Blog Sporadic for a few Days

I'm moving out of my house and am off to Bisbee Saturday for part of the winter and then to the Pyrenees Mountains for a stint. Sorry if the posts are sporadic for a few days until I re-settle in Bisbee for the winter months. I'll be back on the blog by Monday.

Obama Warriors-
keep up the fight.

Kim

Drill Baby Drill Redux

More Achorage Anti-Palin Rally Photos

I keep getting more and more images from the rally last Saturday. Here are some more.

Women For Obama Event-this Sunday

Sunday September 21th is the day for Women for Obama in and around Homer!

All women who support Obama's run for the presidency are invited to Kat Haber's home to:

* Discuss the issues
* Write letters
* Make calls
* Watch a DVD from the Obama campaign
* Share a good time

Meet at 1:00 PM at 300 Wandering Meadows Lane; bring a dish to share and a cellphone to make calls.
Call Kat at 299 2363 for directions or more information..

Another Alaskan Woman Speaks Out Against Palin

This is a letter written in response to Mairiis' letter earlier in the blog. Nina, the author, is another amazing Homer friend of mine. The photo above is one I took while visiting Nina and Ed to witness the amazing sandhill cranes that summer in Homer.


Mairiis,

You, as a life-long, small-town Alaska resident, have eloquently spoken for those of us who do not support Sarah Palin and what she stands for.

There are many Alaskans who care about the environment, social justice, reproductive rights and personal choice, separation of church and state, and do not support the war in Iraq and do not want to see a continuation of the present Bush policies.

Make no mistake about it--McCain/Palin=More of the Same Bush Policies. You are right on when you point out that the Sarah Palin campaign is a diversion from scrutiny of McCain and what he represents. What I find very scary too is that the McCain campaign is trying very hard to keep the news media from digging deeply into Sarah's background and from asking too many questions. If the media is not working as probing, truth-finders and are prevented from doing their jobs of interviewing candidates, the public is reduced to getting their information mainly the campaigns. Most people do not go beyond what they hear on tv, radio, or newspapers. Fair but tough media scrutiny is important to an open democracy.

And that is another thing that really bothers me, all the secrecy we are now learning about in the Palin administration. There is a real problem in government accountability and transparency if much of Alaska's business is being conducted on private email accounts. There is a loss of state history this way and a loss of public access to state records. According to the Anchorage Daily News article http://www.adn.com/front/story/526281.html
Palin's aides were requested to use her personal yahoo account to email her. This is very disturbing for a governor who has publicly said she would have an open and transparent government. None of the state's business should be done on personal accounts. I thought we had just ended the Murkowski administration, one of the most secretive in the state's history!

I hope that Americans will look closely at how the McCain campaign is putting the glitzy gloss on their public image to cover over what they really represent. Their motto for Sarah is really, "No questions if it is not in the script." Look deeper, find out what McCain's record is--90% like Bush's-- and urge the media to keep asking hard questions of all candidates.

Nina,
another small-town Alaska resident

The Pastor who Clashed with Palin

Baptist minister Howard Bess, who wrote a book Palin wanted banned and who fought her on abortion and gay rights, says the country should fear her election.

This is an exerpt from an article written by Salon journalist David Talbot. Cut and paste this link to get the whole really alarming article.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html

...Bess is unnerved by the prospect of Palin -- a woman whose mind is given to dogmatic certitude -- standing one step away from the Oval Office. "It's truly frightening that someone like Sarah has risen to the national level," Bess said. "Like all religious fundamentalists -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- she is a dualist. They view life as an ongoing struggle to the finish between good and evil. Their mind-set is that you do not do business with evil -- you destroy it. Talking with the enemy is not part of their plan. That puts someone like Obama on the side of evil....Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board," said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism -- your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.'

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

Munger also asked Palin if she truly believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

More Lipstick Humor

Say No Thanks!

Tired of the lipstick Shtick???
A fun idea from Obama Fans and the "Susia Booning" Duo.
Two more amazing Alaskan Women!!!

Obama Rally a Success

An enthusiastic group of Obama Warriors met last night at Alan and Mindy's house to energize each other, share thoughts about the amazing human being/candidate that Barack Obama is. We strategized and assigned phone lists to canvass people in the battleground states. We have come to realize that our voices as Alaskans are in the national spotlight right now are better heard by people in other states.

I took a bunch of photos that I had hoped to post here but have had a memory stick malfunction. DRAT!!!

Obama is projected to win by a landslide!!! Pass it on.
Your Fellow Warrior for Obama
Kim

*****PS Thank you for all your links to interesting articles concerning the election. What I've discovered is that often I'll receive the same linked article 5-6 times from different people. I've decided that there isn't much point re-printing the same article once again, preaching to the choir as it is. I'd like to print our unique voices as citizens concerned about the future of our country, the world, and the environment. These pieces could be in the form of musings, narratives, testimonials, research findings, photographs, poetry, prose, humor etc. I will continue to add noteworthy news article links as they hit the press but let's also hear your unique voices. Below I've posted a fascinating piece by Alaskan homesteader Mariis Kilcher. Let her know what you think in the comments box at the bottom!

Alaskan Homesteader Weighs In On Sarah!

This photo is the Kilcher Family Homestead Cabin. Following is a fascinating narrative from Mairiis Kilcher, an old friend of ours whose family homesteaded in Homer, Alaska before there was a road. Mairiis has always been a role model to me. She's tough and gritty as well as sensitive, artistic and politically astute. Extraordinary as she is she's not unlike many other Alaskan women. Alaskan women truly are a different breed. Read on and thank you Mairiis. Please comment at the bottom of the letter to let Mairiis know what you think.

I am a 66 year old , Alaska born ,pioneer woman. Sarah Palin does
not represent my values and my beliefs, nor those of countless Alaska
women, who have also hunted, fished, raised families , and cared
for a disabled family member while earning a living . I come from a
large homesteading family and grew up in a one room log cabin with 7
brothers and sisters. We hunted and fished, out of necessity, not for
recreation. My father was one of the 55 writers of the Alaska Stare
Constituion and a former State Senator. My niece is the singer,
Jewel. . I operate a small farm and run a small tourist business,
while my husband drives school bus. I am the only woman member of
the Fox River Cattlemen's Association. I am a songwriter, folksinger,
stone carver, and wildlife photographer. I have worked in the salmon
and crab canneries as a girl, on road construction crews, have gone
to college , travelled overseas, raised a family, and have a child
with special needs. Most of the Alaska women I know--whether captains
of their own fishing boats, or business owners or artists or
executives or doctors or secretaries or just plain moms,--we all
share the same passion for bettering our communities, for protecting
our environment and educating our children to be wise stewards of the
earth. Sarah does not speak for us! She has done nothing in her less
than 2 years as governor to help the women of this state. .

If there is going to be a woman in high office, it should be someone
who was not just pulled out of a hat for political purposes to
distract the public from the really important issues via their media
hype and focus on her good looks and down home hockey mom appeal. We
need someone who has worked hard, state by state, to earn their
right to be nominated . We deserve someone who has put in time in
the world arena, who knows how to work with many different kinds of
people, someone who can relate to large cities as well as a small
farm towns, someone familiar with black neighborhoods or immigrant
border towns, who can unify rather than polarize. Someone who
understand the way s of the world beyond Alaska's borders! Someone
who wold only use war as a last resort. We love Alaska, we are
strong , independent, thinking and capable Alaskan women who do
not base our vote on gender, race or religion, but on the issues.
In no way, does Sarah reflect our views or share our concerns, and
we are insulted that the McCain propaganda machine is making it sound
as if we are all supportive of her. They are using her, to distract us
all from McCain's lack of personal appeal and same old same old
political rhetoric. They are trying to make the bridge from nowhere
into their own idea, when in fact is was the democrats in Alaska who
were against it most. They make her come across like some kind of
heroine, a glamour figure, a role model for American women. NOT!

We abhor her stance against protecting Alaska from Global Warming, she
shows no concern for the threat it poses to Polar Bears and
countless first Alaskans who depend on the sea mammals for their very
lives.

We ask: Why is no one making a big deal about the fact that Palin
opposed the ALaska Clean Water Initiative (proposition 4)--which would
have imposed tighter restrictions on large scale mining operations?

We ask: what has she done for women in our state? What has she done
for health care in our state.? Nothing . I am at this moment too
broke to afford even a pair of drugstore reading glasses, let alone
expensive designer Sarah Palin glasses!

We ask: Why aren't the news media talking about of the fact that
Alaska passed a law to legalize same day shooting of wolves and
bears from an airplane as a means of "predator" control--so the likes
of Sarah Palin can shoot more moose? Why are not more people outraged
that our woman governor could tolerate such barbarism? What kind of
woman enjoys or tolerates killing for sport in the first place? Is
that being pro-life? What kind of message does that send the world ?

We ask: Why is no one making headlines out of the fact that she
supports development of on of the biggest open pit gold mines
(Pebble Mine--a Canadian, not a U.S. company) ) in the world--which
would sit right at the headwaters of the biggest SALMON fishery in the
world , destroying thousands of square acres of pristine wilderness
for the greedy few with the potential to pollute Alaska's waters with
toxic waste? And she calls herself a fisherman, and a champion of the
fishing industry?

Not all Alaskans support drilling in ANWR, and I am one of them. Lets
find new ways to make energy, or more efficient cars. I want my
Alaskan parks and refuges left wild and unscarred for the benefit of
my grandchildren. Enough Alaskan wilderness has been ruined already
by rampant logging, drilling, mining and over fishing! All Sarah
Palin wants to to do is drill, baby , drill.

Most terrifying of all, do we really want a self described PIT BULL
as our next vice president, (and , God forbid, president) Do we
really want a gun toting , shoot from the lip, in your face,
religious extremist who believes God is on her side? I thought we
were fighting a war against those kinds of guys!!.

Who can we contact to bring our concerns to the attention of the
American public before it is too late? Will the Obama campaign
contact us and invite us to speak out around the Nation, so we can
tell the world we are insulted and ashamed to be associated with Sarah
Palin? Call me, I am ready and willing to go..

SIncerely,

Mairiis Kilcher , Homer, Alaska

Heck of a Job, Brownie!

Heath Family, via Associated Press

The Wasilla City Council, with Sarah Palin, the future governor and vice-presidential nominee, at the center, in a 1998 photograph. Throughout her career, Ms. Palin has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and blurred the line between government and personal grievance.

Check this out if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?th&emc=th

DRILL, BABY, DRILL

The twilight-zone-esque sight and sound of 20,000 RNC participants all simultaneously chanting "Drill, Baby, Drill" was horrifying to me. A nightmarish memory that won't leave me soon. Lest we forget the ramifications of our folly into rampant offshore drilling, I have posted some visual reminders.

Drill, Baby, Drill

McCain/ Palin Support Offshore Drilling

...and they support the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
The Republican rant "We Need to Reduce our Dependence on Foreign Oil" is a clever and appealing euphemism for "Alaska's Resources are For Sale" to the highest bidder. (see Pebble Mine)




DRILL, BABY, DRILL
DRILL, BABY, DRILL

Why I Came to Alaska

A photograph of the beautiful waters of Kachemak Bay here in Homer, Alaska. I took this standing on the beach of what Gordon and I refer to as "our secret beach". Had it not been for a tenacious group of Homer citizen grass-roots activists some 30 years ago, this photo would also include offshore oil rigs in this breathtakingly beautiful bay.

Over 1,400 at "No to Palin" Rally in Anchorage

by Ted Land
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska--Alaska women reached across political boundaries to reject Sarah Palin Saturday afternoon.

But they were joined by a group who support the governor.

Both sides gathered at a rally in Midtown right outside the Loussac Library, which is usually a pretty quiet place. The crowd of demonstrators cheering and chanting at the rally numbered more than a thousand at its peak.

What started as a gathering of eight women over coffee last week turned into a massive demonstration.

"We would've been happy with 10, we would've been happy with 100, but we're clearly happy with the number of people that are here today," said rally organizer Llona Bessenyey.

Sondra Tompkins has consistently voted Republican but says she cannot bring herself to support McCain if he's bringing Palin with him.

"She's so unbelievably inexperienced and she's a heartbeat away from the presidency," said Tompkins.

Across the street, Evelyn Aslou was part of a group defending McCain and Palin.

"I identify with her as a mom," Aslou said. "Of course McCain, what else can you say, he is a war hero."

In the midst of the crowd was radio host Eddie Burke who earlier this week faced controversy for giving out the personal phone numbers of the rally organizers on his show. A few angry listeners called and threatened the organizers.

"I probably got a little over the top by calling them maggots and I would say that I regret that," Burke said.

KBYR Station Manager Justin McDonald says radio host Eddie Burke will be punished for giving out phone numbers because it is a violation of station policy. McDonald says although the press release containing the phone numbers did not indicate they were personal lines, he is still unhappy about what happened.

Despite earlier events this week, there were no issues of threats at the rally, but rather substantive political discussions. There were disagreements and some name-calling, but for the most part it was peaceful.

People were debating subjects such as abortion, national security, and health care. Some talked about Palin's values and how they relate to them.

But those who organized the rally made one thing clear: Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women.

Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.com

Deepak Chopra & the Palin Effect

This is a very powerful and interesting piece by Deepak Chopra. I wish I could get these addresses to come up as links on the blog. Until I figure out how to do that, you will have to "copy" the address and then "paste" in the url line of your browser.

http://www.chopra.com/node/1064

hat tip to Ron! thanks for the link

your friend and Obama Warrior
Kim

Welcome to Pro-obama /No to Palin/ BLOG

Hello Friends

With all the emails flying around since the Sarah Phenomenon hit the news cycles, I thought it time to organize and consolidate our efforts to get the Obama Phenomenon up and running again. Hence this blog.

Thanks to all that have sent me your thoughts and links. Keep them coming and I'll post them here. Following are some that I've received recently that I thought you might all benefit from. Keep on Keepin On / Don't be Discouraged. Let's get the truth out without resorting to distortions and falsehoods BUT WE CAN'T BE SQUEAMISH. The gloves are off- Let's take it back. GO OBAMA!!!!!!!

If you're interested in more info on the campaign, Bookmark this Blog for updates.

Your Friend and Fellow Warrior for Obama
Kim

PS To my Homer, Alaska friends: Don't forget about the OBAMA RALLY at the home of Alan and Mindy Parks this Sunday @ 5:00pm . Hope to see you there.

Musical Action!!

A friend from Bisbee, Arizona just sent me this link. I Dig it!!!!
You go Sean. Keep on A'Singin!!! (hat tip to Marlyce)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eWUyjPom6IU


Here's another I found that reminded how amazing Barack Obama really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJz6sU-zm0&feature=related

Action in Anchorage

I thought I'd forward this email that just came to me this morning from an Anchorage friend ready to confront the Palin Groupies in downtown Anchorage. Activism is alive and well in our state. Let's keep it up. Go Girlz and Dudz!

Hi Kim,

I leave in a couple hours for our first 'AK women against Palin' rally. We made signs last night. If you've caught the local news, you saw the rabid-right in action. A local conservative radio talk-show guy called us 'socialist baby-killing maggots'. Then he gave out the phone numbers of two of the women (from a flyer or web sight), and they were inundated with hate calls.

Now the pro-Palin people are having a counter rally, and we'll probably have 20-30 people and they'll have hundreds. The cops are supposed to be there, so check out the news tonight.

All this started with ten of us friends meeting at the Middle Way Cafe last Saturday, and we wanted to do something to let others know that Palin doesn't speak for ALL Alaska.

Wish you were here - we could use the support!
KK

DOUBLE STANDARD

Hello Friends

This was just sent to me by a Homer Friend. I really it love it and it's right on. What do you think. (hat tip to TG-thanks)

DOUBLE STANDARD

If you're a minority and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "token hire."
If you're a conservative and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "game changer."

Black teen pregnancies? A "crisis" in black America .
White teen pregnancies? A "blessed event."

If you grow up in Hawaii you're "exotic."
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential "American story."

Similarly, if you name you kid Barack you're "unpatriotic."
Name your kid Track, you're "colorful."

If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're "reckless."
A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a "maverick."

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African Amerian voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.


If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.


If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an "arrogant celebrity".
If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are "energizing the base".

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are "presumptuous".
If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a "shoot from the hip" maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are "an elitist-out of touch" with the real America .
if you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Anapolis , with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.

If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an "empty suit".
If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an "experienced executive".

If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are "extremist".
If you believe in creationism and don't believe global warming is man made, you are "strongly principled".

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you have been married to the same woman with whom you've been wed to for 19 years and raising 2 beautiful daughters with, you're "risky".

If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of yourunborn child.
But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.

If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you "First dog."
If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you "beautiful" and "courageous."

If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion your not a christian, you're a murderer ( forget about if it happen while being date raped.)

If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If you're a Republican senator who solicits sex in an airport bathroom, you get to return to your job in the Senate and are encouraged to run for re-election.
If you're a Democratic Senator who is out of public office and have an affair, your political career is over and your wife who has terminal cancer is to blame.