn't profit from that $100,000.00 speaking fee...but was VERY short on details as to how that was going to work.
(I hope everyone has enough popcorn and soda to watch the speech on Fox Saturday night AND the Superbowl the next day. I plan to be Tweeting away...I'm sure many of you will be as well. Think of the Saturday speech as a pre-game event...sort of the "sinners" before the "Saints.")
An interesting development, Conservative slime bag Dan Riehl, (who started a national campaign to slander our own Gryphen in the worst way so that Dan could show his undying love for Sarah) has become increasingly cynical about the former Governor since her affiliation with the Tea Party Convention. This week, he expressed disgust at that and her SarahPAC money donations to non-tea-party candidates like Rand. He points out all of this as reflecting the hypocrisy of her claim that the appearance in Nashville does not benefit her directly.
-- I'm sure that everyone saw the great article our own AKM did on Mudflats and Huffington Post about the "Palin cabin" Sarah is so fond of dicussing, yet the property is assessed (and taxed) as having no cabin! The AP took it viral and also did further research with the Mat Su Borough property assessors, only to discover that it IS the responsibility of property owners to notify the State about changes they make to their property that changes the assessment.
Of course, die-hard Palin fan-bois and gals have the same ethical viewpoint as their fearless leader, as we see with the Freepers on Free Republic:
To: All
Lived in AK for 25 years and NEVER reported any improvemnents to my properties or purchases.
You wanna tax me Borough? Then do your job. It's not my job as a state citizen to hand you new ways to tax me and my families hard earned purchases.
13 posted on Thursday, February 04, 2010 8:17:57 PM by liberty or death
To: liberty or death
Lived in AK for 25 years and NEVER reported any improvemnents to my properties or purchases.
I have lived in the same house in Pennsylvania for as long and never once asked for a building permit for stuff I have done on my house because all they would do is up my taxes.
They might discover it the next time the county does a reassessment, but in the mean time, if I spend my own money to improve my property, it's none of their damn business.
48 posted on Thursday, February 04, 2010 8:50:06 PM by Ditto
To: highlander_UW
Property tax is unconstitutional anyway. It removes the ability to own land as property. Instead you only lease it. As soon as you fail to pay taxes that land can be taken away...so when you buy you may get control over the land but only as long as you pay rent to the gov't.
Bingo. you dont own something you have to pay taxes on.
53 posted on Thursday, February 04, 2010 8:57:54 PM by ColdSteelTalon
So, according to the Freeper brain trust:
Sarah Palin = gooooooood
Paying Property Taxes = baaaaaaaad
Dishonesty = acceptable when it benefits MEEEEEEE
Breaking the Law = Patriotic
Fine, upstanding Americans these Palinistas!
--Another big problem for Sarah Palin this week: they allowed the wackiest of whack-jobs to open the National Tea Party Convention.
For example: Tom Tancredo spent his time laughing at the literacy of Democratic voters. As someone who gets some of the biggest affronts to the English language every day in the form of right-wing hate mail, I find it hysterical to hear a Conservative complain about literacy:
And then there is Joseph Farah, owner of Wing Nut Daily and birther who made the point that "even Jesus Christ understood the importance of a birth certificate!" Huh?
The crazy...it burns...
The good news for Sarah...Palin's speech may look brilliant in comparison.
--Finally, MSNBC came into possession of over 1,200 emails from the State of Alaska which include Todd Palin somewhere in an address line. I've been going through these all day and there is definitely some interesting information. These were emails from the private accounts and it's obvious the senders didn't think they'd ever go public. There are even a couple so far where Sarah Palin shows her true colors. Yes...I mean bitch...
However, I've barely scratched the surface. I'll continue to go through them over the next several days and report back.
I took this with no special settings, no filters...nothing! It was an amazing sight while waiting for Morrigan to get out of Honor Band!
------------------------------------------------
How does your garden grow...
My little AeroGarden is just so perky! All except for the parsley seeds...I guess a year of being in frozen storage was too much for those. You can see that the plants on the right are stretching towards the left...the bulb on the right is a bit dim. I'm replacing it this weekend.
-------------------------------------------------
"Liver Pasties"--not my family's favorite...
So I tried this recipe out of the English Cookbook, even "modernizing" it a bit. However, the combination still involved chicken livers so my husband and daughter would have none of it.
I liked them but then I like liver.
This feels to me like a recipe to use with leftovers. I'm going to try the recipe again with left-over chicken, beef, or sausage. The flavor combination was quite good but I'm going to ease up on the tarragon and add basil. (The trick to meat or fish having a 15th C English flavor is savory, tarragon, lavender and sometimes a liquid of fermented fruit known as "verjuice." I made some and it's in a canning jar in my fridge.)
Seriously, don't ask me why I've become so obsessed with English cooking. I think that I'm just enjoying the experimentation...trying to take the flavors and apply them to modern Alaskan meals. There are lots of cod and salmon recipes...harkening back to a time when salmon was plentiful all over the world. I can't wait to get my hands on some moose and caribou...there are just tons of recipes in the cookbook for venison and I really want to come up with some good applications for Alaskan game.
In the next few days, I'll be setting up my artichoke seeds and turning my living room into my indoor greenhouse. I have more seeds coming in the mail and my leeks will need to get started just a couple of weeks after the artichokes.
If you've been watching Mudflats and the other blogs, you'll know that mucho, mucho Palin news has been happening. There's also important ethics and email news--I'll get to some of that in the next several days. Also, Feb. 4th is a milestone for me and this year is a big one. I'll tell you more about that later today.
I don't normally do many blogs regarding national issues, but I was one of those folks who was amazed by the brilliant performance of President Barack Obama today.
The Q & A session at the House Republican Retreat (FULL TRANSCRIPT and FULL VIDEO) was historic and I hope will become a regular event. I even emailed the White House asking that something similar become a regular feature with the Republicans.
On their side of the aisle, the Republicans did so badly that they are desperate to do anything they can to discredit any part of President Obama's smackdown. Unfortunately, it seems that a "non-partisan" site is being helpful to them, while not being particularly accurate.
Politifact boasts a 2009 Pulitzer Prize win and they felt the need to take up President Obama's offer of "neutral fact-checking" of the issues discussed at today's retreat. Perhaps they are having an off day but it sure didn't take me very long to find some glaring errors in one of the claims made by Representative Price...fact-checking the fact-checking, if you will.
Here's the email I sent them asking them to correct their errors:
To whom it may concern at Politifact.com:
Rep. Tom Price, Georgia (R) accused the Obama Administration of repeatedly stating that the GOP offers "no ideas." Your article claims that is true, when several parts of your "fact-checking" are glaringly inaccurate.
-- Your article uses as one piece of evidence a speech the President gave at a labor picnic in Cincinnati, September 7, 2009. According to you:
At a picnic with labor officials in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sept. 7, 2009, Obama complained that the critics of health care reform -- he didn't identify them as Republicans, but it was clear he was referring to them-- were not offering their own solutions. He said, "I've got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What's your answer? What's your solution? And you know what? They don't have one. Their answer is to do nothing. Their answer is to do nothing."
However, the actual transcript of the speech tells a different story--he was very specific as who he was addressing--the special interests who benefit if there is no health care reform:
And because we're so close to real reform, the special interests are doing what they always do-trying to scare the American people and preserve the status quo.
But I've got a question for them: What's your answer? What's your solution? The truth is, they don't have one.
It's do nothing.
When the insurance companies and others have expensive ad campaigns out slamming the health care legislation without offering solutions, I find the assuption he's addressing the Republicans to be rather dubious.
--Again, Mr. Price claimed the Obama Administration accused the GOP of offering "no ideas." However, according to your own article, the phrase on a White House blog post and repeated by Rahm Emmanuel and Robert Gibbs was "no new ideas."
President Obama was very clear that GOP ideas provided in committee were already incorporated into the health care legislation and some were rejected. Resubmitting those same rejected ideas would make that an accurate statement.
It is NOT the same as saying they have "no ideas."
Quite frankly, I'm surprised by your sloppy fact-checking. I would respectfully request that you correct your "Truth-O-Meter" so that it is actually more truthful.
You can email Politifact.com at truthometer@politifact.com if you wish to encourage them to correct their website.
Using a hydroponic herb garden as a mental health tool
This winter, I've discovered that Seasonal Affective Disorder enhanced by the clinical depression I've had since I was a kid gets worse as I get older.
Yay...
It's been close to impossible to even have the energy to post. Usually, I at least get a "boost" off of the Holidays but it didn't happen this year. Of course, the current political climate most certainly is not helping.
Not everyone in Alaska suffers from SAD or depression. Some just long for spring/summer to practice their passions. I noticed that, like me, my fellow gardeners started planning their beds literally the day after New Years! While Jan in Homer and I were Tweeting about our plans for artichoke seeds, Phil at Progressive Alaska already did his first gardening post! Of course, I couldn't wait any longer to see something green and I finally started my AeroGarden (herbs) that had been sitting in storage!
My Imperial Star artichoke seeds arrived from Peters Seed and Research, recommended for its heirloom seeds by Alaska gardening guru Jeff Lowenfels. I'll be starting them next week as they have a growing period of 170 days.
Last years artichokes
I'll be ordering more veggie seeds in the coming weeks. I want to consult Phil, Jan and others on a couple of them because, while my tomatoes did really well this year, I want a sweeter variety.
Gardening isn't the only thing I'm turning to for a creative and therapeautic kick-start.
I received a couple of really wonderful cookbooks for Christmas this year. One I remember as a child...the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I'm telling ya, that Fanny has it all over Betty Crocker. The recipes are authentic and not "blanded-down" or "moderned-up" for the average American cook. Some of these were definitely the ones used by our great-grandmothers after their mothers passed them on from the "old country."
Of course, the one I'm having the most fun with is the "Seven Centuries of English Cooking." Let's be honest, there are a number of these recipes my family will NEVER EAT if I made them. Examples:
Fish Mousse with Aspic
Pickled Pig's Trotters
Fish Tart (with an entire stuffed eel inside)
You get the idea.
However, it does give interesting English classic recipes (goes up to 20th C) and some I do in my own style.
Example...one is called "Bubble and Squeak," which is a traditional way to fix leftover cabbage, roast beef and potatoes. Here's a veggie version (I combined several recipes) with garlic mashed potatoes on the side:
The other really fun part of the book is when they print the original Olde English recipe:
Saffron Soup
For to make eyerin in bruet:
Nym water and welle it and break eyerin and caste them in and grind pepper and saffron and temper up with sweet milk and boil it and hack cheese small and cast therein and mix it forth
(The Forme of Cury, 1378)
And no, it does not give you the exact translation for every word, just an understandable recipe!
By the way, tonight I'm making "Liver Pasties!" (Think "Sweeney Todd" meat pies...only out of meat, not hapless barbershop clients!! See the movie/musical!) I'm modernizing them a bit with bacon, onion and potato. I'll let you know how they turn out and I'll take pictures!
Finally, another thing that's helping to lift my spirits is my daughter's participation in Honor Band! I go each week, take pictures and get to listen to the progress in some pretty impressive pieces for the length of time these kids have been playing (just since September for most of them)! She's also been coming to dear-old-mom to ask for help on her practicing. While I'm lousy at wind instruments, my music training makes me more-than-qualified to show her HOW to practice a piece...especially how to deal with trouble spots. Pardon the pun, but it's "music to my ears" when she says, "Geez, mom, you are worse than my band instructor!"
I hope this gives you folks a little better understanding of what's required for my mental health these days. But never fear...the sun is starting to come back in a much bigger way. February (and large sunlight gains) approaches so you'll see more about the emails and the other projects I've been working on.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An Alaska judge has sided with former Gov. Sarah Palin in a lawsuit over e-mail messages, finding that state law does not forbid the use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business...
...The issue arose from a 2008 records request by Ms. McLeod that showed that Ms. Palin and members of her staff had been using private e-mail accounts. The traffic uncovered, though, was heavily redacted for what were deemed reasons of privacy. Ms. McLeod argued through her lawyer that use of private accounts obstructed the people's right to inspect public records.
(For those of you who have never seen a "redacted" public record, this is what one looks like:)
[State Asst. Attny Gen.] Mr. Mitchell said last month that if the use of private accounts were to be banned for state business, the Legislature, not a court, should say so.
On Friday, Judge McKay agreed.
"The language in our case is clear - the Legislature simply chose to give state agencies some discretion in determining which e-mails are worthy of preservation and which are not," he wrote. A records retention plan through the state archives also makes distinctions, he noted, and classifies messages not required to be retained as "transitory" messages, meant mainly for informal communications.
This is a blow to government transparency in Alaska...a State that may be one of the most corrupt/most secretive in the U.S.
So from this, we can determine three things:
1) The judge not only allowed state employees to hide records from the public by using private accounts, he also may have expanded the definition of "non-record" emails sent on state accounts. As it stands now, the policy the State adopts regarding archived emails seems to interpret much more narrowly Alaska Statutes guidance on what are considered records. Per the State policy:
What is Non-record e-mail?
Non-record e-mail does not meet the definition of Record in AS 40.21.150(6) or AS 40.25.220(3). Non-record e-mail includes personal messages, spam, extra copies of documents distributed or received for reference, listserv or bulletin board posts, and announcements unrelated to official business, like retirement parties or holiday celebrations. Personal messages constitute non-records as they are not accounts or writings "developed or received by a public agency," and are not "preserved for their informational value or as evidence of the organization or operation of the public agency" under AS 40.25.110
I suspect the ruling will give folks more confidence in disposing of records that they may have previously questioned.
(I also find it interesting that this clearly positive ruling towards Sarah Palin occurred days after an Alaska judge warranted a security detail because of threats stemming from the Palin v. Levi custody case. Just sayin'...)
2) The judge was clear that he believes Alaska Statutes allow State employees to police themselves, and;
3) The Judge made it clear that the Alaska Legislature is the only vehicle by which this practice can be changed permanently (Gov. Parnell has forbidden his employees from using private accounts to conduct State business...that will only last as long as he's Governor)
**The Legislature (I believe Rep. Mike Doogan) did submit a Bill last session regarding this topic, but I haven't heard anything about it yet this session. **
Rep. Doogan's HB 195 indeed addresses the issue of private v public emails directly:
* Section 1. AS 39.52 is amended by adding a new section to read:
04 Sec. 39.52.135. State electronic mail delivery systems required for official
05 action by electronic mail. (a) When taking or withholding official action, a public
06 officer may not send or cause another to send information by electronic transmission
07 within a system for electronic mail delivery unless the system is operated and
08 maintained by the state.
It is currently sitting in the State Affairs Committee.
Does being the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin give Todd Palin special access to internal communications off limits to the general public?
Andree McLeod, a former state worker turned activist, has gone to court arguing it does not. She is seeking an untold number of state e-mails that were copied to Todd Palin but withheld from a public records request she made in June.
"This latest refusal by the governor's office to hold back official state e-mails has left me no other choice," McLeod said. "And this is real important: The state can't cloak these communications in secrecy when the governor and her staff have broken the chain of custody by sharing them with a mere private citizen, who is not ... a state employee. Therefore, that entitles all citizens the right to examine these documents in the light of day."
In essence, McLeod is arguing that if Todd Palin was copied on the state e-mails, the governor's office can't keep them from the public for reasons such as "executive privilege" and "deliberative process."
I have a very good reason that I'm particularly interested in this second, yet-to-be-determined lawsuit. It's one many of you will be interested in as well...the majority of the emails that "respond" to my email inquiry were redacted for "privilege."
I admit that I expected a number of them to be redacted, but I NEVER expected this many...there are over 70!
They go from emails allegedly handling a "cleavage complaint"...something that was NEVER an official complaint but just an email to Annette Kreitzer used to try and discredit Andree McLeod...there should be no privilege attached (more news on this one later):
(click on the images to enlarge)
We have emails claiming privilege when they are discussing a "web column"--basically, the media and their coverage:
And then...my favorite...ones that claim "attorney-client privilege" when they are either missing an attorney, a client or both (between Linda Perez and Cheif of Staff Mike Nizich)! Also, some have people on the CC who are neither:
The reason this ruling is so important (and I believed we'd have it by now) is Alaska Law in the area of privilege is a little bi-polar.
We have repeatedly held that the [Alaska Public Records] act creates a presumption in favor of disclosure and that the act's implicit legislative policy of broad public access requires courts to narrowly construe exceptions to disclosure.10
The privilege may protect any governmental decisionmaking function, including the governor's policymaking and lobbying of either state or federal government.
Generally, it is difficult for a requestor to override a presumptive privilege. [Fn. 56]
For this reason, it's unlikely that any attorney will take another case dealing with privilege until they see the outcome of the one Don Mitchell and Andree McLeod is pursuing now. This is true even though most people can look at this partial list of redacted emails and see the farce in claiming "privilege."
One prediction I will make: I believe the unfortunate outcome of the first ruling may be that it effects the second--that the court defers to the Alaska Legislature.
(PS: To all of you who have been asking--I appreciate your patience regarding my posting on the records request. With everything going on, this post took me a long time (weeks) to write.
Recently, I posted a culinary tribute to Elvis courtesy of my good friend and musician extraordinaire, Patti Greene. Patti may not know it, but she is one of my primary survival tools during the Alaska winters. Over the 20(?) years I've known her, she frequently shares her philosophy of how to make the best of that long, cold stretch between the New Year and spring:
"Don't make any major decisions and NO BITING!"
I find her wisdom to be inarguable so I try to live by it, as difficult as that can sometimes be.
The last several weeks, it's been extremely difficult because quite frankly, ALL I WANT TO DO IS BITE!
Don't get me started on: Fox News for subjecting us to a steady diet of Palin's special brand of salad-shooter-chopped-stomped-on-then-stray-dog-chewed word salad, or the entire MSM for most of their insipid Palin discussions, or the authors of "Game Changer" for focusing on the shallow foibles of Palin while ignoring her lies, deceit and questionable ethics. Many of my Alaskan blogger friends have covered those issues well and I've surely ranted enough around the house about them.
However, I'm EXTREMELY irritated by a few members of the Alaska Legislature. Why? It's a reaction to the bills being proposed that are touted to "fix the problems" with ethics complaint process. What they really do is ignore the actual problems and aim to make the whole process even MORE secretive and MORE inaccessible when it comes to Alaska's Public Officers!
Let's examine the bills filed so far having to do with the ethics process. There are three:
1) Max Gruenberg filed HB 289:
Authorizing state agencies to pay private legal fees and costs incurred by persons exonerated of alleged Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act violations; allowing certain public officers and former public officers to accept state payments to offset private legal fees and costs related to defending against an Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act complaint; and creating certain exceptions to Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act limitations on the use of state resources to provide or pay for transportation of spouses and children of the governor and the lieutenant governor.
I am actually NOT crabby at Mr. Gruenberg (I'm sure he's relieved)! Looking at this bill and even when AG Sullivan proposed reimbursement for legal fees as a "fix," I didn't have a problem with it for a couple of reasons:
-- The Dept. of Law has previously stated that Thomas Van Flein (Palin's attorney) was already eligible to have some of his bills paid in relation to the Troopergate investigation. So, there is already precedent. (The last I read about it, he never attempted to get reimbursed. The reasons why are up for speculation, but I digress...)
-- If an attorney submits that paperwork for reimbursement by the State, it would then be considered public records accessible by records requests. Thus, we have accountability.
My primary issue regarding elected and appointed officials is in keeping things transparent.
However, not everyone agrees:
2) According to Republican Representative Bob Lynn's House Bill 254:
07 * Sec. 2. AS 39.52.340 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
08 (d) Except as required by law or permitted by this section, a person filing a
09 complaint under this chapter shall keep confidential the filing of the complaint and the
10 contents of the complaint. If the attorney general determines that a complainant has
11 violated a confidentiality provision of this chapter, the attorney general shall
12 immediately dismiss the complaint. Dismissal of a complaint under this subsection
13 does not affect the right of any person other than the complainant to initiate a
14 complaint based on the same factual allegations.
So...no fix for the fact that the most powerful Governor of all 50 states appoints and fires those who decide the ethics complaints. But it's very important to Mr. Lynn to make the process MORE secretive as this bill will establish that the complaint be dismissed if confidentiality is violated.
3) Then we have Democratic Representative Mike Doogan, who proposed a mostly-similar bill in HB 263:
12 Sec. 39.52.320. Dismissal if confidentiality violated by complainant. If the
13 attorney general determines that a complainant has violated a confidentiality provision
14 of this chapter, the attorney general shall immediately dismiss the complaint. The
01 attorney general shall communicate disposition of the matter promptly to the
02 complainant under AS 39.52.335(c) and to the subject of the complaint. Dismissal of a
03 complaint under this section does not affect the right of any person other than the
04 complainant to initiate a complaint based on the same factual allegations.
Again...no "fix" for the Personnel Board, but a guarantee that a tainted board would get to operate in absolute secrecy. This secrecy applies to a complaint against "any current or former public officer" covered by the Executive Branch Ethics Act.
However, the most interesting part of this is that there is a big contradiction...from Alaska's Attorney General Daniel Sullivan. He addresses confidentiality in his response to inquiries in the wake of the Palin Administration. It seems fairly clear that he believes attempts to "sanction" a complainant for talking about a complaint would be viewed by the courts as a violation of free speech:
Creating safeguards to keep Ethics Act investigations confidential is categorically different than restricting citizens from speaking out about government conduct. Because public dialogue about government actions is speech at the core of the First Amendment, we do not recommend imposing sanctions on a citizen for disclosing information about an ethics complaint he or she has filed. Speech by a citizen charging government officials with breach of a code of official conduct is political speech accorded First Amendment protection. The United States Supreme Court has adhered to the bedrock principle that expression on public issues rests "on the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values,"19 and thus that "debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open."20 The Supreme Court has also made clear that protected political speech goes far beyond intellectual argument about political theory; it includes vigorous debate about the qualifications and official conduct of public officials.21 Open discussion of official conduct is accorded the broadest protection available in our political system despite the fact "that it may well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials."22
Alaska's Ethics Act does not inhibit this type of debate, because it does not impose penalties on individuals who are not engaged in the investigative or decision-making process. As we have considered ways to protect the confidentiality of the ethics investigations, we have been mindful that penalizing public discourse about the actions of government officials might threaten First Amendment rights. Courts have consistently found that confidentiality provisions applicable to ethics complaints restrict the content of speech.23 Because they govern the content of speech, these restrictions will survive scrutiny only if narrowly drawn and necessary to serve a compelling state interest.24 Courts generally have rejected states' interests in ethics code confidentiality provisions as insufficient to justify restrictions on citizens' speech.25
So, to summarize, there are a list of reasons why these amendments as written should be rejected:
1) In Alaska, the general public is not permitted to ask the Attorney General/the Department of Law for an official "decision" on an ethics issue. It can only be done by certain Government Employees, a public officer or their legal representative. The only way the general public can get a LEGAL RULING from the State of Alaska on an issue of ethics is to file a complaint.
2) Ethics complaints from the general public against public officers are based on public information, not employment records, etc...to which the general public does not have access. As there is no airing of information made confidential by Alaska Statute, there is NO REASON for the process not to be completely public.
3) During my experience with the complaint process, I constantly heard the meme from the Palin camp that "If these were ethics complaints against a legislator, mentioning them to the media would have them thrown out."
According to an amendment to the Legislative Code of Ethics, yes that is true...for now...(covered in number 4)
The ethics committee has nine members: two senators, two representatives and five public members. The committee is divided into a House Subcommittee and a Senate Subcommittee for the purpose of considering most complaints. Elected officials, who serve two-year terms, are appointed by the leadership of the appropriate body with the concurrence of two-thirds of the full membership of that house. The public members, who serve a three-year term, are selected by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court and ratified by two thirds of the full membership of the legislature.
4) As I read the Attorney General's conclusion, the two House Bills in the Legislature right now could actually violate free speech rights if taken to court. This could even indicate that the Legislative Ethics provision for complaint dismissal could possibly be thrown out if a case ever makes it to court.
5) I mentioned The Alaska Fund Trust earlier. I have checked into it and STILL nothing has happened with the case or it would have been made public. Did anyone notice that if the report had not been leaked to the public, we would never know that THE ALASKA FUND TRUST IS A POTENTIAL ETHICS VIOLATION (if she spends it)?
What's the Personnel Board waiting for, the two-year statute of limitations to be up on ethics violations so Palin can spend the money?
To me, this is the single-largest piece of evidence that there are MORE PRESSING problems that need fixing with the Executive Branch Ethics process than a lack of confidentiality.
Leah Burton at her "God's Own Party" Blog broke the news on this ABCnews.com story, to be shown tonight on Nightline and later in the week on 20/20. In her introduction, she makes an exciting announcement:
This is as good a time as any to announce that later this week on January 21st I will have the honor of becoming the newest member on the Board of Directors for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation at the request of Mikey Weinstein.
The following story is why I am passionate about contributing to the work being done by MRFF in the tireless efforts to protect military personnel from religious fanaticism, and consequently the rest of us from a military run by Christian Dominioinists. If this story doesn't convince you of the religious extremism insinuating itself into our military, nothing will...
I am excited for Leah as much as I am concerned for her. It's amazing the kind of hate that's generated when anyone dares to question this belief of some "christians" that they have "dominion" over everyone and everything. That bumps up rather hard against our Constitution, in a country founded on religious freedom and the rights of people with ALL religious beliefs to coexist equally.
This spirit of equality and freedom is profoundly expressed in Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech which is being recited repeatedly today in honor of his birthday.
Here is the ABC story with a link to the rest of it at the end. I STRONGLY encourage you to read the rest of this blog post, which includes the origins of this discovery as well as the potentially devastating consequences for our troops at Leah's Blog.
U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes
By Brian Ross, Joseph Rhee and Tahman Bradley January 18, 2010
"Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.
One of the citations on the gunsights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."...(Read entire story here)
I was so happy to hear that the Zanmi Lasante Hospital escaped "relatively undamaged" according to this report by Michelle Goldberg with the Daily Beast.
I have followed the work of Paul Farmer since I first read about his efforts in Bill Clinton's "Giving."
What a blessing that some very forward thinking individuals were already organizing to upgrade the health care in one of the poorest regions of Haiti when this earthquake struck. My partner spent quite a bit of time in Haiti during the embargo years, and has a deep respect for the spirit of Haitians.
According to Ms. Goldberg,
He [Paul Farmer] founded Zanmi Lasante in the 1980s, while he was still at Harvard Medical School, eventually building it from a two-room clinic into a full-service hospital with a network of satellite clinics and home health visitors. Altogether, it serves more than two million people. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and Cange, the town where Zanmi Lasante was founded, is one of poorest parts of Haiti. Yet the care provided at the hospital is, by all accounts, excellent. It is also largely free. No one is turned away for lack of funds; support comes from Partners in Health, the Boston-based NGO that Farmer co-founded. As he told The New York Times, "For me, an area of moral clarity is: you're in front of someone who's suffering and you have the tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it, and you act."
The current level of health care in England, Germany and other European countries came to be in part by the devastating toll on humanity brought about by the relentless bombing campaigns of World War II. Millions of walking wounded flooded the already overtaxed hospitals in England and Europe. The governments of those countries affected most by the destruction had little choice but to establish a health care system capable of addressing the overwhelming needs of a post war society.
I hope this article helps bring into perspective the importance of a solid health care infrastructure in a society, and how teamwork and proper planning can make it possible even with limited resources and funds. So much has been said and written regarding the potential cost of reorganizing our own health care infrastructure, yet the cost of not doing so can be seen in the faces of survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the Indonesian tsunami and Haitian survivors of the quake who came to realize that surviving the initial catastrophes was only the beginning of their struggles.
My thoughts and prayers go with the volunteer nurses from California who are organizing to fly to Haiti to care for the sick and wounded.
I was reminded by my weekly issue of "Gear Junkies" that yesterday, January 8th, was Elvis Presley's 75th birthday. (Gear Junkies is a popular email buy-and-sellopportunity for musicians and their gear. Occasionally, they print opinions from musicians, rants from Miss Patti, fun pieces like the one below, and colorful commentary from fictional resident New Yorker, Joey Cannolli.)
Now, I happen to know that my dear friend, musician and creative genius behind "Gear Junkies" Patti Greene, has something that would make any Elvis fan salivate...one of the older brushed-velvet posters of him hanging on her wall. In my mind, I picture candles and incense burning on a little altar in front of that poster at this time every year...but I digress...
Straight from "The Gear Junkies Cookbook," I bring all of us Elvis-lovers a recipe of ultimate comfort food through which you can celebrate the life of our icon:
Elvis Presley's Grilled Peanut Butter & Namma Sammich
2 slices of white bread
2 T. peanut butter
1 ripe b'namma, mashed
1 stick butter, or a half cup of bacon grease
Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread and the mashed 'namma on the other. Press the slices together. Melt the butter (or indulge your Inner Elvis and use melted bacon fat) in a frying pan. Fry the sammich until golden brown on both sides.
Wash it down with a glass of buttermilk, then call the Alaska Heart Institute and schedule a treadmill test: 561-3211
ELVIS WAS THE ORIGINAL SUPER-SIZER: He tended to consume 12-15 sammiches a sitting.
*Burrrpp*"Thenkyaverrrymush."
**Note** I kid you not...the Biegel version (via my husband) is sans the nanna but ACTUALLY INCLUDES THE BACON! When he makes "Peanut Butter and Bacon Sammiches" here, I am forced to leave the kitchen!
--On Wednesday, Eddie Burke had his butt handed to him repeatedly on his own show!
It's amazing how Alaskans get irritated:
1) When out-of-state folks (and we know they are because of their Facebook and Twitter pages) try to tell OTHER out of state (even out-of-country) folks that it's a good idea to interfere with STATE OF ALASKA SUPERIOR COURT JUDGES on a LOCAL CUSTODY CASE! (Trying to compare it to protesting US Supreme Court cases just shows total ignorance.)
2) When these out-of-state folks are encouraging the court to BLOCK ACCESS of A FATHER TO HIS OWN CHILD while that young man has shown from the beginning that he WANTS to participate in his child's life! (My husband has been a wonderful dad to my daughter but do you think it's taken away the pain of the absence of her own father?)
--Special double-secret agents scanned the downtown area at noon on Thursday, just to see if anyone showed up to do an in-person protest. No one was there.
--I left a comment over at their "Barracuda" Facebook page, simply listing which law enforcement agencies I had informed of their intended harassment. This started a conversation via Facebook messages with Dave Smith, one of the organizers of the protest.
My latest reply to Smith at the bottom lets you know how it went Thursday from the Alaska Court System's point-of-view:
Dave Smith January 5 at 6:59am
We wanted to let you know we appreciate your concerns on this matter. The protest is open to all who are concerned about the absurd ruling in this case. We are certain there are members of Law Enforcement, who also; are appalled at this ruling. Your inviting them to join the protest is greatly appreciated. We have also invited the Governor, and all Elected Representatives of Alaska to participate. We are currently in the process of enlisting media assistance, both local and national.
We look forward to your further interest, comments, and participation in this protest. Have a great day----Dave/Alicia
Of course, they deleted the comment...prompting my response:
Linda Kellen Biegel January 5 at 12:11pm
And yet you remove my comment...not very sincere there Dave. ;-) That's OK, because I don't believe you are going to get the results you are hoping for. Not very many folks signing up, I see. Plus, I got a "thank you for the warning from the Court System. They are ready for you now.
More lies from Dave:
Dave Smith January 5 at 7:02pm
What are the results the protest is searching for? Are you sure you know? We have talked to folks at 4 different Court Houses. They were extremely gracious and helpful. We are thrilled to have 3 of them participating in the protest.
We do not normally delete comments. We read your comment 3 or 4 times and felt there was a hint of a threat in it. We are hopeful you would not make threats. We do have a responsibility to the fans of this page first.
OK, I LITERALLY LISTED the law enforcement agencies I had notified. Basically "Here is a list of the law enforcement agencies I've notified." That was the entire comment. I'm guessing that was the "threat" he "claimed" he received when he was on Burke's show as well...what a wanker!
The folks who accepted the invite, are just the tip of the iceberg. Patriots from all walks of life are eager for the protest to begin. Alicia and Myself share their eagerness. The launch is about 39 hours away.
Well gotta go, hope you have a great night----Alicia/Dave
My latest response:
Linda Kellen Biegel January 8 at 2:32am
So, you were lying when you said that "Your inviting them to the protest was greatly appreciated?" All my comment did was list the various law enforcement agencies I had notified about the protest. I find it interesting that is threatening to you...it would seem that only those who know they may be walking a legal tightrope would be threatened by that.
Regarding your claim about the "three courthouses" supporting you, their boss is "fairly certain that you never reached anyone at management level"...i.e. getting a clerk on your side does not mean the courthouse is participating.
By the way, I was also informed that they received a very few calls at each courthouse from your "protesters" today.
I expect this won't be the last stunt these folks will pull, but I expect this will be my last post on this one.
