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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...
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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This is the first of the vegetable boxes that my husband is making for me. They are approximately 4ft x 8ft and are four 4"x4"s deep...so it's about 16" high. As you can see, there is fabric on the bottom (attached by staple gun)...it's the special stuff that will allow the box to drain but won't allow the grass/weeds to come through from below (we are not ripping the sod up on this side of the house). Also, as shown by my chair sitting there, the height is about perfect for me to garden while sitting and I'm pretty sure I can reach all the way around while still sitting down.
I don't even want to know how many screws my husband pumped into this thing -- it's incredibly sturdy.
Tomorrow starts the "filling with dirt" stage.
Ya know, just as an aside, my husband and I were only together for about 6 months when I was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure...he was 21. He stayed with me and never shared a moment's doubt, even through the degeneration of my neck, back and knees. We were married in 2005 and he's the only real father my daughter has ever known. Two years ago, he told me to stay home when going to work everyday became too difficult and painful.
He does things like this for me every day.
When people accuse me of being "jealous" of Sarah Palin, all I can do is shake my head. I know how lucky I am and I wouldn't trade what I have for anything.
This is Sarah Palin's first policy speech and (big surprise) she blows it. During the speech, she discusses how the McCain "budget freeze" shouldn't be a concern for kids with disabilities or their families...the McCain-Palin ticket will redirect money for "special needs issues" from "special projects" that "don't do the public any good." Her example is "fruit fly research in Paris, France" and she mentions it while looking at the crowd as if she's aghast that such a thing could exist.
The research is being done at the University of North Carolina, which is nowhere near France. They've discovered through this research that "a certain protein is required for nerve cells to form and function properly." This could provide significant advances in the understanding of autism.
Oops...
Keith Olbermann: "How could they let Governor Palin go out and mock research that has identified a genetic indicator for autism? Who is stupid or insensitive enough to let that happen?
Richard Wolf (Newsweek): "Keith, I'm going to be as restrained and measured as I possibly can about this. But, this is the most mindless, ignorant, uninformed comment that we have seen from Governor Palin so far and there's been a lot of competition for that prize."
So, the McCain-Palin ticket (if they can keep their feet out of their mouths long enough) will be the "champions" of the disabled. That's a title Sarah Palin should first try earning in Alaska.
State Senator Bill Wielechowski: "I can tell you she wasn't a champion for disabled children as governor. I was surprised to hear her say that in her speech."
When an individual needs services, it is often years before he or she begins to receive them. Because there are more individuals than can be served with available funds, the state maintains a list of those who wish to receive services. An added complication is the need for an integrated data management system that can better track the status of individuals on the waitlist, and maintain up-to-date information about their needs. An Ad Hoc Committee on the Waitlist developed a series of recommendations for managing the list. Monitoring the progress toward achieving the recommendations, and participating actively as the system is redesigned will be an important focus of the Council.
Number of individuals on the list as of 11/15/2007: 943
Number of individuals 22 years old or younger as of 11/15/2007: 719
Number of individuals on the list for 90 days or more: 836
Average length of time for individuals on the Registry: 43 months
The latest estimates say that the Alaska Budget Surplus now equals between $5 and $8 billion. The estimate for what it would cost to deliver services to those 943 people on the waiting list is $45 million.
So, Governor Palin, if you REALLY want to prove you are ALL ABOUT special needs, come home and write a friggin' check. Until then, please spare us at least this one huge, steaming pile. There's a group of 943 mostly-kids (as well as their families) who know you are full of it.
Golly, we are rolling in stories over the last few days about Sarah Palin's relationship with her family and the McPalin ticket's relationships with other people's kids.
It's not a pretty picture.
First, we'll start with the blog that originally talked about at least part of the story that the National Enquirer said they "broke"...Track Palin's legal troubles and the basis for his entrance into the military.
While I trust my sources, I don't have enough independent information to nail this. So I'll drop my editorial based on this and just offer the basic allegation.
Troopers did not release names of the juvenile suspects, but David Coon's mother confirmed her son was one of two Burchell High School students involved in the incident. The other two boys are Wasilla High School students.
We also have this story from Detroit's Free Press:
Her oldest son, Track, lived in Portage [Michigan] during most of his senior year in high school. He played junior major hockey. During an interview at the National Governors Association conference in 2007, she told a Free Press reporter that her son went back to Alaska in March to graduate with his class.
The story I was told is that Track Palin was one of them and that he chose to enter the army rather than go to jail (or have a record?).
*****************UPDATE*********************
Progressive Alaska has deleted their "National Enquirer" post for reasons detailed in the linked article. Since my article here only uses the Track and Bristol stuff (which blogs already knew about) and my post has many parts to it of which the NE stuff is only one, I'm not going to delete this. However, I will post this as a disclaimer.
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Then we have the Energizer Bunnies, the folks at The National Enquirer and their heartwarming story yesterday which included the Track-avoids-jail-in-the-army story, faithfully reported by Progressive Alaska:
The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah's oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics, detailed in the new issue of The ENQUIRER, which goes on sale today.
THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track's use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.
Of course, that was only the part about Track Palin, there is still the Bristol chapter:
"Bristol was a huge stoner and drinker. I've seen her smoke pot and get drunk and make out with so many guys. All the guys would brag that the just made out with Bristol."
When Sarah found out the teen was pregnant by high schooler Levi Johnston, she was actually banished from the house. As part of the cover-up, Palin quickly transferred Bristol to another high school and made her move in with Sarah's sister Heather 25 miles away!
And here's the money quote:
The friend also confided that both Bristol and Levi "broke up a few times and they definitely messed around with other people."
