Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
The U.S. Attorney's office on Thursday announced a record seizure of methamphetamine bound for Alaska.
Approximately 23 pounds -- yes, pounds -- of Mexican meth were intercepted on its way to Anchorage.
Four people have been arrested: 51-year-old Ricky Reese of Wasilla, the intended recipient and owner of Shooter's Billiards; 29-year-old Jared Lisenby of Anchorage; 78-year-old Ronald Hall of California; and 54-year-old Debja Steilen of California.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office, the investigation began on March 29 when Drug Enforcement Administration officials seized $12,000 from a pickup truck being sent from Anchorage to Seattle.
The truck had been shipped back and forth from Anchorage and Seattle on numerous occasions and belonged to Hall, who had prior drug trafficking convictions.
The city probably has less than 11,000 people, just who in the hell was going to ingest, smoke, or inhale 23 pounds of methamphetamine? With that amount you could keep the entire town high as a kite for an entire week!
I mean for God's sake if living so close to Sarah Palin requires this much speed to dull your pain than just get the hell away from her!
A Colorado state employee could be disciplined for sending an e-mail showing President Barack Obama shining the shoes of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The 73-year-old Colorado Department of Transportation worker forwarded the e-mail to at least four co-workers and others on Dec. 22 using her state e-mail account. One of the recipients outside the agency complained.
The original sender of the e-mail, who isn't a state employee, wrote "It appears he (Obama) has found his niche."
CDOT spokeswoman Mindy Crane says the worker could face discipline ranging from a written reprimand to suspension. Employment rules require that she meet with personnel officials first and have a chance to respond in writing. That meeting is scheduled for next week.
First things first, that is a REALLY bad job of photoshopping.
Second, the state worker that sent this needs to lose her fucking job.
And third, you can have any racist fantasy you want, but the facts are that Caribou Barbie destroyed the Republicans chances of winning the 2008 election.
And just to give the people who support this kind of thing a little reality check. Barack Obama is our president, while Sarah Palin is a woman who quit her job, wrote a book full of lies, and is so terrified of me that she had me banned from a public event.
And if Sarah Palin has an ounce of class she will rattle the chains that connect RAM to her keyboard and make her write a repudiation of this image on her Facebook page. Okay, half an ounce of class. She might have at least that much, right?
(I would like it to be noted that I really thought before using this picture. But when I googled Mayor Sullivan, guess which picture popped up? What can I say? It is the iconic Mayor Dan Sullivan picture.)
Mayor Dan Sullivan has hired a Seattle attorney to help the city negotiate the way through a pending federal designation of critical habitat for Cook Inlet's beluga whales.
Federal scientists say Cook Inlet's belugas are a genetically distinct species that doesn't intermingle with other beluga populations in Alaska. The Inlet's whales were estimated to number about 1,300 in the early 1980s, but the population plummeted to around 350 in the late 1990s.
Scientists blamed the drop on subsistence hunts, but Native hunters voluntarily curtailed their harvests in 1999 and the population hasn't rebounded as biologists had hoped. The fisheries service listed the whales as endangered in 2008, and a few weeks ago proposed designating more than 3,000 square miles of Cook Inlet as critical habitat for the whales. That area would comprise all of upper Cook Inlet, the coastal areas of western Cook Inlet and most of Kachemak Bay.
I have spent many a wonderful evening in Anchorage down by Point Woronzof watching the Belugas frolic in the Inlet. It is a very peaceful experience.
I especially remember taking a two year old girl, whose family my wife was a nanny for, and watching her face light up as she watched the white shapes popping to the surface before slipping back under the murky waves. "Uga's! Uga's!" She exclaimed and giggled every time she spotted one.
How can anybody who has watched these amazing creatures NOT want to protect their fragile habitat?
Sullivan announced Stelle's hiring during a noon luncheon with Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Dave Carey and Talis Colberg, mayor of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. All three mayors said the critical habitat designation could have big negative effects on government projects and activities in and near the Inlet, as well as fisheries and oil and gas development. They said they want to present a united front to oppose it and limit its effects.
Gee who knew the Three Stooges could be so evil?
Sullivan and Carey, especially, said they want the state to pay for what Sullivan estimated would be "several millions of dollars" of new science research on the whales. That work couldn't be done in time to help much with the debate over what areas should be designated critical habitat, but would be useful in future lawsuits, Sullivan acknowledged.
So let me see if I have this straight. The science, done by the Federal scientists, is not the kind of science that these guys like. So they want to pay millions of dollars to hire their own "scientists" to conduct the kind of "science" that one gets, when one is willing to pay millions of dollars, in order to continue treating Cook Inlet like a giant toilet bowl? (Yes in Anchorage our shit literally gets dumped right into the Inlet.)
Supporters of the designation say it wouldn't cripple development in Cook Inlet, but would require it to be done more responsibly. Science studies and monitoring already have shown the Inlet's belugas need the endangered species listing and its protection, they say.
The mayor's office said Stelle's firm, K&L Gates, has an Anchorage office and is already retained under a $50,000 contract with the city's legal department. The cost of paying for Stelle's time under that contract likely will be shared by city agencies most likely to be affected by the designation, including the Port of Anchorage, the water and wastewater utility, solid waste services and project management and engineering, Sullivan's aides said.
Gee what a competent mayor we have. Apparently our city is so broke that he felt he had to cut $175,000 from our libraries and arts programs, but not so broke that he cannot justify providing a $50,000 retainer for lawyer to fight for the right to continue dumping toxic substances and raw sewage into the habitat of these beautiful creatures.
"You better lawyer up, Moby! Mayor Dan "We don't need no stinking libraries" Sullivan is taking your ass to court!"
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is resting comfortably in a Hawaii hospital after suffering chest pains while on vacation, his radio program says.
Limbaugh was rushed for medical treatment earlier in the day. The statement said "Rush was admitted to and is resting comfortably in a Honolulu hospital today after suffering chest pains."
Kit Carson, Limbaugh's chief of staff, told The Associated Press that he had no further information on Limbaugh's condition.
I think it is time to entertain a possibility that most of us find almost beyond comprehension, Rush Limbaugh may in fact, have a HEART!
I know, I know, I know, it seems beyond the realm of possibilities that such a hateful, evil man possess an organ capable of such incredible kindness, and dare I say it, love. But with these new developments, it seems we have no choice but to, at least imagine, that this man may have such an organ inside his rapidly decaying body.
Well as much as I dislike Rush Limbaugh (and boy do dislike Rush Limbaugh), I hope he makes a rapid recovery. Perhaps this little health scare will open his eyes to how important it is for the American people to have reliable health insurance in this country, and just maybe he might start supporting President Obama and the Democrats in their effort to provide that very thing.
Ah who am I kidding? This gasbag will leave the hospital, go to his studio, pop a couple of Oxycontin's, and start spewing forth his vile garbage just like he did before. After all Dick Cheney has had several dozen heart attacks, and it has not changed him one little bit.
But how ironic is it that Rush Limbaugh has a heart attack, and receives medical attention in Hawaii, the birthplace (Yes the BIRTH place) of a man who he has spent the last year viciously attacking? I wonder if Rod Serling was riding in that ambulance with Rush?
My good friend Shannyn Moore called me last night with some stunning news.
"Hey, I got a copy of the banned list from Sarah's book signing and YOU ARE NOT ON IT!"
"I am not?"
"No just Dennis, Andree, and Me, your name is not mentioned."
And she was right. As you can see for yourself down below.
As you can plainly see my name is definitely NOT on the list. So then the question that MUST be asked is WHY was I escorted out by the Wasilla police?
You can see this event is listed as "public", and yet they have a list of people who are not allowed to attend? And the security staff was also instructed to "coordinate with Todd" just in case we tried to enter, not as media, but as the "public".
But WHY were we not allowed to attend? And if I wasn't even on the list, WHY did I get the bum's rush by the police? (You can read Shannyn's account of this right here.)
Justin Elliot of Talking Points Memo, also wondered what the hell was going on. So he called James Hastings, the guy in charge of the arena, and asked for an explanation.
"Todd told me that a couple of individuals said they were going to come out there, and he expected them to protest," Hastings says. "He said, 'Hey, there's a guy named Griffin who will be with Zaki, and they're going to try to stir up the pot.'"
That would be Dennis Zaki, photojournalist and freelance videographer, and Jesse Griffin, a blogger whose name was added to a later version of the list than the one we posted.
"Stir up the pot"?
"Protest"?
WTF?
Dennis and I had also attended the Elmendorf book signing only about one week earlier and had been so inconspicuous that I am not sure Sarah even knew we were there. I was certainly NOT going to cause a ruckus at the one in Wasilla. I simply went there to help Dennis cover the event and get some information for a blog post. That is all.
And both Todd and Sarah knew that. This is just more of the vindictive mean girl coming out and saying "It is my party, and YOU are not invited." Which would be fine, if it was in fact a PRIVATE party. However this was advertised as a PUBLIC event, and there were no invitations required for attendance.
However apparently being critical of ex-Governor Palin is all that is required to have a Wasilla police officer escort you out of a public building, and into the chill of a December afternoon. (By the way the Palin's only rented the "Turf Court", not the whole building. So I would like to know why I was asked to leave the whole Sports Center and not just asked to leave the area the Palin's had rented? Anyone?)
Sharp eyed viewers may notice that in the quick shot of Sarah, the baby she is holding is NOT Tripp. I don't believe this is any kind of secret conspiracy, it is more likely sloppy editing on MSNBC's part.
This story is clearly VERY slanted against Levi. This Wendy Murphy is such an obvious Palin-bot that I have to wonder what her screen name is over in the "sea of pee'ers". She does everything she can to insult Levi and attempt to illustrate that he is a bad father.
She attempts to paint Levi as a media whore, whose lust for the limelight is potentially damaging to the welfare of his child. Like ALL Palin devotees she is too hopped up from freebasing raw unfiltered Palin talking points see that her characterization is actually far more descriptive of Sarah Palin herself than it is of Levi.
By the way her contention that he has NO hope of gaining shared custody in our fair state demonstrates her complete lack of understanding when it comes to Alaska law. Unless Levi opens fire in a mall while mainlining heroin he is DEFINITELY going to get joint custody. And Van Flein can spend Palin's money by the truckload, it will change nothing
At least Steve Abudato, while clearly not a Levi Johnston supporter, does a good job of looking at the facts and making a judgement rather than arriving on the set with a preconceived agenda and trying to make the facts fit like "Little Miss Tightass".
Update: This Slate article does a good job of illustrating how wrong snotty Miss Murphy is about Levi's chances. (H/T to Kajo)
I have tried very hard to support President Obama's decisions since he took office. Sometimes it has been difficult. Perhaps the most difficult decision to support of them all was his decision to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan.
I believe this war is unnecessary, unwinnable, and will ultimately end in disaster. I realize that President Obama is in a very ticklish position. Leaving Afghanistan in the state that it is in right now will have a huge backlash on America, just like pulling out of Vietnam did.
However, there is simply no way to rectify the problems in this country if the military is uncooperative, the political leaders are illegitimate, and the people believe the American forces are invaders.
As we have seen with the "underwear bomber" potential terrorists come from all walks of life, they do not need a base of operation to continue to terrorize the world, but they do need a reason to justify their hate, and the war in Afghanistan provides that.
The US congress will soon decide whether to snuff your baby; global warming occurs naturally just like gravity; and the view of the Kremlin from her backyard is just awesome. Whenever Palin opens her mouth, something deliciously douchey drops out. It would be highly entertaining, if not for the terrifying prospect that she could still end up as President.
Currently Sarah Palin is in first place to receive this prestigious award.
Personally I cannot think of a more worthy recipient. If you agree than just click the title and head over to the Huffington Post and exercise your God given right to vote in this great country.
(H/T to my friend and fellow blogger, mudpuppy, and protestor Mamadance.)
Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, family spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
“Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week," said Perino. "The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment, and the family requests that its privacy be respected.
(Above you can see Karl being escorted away from his home. Okay, okay I made that up, but don't you just love the image?)
It certainly comes as no surprise that yet another "family values" hypocrite is getting a divorce, his second no less. I guess what is surprising is that there were two women willing to marry this guy. I mean seriously what is the attraction?
On the dark side of the coin this means that Karl Rove is "old, and single, and ready to mingle". He may have already tried to push his limp pudgy tool up against Randy Quaid's wife.
The first volley was fired back in November 3, when Van Flien files an "Ex Parte" motion to close the custody proceedings, institute a protective order, and to use pseudonym's to protect the anonymity of Levi, Bristol, and Tripp. This is followed quickly by a filing for full custody from Van Flein using Levi's lack of employment (Thanks Sarah Palin!), the fake tweets attributed to him, and Sherry Johnston's arrest to claim that Levi is unfit to share custody.
In these filings we see Levi's attorney, Rex Butler responding to the filings by Van Flein.
Van Flein attempts to make the case that by talking about his intent to file for custody Levi is in violation of a court order not to talk about a case that had already started and requests that he be found in contempt and fined. I have to disagree. By saying he was GOING TO file papers, Levi quite deftly deflected any question of whether anything had already been filed. (By the way the Palmer judge denied Van Flein's request.)
Rex quite intelligently makes the point that it is clear that neither Levi, nor his family, talked about the filings because NO news agency posted a story. (Hell I did not have a clue, and believe me I would have known if anybody was talking.)
On page 51 Rex says that he is NOT going to be the attorney to see this thing through, and that Levi is seeking other legal counsel. (Do you hear that Alaska attorney's? Levi might be in need of your services.)
In this series of filings, we can see Van Flein spending Palin's money by the fistful as he sits around reading blogs, citing Hollywood gossip rags, and photocopying legal papers, blog posts, and celebrity interviews, to slow down the process and dramatically increase his billable hours.
On page 62 Bristol provides an affidavit where she uses interviews given by Mercede in which she honestly expressed her feelings about her brother's ex-girlfriend, as an attack on her, and demonstrates the same bad girl vindictive streak that her mother is famous for. (Or is that really YOU, Sarah?)
Van Flein throws in everything but the kitchen sink in his desperation to convince the judge to keep this case closed to the public. He cuts and pastes whole pages from the Basinger/Baldwin custody battle, from the Spears/Federline custody battle, from the interviews that Sherry, Mercede, and Levi gave to Larry King, gossip blogs (complete with Google ads and reader comments), and yours truly (on page 58. And let me just point out, the post was absolutely accurate.)
Essentially Van Flein's goal seems to be to make the point that Levi Johnston is seeking to try this case in the media and does not care that the public scrutiny may prove harmful to little Tripp. (Hang on while I catch my breath, that overwhelming use of hypocrisy almost knocked the wind out of me!)
Having Sarah Palin's attorney make that argument is almost unbelievable in its stupidity. Sarah Palin is the one who dragged this family, along with the very reticent Levi Johnston, into the glare of public scrutiny. SHE is the one who invited all of this attention, and for Van Flein to argue that it is Levi's doing is completely ridiculous.
And Levi's contention that keeping the media involved will make Sarah behave may be a little naive on his part, but he is correct that without the public attention things will get even uglier, much uglier.
Here is Judge Kristiansen's denial of Van Flein's argument. It is so nice you should read it twice.
There is much, much more to be found in the legal filings I cited above, but I am not an attorney so I leave it up to those with more knowledge to sift through the jargon and tell us all what I have left out.
Here is the ADN article about the case. Which includes this GREAT Rex Butler quote: "He feels Sarah Palin, through her lawyer, under the guise of Bristol Palin's name, would run roughshod over his very bones," Butler wrote.
Here is a Politico article which identifies an attorney who is NOT Van Flein, by the name of Lisa Hamby, as Bristol's attorney in this case.
Story time kids! Come gather around, Uncle Gryphen has a little truth to tell.
Let us go back, back to the days when Sarah Palin was a spanking new Governor and had not yet disappointed the Alaskan people. Back before she got too big for her britches and believed she could be Vice President of the United States. Isn’t that silly kids? Can you just imagine Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States?
Oh I am sorry, don’t cry! Uncle Gryphen would NEVER let that happen.
Well anyhow back in the beginning of 2007, Sarah Palin was driving around Wasilla with two of her children in the car, and a state trooper security detail which followed behind to make sure she and the children were safe. All of the Alaska Governors have a security detail, and so did Sarah Palin.
Suddenly the Governor stopped her car in front of a house which had a party going on inside.
She jumped out of the car, leaving it running with the doors unlocked, and went inside. The state troopers watched this happen, looked at each other, and said “WTF”?
Now the state troopers are not supposed to interfere with the Governor in any way. They are just supposed to make sure she and her family are safe, so they sat in their car and waited for Sarah to re-emerge. Since it was winter time in Alaska they could not imagine that she would leave her children unattended for long, but sometimes even the state troopers are wrong.
Fifteen minutes go by. No Sarah.
Thirty minutes go by. No Sarah.
Forty five minutes go by. Still NO Sarah.
Now all of this time the Governor’s car has been left running with two of her children still inside (NO I don’t know which ones, but I can guess. Can you?). Finally the state trooper, who was quite concerned about the children, walked up to the house to knock on the door.
When the door was opened the trooper politely asked if he could speak to the Governor.
Sarah was having lots and lots of fun, while her children were outside breathing in noxious exhaust fumes from her car, so she was VERY unhappy with the trooper. “How dare you embarrass me” She said!
The trooper tried to explain his concern for the children, but Sarah was very unhappy with him and said many hurtful and insulting things to the officer for simply doing his job. The message was clear - They report to her...and NEVER the other way around!
Governor Palin was SO upset that the state trooper in her security detail tried to protect her family, that she told them to mind their own business, and that from now on she did not WANT a security detail monitoring her in her own backyard! And do you know what children? She NEVER had one again whenever she was in Wasilla. Not even when she claimed that she and her family were in mortal danger from her dangerous ex-brother-in-law!
You see apparently the Governor thought it was more important NOT to have people watching her parent her children, than it was to keep them safe. Or well fed, because she also got rid of her personal chef in Juneau. Children do you recognize a pattern?
And that is the story of why Sarah Palin was the first Governor to EVER dismiss her very own security detail.
The End
P.S. I have been making phone calls all day and have learned from multiple sources, one of them once very close to the Governor, that NOBODY knew about any threats made against Sarah Palin's children while living in Juneau. Not one! Isn't that interesting?
And of course if the Juneau story had been true, it would make the fact that Sarah Palin later dismissed her security detail even more troubling, now wouldn't it?
Update: I have received an interesting piece of information that states I may have my timeline wrong. There is no doubt the incident took place but WHEN it took place seems to be in question. When I get clarification I will update.
One of the events discussed in former Gov. Sarah Palin's book, "Going Rogue, " was a disturbing occurrence that affected the family: a vile threat made against Palin's daughter, Willow, while she was attending school in Juneau.
The threat was made in a MySpace post.
The family reported the threat to the governor's security detail and they investigated the matter, including interviewing the individual who made the threat at that person's home.
Though no charges were brought, the Palin family remained very concerned. The matter involved minors and was likely not subject to public review. A reporter for the Juneau Empire was directed to talk with the governor's security detail. It is not clear whether he did so. (He did so.)
Contrary to the implication of the report, the threat was real, the threat was serious and the threat was responded to.
Meghan Stapleton Palin family spokesperson
Whoa, whoa, back the bus up. Let me get this straight. NOBODY knew about this threat in Juneau? Not School District Superintendent Peggy Cowan? Not Juneau Police Chief Greg Browning? And according to State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters, the people in charge of the Governor's security detail, they had NEVER been notified of this either?
So just WHO is Juneau Empire reporter Pat Forgey supposed to talk to? It looks to me that he did his job quite thoroughly.
Sorry Sarah you are going to have to do better than this. "Not subject to public review" my ass!
On the other hand I just have to give a big shout out to Meg Stapletongue! "Hey girl, where you been! So nice to see that you are back in action. Hey, did you know your boss is probably lying again? Just thought you should know."
And speaking of "shout outs". "Hey Sarah, do you know who I have been talking to lately? Well it just so happens they will know all about whether this incident was reported or not. What do you think they will tell me when I ask them? You have yourself a very nice day."
Request for Oral Argument Thomas Van Flein (Attorney) on behalf of Bristol Palin (Plaintiff) Case Motion #1: Ex Parte Motions for (1) Closure of Custody Proceedings ((2) Motion for Protective Order (3) Substitution of Pseudonym's), Case Motion #2: Ex Parte Motions for( (1) Closure of Custody Proceedings) (2) Motion for Protective Order ((3) Substitution of Pseudonym's), Case Motion #3: Ex Parte Motions for ((1) Closure of Custody Proceedings (2) Motion for Protective Order) (3) Substitution of Pseudonym's (Click the title to read all of the motions made so far in this case. And if there are any legal eagles in the group feel free to enlighten as to what all of this jargon means.))
This is why Team Levi was putting Levi's book on hold.
My understanding is that they wanted to get this handled first.
I know a little more about this but cannot share it until I get the go ahead.
I will tell you this though. I believe that Van Flein was planning to use Sherry's conviction as an argument for not allowing Levi to have joint custody. You know, the idea of having a felon in the house as a potential danger to the baby. Van Flein is going to use every tool in his arsenal to smear this family and paint the Palin's as above reproach.
However Levi is NOT living with Sherry and Mercede right now, so at least that has been removed from Van Flein's arsenal.
Levi has been making money from his magazine work and interviews, so he has an income. And he has been making child support payments, so he is okay in that area as well.
It looks like Van Flein has made a request to keep the custody proceedings closed to the media. If that is successful it will mean that even if I hear something I will not be able to pass it on. It also looks like he made a request that the court allow the use of pseudonyms to keep it quiet but the judge ruled against that which is why we know it is happening. It looks like Van Flein is being very aggressive.
I have a friend who is an expert in child custody cases whose name I have passed on to Rex. Hopefully that will help.
Personally I do not think that there is any legitimate legal reason for not allowing Levi to have joint custody. I have been through a custody battle myself back in the nineties and I can tell you that unless you are a raving drug addict or a person with a violent history you are almost guaranteed joint custody in Alaska.
Did you just run over to your calendar to make sure that this is indeed 2009? Well I can hardly blame you considering the amazing superstitious nonsense vomited forth by these "critics".
At first I thought it must be a joke, but no, they are completely serious.
As evidenced by this review from Hollywood Jesus. (No, I am not making that name up!)
I also want to mention that the spirituality in this film is pretty dark, even for a Disney film. The villain sings a song about his friends "from the other side" making it very plain this isn't just magic that's being used but the powers of hell and its minions. This is serious stuff, and the light-handed manner that it was often handled with made me a bit uncomfortable. One should never lightly toy with the spiritual world, especially the world of demons and their dark powers. Having a show-stopping Broadway-like song about dalliances with dark forces in an animated movie may make it seem like doing such things is really no big deal; not something I want my kids to pick-up on.
Truth is playing around with such spiritual forces is extremely dangerous, be it voodoo, black magic, Ouija boards or whatever, a truth that is highlighted at the end of the film as the villain discovers the evil forces he thought he was in league with and was in control of were really the ones in control of him. Let's just say playing with "friends from the other side" didn't end well. I'm glad that the consequences were shown, but I still feel all of that was a bit too dark and extreme for this kind of kid's film.
I do not personally recommend “The Princess and the Frog.” Practicing any sort of occultic magic is directly against God and is labeled as an abomination throughout Scripture. This movie displays that voodoo magicians hold all the power of both good and evil. A PG rating would have been more appropriate; I strongly advise that younger, undiscerning children not be allowed to see it. For older children, however, “The Princess and the Frog” might serve as an platform for parents to discuss with their children the real existence of occult practices and how to identify them.
The reviewer from Christianity Today finds fault with the movie because it suggests that problems can be solved through self-reliance.
Sure, this is the message of just about every family film that has come down the pike since the dawn of cinema. But to see it presented in a context that evokes the style of Christianity, Mama Odie's song serves as a stark reminder as to how the American values of self-reliance diverge from the Christian message of humble submission to external grace. Just because something looks and sounds beautiful doesn't make it gospel. (So American values diverge from Christian values? Has anybody told Sarah Palin?)
Look I have not seen this movie so I cannot argue the merits of the film one way or another. However it seems to me that these critics found much to like about the film apart from the fact that it was an affront to their religious sensibilities.
They liked the music, the animation, and most of the storyline. They just got their panties in a twist when Voodoo reared its dark, sinister head. And apparently voodoo is not presented in the best light imaginable, the villain uses it for evil purposes, and yet it's very presence is of concern to these modern day Cotton Mather's.
This is one of my major bitches when it comes to the Fundamentalist Christian perspective. This idea that information which represents a view differing from, or in direct contrast to, Christianity is somehow inherently evil. This is simply not the kind of thinking that should be going on in the 21st century. It just isn't!
This movie presented the first African American female lead in a Disney film. It should be celebrated for finally breaking through the animated glass ceiling and presenting a young lady that little girls of ALL races can admire and sing along with. But instead the film gets attacked for NOT having enough Christianity in it. WTF?
Did these same critics get bent out of shape when Merlin was teaching little Arthur about magic in "The Sword in the Stone"? Or when the good fairy gave the gift of life to a puppet in "Pinocchio"? Or when Wilby Daniels used a magic ring to turn into a four legged beast in "The Shaggy Dog"? Of course not. And those films were made back in a time when we were less educated than we are today.
So what is the problem? The skin color of the main character? Well I certainly hope not. The getting to first base with an amphibian? Admittedly a little gross but he is not REALLY a frog so that should not be a problem. So if not racism or fear of bestiality then what is it?
Well than it can only be fear of the unknown, and the superstitious nonsense that permeates the thinking of these so-called "critics".
First off there is NOTHING satanic about Voodoo. It is no more bizarre or evil than Shintoism, or Hinduism, or Jainism, or Judaism, or any other religion that is not Christianity. It is simply the prism through which the people of Haiti tried to understand their world. Which by the way is the origin of ALL religions.
Now this may anger some of my Christian visitors, but I am sorry it needs to be explained.
When Christianity was still just a small Jewish cult it was in a real battle for converts. One of the tools that was used was to label the other religious practices as "evil". If somebody was seemingly cured after making an offering to a rival god the Christians labeled that the work of Satan, and cast aspersion on the entire religion.
This was in fact what happened to the so-called witches.
These were usually mid-wives, herbalists, and pre-Christian healers who were utilizing methods that had been handed down from generation to generation to heal the sick and deliver children in to this world. But early Christians felt in competition with these primitive healers and labeled them heretics which provided the biblical license necessary to justify hunting them down and exterminating them.
And before you get all defensive about my picking on Christianity I should probably tell you that these tactics were not invented by the Christians, they are a tried and true methods used by dozens, if not hundred, of religions that came before and continue to exist today. The Christians were just much more successful.
So anyhow I would encourage you to base your decision on whether or not to take your child to "The Princess and the Frog" on what you know about your child's sensitivities, the quality of both the animation and musical score, and NOT on whether it will introduce an interest in exploring "black magic" to your impressionable youngster.
By the way, I had a very good friend who was a Wiccan once. One of the kindest ladies I ever met. Did not ONCE turn me into a frog.
10) Alaska! I love this state, and cannot tell you how often I look out at the sky, and the mountains, and simply have my breath taken away. I have worked very hard this last year to fix the politics in Alaska, support the original inhabitants of Alaska, and to protect the beautiful wilderness of Alaska. How could I not, when this place has given me so very much?
9) The "so close we can almost taste it" passing of the Health Care reform bill. Yeah I know it is not passed yet but who could have imagined, even two years ago, that we would be this close to passing a bill that will help 36 million previously uninsured Americans get healthcare? Sure it is not perfect, not by a longshot, but it is SO much better than what we had before.
8) The faithful visitors to this blog! If it were not for you all keeping me honest there is just no telling what kind of unscrupulous things I might get up to. Seriously, I appreciate all of your support and all of your informative and fascinating comments.
7) Being placed on Sarah Palin’s “banned list”. That absolutely MADE my Christmas this year! My only regret is that if I had known Sarah was going to be so generous I would have made sure to get her something. Oh I guess if I keep digging around I may come up with something to pay her back. LOL!
6) The resurgence of 3D at the movies! Wow how did I ever watch movies without things flying off of the screen and bouncing off of my forehead? Do you remember back when you cared more about the acting and the story line than you did about super hi-definition images coming right at you at an alarming rate? Ah we were so young and naïve back then.
5) Pizza! Nothing more needs to be said. Simply the most perfect food on earth.
4) My fellow Alaskan bloggers! AKMuckraker, Dennis Zaki, Shannyn Moore, Celtic Diva, and Phil Munger, I love you guys! How could I have ever made it through this last year without your support, your informative e-mails, and your playful teasing? No way would this have been as much fun without so many brilliant, talented people standing by my side.
3) My daughter. She is the center of my world, the owner of my heart, and the reason that I will never stop fighting the bad guys (and gals) and searching for the truth. I love you angel.
2) President Barack Obama. To finally have a man in that office with the intelligence, the morality, and the honestly of this man absolutely makes my heart sing. I worked my ass off for him and I will do it again in 2012. Our country deserves a leader who REALLY takes his job seriously and who is working everyday to make this a better country. And, yes, that man is Barack Hussein Obama.
And the number one thing that I am grateful for from 2009 is....
1) That John McCain and Caribou Barbie did not win the election! Nothing gives me more pleasure this year than knowing that the American people finally woke up, and rejected the policies of the Republican party and that we do not have Uncle Fester and Queen Ester running my country.
I guess on a side note I should probably thank Sarah Palin and the idiots who forced McCain to select her as well. If Sarah had not come along and scared the holy crap out of the independent voters we may now be facing this financial crisis with a man in charge who suspended his campaign so that he could study the problem and then essentially shrug his shoulders. A man who believes that all you need to win a war is more bullets. And a man who has had cancer numerous times, and whose running mate would have been anxiously standing beside him while he slept and watching his chest rise just waiting for the moment when it would suddenly stop and give her the break that Pastor Muthee had promised her was coming her way.
Proponents of sex education classes that focus on encouraging teenagers to remain virgins until marriage are hoping that the rescue plan for the nation's health-care system will also save their programs, which are facing extinction because of a cutoff of federal funding.
The health-care reform legislation pending in the Senate includes $50 million for programs that states could use to try to reduce pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease among adolescents by teaching to them to delay when they start having sex.
Under the federal budget signed by President Obama, such programs would no longer have funds targeted for them.
As part of Obama's first budget, Congress approved a request for more than $110 million for a new "teenage pregnancy prevention" initiative that would only fund programs that have been "proven effective through rigorous evaluation," which would effectively eliminate abstinence programs. The program would be run by a new Office of Adolescent Health in the Health and Human Services Department.
"This not only marks the return of science and evidence back to health policy but also provides a critical infusion of funding to implement comprehensive sex education and teen-pregnancy-prevention programs," Wagoner said.
The initiative does include $25 million for new, innovative programs that could potentially embrace those encouraging abstinence. But the program does not earmark funding for programs focused on maintaining virginity. Some said the move was aimed at mollifying conservative critics, but Huber and others remained skeptical.
"There is absolutely no priority given to risk avoidance," Huber said. "So there is no certainty that even one dollar would go to this approach."
Well Hallelujah! Let us all rejoice at the return to science and intelligence to our children's education.
How can sex education be effective if it only contains one word? "Don't"!
That is not education, that is the kind of direction you give your two year old or your dog.
"Don't eat that!"
"Don't touch that!"
"Don't enjoy that!"
The implementation of the religious conservative agenda into our public school system is completely illegal and should never have been allowed to take root in the first place.
They do not want teens to know how their bodies work. They do not want them to know how evolution works. And they do not want them to think about anything except how to invent new electronics to make money for America and how to create new weapons to defeat America's enemies. They want to keep them stupid and easy to manipulate.
Thankfully now that an intelligent President like Barack Obama is in office we can allow our teenager's to learn that education is power and ignorance makes you a Sarah Palin supporter.
As many of you know I have been having quite a lot of difficulty with my comments section.
Around November I started to lose comments in moderation after one got stuck and could not be rejected or published. Anyhow earlier this month I lost the ability to moderate comments completely.
So I took the moderation off, and allowed people to post with no restrictions. We soon saw that lead to a few trolls coming by and at least one truly infantile spammer.
However I have now discovered a "work around" so I should be able to moderate comments just like I did before. As long as it works there will be NO more spammers or trolls getting through.
It also means that you will not see your comments appear until I check them and click "publish". If I am asleep or away form my computer that may take some time. I am confident that you would rather wait a few hours to read your comment than to put up with the nursery school behavior we have witnessed as of late.
And by the way I will still allow dissenting opinions as long as they are well thought out arguments, and not simply trolls trying to get a rise out of my regulars.
Sullivan makes a number of very good points, but it is THIS one that I am going to focus on today.
Remember that Johnston is the only family member who actually knew and lived with Palin and has broken ranks. He could be lying, of course, or seeking revenge, or bargaining for more access to his son, or something else we don;t know about. But given Palin's record of dissimulation, it seems to me he deserves at least as fair a hearing as she has had, even if nothing like the millions she has raked in. His story deserves to be taken more seriously as a real account of what Palin really is. Until Wallace and Schmidt screw their courage to the sticking place, he's the best we've got.
Here, for example, is his recounting of an incident that few MSM observers can quite handle: Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up. She would say, “So, are you gonna let me adopt him?” We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid. (To read the entire article just click the title.) This is a very important, and revelatory comment by Levi, that has never quite received the attention that it deserves.
Levi, who would seem to have NO earthly reason to lie, says that Sarah Palin wanted to HIDE Bristol's pregnancy with Tripp. Did you get that? Her pregnancy with TRIPP!
But if Tripp was born in December 2008, and conceived nine months earlier, around say March, a time when Palin already KNEW she was on John McCains's short list for VP (By the end of February, 2008, the chorus of conservative pundits for Palin was loud enough for the mainstream media to take note. Chris Cillizza, reporting for the Web site of the Washington Post, interviewed Palin and asked her if she’d accept an offer to be McCain’s running mate. Though she dismissed the notion as a virtual “impossibility this go-round,” Palin, who had been in office for only fourteen months, said, “Is it generally something that I would want to consider? Yes.”), WHY would she even consider faking a pregnancy to cover up for Bristol?
And if we all agree that Palin would not have been willing to fake a pregnancy for a baby conceived after February 2008, then when WOULD she have been willing to do so?
Well we know she announced that she was pregnant with Trig Palin on March 6, the day right after McCain won the GOP nomination for President. (Really? The day after? Yes, really. The day after.)
You can see Alaska's response to THAT news in the video below.
And of course the other question would be, HOW could she possibly fake a pregnancy right after giving birth to Trig?
If Tripp were to be born in December, and Trig was born on April 18, then how could she make the dates work? Well she could have staged a premature birth. (Hey wasn't Trig born prematurely?) But how could she have faked pregnancy while campaigning for VP? Especially since her "sex appeal" was such an important factor in her selection? Yep that is a stumper.
So what we are left with is the possibility that Levi is a liar. (Bad Levi, bad!) Except that he certainly comes off as much more believable than his almost mother-in-law, so my first instinct is to believe him. Or that the dates the babies were supposed to have been born on is WRONG (hint, hint, hint.) Or that reality really does bend to Sarah Palin's will just like she illustrates to effectively in her book, where the facts we know are refuted by the facts she writes about.
Now for a little update on the Levi Johnston front.
Despite what Tank says, as of right now I know of NO book deal pending. They were very close at one point, but then things seem to have fallen apart. So when Tank says there is a book coming out in March, he must be writing it himself.
There is still a lot of interest in Levi's book, but growing fear that he will not tell the whole story. If he does not, then the only thing that will get published is a silly little gossipy paperback that will not even break into the top 1,000 books for sale in 2010.
I still think that Levi retains some credibility, so the only question is whether or not he has the balls. He did not show them in Playgirl, so until he puts them on paper the question still remains. I am still on his side, but very frustrated that things are taking so long. As are many of you.
I have reached out and offered to help him as much as I can. I also know a number of other bloggers, journalists, and activists offering to do the same if he needs their support or protection. All Team Levi has to do is ask for our help and we will provide it.
You know the number, make the call.
Update: Andrew Sullivan has misunderstood my post. I am NOT questioning Levi's honesty. There are those around Levi I am concerned with, but not Levi himself. I sent an e-mail to Andrew, if he answers it I will share a few things that might help him.
Blogger comments is ALL screwed up right now, and if I put comments into moderation they simply disappear, which is why you see so much troll action. If I turn off the comments then THEY win. The best thing to do is ignore them until Google gets their act together. Really.
Somebody mentioned that Levi did not specifically say that Sarah was going to attempt a pregnancy. I guess I felt that was inferred, but for the sake of argument let's say she was not offering to put herself through that. That means she would have had to hide Bristol, from the ever present cameras, whilst trotting EVERY OTHER FAMILY MEMBER before the media. Would that not have raised many questions? And then later when she suddenly adopted a baby, how would the media NOT put two and two together?
As for the threats posted on pro-Palin sites about guns at the book signing. Neither Dennis nor I had any intention of doing anything that could have even remotely been perceived as a threat. So the idea that these lunatics would have been justified in pulling their courage providing pistols is ridiculous. (Dennis and I both attended the Elmendorf signing without any incident whatsoever.) Palin did not ban us because she feared us, or feared FOR us. She did it because she feared what we might videotape or write. And then she gave us much more than we could have ever asked for to work with. Thanks Sarah.
Also I have never used the phrase "Trig was Tripp, before he was Trig". I believe the story is actually more complicated than that.
Nigerian man who said he was an agent for al-Qaida tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane Friday as it was preparing to land in Detroit, but travelers who smelled smoke and heard what sounded like firecrackers rushed to subdue him, the passengers and federal officials said.
Flight 253 with 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard was about 20 minutes from the airport when passengers heard popping noises, witnesses said. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man. Shortly afterward, the suspect was taken to the front of the plane with his pants cut off and his legs burned, a passenger said. Law enforcement officials said the burns indicated the explosive was strapped to his legs.
The guy claims to be from al-Qaida, and he attempts to blow up a plane, which means that airport security gets even more intrusive, and that the Afghanistan war will get more support from the American people. Neither of these portend a happy New Year for the citizens of the US, or for our soldiers overseas.
This is extremely reminiscent of Richard Reid attempting to light his shoe back in 2002. In that case Reid lacked a detonator cap, and probably would have done little more than to burn his legs, just like Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. In other words it would have failed.
It still amazes me that while most al-Qaida attacks fizzle out like the one yesterday, that under the Bush administration they were able to pull off the most horrendous terrorist attack in human history. It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Now I am interested in seeing how President Obama reacts to this attack.
1) Any gift, no matter how cheap or inappropriate, is better than a gift card. Even a gift card worth a hundred dollars is still an insignificant piece of plastic that cries out "I don't know, or care, enough about you to spend any time trying to find something I know you will like. Here just take this and buy it your own damn self!"
2) No matter how many adults you invite, or how much alcohol they consume, NOBODY has a better time at Christmas than the children. To the two year old in the room EVERY present belongs to her, and the wrapping paper and the box are just as exciting as the present itself.
Today I saw a two year old pull every beautiful pink and purple princess dress out of the decorative box they came in and climb right in and close the lid. Now when was the last time YOU ever loved a gift that much? Loved it so much that even the BOX IT CAME IN was the coolest thing you ever got?
3) No matter how hard you try to keep your little boy from playing with guns you are going to lose. Hell to a little boy EVERYTHING is a gun!
Lego's, become guns. Tinkertoy's become guns. Action figures become guns. I once saw a five year old boy make a gun out of toothpicks and tiny marshmallows!
For God's sake if a boy can bend three fingers, and point with the other, while holding up his thumb, HE can play with a gun!
Trust me you cannot win. Just make sure to buy them guns that are not realistic looking enough to get them shot by local law enforcement and let them run wild. Chances are they will not grow up to be a killer or a bank robber. Besides I think those kids grew up to be criminals because they were NOT allowed to play with guns. I am just saying.
4) And finally in the future really try to remember NOT to call your brother's newest girlfriend/wife, by the name of his LAST girlfriend/wife.
Sure as soon as she realizes that he is a raging alcoholic, with a recurring STD, and the emotional maturity of dryer lint she is going to dump his ass so fast that he will not even have time to start saving up to have the tattoo of her name removed from his left man boob, but there is no reason YOU should hurry the process along.
Let him believe for just one shining moment that he can actually have the kind of relationship he sees in the movies between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. A relationship built on wacky misunderstandings and humorous one liners, instead of the one built on exaggerated statements concerning his prowess in the bedroom and his potential earning power, that is about to blow up in his face.
Well good night my friends, I hope you had a wonderful holiday break and a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Super Saturnalia, or Kwazy Kwanzaa. Tomorrow it is back to work digging up those elusive facts, chasing those gossipy tidbits, and holding my ex-governor accountable just like she asked me to lo those many, many months ago.
Merry Christmas to all of you wonderful visitors, and let me take a moment to tell you that I really appreciate the fact that you take the time out of your busy days to read about Alaskan politics, our crazy ex-governor, and the odd things that I find entertaining or provocative.
I really enjoy sharing them with you and love reading your feedback in the comments section.
Do you know who else appreciates you? The President of the United States, and he would like to tell you so in the video right below.
I also want to take a moment to thank all of you who have sent money to me over the last year via my Pay Pal account. Contrary to the belief of some, I am NOT paid by David Axelrod, the Democratic Party, or anybody else to spend my time to researching and writing the articles that I post. I do it because I want to. And also because it brings me joy to know that I have made somebody think, or made somebody laugh, or even, made somebody look at things from an entirely different angle.
If I didn't love it, I would not do it. But of course love does not pay the bills and your financial support has been much appreciated.
As we go into 2010, I hope to bring you more fascinating stories, humorous observations, and scandalous gossip, and I also hope that you continue to make a visit to the Immoral Minority part of your day.
Namaste
P.S. You are definitely going to want to stay tuned because I have some truly amazing and shocking stories coming your way. Oh baby, do I!
Let me get this straight. This poor delusional woman is so upset with the Senate health care bill, that she is punishing President Obama and the Democrats by taking down her Christmas decorations?
Well that should certainly show them!
Just when I think I have seen the dumbest people on the planet, somebody comes along to show me how wrong I am. You know this woman is making the baby Jesus cry don't you?
I just received word from Dennis Zaki after he spoke to Wasilla Recreation and Cultural Services Manager James Hastings. Dennis has learned that the fourth name on the "BANNED List" was.......drum roll please..........ANDREE MCLEOD!!
I am sorry for all of you very deserving bloggers, and protesters, and filers of ethics charges, I feel many of you deserved to be on that list as well. Better luck next year.
Mr. Hastings also confirmed to Dennis that Harper Collins did pay for the TWO Wasilla police officers that were providing security. (One of whom escorted me out of the building.)
However in a surprising turn of events, Hastings added that Harper Collins were NOT the ones to give him our names.
What? Well then who did?
According to Mr. Hastings, it was none other than Mr. Todd Palin himself!
Then Mr. Hastings, who had no freaking idea who we were or WHY we could not be on the premises, looked us up on the inter-tubes and THAT is where the pictures came from. Which may also explain THIS quote: "If I take three minutes on Google I can see that, given the nature of the people who were here, it wasn't in his (Zaki's) best interest to be here. He and others could have found themselves in a negative situation."
The difference of course is that HE knew our names and used that to look us up, the people standing in line would have had no idea who were (Just like Hastings before his Google search), and therefore we were clearly in no danger. To the people coming to see Queen Ester we would have just been two more media types. The only giveaway would have been the clenched jaw on Sarah's face when she caught sight of us.
So there you have it. Harper Collins paid for the venue and the cops, but did NOT tell them to escort us off of the premises. THAT order came from Sarah Palin herself, via her long suffering spouse Todd.
And really, was there ever ANY doubt as to WHO wanted us banned from the event?
Update: As somebody pointed out, yes Andree was in court on Tuesday. And yet she still frightened the hell out of Sarah. I guess putting lipstick on a pitbull turns them into a scaredy-cat.
And after she has cleaned the sand out of her...well you know.
AND after she is done being pissed of at the paparazzi for taking the unflattering pictures of her.
Maybe after all of that she turns into a real Alaskan wildcat in the sack, and rocks Todd's world.
Or at least shakes the bed around a little, you know in a "red hot" kind of way
I guess it could happen. I mean stranger things HAVE happened, right? Right?
Update: If you click the title it should take you to the Globe teaser. But just in case they delete it, this is what it says:
Republican poster girl Sarah Palin has headed off divorce, pals say, with a red-hot Hawaiian vacation with her hubby Todd. GLOBE's exclusive reveals all the intimate details you won't want to miss!
c tomrrw's Healthcare Takeover vote=the sleeping giant will awaken&action will b takn by"average"Americans as lite shines on big govt growth about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Palin is nothing if not predictable lately.
She seems to stand by with a gas can in her hand and periodically pour the flammable liquid onto the fire of discontent which is continually fanned by the Republican obstructionists and Teabagger lunatics. Without a clear understanding of the complexities of the issues, all Sarah can do is don her cheerleader uniform and shake her pom poms at the low hanging fruit that watch Fox News, and actually believe it is a NEWS outlet.
For instance her reference to a "sleeping giant" MUST refer to the 20% of Americans who still identify themselves as Republicans. ("Giant" sounds so much better than "crippled midget".)
I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume this "action" she speaks of are votes in 2010 against the Senators who are voting for the health care bill, and not a call to violence against our president. Of course with Sarah Palin you never know for sure.
Now as for the "average" Americans she speaks of, I am guessing those are the barely educated simpletons who still think she is the answer to all of America's woes. You know the ones who believe that Bush's broken economy is Obama's fault, and that the big government expansion just now started in 2009. The ones who also tend to look at pictures, and read her tweets, instead of reading those big scary words on the internet or in newspapers.
In my opinion the real "sleeping giant" that is being awakened are all of those millions of people who had not yet formed an opinion of Sarah Palin, one way or another, and are now learning that she embraces Gestapo techniques, has no clear understanding of science, and treats her own family like political props with little regard for their feelings. And to THAT sleeping giant I say, "Good morning, and welcome to the party."
Some Alaska Natives who died at the boarding school or hospital were buried in unmarked graves.
They were called Eskimos or Alaska Indians when they left their homes to go to the Indian school or hospital on Puyallup lands in the early 20th century.
Of the sick, many died before they arrived at the Washington reservation. If they were children, they often didn't know why they were being taken from their families.
Those that survived are now growing old and dying, and the Puyallup tribe is trying to record their stories before it's too late.
"All we have are death certificates or official correspondences, not personal views," said Amber Santiago, who works with the tribe's historic preservation department. "We just have the white people's perspective."
Starting in the 1860s, Natives from Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana and Alaska came to Puyallup Indian Reservation to attend Cushman Indian School. In the 1920s, the school was converted to a regional hospital that treated Natives up until the 1960s.
While students and patients came from throughout the Northwest, there is only one living member of the Puyallup tribe who went to the school or hospital. That's why Santiago is searching for anyone who can tell her more about what happened there.
"We're trying to reclaim our own history," said Santiago, whose mother was taken from Montana's Flathead Reservation at age 10 to be treated at the hospital.
All Santiago has to go on so far are some death certificates and interviews with about 20 eyewitnesses. There are many missing pieces to the story of what went on there, but none of them is bigger than what happened to the Alaskans.
"Everyone we talked about said 'the Alaskans, the Alaskans' . . . It's the only group that people mention over and over again, it's the common thread through all the interviews," Santiago said. "I really wonder about the Alaskans, since there were so many of them, what their stories are."
But so far, Santiago has yet to find a single Alaska Native to interview.
"It's the last state - the missing link," she said.
Santiago said that so far she's heard stories both good and bad about what it was like at Cushman. But for many it was a place of homesickness, confusion or illness, especially for the children that were there. One man came to the hospital to get his tonsils out as a child and ended up staying for years.
Many Alaskans died on Puyallup lands. Most of the other tribal members were sent back to their families when they died, but Alaska Natives were usually buried near the hospital, unattended by friends or relatives, without a headstone to name them.
One man Santiago spoke to stayed in a hospital room overlooking the cemetery. Every week, he said, he would see "a grave-digger and a man in black (a priest), just burying, burying."
"He said it was known they were Alaskan Indians," Santiago said.
Today, the cemetery has only Puyallup tribal members and what Santiago assumes are the graves of the Alaskans who died at the hospital. About five years ago the tribe purchased a ground-penetrating radar to find the unmarked graves. Since the buildings were demolished in 2003, the cemetery is all that is left of Cushman Indian School and Hospital.
The tribe is hoping to compile an oral record of the school in a memoir, and eventually build a museum about the history of the area.
"It's just a part of history that not a lot of people know about," Santiago said.
Santiago said that the Puyallup Tribe would like to hear from anyone who has a story about Cushman Indian School or Cushman Indian Hospital, or St. George's Indian Boarding School in the Fife/Milton area from the 1880s to 1930s. That may not be someone who attended but even their grandchild or friend.
"We want to piece together the story," Santiago said.
Alaskan native children ripped from their parent's homes and sent out of state to attend English only schools in an alien environment that did not understand, or care to understand, their language or culture.
The children were given English language names, often from the bible, and punished for speaking to each other in their native language. It did not take long for the children to forget much of their lives back in Alaska, and when they returned, often after years of being away, they were foreigners in a foreign land, unable to interact with their families effectively or to hunt and fish which was vitally important to provide for the community. Sometimes these schools were located in Alaska, yet still the harsh discipline and disregard for native culture were evident.
It is a shameful chapter in Alaska's history that is still having a negative effect on rural Alaska native communities today.
When American style schools were started in Alaskan communities, the idea was to wipe out Native culture - to undermine connections with spiritual worlds, lands and waters, and to break the feelings of individuals and groups that are the essence of a culture. The agenda was to "civilize the Natives" and to make them more like the white settlers. Any beliefs that Natives had that involved understanding the world differently, or defining their place in the world as separate and apart from the white settlers was not allowed in school. English only language policies were strictly enforced, and punished anyone speaking in a Native language. Those policies erased Native languages from schools and from some communities as well. Schools disparaged Native language, food, dress and customs. At the same time the curriculum of the schools and the teachers taught students to view the world from a Western point of view. Policies were aimed at the hearts of students. Feelings of inferiority and shame were associated with things Native. Good grades and rewards were associated with things Western. This was a tough message delivered by a powerful system.
The cohesion that was vital to the survival of these communities was broken, and seems never to have been completely replaced even after the practice of removing children from their homes stopped.
Oh this is not going to make the person who once sent this guy to buy her Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supremes very happy. Well good maybe she can hate him for a little while instead of me.
Of course since I just posted this that does not seem likely.
Sherry Johnston is back in her Wasilla home after a judge agreed to let her serve a three-year jail sentence with an ankle monitoring device, according to her attorney. (Click the title to read the entire article.)
The article is pretty perfunctory, nothing terribly revelatory about it as compared to mine from yesterday. But at least ADN is providing coverage that is not slanted, and that is an improvement.
They do mention that Levi is not living in the house anymore, which I have known for awhile but kept quiet by request.
The comments over at ADN are not very kind toward Sherry, so if any of you are so inclined I am sure she would appreciate a little support.
I am hoping to get the opportunity to talk to Sherry sometime in the near future and get her side of the story. When I do, I will post it and perhaps we can all learn the truth about what happened to the Johnston family.
Shannyn Moore has written a piece and put it up on Huffington Post.
Mudflats-Banned in Wasilla? Palin Hides from bloggers: Once again, Palin has failed to realize that her efforts to ban access, her paranoia, and her use of uniformed police to act as her defacto security force is in itself a much bigger story than anything that Zaki could have filmed, or Gryphen could have written. Never let it be said that Sarah Palin couldn’t make a bad situation worse.
Politicususa: For someone who whines about her first amendment rights (which Palin interprets to mean her right to lie and insult others without pushback), Palin shows no respect for the real intention of the amendment.
DailyKos: What happened to those 1st amendment rights you are always "yakkin" about Sarah. Oh that's right I forgot, that is only for those who love "freedom"
Gawker: Remember the Alaska kindergarten teacher Palin threatened to serve libel papers to in front of his class? He went to a Going Rogueevent and discovered he is one of Palin's four worst enemies, banned from events via headshot dossier. (Okay not to nitpick, but I was a teaching assistant, and it was not my full time job. That job I still have.)
Do you know who should REALLY be on that Sarah Palin enemy list? Sarah Palin! NOBODY does more damage to her reputation than she does. Nobody!
Update: Here are some more media coverage.
Think Progress: From the comments section: What??? What the hell ever happened to FREE SPEECH????? (What indeed.)
Progressive Alaska: More messy aisle cleanups regarding the Crazy Woman today.
Talking Points Memo: Hastings told the Anchorage Daily News that "it wasn't in his (Zaki's) best interest to be here. He and others could have found themselves in a negative situation." But Zaki tells us he's covered plenty "of these tea bagging events and nobody does anything."
Tina Andreadis, a spokeswoman for Harper, tells TPMmuckraker that the company did rent out the arena and hired security for crowd control, as is routine. But Harper had no role in running the event, and no Harper personnel were sent to Wasilla. (Hmm interesting. I wonder if Harper Collins will throw Sarah under the bus over this?)
Raw Story: In what may be a trend in American politics, Sarah Palin is apparently banning bloggers who have written unfavorable articles about her from her book signings.
Upon arriving at Palin's hometown book-signing in Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday, two prominent Alaska bloggers discovered that they had been placed on a "banned list" and were asked by police to leave the premises.
One of my all time favorites Fark.com is also linking to the story.
Over at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis we get to learn exactly what was going on inside the Sports Center that Harper Collins/Sarah Palin did not want Dennis and I to witness. Here is a hint: Nazis!
He was apparently concerned that -- after following Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) instructions to pray that someone couldn't make a manager's amendment vote Sunday night -- his prayers for Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) to die struck the wrong senator.
"Our small tea bag group here in Waycross, we got our vigil together and took Dr. Coburn's instructions and prayed real hard that Sen. Byrd would either die or couldn't show up at the vote the other night," the caller said.
I love three things about this video. I love that the caller refers to his group as "teabaggers". I love Sen. John Barrasso's face as it slowly dawns on him how shamefully ignorant his supporters are. And I love that that there is tape of someone acknowledging that Senator Coburn's call for prayer, was indeed a call to pray for the death of a Senator of the United States of America.
I wonder if Senator Coburn could be brought up on charges if one of his colleagues suddenly kicks the bucket? Or if they have any of that grainy nightvision 20/20 like video of the Senator kneeling by his bed making his imprecatory prayer as hard as he can. Maybe they could get God to wear a wire.
