Open Thread – Moore Up North
Great taping of Moore Up North with Shannyn Moore tonight at the Taproot Cafe in Spenard. The show will air Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 9am on KYES, Channel 5. Topics covered a wide variety of issues such as the gas line, the uprising in Wisconsin, Sean Parnell and healthcare, and who wants Sarah Palin to run for President.
INTERVIEW
Larry Persily– Federal Coordinator of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.
PANEL (L-R)
Thomas Dewar– Communications Director for the Alaska Public Employees Association.
Janet Reiser-Chemical engineer and Vice-Chair of the Chugach Electric Board.
Justin McDonald-Program Director for Alaska Integrated Media including the FOXNEWS KOAN 1020AM and 95.5FM.
~Shannyn and Larry Persily
And here I thought I’d make it through February keeping my Sarah-itis under control. It’s kind of like a mild case shingles: inflammation, itching, nuisance… but you know it could get worse, much worse.
Excerpts are tantalizing, AKM!
…and ten days still to go!
Yeah, that whole not talking about SP for the month of February didn’t work out so well, for anyone. It might, if she would only crawl under a rock and stay there for a month. But when she keeps doing and saying such outrageous lies, we really would be doing everyone a disservice if we didn’t call her out on it.
University of Alaska Regents vote 8–2 to add sexual orientation to UA nondiscrimination policy
by Mel Green
http://www.bentalaska.com/2011/02/university-of-alaska-regents-vote-8%E2%80%932-to-add-sexual-orientation-to-ua-nondiscrimination-policy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BentAlaska+%28Bent+Alaska%29
Yeah!
Congress voted to not fund healthcare bill (pretty much party line) and one Arizona firefighter refused to go to Safeway shooting because his politics were different from the others that did go. He is a longtime veteran firefighter and is suspended.What kind of politics let you turn your back on any person that needs assistance? These nutters are getting scarier by the day.
I read the USA Today article and it states that he voted for Gifford. It sounds to me that when he heard about the massacre he had a breakdown over the horror of it all. PTSD from other difficult situations. Let’s wait for more info before passing judgment on this guy.
I was positively shocked to hear this! He had no idea if the wounded were dems or not. How could anyone turn their back on human beings in need?
I think he was freaked out by what happened. EMT is a high stress job and it sounds to me like he just couldn’t face it and had a serious anxiety attack. He was emotionally overcome. I hope he gets the care he needs.
I hope that is the case.
It sounds like that was the case and he has since resigned. Honestly, it’s a wonder that EMTs last as long in their high-stress jobs as they do.
A fan from Ca- I will gladly apologize to former firefighter in Arizona when it becomes evident just what did happen with him. I read he was fearful of political banter at the scene. One might wonder if he expected to engage someone in politcal theory while attending to his job. He has retired and maybe that is the end of the story.
“In BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO SARAH PALIN: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years, Bailey explores such key events as Palin’s gubernatorial victory,
Troopergate, illegal coordination with the Republican Governor’s Association, never-before-revealed scandals such as a judicial appointment as payoff for a favorable child custody ruling for Palin’s sister, the vice presidential campaign and the bizarre vetting process, and Palin’s resignation.”
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/02/18/1550433/former-aides-palin-book-leaked.html#ixzz1ELgDW0Ib
““We set our sights and went after opponents in coordinated attacks, utilizing what we called ‘Fox News surrogates’, friendly blogs, ghost-written op eds, media opinion polls (that we often rigged), letters to editors, and carefully edited speeches,” Bailey wrote. “Nobody needed to be told what to do; we understood Sarah’s silent mandate to do something now.”
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41669583/ns/today-books/
Andrew Halcro: Reloading Instead of Retreating
…….“Bailey’s book reveals a narcissistic liar who was an incompetent governor and a manipulative self promoter who would stop at nothing to destroy those who crossed her. His accounts of her treatment of friends and foes alike, along with her penchant for always playing the victim is astonishing in it’s historical clarity.
The first sentence of the book says it all. “On April 28, 2009, Sarah wrote a simple, but frequently repeated message: I hate this damn job…””……..
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/frank_bailey_reloading_instead_of_retreating
I love that paragraph!
It is said that Mr. McGinness sent this copy to media outlets including the adn. I wonder what prompted him to do this?
Wow!! You have to read this Alaska Dispatch post. Ex-Palin aide, Frank Bailey, has his book finished:
“Drawing on thousands of emails from the personal accounts of Sarah and Todd Palin as well as key members of the staff, Bailey reconstructs how the Palins’ pathologies became apparent, and how he and other members of the team rationalized Sarah’s increasingly erratic behavior and their commitment to a cause that was changing shape before their eyes. Bailey’s stories and representative emails–which are not subject to FOIA requests and therefore will not be included in the email correspondence scheduled to be released by Alaskan officials this May–sketch a disturbing portrait of Sarah Palin and her inner circle. Given the recent news that Palin’s political action committee has hired Michael Glassner, a veteran of both Senator Bob Dole’s and Senator John McCain’s presidential campaigns, as chief of staff, the revelations and insights of Frank’s story are more necessary than ever, as the public will seek to learn as much as possible about the woman who seems to have her sights set on the national stage. Both a chilling expose of the inner workings of Palin’s circle and the story of one man’s slow drift from his most cherished beliefs and his ultimate redemption, BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO SARAH PALIN is sure to strike a chord with readers on both sides of the aisle.”
Read the whole post at:
http://alaskadispatch.com/blogs/palin-watch/8847-book-manuscript-by-ex-palin-aide-leaked-to-media
🙂 Post coming.
Hope the details are juicy. “Thick and fast they came at last, and more and more and more.”
AKM, great news. This is a good day.
Hope so, as I read on the Alaska Politics blog that there are some co-writers! 😉
bet its gonna be a doozie..
🙂 😉 =)
I think the most exciting part is the use of her own words against her through the email trails. She will try to wriggle out of this but I think that the rope will wrap tighter around her the more she does.
When this news broke, you were the first place I turned. Looking forward to your insight!
Someone tell me- leaking the book, is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Happy about the book but want it out on author’s terms.
One thing for sure, I will be buying it.
I would like to know the same thing NEO, and I agree the book should be out on the author’s terms. Anxiously awaiting AKM’s post! 🙂
soon I hope, this is big, right AKM?
The ADN political blogs are going nuts. Great Stuff… good job AKM; delighted to hear you are one of the writers.
You better hurry AKM. You know Irishgirl won’t go to bed till it’s up 🙂
I will still buy the book – even if the manuscript is out there to read – just having the validation in hand is worth it.
Leaked manuscript (co-authored by AKM) references Palin emails such as “I hate this damn job!”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alaskadispatchcom/book-manuscript-by-ex-pal_b_825253.html
Looks like we were reading the same thing at the same time, but you were faster. :>)
Definitely on my reading list!
Just heard the House has passed a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. It’s not over since this stuff has to go to the Senate.
It just shows how dangerous control by the GOP is. Ann Coulter (a conservative darling) also said (at CPAC) that more journalists should be jailed. Ah freedom in the hands of the current conservative party equals….
Again, as this is an open thread, I hope no one minds if I post this:
[snip]The Health and Human Services Department eliminated nearly the entire rule put into effect by the administration of President George W. Bush during his final days in office that was widely interpreted as allowing such workers to opt out of a broad range of medical services, such as providing the emergency contraceptive Plan B, treating gay men and lesbians and prescribing birth control to single women.
Calling the Bush-era rule “unclear and potentially overbroad in scope,” the new, much narrower version essentially leaves in place only long-standing federal protections for workers who object to performing abortions or sterilizations. It also retains the Bush rule’s formal process for workers to file complaints.
“The department supports clear and strong conscience protections for health-care providers who are opposed to performing abortions,” the rule states.
The new regulation, which goes into effect in 30 days, also ensures that no federal money can be used to “support coercive or discriminatory policies or practices in violation of federal law.”
Not a good week for the former half gov.
Even the Iowa GOP is not impressed~~
snip] “As a woman, and from one strong woman to another, I want to like her and want to support her desperately. And yet, you just can’t quite do it. I think she’s a great inspirational person. I think she rallies the troops. I don’t think she has what it takes to actually lead our country into a better economic future . . . And that pains me, because I want a strong woman candidate, and she is a strong woman candidate. But she’s not the right strong woman candidate.” [end snip
read more @
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021707335.html
That was before the breastfeeding comment was common knowledge!
I’m trying to watch the goings on in WI and I have never seen dumber reporting for the most part. Only Ed seems to be on the story and the rest of these people are just babbling.
Rachel explained last night how the new R governor created a budget crisis by spending tax dollars on his well off friends and now wants public employees to shoulder the payments to the rich. And to top it off he wants to take away wage earners rights to collective bargaining.
Ack! This stuff just makes me so mad that we are having to continue to right for basic rights to join together with our fellow workers to negotiate with the boss.
Here is the story of how Walker, the Bagger, has ginned up a fiscal “crisis”.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-gov-walker-ginned-up-budget-shortfall-to-undercut-worker-rights.php
I sure wish someone would also look into just how much public pensions lost due to being sold toxic assets over the past few years.
Did I hear Governor Parnell (Alaska) correctly last night – when he announced not taking the federal funds for insurance – refer to President Obama’s ‘regime’? (Sounds like he is listening to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show – as sad as that is to say!) What a jerk!
One more thing about Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. One of the protesters had a sign that said something about his education – something like 100% of teachers are better educated or smarter than Scott Walker. So I looked it up. Turns out he graduated from high school and attended Marquette for four years. But he was over 30 credits shy of getting his degree – that’s a lot after four years. And, on top of that, he had a “C” average.
He is also the first governor in 59 years to not have a college degree in Wisconsin.
Why, oh why, do people keep voting for those who are less educated, not very smart and seem to hate those who value a good education? I just don’t get it.
There was a Hugo-winning short story (Vonnegut?) about this very subject. In it, everybody was MADE equal with various forms of handicapping (in the racing sense) and woe betide those who actually strived to exceed and succeed the LCD.
“Harrison Bergeron”, that’s it. Yes, read it and weep with recognition. It’s not just a chilling future, it’s a chilling present.
I know what you mean. Saw an interview with one of the new bagger Congressmen last week to discuss the budget. This guy ran a pizza parlor and before that was a machinist. What kind of background is that for reading and understanding what’s in legislation? To me, it just means that these people will just be told what to do my their donors. No wonder we are in such a mess.
He doesn’t have to understand. He just does what others tell him to do.
Pat –
“Why, oh why, do people keep voting for those who are less educated, not very smart and seem to hate those who value a good education? I just don’t get it.”
Krugman’s blog post “Agnotology? [gawd, isn’t that a toughie to even pronounce, let alone understand?] drew the comment quoted below.
“I don’t think the explanation is that the majority on the right thinks Fox is telling them news the liberal elites are hiding. I think its that they’re just not very bright, and its more comfortable for them in terms of cognitive dissonance to just deny any arguments not in line with the philosophy they endorse. Only 1/3 of adults in this country have a college degree, and study after study shows the pitiful state of instruction at many colleges. Rather than engage in debates which involve complicated chains of reasoning and interpretation of ambiguous facts, the vast majority of people (and it turns out they’re mostly on the right) find it easier to view things thru the lens of dogma. And if you oppose they’re dogma then you are wrong; wrong in argument, and of course wrong in facts.
This is the scary thing that makes Palin such a force. She clearly knows little of the world, but that’s her advantage! Every time she flubs up she proves again to her supporters that if elected she’s going to make decisons based on “core beliefs” and not let pesky arguments or facts get in the way — just like the way they think. “
Because young people sat out the election in November all over the country. (This is Wisconsin for heaven’s sake). I fault the administration big time for allowing that to happen. The 18-34 demographic had better be mobilized again or the Senate could be lost; then we would really find out how awful these wingers want to be. We won’t be cheeseheads–we’ll be peasants and supplicants.
This was in answer to Pat in WA State’s query.
Mine was a rhetorical question, but your answer hits the nail on the head. This whole thing of not voting is just something I don’t understand. Everyone who legally can vote should be registered and then get out there and vote. There’s no excuse good enough for not voting, imho. People who can’t physically get to the polls should sign up for absentee ballots. My husband and I have been doing that for over ten years now – nothing could be easier.
Now, convincing that younger demographic is the problem. I know. Both my daughters are in that group and one only votes about half the time. The other one takes it more seriously. I always remind them, but their lack of enthusiasm for voting drives me nuts.
An interjection: I’d be as loathe to dismiss a candidate with no college degree as being ‘ignorant’ as I’d be to embrace a college-degreed candidate as being ‘intelligent’.
One of the smartest men I’ve ever known had no college degree — yet he was asked to lecture at Stanford and other US universities. He had a diploma from a technical high school and a year’s formal training in radio operations, beyond that. He could run circles around just about anyone with his ability to easily learn things, apply what he’d learned, and teach others…in any subject (or damn close to any subject); he could spot problems and find solutions to them, and he could anticipate problems and avert them. He retired as a VP of a major US airline and he continued working in his chosen field as a highly-sought out consultant in the airline industry. That was my Dad.
A college degree automatically indicates ‘intelligence’ as much as service in the US military automatically indicates ‘honor’ — and the converse is also true. Heck, doesn’t Bachman have a law degree? She’s, as far as I can tell, giving Missy Quitty Pants (also a college degree holder) a run for her money in the ignorant department. And ol’ FlannelShirted, FuzzyFaced Joe — he was prior military and his acquaintanceship with honor is… Just sayin’.
It’s not the paper, the diploma, we should use as a ‘measurement’ of the candidate’s/person’s ability, imho, it’s their track-record. beth.
Agreed.
There is much to be said for curiosity, intellectual and otherwise, and for life long learning.
I strongly agree — and not just because I’m a high school dropout who has never stopped studying and learning, and whose higher education consists of certifications in multiple areas of holistic health. Paper doesn’t make brains and the ability to use them.
However, the sneering by the GOPTeabaggers at the educated as some out-of-touch elite really makes my skin crawl. Michelle Bachmann has a degree in law, and she’s as full of batsh*t as a cave before twilight. OTOH, Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College after only one semester, although he did audit courses (notably, a class in calligraphy which Jobs credits as the inspiration for Macs having multiple fonts and proportional spacing) while crashing with friends and eating at the Hare Krishna temple.
The brain is like a muscle. It needs exercise to stay in shape.
As this is an Open Thread, I am going to post an Open Comment. It will contain a “c” word.
That COW!
“Palin mocks Michelle Obama”
http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/post_leadership/2011/02/palin-breastfeeding-joke-gos-sour.html
[snip]During the event, in which Palin was interviewed by the Long Island Association’s president, she sounded off about presidential things–the deficit, whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and President Obama’s health-care reform law. And she weighed in on the debate over Obama’s citizenship, reportedly saying it is “distracting. It gets annoying. Let’s stick to what really matters.”
But if that’s what she really wants people to do, why did she crack a joke about Michelle Obama’s campaign to make it easier for women to breastfeed? When the conversation turned to the escalating price of gas and groceries, Palin reportedly said, “It’s no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breastfeed your baby–yeah, you better–because the price of milk is so high right now!”[snip]
I wish to use another, much more insulting and colourful “c” word, but I will refrain. Unlike Palin.
Take a look at this–it seems that Palin also promoted (in her words) a “Nanny State” since, while gov. she proclaimed the month of Oct. as “Breast Feeding Awareness Month”. Have a look:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102170043
Rachel Maddow pointed out the further hipocracy of Palin’s remark. Apparently when she still worked for Alaska in 2007, she declared October 2007 Support Breastfeeding Month – or some such name. In the declaration, Palin said all the positive things that Michelle Obama has said, and that most people acknowledge as beneficial.
Palin is such a complete fool if she thinks that people won’t look back at things she has said or done in the past.
And btw, I’m sick of hearing her go into that sing-song voice when her answer to the budget woes is always “common sense . . .” blah, blah, blah. When she started on that the other day, her tone of voice made me think that even she is bored with hearing those over-used phrases.
As if Palin would have a clue as to what is involved with raising the nation’s debt ceiling….God, I wish they’d ask her specific questions when she makes these statements!
[Disclaimer: I breast-fed both DSs… one for 9 months, the other for 11. Nary a bottle was used, formula or otherwise. I’m a HUGE proponent of breast feeding — what we saved in formula, we used on disposable diapers. It also ‘forced’ me to sit down, relax, and spend one-on-one time snuggling and bonding with my baby; a win-win situation all the way around. I know there are women who can’t be available to their baby 24/7, and I appreciate that those who choose to breastfeed, express (pump) their milk and store it for later use — point is, no matter how the milk is ‘delivered’ to the baby, a mother’s breast milk is still the *best* nourishment for her baby.]
I wonder if Expert-on-Everything-Extraordinaire, Missy Quity Pants, knows that getting women of color in America to voluntarily choose to breast feed their infants, has historically been extremely difficult.
It isn’t that the women don’t want to do what is absolutely *best* for their baby (which for reasons too numerous to mention, breast feeding is!) it’s the stigma attached to it that’s been a booger to overcome…breast feeding is seen as a sign of being poor, uneducated, and pretty much, beholden to others; being able to afford formula, now, *that* is a sign you’re intelligent and have made it — you are your own person!
Not only do women of color have to overcome general society’s non-support of breast feeding, they have to *really* overcome the disapproval of their mothers and grandmothers…even of their own female siblings. The thinking goes something like: ‘Gramma, and the women in your family before her, had to breast feed, they had no other option; you, you are past that, you can bottle-feed your baby just like all the smart, modern, upwardly-mobile women (of Gramma’s day) did — why would you want to revert to the days when we had, literally, nothing, by breast feeding? Do you want to disregard and disrespect how far we’ve come?’
Education (formal education) has nothing to so with it — it’s purely a cultural issue, one that is going to take a loooong time to turn around. FLOTUS speaking out *for* breast feeding will, hopefully, shorten that time (to the tremendous benefit of the babies *and* their mothers.)
So I repeat: I wonder if Expert-on-Everything-Extraordinaire, Missy Quitty Pants (AKA Cow Woman), knows any of this. I seriously doubt it. Does she even care? I doubt that, even more.
As long as she can get a dig in at either Obama, the C[insert the continuation of your choice to this letter] is happy. Consistently ignorant and soul-ugly, but happy as a pig in its own-made mud, nonetheless.
What a gal. beth.
The Wasilla Weasel of Whackiness is a member of the seriously disconnected political party. Her brain is disconnected from all vital organ functions,like her heart and mouth and it can’t even engage the thought process. I hear greed does that to certain flakes. Palin used the breast word in public and if a liberal said that word,I’ll bet Quitty would demand that person’s mouth be washed out with soap.
We can thank Nestle for convincing women that formula is better than breast milk. Oh, the power of advertising. The problem is if you believe this then you are stuck in the 50’ies. That’s not to say the modern formula isn’t a great thing for women who can’t nurse but…..
I recall in one of the many puff-pieces on $P that she was goin’ to her gubner’s job, sittin’ at the desk takin’ a phone call and nursing her baby. Not bottle-feeding, breastfeeding. I know I read it; I don’t make up stuff like that. Hypocrisy, thy name is Palin.
Dagian-time for a bad joke and the “C” word. The monsignor was doing a crossword puzzle and was stumped on a four letter word for female. He asked his assistant what that four letter word was,where-in the asst. replied-AUNT. The monsignor asked himself whatever could he have been thinking as he erased his own answer.
*snickers appreciatively*
Too, too funny! [I admit, I had to mentally visualize an actual crossword puzzle to ‘get it’, though…] beth.
I wonder how $arah would feel if Michele Obama publicly mocked her born-again- virgin daughter who is preaching morality to other teens?
But, we all know that Michelle Obama will not do this. Nor will her husband. I can think of one family that would do this and her hordes of sycophants.
Dignity – prevents the Obama’s from stooping to her level or like-minds. One reason I ending up voting for him and likely a 2nd term. I’m not happy with all of this Administrations policies, but that aside just the general calm, levelheadedness, and respect for ALL him and his family projects is plenty for a 2nd. If Palins comments/reactions/comprehension of issues over the years is any reflection on how she would react in office, I image the Glenn Beck world of fear and doom would come true….any nation disagrees with her, nuke’em. I do however would like for her run, will quit early in but it would be fun to watch and Obama would not have to campaign. Her Obama “fetish-crush” does worry me some….she acts like a scorned school girl.
In a Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin run world, we’d all be building and living in our bomb shelters again – and we’d likely need to.
Yes, there are things I disagree with on Obama’s policies. But I trust him and respect him. That alone is worth every minute we have him leading our country.
I was watching coverage of Wisconsin last night. When they were talking about unions, my first thought was “They need Pete Seeger”. Back in the 90s, he was in Seattle for the Folklife Festival. I took my daughter who was a young teen and my folk song partner. Pro-union groups performed with Pete Seeger – a fabulous evening. They invited the audience to sing along and I was even surprised that I knew all the union songs.
So since we don’t have Pete in person, I found this instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g
And it seems that we are still asking Which Side Are You On.
Oh, just to clarify – my daughter IS my folk song partner. There isn’t anyone I’d rather sing with, actually.
{{{{{Pat, daughter, and Pete}}}}}