Phil and intrepid reporter/videographer, Dennis Zaki, went to Stevens campaign office to deliver all of the poems wrapped up on a "series of toobz." Watch the video.
Oh, and here are the winners:
Haiku:
Ted Stevens glows at midnight. Son already sunk. Glaciers calving justice
--- Prairie Sunshine
Limerick:
Of all the congressional critters Ted sure knows his Toobz and transmitters His scandals are breakin His booze, getting taken And now there’s no wine-ing and bitters.
--- egregious
Short Verse and Ephemera:
Veni, vidi, Veco.
--- Valley Girl
Verse:
There are odd things done in the midnight sun By the men whom Oil has sold Their fishy tales meet with hearty gales from wise heads when they are told The FBI’s knights have recited some rights but the queerest they ever had read was that night by the mouse of a Girdwood house that belonged to Senator Ted.
A very special thanks to my friends Rishi and Tesva for being there when we needed them most and my sisterfriend Rebecca for working so hard and sharing her decorative talents, and Steve (What Do I Know) for jumping in to help...thanks for putting up with the Diva and Divo!!! (not to mention the little Diva-in-training!!!)...
...to the wonderful Mat Su Democrats including candidate Erick Cordero for showing up (most of) the Anchorage-ites by coming out in the rain...
...a "we are not worthy" **bow** for all the hard work by the incredibly warm and generous Mungers and the use of their beautiful home...
...to Donovan for committing to come before he realized it was in Wasilla, then coming anyway...
...for Diane and Tony for booking out of Anchorage right after the debate and for Diane and Raven who gave us the rare and beautiful gift of spontaneously sharing their Tlingit culture with us through song.
Thank you to everyone for your help as we continue to work towards our goal!
While the Palin Administration was digging itself into a hole down the road (Thanks, Todd Palin!) I was invited to speak about being a credentialed blogger at the Democratic National Convention to the July Mat Su Democrats meeting. I was impressed; there were over 50 friendly, enthusiastic folks there who gave all of us a warm reception. They didn't even let the influx of a bunch of loud bus tourists stop their meeting. We even stopped clapping because it was "annoying the customers." I would have liked to have asked the management to make the tourists stop their incredibly rude stares.
This is a really bad (but the only one I took) picture of my friend and fellow "blogger-in-arms" Phil Munger, whose excellent idea to have a poetry contest about Ted Stevens on national blog Firedoglake called "Ted-fest" also netted him a contributor slot...congratulations!!!! Phil spread his contageous energy addressing the Dems about letters to the editor and then (of course) veering off to his favorite subject, using the Intertoobz wisely and effectively for Progressive issues and campaigning. He also explained the true significance of the poetry contest (millions of non-Alaskans learning about Ted's "issues") and read several of the poems. Here's one by commenter darkblack in the tradition of Robert Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee":
There are odd things done in the midnight sun By the men whom Oil has sold Their fishy tales meet with hearty gales from wise heads when they are told The FBI’s knights have recited some rights but the queerest they ever had read was that night by the mouse of a Girdwood house that belonged to Senator Ted.
Native Veteran and State Delegate Jay Cross with Erick Cordero, candidate for Lyda Green's seat--discussing the race while an audience watches from the wall. Erick spoke very eloquently about why he was running and impressed the crowd with his enthusiasm--especially since he just became a citizen in January.
Dennis Zaki and Shannyn Moore (pictured with Shannyn's boyfriend Kelly) along with me spoke about the Democratic Convention and Progressive media in general. Dennis's website, Alaska Report, is easily the most-read Progressive site in Alaska and possibly the most-read Alaska news site period
The irrepressible Katie Hurley, Chief Clerk to Alaska's Constitutional Convention, chats with her table. When she addressed the group, she reminded us that "Republicans don't know how to party." Woo Hoo!
When questioned about the Patriot Act and Real ID, Stevens defended his votes for them, and referenced the book America Alone by neocon author Mark Steyn. “Read that book… and decide if we want to become France,” Stevens said at the conference. Steyn’s book is a controversial look at the possibility of an Islamic Europe and has been embraced by many right-wingers and hawks. On the left, Steyn’s considered a bigot and Islamophobe, and the lefty blogs around Alaska like Progressive Alaska and Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis pounced on Stevens’ endorsement of the book.
Steyn, a Canadian citizen who lives in New Hampshire and is a prolific conservative commentator published in several newspapers and magazines, has come under fire for using the words “Japs,” “Chinks,” “gooks,” and “wogs” (a British pejorative for Indians), as well as calling Muslims “sheep-shaggers,” in his “journalism.” He was one of the first to perpetuate the rumor—in the Chicago Sun-Times—that Barack Obama is a Muslim and “was raised in an Indonesian madrassah by radical imams.” (This is, of course, not true.)
Flashlight isn’t sure this is the best strategery for Uncle Ted (to borrow a term from Dubya); perhaps he’s unaware of Steyn’s looseness with racial slurs— Flashlight got an email from his office saying that the liberal bloggers’ bitching about Stevens referencing the book didn’t warrant a response; “consider the source,” it said.
I don't see how it's possible to interpret this excerpt -- given that Steyn is also contending that these demographics are inevitable throughout Europe, and he offers no solution that would accommodate or assimilate Muslims -- as anything other than outright advocacy of genocide and the Bosnian model of "ethnic cleansing" for the rest of Europe. Hitchens, rather typically, softens it by noting that Steyn is saying "that Serbo-fascist ethnic cleansing can appear more rational in retrospect than it did at the time."
Phil Munger keeps posting on this also HERE--only he has some GREAT pictures! He also knows a bit more about Mr. Neiwert that he shares on this post. I didn't realize this guy was an expert!
Some of the folks in the Afrosphere have pointed out that "racism" is an inaccurate term (a point on which I'll agree, as we are all one race genetics-wise.)I have also been taking some criticism for calling it "racism" when folks are pointing out that it is actually a religion we are talking about, not a skin color.
Considering I believe this all stems from a "fear of brown people," on that point I disagree.
However, for the sake of accuracy, I will use the terms "bigotted" or "bigot."
When looking at my past experience in dealing with the "ethnic purity" people and subsequent research on the subject, it is clear that "genocide" of those "mud people" is a primary goal. This is justified in the Christian Identity movement because they believe that the "mud people" (which includes people of color, Jews, Muslims, etc...) are quite literally the "people of Satan." Demonizing people is always an effective way to justifiably kill them.
Turning back to Mark Steyn's book:
Why did Bosnia collapse into the worst slaughter in Europe since World War Two? In the thirty years before the meltdown, Bosnian Serbs had declined from 43 percent to 31percent of the population, while Bosnian Muslims had increased from 26 percent to 44 percent. In a democratic age, you can’t buck demography—except through civil war. The Serbs figured that out—as other Continentals will in the years ahead: if you can’t outbreed the enemy, cull ’em. The problem that Europe faces is that Bosnia’s demographic profile is now the model for the entire continent.
There has been much debate around this quote, with Steyn denouncing his critics and stating that he was against genocide as a solution and was merely "predicting" what would happen. However, as I've been reading the book, I haven't found anything in it truly renouncing the idea...just stating that it probably wouldn't work. That's not a renounciation to me.
So, my question with all of this...why is the MSM not screaming to the rooftops that a sitting U.S. Senator has openly admitted that this book has played a part in forming HIS DOMESTIC SECURITY POLICY?
I didn't post this until now because I finally finished writing this month's column for the ADN. It's on this topic and it asks that question so we'll see if they'll publish it.
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