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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...
My daughter touched a Silver Medal!
USA Women's Olympic Hockey Team Star Kerry Weiland with our friend Isabella and my daughter Morrigan at St. Baldrick's Day
(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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Sarah 
Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 08:03:22 AM AKDT
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(Lazarhat does a nice "troll extermination" post that I thought you all should see.
I'll be out for the rest of the day. Sadly, with the worsening climate (and I'm not talking about weather) I don't feel comfortable publicly stating where I'm going ahead of time anymore. I'll be back with a post this evening. - promoted by Celtic Diva)
Oil Well Willie writes:
"well, you know what they say... (0.00 / 1)
in politics, if you have to keep explaining your
stupidity you are losing losing.
speaking of losing, you and your tribe are 0-15
on the ethics complaint boondoggle.
tut tut"
Well see Willie it's like this:
By whose scorecard? Yours and my friend Navylcc19's? Oh that's right -- it's that chatty little blog Sarah runs (or designates someone to run FOR her at her behest):
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/arc...
The game is fixed and run by employees of the executive branch if you're talking about the personnel board! With lawyers bought and paid for by either Sarah (defending her) or the state -- which, oh wait! -- is ALSO Sarah since the executive branch has hired several local lawyers to act as 'investigators' on behalf of the board... and Sarah IS the 'CEO' of this entire circus. Who is wasting money on lawyers? For most of these cases 'investigators' have been retained by the board. This is open and transparent? A process in a representative democracy where the people have no say, no oversight? These are NOT independent counsels under ANY traditional meaning of the term.
I am not impugning any of these people or the jobs they have done, I'm asking for a little checks and balances here, is all. The personnel board is absolutely, positively, 100% the WRONG venue for investigations into executive branch ethics complaints. Time to hit the reset button for Alaska and go back to the rational, open, honest and BI-PARTISAN days of the ORIGINAL 'Troopergate' investigation by our state legislature. The one that had started BEFORE the McCain campaign! The one that Sarah, Meg and the rest of the bunch (allegedly paid for by the McCain campaign) would later work so hard to discredit and derail as being "partisan" and "politically motivated".
Again, the people of Alaska didn't start this fight, Sarah did when she went on television, while on the campaign trail with McCain and 'Troopergate' was just starting to be investigated in Alaska by the legislature's independent counsel as agreed upon by a bi-partisan vote. She uttered the words "hold me accountable". (We're trying dear, but you must stop squirming. Admit your sins, fess up, move along. You did with the travel expense problems, so keep up the good work! Go Sarah! Go you!)
So we didn't start it but we will damn sure finish it AND in the appropriate LEGAL venue instead the big red "NO" stamp from what appear to be her rubber-stamping cronies on the personnel board. And while we do it, peacefully, with humor and grace, we will NOT make personal threats against the opposition. Nor shall we publish personal information including phone numbers for them on the internet. Nor will we use our radio programs as bully pulpit to suggest that listeners harass the opposition or do crazy stuff like threaten them with violence. Lastly we promise that we will NOT unleash our Chief of Staff to suggest that, and I quote from the ADN article (from a press release put up on the state of Alaska website), "I hope that the publicity-seekers will face a backlash from Alaskans who have a sense of fair play and proportion...". What does that mean, Mr. Nizch? Wasilla justice? Should I be worried about getting kneecapped by Tonya Harding's thugs, sir?
So in summation Mr. Oil Well Willie, when Governor Palin is driving this bus of state we Alaskans like to call "Alaska" we just want to make sure she's keeping her eyes on the road, doing her job and NOT issuing chatty TWEETS to the rest of the cheerleader squad.
-Laz
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Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 18:32:15 PM AKDT
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Surely she hasn't gone naked hiking... best Letterman joke would be that she was in the Appalachians, hiking, of course.
Best reality scenario would be that it was HER who was Mark Sanford's "dangerous liaison" or "good, good, Argentinian friend" to explain her presently being out of state in an undisclosed location "visiting troops". I kid you not.
Perhaps her flight from Buenos Aires was delayed?
-Laz
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Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 18:23:06 PM AKDT
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( - promoted by Celtic Diva)
I was poking around the SOA Finance website last night and noticed the dumb-ification of the database. There is an overall report but now all expenses are just identified as "Office of the Governor" and not attributed to any individuals. Curious? Is that the same form as last year?
Same story with travel records. Just a general spreadsheet providing a snapshot overview of travel rather than .PDFs of the actual submitted forms. I want to see the forms, please. I have heard no reasonable explanation of why I cannot. Andrew Halcro knew where to find them but even I, a search engine abusing fool who does quite well at finding obscure stuff could NOT find the ACTUAL submitted forms.
Supposedly they USED to have them online (since Andrew had copies of them in a post on his blog) but where are they now? Sarah is a student of G.W. and Cheney, seriously, so she and her staff are becoming more skilled in the ways of informational revisionism. Removing public documents from public availability is a serious transgression. It only increases suspicion that they are trying to hide something.
After the D'Oro hit piece from AP with plenty of juicy quotes from Palin and her venomous minions there is a line in there that originally said "they had seen the documents" concerning her $8,100 repyment of travel expenses and could attest to their validity. I call bullshit! BULLSHIT I SAY LOUDLY AND FREQUENTLY. Produce the documenents. Show the people of Alaska the reports AS FILED.
Oh? What is that you say? The Personnel Board and Governor Palin reached an agreement wherein they don't have to produce the documents because they are NOW covered under attorney-client privilege because they were the subject of the very settlement itself between the Governor and the Personnel Board? Again I call bullshit!
BULLSHIT Mr. Van Flein! Bullshit, Governor Palin! If there is nothing to hide and you truly want an ethical, open and transparent government of, by and FOR the people of Alaska it's time to produce ALL the documents proving your innocence. Anything less and I call BULLSHIT! Show 'em or fold 'em you bluffers.
-Laz
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Fri May 29, 2009 at 08:43:07 AM AKDT
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Instead of taking the SOA Personnel Board's WORD that the investigations are costing the state too much money, why hasn't anyone asked for a complete accounting of exactly what those charges are? An itemized and complete accounting for all the services rendered pertaining to those investigations. I don't see how that would violate anyone's privacy -- you're not saying who caused those charges, just spelling out precisely how the state is spending "all that money".
I have an idea that the bulk of the charges are perhaps from overpriced lawyers acting as 'investigators' in lieu of an actual attorney general or independent counsel -- remember Sarah hired these personnel board investigators so they are NOT independent -- at $400 an hour, defending Sarah from any 'complaints'. Just sayin'. Ahem. Cough cough.
-Laz
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Thu May 14, 2009 at 01:21:37 AM AKDT
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Ok, here's the deal:
The book supposedly isn't going to happen until 2010. Another sign, as Andrew H. said that she IS NOT going to go for Govenor in 2010. She'll bail, two weeks later the book will hit and two month later she'll be involved somehow in national politics.
Sorry. Just my prediction for better or worse and I'm not saying it will be a good or a bad thing. Sarah's got "first runner-up" ambitions and nobody can stop an ex-beauty queen first runner-up and her ambitions except the monster itself. Trust me. Some of my best friends were beauty queens in high school. Junior Misses and whatnot. The word juggernaut comes to mind.
But for now the focus should be on any advance she may get for this "book" she "writes" and any monies paid in advance must be properly declared and accounted for... otherwise I don't have a problem with her supposedly "writing" a "book" if she can show she did it in her spare time. You know, the times when she's not greedily collecting her per diem while living, eating and sleeping in her own home.
Oh wait. The law is written so as you are pretty much owned 24/7 by the state as its executive so anything before 2010 would be... anyone? Anyone? Bueler? Yes. Yet Another Ethics Violation.
Pardon me for pointing out that when you have a three member board that was appointed and serves at the behest of the executive (the personnel board) supported by outside counsel hired by the same executive and defended against by a lawyer hired by the very same executive, investigations become far too incestuous for my taste. There needs to be a more balanced venue for ethics investigations. Hmmm. Perhaps one of those other branches of government that are supposed to work in concert with the other two to balance out the three-legged stool we call American Democracy? Hmmm? Checks and Balances? Anyone hear of that since middle school civics class? How about a little "What up?" Legislative branch? Judicial branch? Grow a pair and put the hammer down on this "Bush in Training" executive.
Pretty please?
Same for the appointment of an interim AG. I have an idea that she knew full well that WAR didn't have a snowball's chance in hell to get appointed and she'd be able to control her hand picked flying monkey much easier than some rogue, maverick-y guy like WAR. Thus AG Rubberstamp, who shall keep stamping away until she delays herself through another session of not picking a replacement AG.
I applaud the article, Linda. I'm just prognosticating aloud.
-Laz
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