Full Friday for Anchorage – Get Active!
25 09 2009There’s a lot going on in Anchorage today, so pick your priorities, but staying home is not an option!
HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL
5:30pm Bartlett High School, 1101 N. Muldoon Rd., Anchorage
Mark Begich is in town and hosting a Town Hall meeting on health care. Get that adrenaline pumping and show up for your fellow citizens who need this. Think of someone you know who has struggled with health care issues, and show up for THEM.
In his Town Hall Meeting in June, more than 90% of those in attendance raised their hands for a public option. This is what people actually want. But, as we know, the teabaggers will be out there pretending they speak for the majority (which includes YOU). So come be part of the festivities. A health care bill is getting closer to reality, and Senator Begich remains frustratingly “middle of the road” on the most important domestic issue of our time. Bring a sign, be loud, and be present for a public option for ALL Americans!
“UNITY” INDEED…
6:00-7:00pm Anchorage Hilton Hotel, 500 W. 3rd Avenue, Anchorage
Mayor Dan Sullivan has changed the name of the traditional “Diversity Dinner” to the “Unity Dinner” and moved the venue to the only boycotted hotel in the city. In May, the very diverse Hilton workers overwhelmingly voted to place their hotel under boycott because their employer continues to degrade their quality of life, which also threatens to do the same to industry standards in Anchorage.
He also vetoed an ordinance passed by the Anchorage Assembly which added the words “sexual orientation” to the city’s non-discrimination policy as it applies to housing, employment, public facility use and education. So, it’s no wonder the term “diversity” offends the mayor.
He has used this event, designed to bring diverse people together to divide us further. By using this as a political tool to jab a stick in the eye of local unions, he has told us a lot about where he stands on that issue as well, and whose side he’s on.
All union folks, and anyone who recognizes that the unions are one of the only organized forces left that are actively fighting for the middle class, needs to show up and stand in solidarity as organizers cross the picket line.
TRUE DIVERSITY
Snow Goose Restaurant & Sleeping Lady Brewery, 717 W. 3rd Ave.
Doors open at 7pm, Festivities begin at 7:30
The mayor may be uncomfortable with the word “diversity,” but a lot of us are not. Join a whole bunch of fun and diverse people at the “True Diversity Dinner” being held at the Snow Goose. Tickets, if there are any left, are $10 a pop at Borders Books. (Much better than the picket-line-crossing $60 a head Unity dinner featuring Lynn Swann, who will also be engaging in a very partisan political event while he’s in our fair city.)
You can learn more HERE. There’s also a Paypal button you can use to help defray the cost of the event. Thanks to the list of fantastic organizers who have worked to make this event a reality.
So, that’s it… A full Friday for Anchorage residents. Check back here. While I cannot (much to my dismay) be in three places at once, I’m going to give it a good college try.
September 25th, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Oh, sounds like a fun Friday. Here we’ll be going to a Peggy Seeger concert!
September 25th, 2009 at 11:10 AM
you always seem to be in three places at one time AKM..good luck.
September 25th, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Good luck indeed. I will be thinking of Anchorage tonight. Hope you make all three places!
September 25th, 2009 at 12:12 PM
have a happily diverse and fun night akm. come back and tell all….bubs
September 25th, 2009 at 12:14 PM
who and/or what is a lynn swan and what is it when it’s at home?..bubs
September 25th, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Re: The Healthcare Town Hall – Looks like the loons will NOT get away with bringing their guns. Good job Anchorage!
“Anchorage Police Department has received unconfirmed reports that some individuals have encouraged persons attending the Town Hall meeting scheduled for Sept. 25, 2009 at Bartlett High School to carry firearms in support of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. This is in violation of both Alaska Statutes and the United States Code whether or not school is in session. Neither Anchorage School District nor its Chief Administrative Officer (Superintendent) has granted permission for deadly or defensive weapons to be possessed on ASD grounds. Persons violating this law will be subject to immediate arrest.”
http://mamadance.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/take-that-right-wing-nut-jobs/
September 25th, 2009 at 12:39 PM
The Diversity Dinner and the Mayor’s Dis-Unity Dinner are only 2 short blocks apart… with the union picket line stretching down the street between them! Many of us WILL be at both events.
September 25th, 2009 at 12:48 PM
bubs–it used to be a pro football player I think and ran for gov. of PA (I think). Don’t know what it does now…
September 25th, 2009 at 1:00 PM
I guess I waited too long, and when I called Borders about tickets, they told me they were sold out already. I was hoping this would sell out, but not until I had my tickets! I hope this True Diversity Dinner is a great success and then just might become a yearly event, (at least while Dan Sullivan is mayor).
I’m off instead to volunteer with Organizing for America who are handing out information on Health Insurance Reform at the Town Hall that Sen. Begich is holding today. Lots going on all at once here. TGIF!
September 25th, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Re #5 and #8 bubbles and InJuneau
A lynn swan is a retired Pittsburgh Steelers football player, now trying to be a politician. I don’t know whether that is a step up or down. He was a very good football player; as a politician, not so much.
September 25th, 2009 at 1:31 PM
No signs, food or drinks allowed.” Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet says that’s because they’d make a crowded meeting more crowded and obstruct the audience’s view. “We don’t want people waving signs when senator is trying to have a conversation with folks. Distracting,” Hasquet wrote in an e-mail.
September 25th, 2009 at 1:54 PM
prisonernumber6–thanks for filling in the details. I knew he’d played and figured it was in PA, but you know how the state divide is…I’d never have been able to get that info from the spouse! (not that the spouse follows sports anyway!). I did get the feeling that the new career choice wasn’t such a good one.
September 25th, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Take plenty of pictures and enjoy yourselves!!
September 25th, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Looking forward to hearing all the “boots on the ground” takes from those of you who make it to some or all of these events. I said on a post the other night that “Guerilla Warfare Rocks.” And it sound like that’s the kind of night Anchorage is having.
Doubt that many could argue that our side got out flanked in August with the tea baggers and the birthers and the health care protestors. Silly us, we thought we’d turned a corner last November as a country.
Apparently not yet.
Now we know the opposition, now we get the stakes, now we know the tactics.
Keep it going on a local level. As the President told us during the campaign, change comes from the bottom up. Seems like we’re making some progress in the health care debate but we need to keep the pressure on.
Yes we can.
Fired up, ready to go.
September 25th, 2009 at 3:15 PM
I would have thought even the gun rights people would know better than to bring guns onto school property.After all the school shootings it would really make them look bad.Here’s hoping anyone that does bring a gun on school property be jailed and kept their until they are checked out
September 25th, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Looking forward to the reports from all events.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:54 PM
The True Diversity Dinner was the BEST. Shannyn and the other speakers were great!!!!! Not enough exclamation marks to express it. It has renewed my faith in Anchorage as a city that I want to be a part of. Thank you to all who attended in person or in spirit.
September 25th, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Thank you John # 17. I rushed home from work just sure that AKM or Shannyn would be live blogging from the event. Sigh. I think perhaps they were having too much fun standing up for everyone’s rights! I hope some other Mudpuppies come and dish to us!
September 25th, 2009 at 11:48 PM
(1) Lynn Swann was a fabulous receiver for the Steelers, although in truth he probably wouldn’t have had quite such a great career if John Stallworth wasn’t the other WR. And the vice versa is true for Stallworth, of course.
(2) A lot of top-level NFL “skill” players decide they are Republicans. It actually makes sense — they are rich. As a genetically-determined Packer fan, i can still remember my heart breaking when I saw a commercial in which Bart Starr (recently retired, to be fair) endorsed Richard Nixon for the 1968 election.
Now I just remind myself that the NFL veteran “minimum” is about twice what I made in my very best working years. If I made that much, I might be a … no, I don’t think so. But a lot of them are.
I’m delighted to hear that the Actual Diversity Banquet was a success. Congratulations.