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Shannyn Moore
"Shannyn Moore Show" radio podcasts
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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!
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| About |
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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Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:04:11 AM AKDT
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| Melissa S. Green
Henkimaa.com The original of this post can be found on my website. Thanks! Update 1:10 AM: Just after posting this, I learned of the death of Mayor Dan Sullivan's father, former Mayor George Sullivan. Political differences notwithstanding, I suffered the loss of my own father last May, & know the sorrow that can bring. My condolences to Mayor Sullivan and to the entire Sullivan family.  As we come up on Friday, when the True Diversity Dinner sponsored by a few of us bloggers will be held at the Snow Goose at the same time as the Mayor's Unity Dinner at the Hilton, Shannyn Moore provides some additional context for the dinners in a post she wrote yesterday, "Is Dan Sullivan Running For Senate?" (crossposted at The Mudflats). [Ref #1]
- Dan Sullivan at his first Assembly meeting as Mayor of Anchorage on July 7
Shannyn speculates that by means of the political maneuvering associated with his actions as mayor & with the tactics of his cronies -- such as Assembly Member Bill Starr -- that Mayor Dan Sullivan might be positioning himself for an eventual run for U.S. Senate against Senator (and former Mayor) Mark Begich. Among the tactics at work are attempting to blame the Municipality's current fiscal problems on Begich, while ignoring the huge deficit that Begich inherited from our prior mayor, George Wuerch (who, coincidentally or not, shared Sullivan's brand of antigay conservativism) and the current attempt to invalidate the Municipality's contracts with the IBEW and the police union, [Ref #2] with the help of (1) an opinion by an attorney who has admitted to having no expertise in employment or labor union law and (2) a widely distributed email from Bill Starr, backed by fellow conservative Assembly Member and Sullivan crony Dan Coffey, alleging Mayor Begich withheld financial information from the the Assembly that, had they known it, would have resulted in the contracts not being agreed to in the first place. Well, we'll see the claims and counterclaims played out in the press -- and in the blogs which, all too often nowadays, are better sources than the dailies and broadcast news for the real nuts and bolts of these things. We'll see if the Anchorage Daily News reminds us, as Shannyn already has, about the phone call Dan Coffey's butt accidentally made to Allan Tesche, which led to a recording of a conversation between Coffey and Starr involving some highly questionable campaign financing practices (and a lot of trash talk about the police union) -- because that kind of corruption is also part of the context. But what's this got to do with True Diversity Dinner and the Mayor's Unity Dinner? (Besides, that is, the fact that Shannyn Moore will be the keynote speaker at the True Diversity Dinner.) This: that Mayor Sullivan's dinner will be held at the only hotel in Anchorage under boycott by workers because of bad faith negotiating by Columbia Sussex, the Hilton's owners. I hadn't known about this situation before, & thank Shannyn for providing that context. I got additional information through an article penned in June by Brendan Joel Kelley of the Anchorage Press,[Ref #3] while I was preoccupied with the battle for the Anchorage equal rights ordinance. The mayor's choice of venue goes hand-in-hand with the union-busting tactics being used against IBEW and the police union (and one must also hasten to wonder about Mayor Sullivan's valuation of the city's other first responders in the Anchorage Fire Department, about which Brendan Joel Kelley has also written [Ref #4]). Mayor Sullivan appears to care as little about fair terms for Anchorage police, fire, electrical, and hotel workers as he does about LGBT workers. Are unionbusting, bad faith bargaining, and unilateral attempts to get out of contracts part of the Mayor's platform of diversity -- or rather, er, unity? As for me, I think a strong diverse workforce is rather essential to both, and unions are part of that. Shannyn also points out the partisan credentials of the Mayor's keynote speaker, former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann, who will also be getting a hefty fee for headlining a Republican fundraiser while he's in town. "Unity"? Looks more like Republican party-building to me. True Diversity Dinner program Meanwhile, planning for the True Diversity Dinner proceeds -- and we're almost there! Our speaker line-up includes Rev. Marquita Pierre, Diane Benson, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Shannyn Moore, and more. We'll also have performances by Yup'ik dancers and singer Steven Alvarez, plus a dance afterwards. We're gonna have a great time! Plea$e help! But here's time for a plea for help: the $10 being charged for tickets to the dinner only begins to cover the dinner's cost; much of the cost has been coming out of our pockets. Any help you can give will be appreciated -- just go to the True Diversity Dinner web page and use the handy Donate button. References - 9/23/09. "Is Dan Sullivan Running For Senate?" by Shannyn Moore (Just a Girl from Homer; crossposted at The Mudflats).
- 9/23/09. "City labor contracts invalid, attorney says" by Don Hunter (Anchorage Daily News).
- 6/17/09. "Housekeeping - The Hilton's union employees institute a boycott" by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).
- 8/19/09. "AFD gets its axe handed to it" by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press). See also the Anchorage firefighters' blog AFD Status about rolling closures instituted by the Sullivan Administration and other current issues affecting the Anchorage Fire Department's ability to effectively serve the people of Anchorage.
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| yksin :: True Diversity v. fake unity |
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