Diane Benson (second from the right) plus her team and Vietnam Veteran Mo Bailey

Late in July, Writing Raven and I had a fundraiser at Phil Munger's (Progressive Alaska) beautiful home for our trip to Denver...and Democratic Candidate for the Alaska At-Large Congressional seat, Diane Benson was kind enough to show up and donate.  It was then that I asked her the question that had been bugging me for months.  "Did I meet you about 14-15 years ago?"

The mission:  write a poem best highlighting one of the many anti-Progressive moments of Alaska Senator Ted "Toobz" Stevens.

The folks to do it right:  Why, Firedoglake of course!!!!

Led by the intrepid Phil Munger, newly installed contributor, the event has been a blast!!

From the Intro by Phil on FDL the first day:

Ted Stevens was so weird, clueless, stuttering and - uh, even more weird - in his statement at that press conference, we need to have another poetry contest. Does he inspire you? We had Dickfest 27 months ago, what we need now is Tedfest. Or whatever it ends up being named in the next couple of days.

There are four categories:

1. Verse

2. Haiku

3. YouTube

4. Open

Other than that...anything goes!

When my daughter was about 18 months old, I was entertaining the idea of moving to the lower-48 in the Southern regions (yes, it was February in Anchorage).  For the heck of it, I was checking out some "live-in" positions where high-powered, type-A folks were looking for personal assistants to be at their beck-and-call.  I started talking to a nice, older couple...a retired oil exec and his wife who were heavily involved in foundations, fundraising and event planning.  The position would have been perfect!  I sent them my resume, samples of my writing and made sure they knew I had an 18-month-old daughter.

They were impressed with my abilities and tickled at the thought of having a child in the house again.  It really looked like this was going somewhere.  As a proud mama, I decided to send them a picture of Morrigan and I together.

That evening, I received a curt (at first) phone call saying they were no longer interested in my services.  

"So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?" Roberts asked in court.

The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. "Well," he said, "it can hire fit and competent people."

No one who'd been following the almost-20-year-long fight for justice over the Exxon Valdez oil spill was really terribly surprised by the Supreme Court ruling yesterday, especially if they followed the coverage of the oral arguments back in February. The plaintiff's attorney, law professor Jeffrey Fisher, seemed to be in enemy territory:

I just got this email from the DNCC:

Hey,

Wanted to pass along the good news -- a local candidate has made the DCCC’s competitive Red to Blue and Emerging Races list.  Our press release with the announcement is pasted below and up on our site at http://dccc.org/...

Best,

Brandon

Brandon English
Online Communications Manager
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

I have been involved in the discussion regarding the DNCC Blogger Dust-Up from the beginning.

I decided to write about it in my Anchorage Daily News Community Voices Column:

"...there was another accusation that was much more controversial and mostly ignored in the blogosphere ... until the mainstream media got the story. Several "blogs-of-color" claimed that all of the blogs in the state blogger pool were "white-male blogs" ... suggesting that the DNC designed that on purpose. Two of the black bloggers claimed that since the state blogs had special floor access the DNC did not want "black people on the floor."

I was one of the state bloggers and not male so I took exception. "

AK-Sen, AK-AL, AK-Pres: Democrats competitive all around

Kos shows his latest poll information:

Young     (R) 40 (42)
Berkowitz (D) 50 (49)

and then goes on to look at the results in light of the Rasmusson AK Presidential Poll:

McCain  (R) 49
Obama   (D) 42

McCain  (R) 55
Clinton (D) 37

You better believe Begich and Berkowitz are cheering Obama's primary victory.

If you're like me (a Diane Benson supporter) you'll find it irritating that she's been left out of the results altogether.  That was also the case in December.

So I get up first thing and go to my email:

Linda -

In about an hour, we’ll announce the blogs selected for the State Blogger Corps at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Congratulations. I’m writing to let you know that Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis will be the credentialed blog from Alaska.

*Scooby Doo doubletake*

I had just read a great-catch diary this morning by NWTerriD where she nailed John McCain on a rather large misinterpretation of the Constitution during a speech at Wake Forest and his campaigns attempts to cover it up.

Less than an hour later while watching MSNBC, I found myself in a laughably similar situation.

Elementary School stages, when in use, are frantically photographed/videoed by at least a dozen parents so the results can be dragged out at holidays and when subject child brings home a potential spouse.  

So, it always amazes me that each school I've been to has a more craptastic sound and lighting system than the last.

My daughter's school does not break that pattern.  (If any upper-management from a large oil company just HAPPENS to be reading this right now, PLEASE make a note for your next donation cycle!)

(Initially posted on Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis.)

Today, Hillary Clinton proved yet again that she is hell-bent on destroying the Democratic Party to further her own delusions.

In what appear to be the New York senator's most blunt comments to date regarding a racial division in the Democratic presidential race, Hillary Clinton suggested Wednesday that "White Americans" are increasingly turning away from Barack Obama’s candidacy.

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," Clinton said in an interview with USA TODAY.

Clinton cited an Associated Press poll "that found how Senator Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

EVERYONE last night - every pundit, journalist, campaign supporter, etc...went on and on about how well Obama weathered the big, scary Rev. Wright issue.  It was a question in the exit polls; it was continuously beat into the ground.

Heck, the only one on MSNBC who even mentioned Iraq was the dreaded Chris Matthews (known as "Tweety" in some Progressive circles). He actually stunned me by saying he felt that Hillary's vote on Iraq essentially sabotaged her campaign because it kept her from being the "change" candidate.  She would always have that hanging over her head.

It was actually an excellent observation, but everyone ignored it.

I mentioned in a previous post on my blog Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis that the First Lady's severe condemnation of the Myanmar government mixed in with the offer for aid yesterday surely seemed bent on forcing Myanmar to reject it.

Now, I'm a believer - I think that Bush really wants Myanmar/Burma to reject U.S. help.  Here's Bush giving the #1 enemy of the present Myanmar government a "Congressional Gold Medal."  The timing is "coincidental" of course:

On Saturday, at "The Gathering" for Veterans, I had a conversation with Senator Lisa Murkowski regarding Sen. Stevens's stance against the 21st Century GI Bill.  I was emphatic that he was on the wrong side of the issue and I asked if there was anything she could do to change his mind.

Interestingly enough, the answer I got from her referenced the new McCain-Graham Bill.  She stated that she's absolutely insisting on a "side-by-side" of the two bills to see if it was comparable. That answer threw me off as it wasn't in response to the question I asked.  The other interesting aspect is that for the first time during our conversation, Sen. Murkowski seemed a little uncomfortable.

*******UPDATE*******

I just got an email from the Begich campaign about the Mayor's announcement and an introduction of his Campaign Online Communications Director.

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Matt Browner-Hamlin and I'm working as Mark Begich's campaign Online Communications Director. I was previously Chris Dodd's Deputy Internet Director & blogger on his presidential campaign and I've been a blogger for over three years.

There will be two announcement events today - one in Anchorage at noon and one in Fairbanks at 5pm. I'm not sure where in the state you are. I wanted to make sure you also knew that we'll be relaunching the campaign website around midday. I'm going to have a whole bunch of video content, including a short web video of why Mark is running, the announcement speech in Fairbanks, and some other stuff.

Mayor Begich has some real, solid experience backing him up on this campaign and I was impressed that Mr. Browner-Hamlin has been keeping up on my little blog (also known as Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis).

In May, the years-long outsourcing process of my husband’s government IT office comes to an end.  Of the approximate 34 Federal and contract positions that existed at the time the process began, there are only seven Federal positions and two contract positions left.  

Interestingly enough, this really wasn’t an "outsourcing" exercise if you listen to the Bush Administration.  My husband’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers IT group went through a nationwide "OMB Circular A-76 process".

(That’s the kind of name the government gives something when they want the general public’s eyes to glaze as they turn to the sports page.)  

What do DUI Legislation, Skin Cancer Prevention, and Teachers Unions have in common?  Sarah Longwell is fighting against all three!!!

On yesterday's diary, I refutedthe April 3rd Anchorage Daily News Compassarticle on the "evils" of House Bill 19, the Ignition Interlock Bill going through the Alaska Legislature. The article was written by Sarah Longwell, "the managing director of the American Beverage Institute in Washington, D.C., an association of restaurants committed to the responsible serving of adult beverages".

The Compass Piece for the April 3rd edition of The Anchorage Daily News was titled "DUI proposal's restrictive nature alarming." The piece played fast-and-loose with the truth through complete lack of statistical back-up, generalized assertions and future-tripping insinuation.