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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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Palin's AG Pick Calls Gays "Degenerates"--guest post from Bent Alaska

by: Celtic Diva

Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 06:43:18 AM AKDT




(While I've been reading condemnation of the Governor's AG pick, Bent Alaska gives some very pointed examples of issues that could specifically effect his performance as AG, not to mention comments by fellow lawyers--ex:  while his gun politics probably scares the hell out of lower-48ers, there's not much damage he could do up here.  I'm not sure our gun laws could be much more lax.  Also, I don't hold clients against defense attorneys.  I know a number of wonderful folks who have defended some of the most reprehensible characters.  Guess what?  It's their job!

E. Ross points out at the bottom something I've thought from the beginning, that the reason W.A.R. was really appointed is to give him an advantage in the upcoming Gubernatorial race.  I believe, like Dan Fagan at Alaska Standard, that Sarah has made the decision not to run again and that Ross's appointment is an indicator of that.

I've bolded some of the points of the article that I don't feel have been emphasized enough.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Gov. Sarah Palin named Anchorage lawyer Wayne Anthony Ross as her new attorney general on Thursday. While we did not expect her to pick a gay-friendly AG, the blatant prejudice expressed in this letter to the state Bar shows that he is a poor choice for our top attorney:

"During a fight several years ago over gay rights, [Allison] Mendel helped organize Anchorage lawyers in support of an anti-discrimination ordinance. Ross wrote a nasty letter to the Bar Association newsletter, using words like "immoral", "perversion" and "degenerates." The language went way beyond reasonable disagreement, Mendel and others said."  (Wayne Anthony Ross never a quiet force, ADN)

Other interesting facts about Wayne Anthony Ross:

--He was a founder of Alaska Right to Life and represented, without fee, anti-abortion protesters charged with trespassing. "I feel I have a good relationship with the good Lord (but) if I could overturn Roe vs. Wade, I figure I got my ticket," he told a reporter.

--He was the defense lawyer for former Rep. Vic Kohring, who is now serving time in prison.

--He opposes Native subsistence rights and was the lead lawyer in the case that got Alaska's subsistence law declared unconstitutional. When running for governor in 2002, he said he would hire a band of "junkyard dog" assistant AG's to challenge the federal law that requires a subsistence preference, or seek changes through Congress.

--He wrote for the old Anchorage Times, then for the Voice of the Times in the ADN, with titles like "KKK ' Art' Project Gets' A' For Courage" listed on the publications page of the Ross & Miner law offices.

--He represented Palin in her ethics case against state GOP chair Randy Ruedrich when both were on the Oil and Gas Commission, and became the co-chair of Palin's 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

--He was hoping for an appointment to the Department of Health and Social Services so he could "stop the department from interfering with families when they should not be interfering and get them interfering with families when they should be interfering" but he was passed over.

--He defended a Soldotna man who twice poured buckets of water from a passing pickup onto peaceful demonstrators in the rain and snow. His client was convicted of harassment and violating constitutional rights.

--He was the co-chair of Alaskans for Phil Gramm. (Gramm is one of the people responsible for the current economic crisis, and as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign he called us "a nation of whiners.")

--He is a former vice president of the National Rifle Association and was in line to become president, but was voted out of office.
He ran for governor in 1998 and 2002.  (Think he'll use the AG position as a stepping stone to the governor's mansion?)

The state House and Senate Judiciary committees will hold confirmation hearings on his appointment.
 

Celtic Diva :: Palin's AG Pick Calls Gays "Degenerates"--guest post from Bent Alaska
Tags: , , , , (All Tags)
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Worse then palin??? (0.00 / 0)
Could there be worse then sarah palin?  you betcha!!!!


Palin's AG selection (4.00 / 1)
He may have aspirations to be govenor but I think that HER primary reason for his selection is protection against any future complaints against her in Alaska. There may be many more coming.  I don't think she can keep everything hidden anymore. Remember she is all about covering her own needs.

It's a bit of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours".


I agree (0.00 / 0)
... with all your opinions. :/

Time for the Alaska Legs to grow a pair of BIG ONES! STAND UP to this abomination of a GINO!!! STAND UP for what is right and GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE (and under 'people' I ALSO mean NATIVES!!!!)


I'm with you on don't blame a lawyer for their reprehensible clients (0.00 / 0)
But if they seek them out because the lawyer personally supports their reprehensible conduct, I'm drawing a line.

I agree that he could be worse than SP. If only because he is fanatical, bigoted, and  AND probably very smart and very devious.

But he also has some weaknesses. Pulled a Bushie in the National Guard instead of service in Vietnam. Pads his resumé, with things like "marriage commissioner" and catholic knighthoods. Apparently likes to shoot his mouth off as well as his guns. Likely not the easiest guy to work with.

SP has a new puppet master?


Book : Cover :: Article : Headline (0.00 / 0)
I've seen a few posts in which people express concern about the headline of an opinion piece Ross wrote for the Times in 1991 ("KKK 'art' project gets 'A' for courage").  As far as I know, no one has actually read this opinion piece (the Times archives are not available online), although I'm assuming it was a response to a censorship incident at UAA (see article below).  It doesn't seem entirely reasonable to use a headline (that Ross himself almost certainly didn't write) as a reason he'd be a poor attorney general.  

I am absolutely not defending the governor's selection of Wayne Anthony Ross as AG, but there are plenty of legitimate reasons to be concerned about his selection; we should make an effort to avoid concerns that are unfounded or based on incomplete information.

(I also agree with CD that representing a corrupt politician is no reason to discredit an attorney; for example, Tom Anderson was represented for a time by Jeff Feldman, who is unquestionably one of the best and most principled attorneys in the state.)

KKK ART REMOVED AT UAA
Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Saturday, December 7, 1991
Author: PETER BLUMBERG Daily News reporter

Art professor Ken Gray proclaimed it "a tragedy" to be forced by threat of violence Friday into removing the larger-than-life replica of a Ku Klux Klansman that one of his students put on exhibit at the University of Alaska Anchorage on Wednesday.

The hooded and robed giant stick figure, bearing a cross in one hand and a flag in the other, was supposed to stay up until next week. But late Friday afternoon, Gray disassembled the sculpture after two of its most vocal critics threatened to tear it down themselves.

"I issued an ultimatum, either they take it down or I take it down," said Clara Bynum, a 35-year-old UAA psychology student and member of the Afro- American Student Association.

"What are we saying to the world that we can take this evil symbol, put it on a university campus and call it art?" she said.

Gray, who encouraged novice art student Tony Hamilton to include the sculpture in a class project on nightmares and monsters, accused Bynum and an unidentified man of being "fanatical and violent."

"I didn't want this piece to provoke violence," Gray said. "What happened today was a tragedy because my position is to facilitate my students to make art, not to destroy art, and I had to go against all my principles to take this down."

The sculpture's abrupt removal from the second floor of the UAA Arts Building comes just one day after Gray, Hamilton and many of the Klansman's critics spent a tense afternoon hammering out a compromise agreement as to how and when the sculpture would be dismantled.

Thursday's meeting followed a tense standoff Wednesday night during which Hamilton tried to convince an angry throng of black students and staff that the sculpture was created to repudiate David Duke, the former Louisiana Klan leader turned ambitious politician.

Faced with more outrage than he anticipated, Hamilton agreed to the scheduling of an hourlong ceremonial dismantling of the sculpture in the presence of a wide array of students and university staff, according to Gray.

"It may have even been a party with different racial groups coming together, but that's been robbed from us because of vigilantes and because of the same bigotry that we were trying to get rid of," he said.

Gray said he also removed all the other works his eight students created for the nightmare and monster project, even though none but the Klansman was controversial.

"I didn't think one should be singled out," he said.

Hamilton could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

UAA's student government president, Michelle Parks, said she is happy the sculpture has been removed. Like many other students who were puzzled by the lack of any written message or title to explain the sculpture's intent, Parks said she believes it could too easily be interpreted as sending a hate message.

"But I hope when they took it down they did it right, because it could have just as easily been my statue that someone else didn't agree with," she said.

Parks, who is black, said the controversy underscores the complaint that minority students have been voicing lately in ever-louder tones that there is not enough sensitivity on campus to the concerns of ethnic and racial minority students.

"I don't think it was the intent of the professor to offend anyone," she said. "I just don't think he was aware of how we felt."  


Maia - I Am Very Glad You Posted This! (0.00 / 0)
I also thought, when I saw the headline, whoa nelly, that working most likely cloaks an incident that is not sympathetic to Nazis.  If W.A.R. had openly expressed sympathy for Nazis,it wouldn't be a buried story!

Look the guy is obviously distasteful to me and most liberals and is probably a threat as well to all kinds of cherished ideals and programs, native rights and gay rights come to mind immediately of course, as well as women's reproductive rights, etc...

But we have seen in recent days that even the staunchest hardliners against what liberals hold dear do find common ground with us when it comes to bottom line 1st Amendment freedoms.

I do not presume to judge the motivations of the black students that demanded the image be taken down, I'm sure they had their justifiable reasons.  But as far as we can tell from the article (here's where the source DOES come into play, can we trust his reporting?) the item was a controversial piece of art, not a monument to hate speech, was misunderstood and a mob mentality took over.  These students suppressed art, free speech and even, (reportedly) harassed the group assembled to dismantle the art piece in a sort of performance art scenario. In the end, didn't these angry students act like Nazi's who suppressed "Degenerate Art"?  http://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/arts/artdegen.htm

If we jump on the worst labels and paste them across groups or individuals we don't like without looking further, isn't that the very heart of intolerance?  And doesn't it weaken our otherwise very solid and sensible arguments?

While we are on this topic:  I would like to ask about something I read - Apparently someone at Conservatives4Palin came to Mudflats last weekend to express support of free speech rights and her right to be anonymous online, and several posters ganged up on them and chased them out... Does anyone know if an incident like this happened?
 


[ Parent ]
"working" in the 2nd sentence should be "headline" (0.00 / 0)


[ Parent ]
there was a conservative4palin on the site (0.00 / 0)
whose posts left me feeling kind of comforted.  The poster honestly did believe that what doogan did was indeed very very wrong.

I read mudflats and this blog religiously...and I saw NO chasing away of that individual.  Now perhaps I missed something, but knowing mudflatters the way that I do...even though they were very upset.....they do not chase away.  If indeed this person was chased away...then he or she must have upped the ante and crossed a line.

Thats all I can say about that.  Trolls are ignored...and then relieved of their ability to post.  People of all kinds who disagree, provided it is done with respect are respected in turn.


[ Parent ]
that's pretty much what I thought... (0.00 / 0)
One of them was complaining about it in comments on C4P.  Didn't sound kosher to me..thanks for the response.

[ Parent ]
It could have been a misunderstanding... (0.00 / 0)
...as you can imagine, the mods over at Mudflats are feeling rather "raw" right now.  Folks should give them as much love as possible because they are keeping a faithful watch for AKM 24 hours a day LITERALLY to keep the trolls away.

If someone got swept away because of raw nerves and zero tolerance, I would hope the offended party would be a little understanding.

I had to ban a bunch of folks from here last week and believe me, my tolerance got particularly low.


Celtic Diva


[ Parent ]
Thank you for the explanation, Maia! (0.00 / 0)
I know quite well how one can give an article to the paper and then discover they slapped a title on it that one hates!

And the lawyer I was thinking of represented Pete Kott...Meg Simonian...one of the coolest people you'll ever meet!


Celtic Diva


[ Parent ]
Love the picture! (4.00 / 1)
Looks like a little boy playing cowboy doesn't he?

If I post about this tool again (and sadly we know I must) then I will have to "borrow" that photo.


Thanks Diva (post went viral) (4.00 / 1)
Thanks for the guest post, Diva, and thanks to everyone for the good points. I called it a list of 'interesting facts' about him, not 'reasons he shouldn't be AG' because I agree with the comments about work vs. opinion and about titles vs. substance.

By the way, I posted this on my diary at Pam's House Blend early this morning and HuffPo picked it up! (wow)


That's where I saw it first, E., but recognized your writing immediately! (0.00 / 0)
I chuckled when I discovered that my man Gryph and I both posted it at the same time from different sources!  Great minds, ya know!


Celtic Diva


[ Parent ]
Unhappy (0.00 / 0)
The ADN has a new article up about how unhappy some are with this choice by the Governor and are not afraid to speak out about it.

Native groups oppose attorney general pick

"It almost looked like she was rubbing our face in Anthony Ross's appointment.," said Tim Towarak, co-chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives. "Like rubbing our face on the ground, saying 'Here, take this.' "

Native organizations opposed to the confirmation of Ross have started contacting state legislative offices. Angoon Democratic Sen. Albert Kookesh said there will be consequences for Palin, even if he cannot stop the Ross confirmation.

" Natives will remember her appointment of Wayne Anthony Ross," said Kookesh, who is also a co-chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives. "That's where this is going."

Palin dismissed the criticism as unwarranted.

http://www.adn.com/news/govern...


I believe that Fagan was right over at Alaska Standard (0.00 / 0)
http://www.thealaskastandard.c...

The combination of Palin rejecting federal stimulus money and appointing Wayne Anthony Ross to the Attorney General spot should be the final piece of evidence proving that our governor is done with Alaska.



Celtic Diva


[ Parent ]




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