Mel the reluctant political blogger is going to Netroots Nation after all — on full scholarship through the LGBT Netroots Connect initiative. Wanna know what I said on my scholarship application? Then read this post.

I wasn’t going to go.  I didn’t want to go.  When I ran into Shannyn Moore at the Bear Tooth back in February, and she suggested I apply for a Democracy for America scholarship to Netroots Nation, I told her that since I was trying to steer myself toward my writing — which feeds my spirit in a way that political blogging does not — I didn’t actually want to go to Netroots Nation.  I directed the energy I might have used to fill out a scholarship application toward instead writing a post in support of the candidacy of my friend John Aronno of Alaska Commons — and, because he’s such a great ally of LGBT Alaskans, I asked Bent Alaska readers to support him, too. (And I’m happy to say that John won an NN scholarship in Round 1 of the competition. Shannyn is also going to NN.)

All of that was before I became as deeply involved with Bent Alaska as I now am: a coadministrator and behind-the-scenes geek, as well as an ongoing contributor.

So at the beginning of May, when Jeanne Devon of The Mudflats (aka AKMuckraker) wrote to me about an “interesting opportunity,” I went for it. Yeah, I decided.  I do want to go.

The opportunity she put me onto was for a full or partial scholarship under a new Netroots Nation initiative, LGBT Netroots Connect, which — well, let the mailer tell the story —

For the past three years, an activist named Mike Rogers has taken it upon himself to organize LGBT bloggers, organizations and their allies at Netroots Nation. His efforts have been so successful that we’re making it an official part of our program—a new initiative called Netroots Connect.

Netroots Connect will bring small groups of progressives together for a day of strategizing around a particular issue. We believe the conversations that happen here will lead to the next generation of organizing efforts for key progressive issues.

And most importantly, we want you to be a part of it. You can apply to be part of this special strategy day for LGBT bloggers, organizations and allies, which will take place June 15.

Click here to apply for a spot.

The program also features some budget for full or partial scholarships to attend Netroots Nation in an effort to make sure the LGBT community is fully represented at the conference.

The day-long event will bring together those with a stake in a strong LGBT movement—bloggers, key activists and representatives from various LGBT organizations—for a daylong session designed to help form greater strategic alliances within the movement.

As of this writing, the “Click here to apply for a spot” link still takes you to the application form I filled out.  But don’t bother filling it out — the deadline was May 6.  But feel free to take a look, if you’re interested in the kinds of questions I was asked.

This scholarship didn’t have a public “support your candidate” component like the Democracy for America competition John & Shannyn were in, but I did keep a record of my most important answers. So I’ll supply those to you too.

Write a tweet: Who are you and why should you be at Netroots Nation?

I’m a writer, poet, & deep thinker who aims to educate & persuade with fact & opinion expressed with reason, clarity, passion, & respect.

In 50 words or less, what do you hope to gain from your participation in Netroots Nation?

I recently became coadminstrator of Bent Alaska, Alaska’s LGBTQ blog. I hope to get counsel on how to bring in other writers/bloggers to enrich Bent Alaska with more content from more voices.

In 50 words or less, what do you hope to bring to Netroots Nation as a participant?

I bring my perspective: I’m ambivalent about being a “political blogger” because politics, commonly understood, tends to be about political parties, ideologies, who’s got the most votes. I want a deeper democracy, in which every person has right of participation in any decision affecting her/his life and work.

Blogging/Online Qualification * Scholarship recipients must be a regular blogger with an average of 5 posts per week or engaged as an online activist for 10 or more hours per week.

•    I blog 5 times per week on average for the past 4 months.
•    Other: I’m principle investigator of the Anchorage LGBT Discrimination Survey (in progress); we plan also to conduct a statewide LGBT community survey.

Website names/address(s)

www.henkimaa.com
www.bentalaska.com
alaskacommunity.org

Do you work for an organization or company working in the on-line arena? Tell us a bit about your experience and the work you currently do.

I’m a 20-year staff member of the Justice Center at University of Alaska Anchorage, where I’m a publication specialist and web manager responsible for our large research-oriented website and online and social internet activities. justice.uaa.alaska.edu

In 50 words or less, what issues do you focus on and what issues would you like to learn more about.

I’m eclectic. I write about writing, my life, health and mental health, the justice system, politics, religion, philosophy. Politically, my most important focus, especially on Bent Alaska, is LGBTQ equality. I’m especially interested in unlocking the lock rightwing Christianist ideologues have on religious discussion of LGBTQ people and issues.

Three links * Please enter three blog post links you would like to include in your application. (Important: Do not worry about design issues at all, this is about original content.)

http://www.bentalaska.com/2011/03/harm-at-the-center/
http://www.henkimaa.com/2009/09/03/no-debbie-title-vii/
http://www.henkimaa.com/2009/05/29/prevos-devil-masks/

[I also thought about these links, but opted for the 3 above. Actually, I thought about a whole buncha other links too, but opted for the 3 above.]

http://www.henkimaa.com/2009/05/22/prevos-red-herrings/
http://www.bentalaska.com/2011/01/anchorage%E2%80%99s-lgbt-discrimination-survey/

Here’s your chance…. Anything you want to share that is not covered above? This is the place.

I’ve accomplished some important work in Alaska toward LGBTQ equality, including blogging about the 2009 “Summer of Hate” in Anchorage regarding a sexual orientation/gender identity equal rights ordinance. I’m also known here for some of my in-depth posts on Sarah Palin, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, and efforts by rightwingers to overturn provisions of Alaska’s constitution on judicial selection and retention, among other “political” posts.

But by far the most important work I’ve done for the cause of LGBTQ equality and progressive politics in general is to live openly and matter-of-factly as who I am — as a lesbian, yes, but also as a writer of poetry and science fiction/fantasy; as someone with a B.A. in Religion who continues to be fascinated by the human religious impulse; as someone who has struggled lifelong with depression/despair; and as everything else I am . That’s how I live my daily workaday life, and it’s also how I blog.  Thus, I write about all sorts of stuff that I care ranging from day-to-day trivia to philosophical ponderings to the well-researched and documented political.  I think it’s important to fight the political fights we fight, but it’s also important to live the lives those political fights are about — and to reflect our lives, with integrity, in how and what we write.

And so, this past Sunday night I got the word: I was in.

Mel the reluctant political blogger with Brian the Moose at the True Diversity Dinner, September 2009. Photo by Jeanne Devon (AKMuckraker) of The Mudflats.

I did inform a few people — notably Jeanne Devon, who told me about it in the first place, and my co-admin at Bent Alaska, E. Ross, and my fellow members of the newly created Bent Alaska News Team — but didn’t get around to writing a post about it until now because, well, I’ve been busy writing other blog posts. Oh yeah, and doing some of that writing that I told Shannyn Moore back in February I wanted to do instead of any of this political blogging.

Besides, I also wanted to get my travel arrangements in place.  I did that today, with the help of the very activist whose efforts over the past few years led to the LGBT Netroots Connect, Mike Rogers.  Turns out that this is the Mike Rogers who’s the managing director of Raw Story — and a really cool guy who’s looking forward to get an Alaska LGBT blogger down at Netroots so he can grill me about… well, you know which famous Alaskan he wants to grill me about.

Now I really want to go.

You’ll be hearing more about Netroots Nation on both Henkimaa and Bent Alaska over the next few weeks, especially when I’m right there in Minneapolis: one of my obligations as a scholarship recipient is to write at least two 125+ word blog posts per day over the course of the conference.

(125 words? Ha! Think I could possibly ever right a blog post shorter than 125 words?)

Meantime, I want to thank Shannyn for thinking of me back in February, Jeanne for thinking of me back earlier this month, Mike Rogers, for deciding he’d like to meet me in Minneapolis on June 15, and E. Ross, who founded Bent Alaska in March 2008 and single-handedly made it the single most important source of news and information for LGBTQ Alaskans and their friends and allies.

(She really should be going to Netroots Nation herself,  but unfortunately has other obligations.)

Related posts:

1. Help John Aronno of Alaska Commons go to Netroots Nation
2. Prepping for Netroots Nation — #nn11 #nn11lgbt
3. The Daily Tweets 2011-06-03: The Netroots Nation 11 mobile phone app is just as cool as bow ties

Palin: Flailin' failin' and probably bailin' -- a sign from the Hold Palin Accountable Rally, 27 Sep 2008, Anchorage, AK. Prophetic, too: she bailed 10 months later.

I don’t usually read Conservatives for Palin.  For one thing, I don’t have much use for unmitigated laudatoriness toward my former governor about whom I have all manner of reasons to be unfavorably impressed — her incessant untruth-telling, her vindictiveness, her Christianist/Dominionist views, her habit of quitting jobs half-done (though to tell the truth, I’m glad she quit as governor — Sean Parnell ain’t no superhero, but he’s a vast improvement over both his last two predecessors), & her speeches full of the same old tired conservative talking points over & over & over & over [yawn] again.  Oh yes, & let us not forget her famous 2 million dollar meme, which has the distinction of having led to the most popular post on my blog to date. [Ref #1] It also has a nice pie chart that I made, which I will take the opportunity to show off now.

The 2 million dollar meme pie chart, which I created to demonstrate what it cost the Alaska Personnel Board to investigate ethics complaints against Sarah Palin. Notice how 63% of costs were from Troopergate, including the "frivolous" ethics complaint Palin made against herself. Click through on the pie chart to get to my Flickr photostream, where it can also be viewed full-size.

It was with some bemusement, then, that I learned that on Sunday one of C4P’s bloggers took it upon himself to congratulate me for being one of those “with the courage to criticise [sic] those whose lives seem committed to a downward spiral of abusive tabloideeze about all things Palin.”

Why, sir! I do believe that you’re trying to coopt me!

The blog post, “Skinny White Sunday: Alaska Palm Pilot Rocks!” by Rich Crowther [Ref #2], was a sort of Sunday wrap-up of Palin-related news, which in this case included discussion of Phil Munger’s use of the word “slut,” for which I had criticized him. [Ref #3] Interestingly, Crowther said very little about my criticism of Phil, instead choosing to highlight comments I’d made at Phil’s post about Gryphen of Immoral Minority.  Also of interest was that while Crowther made use of the term Steve Aufrecht used in his post criticizing Phil for the same thing — Blogger Tourettes [Ref #4] — Crowther not only didn’t credit him, but even linked to another C4P post (critical of Phil) instead of to Steve’s post. [Ref #5] I’m sure there are a number of C4Pers who now think Crowther is oh-so-very-clever for coining a clever phrase that in fact he just snagged uncredited from another Alaska progressive blogger.

Here’s the relevant section of Crowther’s post.  All the stuff in green is him quoting me.  Links are as they appear in the original.

Mr M has recently been struck down by a bad case of Blogger Tourettes and the issue of the week over at his blog has been “to swear or not to swear”. Is it nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of Sarah Palin’s outrageous good fortune, or to cuss with aggressive, sexually charged, misogynistic language in trying to oppose that?

They accuse C4P of meddling in Alaskan affairs, but here’s what we don’t understand, how can it be more acceptable for those Eurozone sludgers Patrick Hogwash and Regina la Cochon Rose (at Palingates) to involve themselves in matters Alaska? How can it be appropriate to link to that bilious European blog? Huh?

Interestingly, reader, there are now some Alaska Bloggers (eg Mel@Henkimaa) with the courage to criticise those whose lives seem committed to a downward spiral of abusive tabloideeze about all things Palin:

“[I] think that Gryphen frequently goes over the top & over the line, especially with regard to Palin. (But not only with regard to her. For example, I was pretty sickened by his post a week or so ago about Lesil McGuire & Tom Anderson’s divorce.)”

“I’m not a Trig Truther — I have better things to do with my time than to scrutinize photos of her to see how big her ‘baby bump was’…”

“I don’t care if Gryphen is more worried about this than I am; my concern is mainly where his (or anyone else’s) interest might have a negative impact on the life of innocent people. (As with the more recent ‘Track Truther’ rumor, which questions the facts of Track’s parentage — never mind the impact such reckless rumor-mongering might have on the lives of Track or the family of the supposed ‘real’ father. I think it’s Palingates where I’ve seen this stuff.)”

“I think that Doogan was wrong for outing her [Jeanne Devon]. I think the language Jeanne has used to cut him down is frequently insulting, but not as deeply so as Phil’s slut slur. I think that a lot of Alaska progressive bloggers are just participating in the general level of political incivility that is part of the general culture now.”

“I do have a problem with personal attack & demeaning insult… On that basis too I have lots of problems with Immoral Minority. I have often felt that Gryphen is so caught up in his dislike of Palin that he goes overboard in seeking out things to criticize her about, even on slow Palin news days. I often feel he goes over the top & over the line.”

“Gryphen’s blog, to my eyes, is one of the biggest offenders in the ‘gratuitous insult’ & ‘criticize for the sake of criticism’ category that the Alaska lefty blogosphere has to offer.”

The person who wrote all that is no admirer of C4P, far from it, but she is certainly the first liberal blogger in Alaska to address openly and honestly the very real problems which some of the leftist bloggers have – not least in the way in which they have been supporting those reaching beyond decency in their sometimes color-blind desperation to build a conspiracy… any conspiracy. [Ref #2]

I appreciate that Mr. Crowther was kind enough to point out that I’m “no admirer of C4P, far from it,” and also to recognize that I’m a she, not a he (since I sign a lot of posts with my nickname Mel, some people erroneously assume that I’m male).  But I also noticed that Mr. Crowther was very careful to take my comments out of their context, particularly to omit anything I said that was critical of Palin or her followers, even if it was part of the same sentence or comment that he elected to quote, or complimentary to any Alaska progressive blogger.   Since Mr. Crowther never linked to the post where my comments were made, it also made it that much more difficult for any C4P reader to check the quotes & place them in context. The result is to give a very unbalanced representation of my views — perhaps in tribute to that favorite news source of conservatives, Fox News: fairly unbalanced.

So here I am to restore the balance of what I was saying.

The most egregious example was Mr. Crowther’s first quotation of my words:

“[I] think that Gryphen frequently goes over the top & over the line, especially with regard to Palin. (But not only with regard to her. For example, I was pretty sickened by his post a week or so ago about Lesil McGuire & Tom Anderson’s divorce.)”

“I’m not a Trig Truther — I have better things to do with my time than to scrutinize photos of her to see how big her ‘baby bump was’…”

“I don’t care if Gryphen is more worried about this than I am; my concern is mainly where his (or anyone else’s) interest might have a negative impact on the life of innocent people. (As with the more recent ‘Track Truther’ rumor, which questions the facts of Track’s parentage — never mind the impact such reckless rumor-mongering might have on the lives of Track or the family of the supposed ‘real’ father. I think it’s Palingates where I’ve seen this stuff.)” [Ref #2]

Here, typos and all, i’s the portion of my comment on “PA’s Palin Poll – Another Critical View by Another Close Friend” [Ref #6](which was a crosspost of Steve Aufrecht’s post “Blogger Tourettes”) from which Mr. Crowther was selectively quoting.  (Note: all the quotes Mr. Crowther made of my words were from my comments to that same post.):

You ask,

Do you support “Gryphen” (Jesse Griffin) (http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/)? Have you read his stuff? What do you think? He may be hung up about Palin’s child’s birth certificate. What do you think about Palin’s kid’s birth certificate? Do you think the birth certificate is a fraud?

I answered about Immoral Minority in my comment immediately prior to your comment. Yes, I read it. Sometimes I appreciate it. Sometimes I don’t. As I said above, I think that Gryphen frequently goes over the top & over the line, especially with regard to Palin. (But not only with regard to her. For example, I was pretty sickened by his post a week or so ago about Lesil McGuire & Tom Anderson’s divorce.)

As for Palin’s kid’s birth certificate — how would I know if it’s a fraud? I’ve never seen it, nor has anyone that I know, since Palin has never released it. It would be nice if she would, because then maybe it would put to rest all the Trig Truther stuff. That she hasn’t released it might indicates that either

(1) she thinks it’s nobody’s business, even though she’s brought Trig & the manner of his birth so much into the public spotlight that she’s made it other people’s business; and/or

(2) she for some reason thinks it serves her interests to keep the Trig Truther rumors alive by not putthing a quash to them once & for all with a disclosure of the birth certificate; and/or

(3) one or more of the claims she has circulated about Trig & the circumstances of his birth is a lie.

Maybe all three. I’m not a Trig Truther — I have better things to do with my time than to scrutinize photos of her to see how big her “baby bump was” — but her tale of the long plane rides from Texas to Anchorage after her water broke certainly seems suspect. And if true, certainly demonstrates her irresponsibility.

I don’t care if Gryphen is more worried about this than I am; my concern is mainly where his (or anyone else’s) interest might have a negative impact on the life of innocent people. (As with the more recent “Track Truther” rumor, which questions the facts of Track’s parentage — never mind the impact such reckless rumormongering might have on the lives of Track or the family of the supposed “real” father. I think it’s Palingates where I’ve seen this stuff.) [Ref #6, comment at 6:24 PM]

Notice how Mr. Crowther carefully leaves out the context of my criticism of Palin’s own behavior with regard to Trig, including the famous account of the “my water broke & then I endangered the life of my child by taking a long journey from Texas so my child could be born in Alaska” airplane trips. And then even a drive from Anchorage to Wasilla.  Oh please.  Notice how he makes me seem even more critical of Gryphen than I am by omitting what I say about sometimes appreciating his blog.

From the same comment at Progressive Alaska, Mr. Crowther quotes this:

“I think that Doogan was wrong for outing her [Jeanne Devon]. I think the language Jeanne has used to cut him down is frequently insulting, but not as deeply so as Phil’s slut slur. I think that a lot of Alaska progressive bloggers are just participating in the general level of political incivility that is part of the general culture now.” [Ref #2]

The full context of that portion of the comment:

What about Devon cutting down Mike Doogan, over and over again, for identifying her?

I think that Doogan was wrong for outing her. I think the language Jeanne has used to cut him down is frequently insulting, but not as deeply so as Phil’s slut slur. I think that a lot of Alaska progressive bloggers are just participating in the general level of political incivility that is part of the general culture now. I think I’ve done so at times myself, & I’m trying to do better. But I also think the incivility & attack language is routinely far worse & more virulent on the right. I’m still appalled that Palin nominated to be attorney general someone like Wayne Anthony Ross, who has a long history of demeaning the personhood of people with whom he disagrees.

But that’s just the humble opinion of a “lima bean.” [Ref #6, comment at 6:24 PM]

Alaskans might remember that during a confirmation hearing before the Alaska House Judiciary Committee, Wayne Anthony Ross compared lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual/transgender Alaskans to “lima beans,” a vegetable he “hates” but would still “represent” if he was hired to be the advocate for “United Vegetable Growers.” [Ref #7] That’s on top of other slurs he’s used, not only against LGBT Alaskans [Ref #8] but also against victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, as I detailed in a letter I wrote to members of the Alaska Legislature last April. [Ref #9] But, gotta make sure that Palin supporters don’t see any of my criticism of Palin’s disastrous & embarrassing choice of WAR — embarrassing especially because the Alaska Legislature resoundingly rejected her poor choice for attorney general [Ref #10] — not exactly a high point for Palin’s record as governor of Alaska. Better not remind Palin fans of that, or anything else I said that might remind them of embarrassing truths about Palin — which may well be one reason that Mr. Crowther didn’t link to the post where my comments were originally made.

Y’think?

Mr. Crowther also chose to ignore my later comment, in which I retracted & corrected the error I made in describing Jeanne Devon’s posts about Alaska State Representative Mike Doogan:

On the other item — Jeanne Devon of the Mudflats coming down on Doogan for removing her anonymity — I’ve got to revise my earlier answer.

Earlier I wrote that “I think that Doogan was wrong for outing her. I think the language Jeanne has used to cut him down is frequently insulting, but not as deeply so as Phil’s slut slur.” Now, having gone through her blog for stuff she’s said about Doogan, I must correct myself to say that I only once found her actually “insulting” him, but not directly. To the extent she did so, it was in reporting on the fact that Doogan was among those legislators whose name was apprearing on little flags put in dog poo in Juneau, such that he had attained the nickname “Doo Doo Doogan.” I.e., she was reporting on an insult others had dreamed up, not originating it. Mudflats is actually one of my favorite blogs to read, because Jeanne is witty & creative in her writing; & seldom if ever lowers herself to engage in ad hominem attacks.

I’ve met her only a couple of times, once at the True Diversity Dinner where she took my picture with Brian the Moose. It hasn’t appeared on her blog though. [Ref #6, comment at 11:48 PM]

Jeanne wrote me privately to thank me for making the correction, & also told me where she had in fact posted the pic of me with Brian the Moose (about halfway down: I’m the one in orange between Republican Gomorrah author Max Blumenthal and Air America’s Richard Green).  Could Mr. Crowther’s ignoring this have anything to do maybe possibly perhaps maybe have something to do with the fact that Palin fans also don’t like Jeanne, whose blog The Mudflats is one of the principal blogs that brought the attention of non-Alaskans to what a dangerously unqualified candidate Palin was for vice president?  How nice to be able to coopt the comments of a liberal blogger like me to put her down!  How inconvenient that I later corrected my incorrect remarks!  How convenient for Mr. Crowther that all he had to do to keep most C4P readers ignorant of my correction was by simply not mentioning it!

Mr. Crowther next quoted from the very first comment I made that mentioned Gryphen:

“I do have a problem with personal attack & demeaning insult… On that basis too I have lots of problems with Immoral Minority. I have often felt that Gryphen is so caught up in his dislike of Palin that he goes overboard in seeking out things to criticize her about, even on slow Palin news days. I often feel he goes over the top & over the line.” [Ref #2]

My full comment:

Anonymous @ 3:40 PM asked,

I wonder if those who are complaining about Phil’s poll also take the same critical look at blogs such as The Immoral Minority where the criticism of Palin runs along the same lines and I see plenty of expletives and worse.

I don’t have a problem with expletives exactly (the f-word for example, which I occasionally use myself); I do have a problem with personal attack & demeaning insult — which is the main basis upon which I criticized of Phil’s poll. On that basis too I have lots of problems with Immoral Minority. I have often felt that Gryphen is so caught up in his dislike of Palin that he goes overboard in seeking out things to criticize her about, even on slow Palin news days. I often feel he goes over the top & over the line.

Your other examples (Keith Olbermann, Jesse Jackson, MLK, Kennedy) all involved personal private relationships that (1) I don’t know enough about to judge & (2) had nothing to do with any of those people’s presentations in public discourse. You’re comparing apples & oranges. I do look unfavorably on people abusing their power in sexual relationships & also when they violate their agreements (such as vows of fidelity) with their partners or spouses. But it’s up to the people they have those agreements with to hold them accountable, not me — since I don’t know exactly what their agreements were; nor do I know whether or not whatever Olbermann did actually violated the consent of any of his sexual partners.

Obviously Phil has no obligation to explain anything unless he really wants to. Seems like Phil wants to. Isn’t that what he just said in crossposting this? [Ref #6, comment at 4:12 PM]

In this case, Mr. Crowther’s selective quote served to leave out my the qualification of what I was criticizing Phil for, or the fact that I don’t really give that much of a shit about expletives.  (See? I just used one.)  But this wasn’t as bad a selective quotation as some of his others.

Mr. Crowther’s final quote of my words:

“Gryphen’s blog, to my eyes, is one of the biggest offenders in the ‘gratuitous insult’ & ‘criticize for the sake of criticism’ category that the Alaska lefty blogosphere has to offer.” [Ref #2]

What I said in that comment in full, in which I was replying to an anonymous conservative commenter who took exception to me saying that despite my criticisms of Gryphen’s blog, I still liked him & read his blog:

Anon @ 10:08 AM –

“Be it known that while I think he frequently goes over the top & over the line on his blog, I still like him & I still read his blog — I just wince a lot.”

Translation for non-leftists.” This guy says stuff I would find hateful and vile on right-wing sites but because he’s one of ours I’ll go along with it.”

For the Left, convictions mean nothing and the end always justifies the means.

I guess you haven’t been reading, Anon. I’ve been calling loudly & persistently ever since Phil posted his “slut” remarks & poll for progressive bloggers to refrain from demeaning insults, & to stop excusing their use of them by the hypocritical justification that “the right does it so we can too.”

Gryphen’s blog, to my eyes, is one of the biggest offenders in the “gratuitous insult” & “criticize for the sake of criticism” category that the Alaska lefty blogosphere has to offer.

But that doesn’t, nor has it ever, meant that I have tossed him on the garbage heap. He’s like a brother whose uglier language I abhor. But however much I abhor his language, that doesn’t’ mean he ceases from being my brother. Same for Phil.

But back to the question of hypocrisy: I have said a number of times that lefties are behind hypocritical when they justify their incivility & ugly language against righties because “the right does it to us.”

Unsurprisingly, almost all of the right wing commenters who have commented on this issue on Phil’s blog over the past few days, including you, are using the same hypocritical strategy: you continually show up, usually in anonymous guise, to gripe at lefties for being uncivil & using “hateful and vile” language, while never once condemning the hateful & vile language from your own side.

So rail as much as you like, but your arguments will continue to have no merit until you stop behaving with such hypocrisy. [Ref #6, comment on February 11 at 10:37 AM]

Better not let C4P readers know that I was also criticizing rightwingers for their “hateful and vile” language — which, in fact, occurs with some frequency in comments at C4P.

In fact, the post Mr. Crowther linked to when he borrowed Steve Aufrecht’s term “Blogger Tourettes” without so much as mentioning Steve was to his own February 6 post critical of Phil’s first post where he referred to Palin as a “slut.”  Comments on that post were rife with “hateful and vile” language.  And also a commenter called Kjanlady suggesting,

Kjanlady: Can we get his address and post it on the web….along with a picture of him, his house, and the car he drives? ) [Ref #5, comment 02/08/2010, 09:26:54]

Though I credit two other commenters, the first a couple of hours after the suggestion was made, the other by Rich Crowther himself the following day, for saying no to this idea –

section9: No. We don’t do that crap. Much as we’d like to, Philip Munger is a pathetic assclown who, despite his efforts to destroy Sarah Palin, is a private citizen. [Ref #5, comment 02/08/2010, 11:20:51]

Rich : I have the impression that Kjan. is probably making a sarcastic reference to the way in which Palingates published personal information about two former C4P contributors recently.

For the record, Mr Munger is a private citizen whose privacy must be respected.

My post sought to challenge his use of language as a blogger. Implicit in that is the hope that he might re-think his approach to blog posting, and be less deliberately inflammatory when he next writes critically about Governor Palin. [Ref #5, comment 02/09/2010, 01:26:31; emphasis added)

But, for the record, not before someone apparently decided to take Kjanlady up on her suggestion, as reported by Phil shortly after she made it.  (Though of course no one has actual proof that the men taking photos of Phil's house & car were C4P readers, because they skedaddled on out of there as soon as they realized Phil had seen them.)

None of this is to say that Rich Crowther or anyone else at C4P is wrong for calling upon Phil or Gryphen on anyone else to be less inflammatory when they write about Palin, or about anyone else.  But notice how seldom they call upon their own side to use less inflammatory language.  Same hypocrisy I was decrying throughout the discussion of civility.  As, for example, when I wrote last week,

It’s clear that just as much on the left as on the right, too many people are willing to excuse their “own side” for employing the same tactics that they condemn the “other side” for. [Ref #3]

Same hypocrisy I was decrying when I wrote — in that last comment Mr. Crowther selectively quoted from –

But back to the question of hypocrisy: I have said a number of times that lefties are behind hypocritical when they justify their incivility & ugly language against righties because “the right does it to us.”

Unsurprisingly, almost all of the right wing commenters who have commented on this issue on Phil’s blog over the past few days, including you, are using the same hypocritical strategy: you continually show up, usually in anonymous guise, to gripe at lefties for being uncivil & using “hateful and vile” language, while never once condemning the hateful & vile language from your own side.

So rail as much as you like, but your arguments will continue to have no merit until you stop behaving with such hypocrisy. [Ref #6, comment on February 11 at 10:37 AM]

That, in particular, is a message that Mr. Crowther’s selective quoting of my comments left out.

Now, since I don’t typically read C4P, it’s possible that I have missed such condemnation from Mr. Crowther or other conservative bloggers there of the hateful & vile language that so often comes out of the mouths or keyboards of C4P readers and other conservatives & Palin fans.  If so, please point them out to me in comments, & I will stand corrected.  I ask that you please refrain from namecalling as you do so.

Meantime, I’ve got to say that it turns out there’s a whole lot of work to restore fairness & balance to the record when C4P writes about one in laudatory terms.  I wonder if Rich Crowther will still think I have “courage” after he’s read this post.  It’s nice to be called courageous, sure, but even better is to be coopted represented honestly and in context.

References

1. 7/7/2009. “The 2 million dollar meme” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
2. 2/14/2010.  “Skinny White Sunday: Alaska Palm Pilot Rocks!” by Rich Crowther (Conservatives for Palin).
3. 2/8/2010. “Progressive bloggers on Palin: Civility versus namecalling” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
4. 2/10/2010. “Blogger Tourettes” by Steve Aufrecht (What Do I Know?); crossposted as “PA’s Palin Poll – Another Critical View by Another Close Friend” at Progressive Alaska.
5. 2/6/2010. “Foul Mouthed Alaska Democrat In New Low” by Rich Crowther (Conservatives for Palin).
6. 2/10/2010. “PA’s Palin Poll – Another Critical View by Another Close Friend” — crosspost at Progressive Alaska of Steve Aufrecht’s post “Blogger Tourettes”.
7. 4/14/2009. “Anti-WAR letter: Opposing Wayne Anthony Ross” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
8. 4/15/2009. “WAR’s antigay letter to the Alaska Bar Association, 1993″ by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
9. 4/16/2009. “WAR goes down! 23 yeas, 35 nays!” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
10. 2/8/2010. “Midwinter Snow Pictures – and a Comment on C4P Meddling – Updated” by Phil Munger (Progressive Alaska).

Related posts:

1. Conservatives for Palin: A rich field of study for anyone interested in the practical application of intellectual dishonesty & logical fallacy
2. Progressive bloggers on Palin: Civility versus namecalling
3. Progressives, civility, & Palin: Anatomy of an apology

There are times when we use our energy toward projects of a long-term nature.  We work on campaigns, we support ballot initiatives through the long and arduous process, we collect signatures, we man tables, we attend long boring meetings.  But there are other times when a simple hour or two of our time can have immediate results of a critical nature.

This is one of those times.

Clear your calendar for Tuesday night, because you will have the opportunity to cast a vote for wildlife, and for supporting a sustainable model of conservation - a recognition that the land and its wildlife are not here for us to “harvest” only, but that we must strike a balance between what we take, and what we leave for the greater enjoyment of all.  There is no question that many Alaskans, Native and non-Native, rural and urban, hunt and fish for subsistence, and for sport.  But for too long, the voices of those who stack our commissions see Alaska’s wildlife as ONLY a resource to be eaten or hung on a wall, and not as creatures in their own right, and a renewable resource for photographers, tourists and outdoor enthusiasts.

You have the opportunity on Tuesday night to put Alaskans who understand that there must be a balance in these matters on the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.  These positions DO matter in determining policy.

The “kill & grill” crowd understands the importance of this meeting. That’s why they are “up in arms” so to speak, and urging members of organizations like the Second Amendment Task Force to storm this meeting and install candidates who, if elected could reverse some important ground we’ve gained this year, including the recommendation to expand the safe buffer zone for wolves around Denali Park.  Here’s how they are mobilizing:

Radical environmental groups have mobilized to insert their preferred candidate’s in order to use the board have mobilized to insert their preferred candidate’s in order to use the board to promote their twisted agenda, including supporting the listing of cook inlet Beluga’s as endangered.

Members of Anchorage 2ATF as well as other conservative candidate’s are in need of the public votes. A conservative slate of candidates will be made evident at the meeting. We need you there to vote for these candidates.

Wow.  The gun club has suddenly become full of marine biologists.  Their lack of a balanced perspective is obvious, and all it will take is warm bodies 18 and older at the meeting to vote.

So, yes.  This is urgent.

And quite simply, the outcome will be determined by who has more people there – those whose sole objective is to seek any opportunity to kill things, and those who see the bigger picture.

So please send this information to every conservation-minded person you know and ask them to forward as well.  Make it fun.  Come with friends.  Join with like-minded people to stand up for what we love most about our state.

Thanks to these seven candidates for their willingness to donate their time and talent in support of balanced conservation.  Each candidate will give a short speech on their behalf at the meeting before you vote.

Karen Deatheradge (Biologist and Conservationist)
Valerie Conner (B.S. in Environmental Planning and Management)
Kate Swift (Biologist and Conservationist)
Kneely Taylor (Lawyer and Conservationist)
Lynette Morino  Hinz (Native Alaskan & Subsistence Advocate)
Jusitn McGinnis (Hunter and Conservationist)
Terry Miracle (Hunter and Conservationist)

The Anchorage Fish & Game Advisory Committee will hold its election meeting

Tuesday, January 5th at 6:00 pm
Anchorage School District Education Center,
located at 5530 E Northern Lights Blvd, in the School Board room.

Last year the conservation community rallied to elect three members to the committee and what a difference it made! In one short year those three members successfully passed conservation proposals to:

• Support the expansion of the Denali Wolf Buffer Zone;
• Restrict Nonresidents from hunting in predator control areas;
• Support the proposal to end wolverine trapping in Chugach State Park

These are incredibly positive changes, and if those who do not support conservation are elected to the open seats, they will undo the good work that has already been accomplished.  We cannot let that happen.

So, put on your activist cap, grab your friends and give an hour or two that will have an immediate positive impact on your community, your state and the wild creatures that share our home.

See you there!

Related posts:

1. The new Carrie Prejean?
2. How to be a friend to an accused serial rapist
3. Billboards

Related posts:

1. The Daily Tweets, 2009-11-17: The Book That Lied Day 1
2. Palin's Hong Kong adventure…
3. True Diversity v. fake unity

• Today’s essential reading: AK Muckracker (@Mudflats) reads Palin’s book so you don’t have to. http://bit.ly/4bJwUi #
• RT: @Mudflats: i just walked in to WalMart & bought a copy of Going Rogue. is it too early to start drinking? // Going Rotgut? #
• @erinely Yeah, but the Twitter version of retweet doesn’t allow for editing to add brief comments of your own. in reply to erinely #
• @erinely I notice that Twitter also doesn’t add its special retweet symbols to RTs that have been done via other clients. in reply to erinely #
• @erinely Looks like Twitter RTs also don’t show up in other clients. You did 2 RTs on Twitter that I didn’t get in Echofon (Firefox app). in reply to erinely #
• Daddy Murkowski Loves Me More than He Loves Lisa. #altSarahPalinBookTitles http://bit.ly/MZ4A3 #
• Wealthy effete young chap Andrew Halcro reads (about himself) from Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue.” http://bit.ly/3e7Z6g #
• RT: @katsylver: Gonna go try and warm up my car now. Yeah, that’s gonna happen. *grumbles* // Another reason I love People Mover. #
• RT @JanFlora49: @yksin Isn’t Halcro’s video the classiest response to an insult you’ve ever seen? // Extremely classy. Halcro rocks. #
• @JanFlora49 May it get under Palin’s skin that she can’t get under Halcro’s skin. in reply to JanFlora49 #
• RT @Inked_Tigress: Pop quiz: what are the only three words in the English language that start with the letters “dw”? // dwarf dwell dwimmer #
• @Inked_Tigress (if dwimmer is a word. I remember it’s part of place names like Dwimmerdale in LOTR.) in reply to Inked_Tigress #

Andrew Halcro’s second video, wherein he has his Katie Couric moment, wasn’t released until the next day, but I’m including it here anyway. Both videos by Alaska Dispatch.

Related posts:

1. The Daily Tweets, 2009-11-20: Enjoy your cookie
2. The Daily Tweets, 2009-11-18: The Book That Lied Day 2
3. The Daily Tweets, 2010-02-05: Caprica w/ sauerkraut

Nesbett Courthouse at 4th & I in Anchorage. A demonstration will be held there at noon today in protest of the limited-release of accused serial rapist APD Officer Anthony Rollins, & in support of his victims.

Many years ago, a friend of mine stood accused of a misdemeanor crime involving sexual contact with a minor — a crime he pled no contest to, & for which, based on conversations with him, I felt he bore responsibility.  But nonetheless I went to court with him.  I paid a price for that — turns out that I knew the mother of the youth in the case, & she never forgave me for taking, as she thought it, the side of the man who victimized her son. But the reason I’d gone was not because I judged him innocent (I didn’t), but because a guilty person needs friends in facing his guilt, & facing the consequences of his crime, as much as he’d need friends beside him if he’d been innocent.

Based on accounts in the press of the evidence in the case against Anchorage police officer Anthony Rollins, accused of sexually assaulting six different women while on duty, I’m inclined to believe that he, too, is guilty.  But I’m less certain of the motivations of the numerous people, fellow members of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship, who have been packing the courtroom at Rollins’ hearings to the point — well, I’ll let AK Muckraker’s words speak here, in the Mudflats post she wrote earlier this week:

At the first hearing, according to a source at STAR [Standing Together Against Rape], two victims were forced to fight their way through the mass of people and stand, “crushed against the back wall” by the crowds that had come to give moral support to the man they say sexually assaulted them. “They couldn’t even see,” she said. “The mood of the people who came was like it was some kind of social event.  It was appalling.”

The court room was packed to overflowing, with Rollins’ church supporters filling the defendant’s side of the room, the seats in the jury box, the side of the coutroom usually reserved for the plaintiff, and spilling out into the hall when the room reached capacity. [Ref #1]

Were they there because they’re certain, based on factual evidence, that he’s innocent? Were they there because they believe him guilty & are helping him to face the consequences?  Or were they there based on “he goes to my church & I feel in my heart he’s innocent” evidence (which is hardly evidence) & are thereby not only helping him maintain but actively participating in denial of crimes he’s committed?

In the witness, yet, of the very persons he’s accused of violating?  To the extent that those women, & their friend & families, couldn’t even get a seat?

At least there was some improvement at the latest hearing, last Tuesday:

This time, knowing what awaited them, arrangements were made in advance for the victims and their families to have access to the courtroom and a place to sit down.  What that experience must have been like, facing your accused rapist in a room full of his supporters is to most of us, unimaginable. [Ref #1]

But my questions stand: what are the motives of the churchgoers who are packing the court for Rollins?  At Alaska Commons, John Aronno writes:

Rollins was released on $100,000 bail and is now under house arrest. He also gets field trips every Sunday, because the judge recognized how important it was for him to attend his church. And what church does he attend? Christian Lighthouse Fellowship. And how might the judge have reached the conclusion to release an alleged serial rapist? Well, the fact that the church came together as a “community” in support of Rollins probably helped; Lighthouse parishioners  packed the courthouse, leaving standing room only, even forcing the alleged victims to be packed against the wall while people stood in a pathetic brand of solidarity in support of their fellow Christian; someone who may have raped a half dozen women, while wearing a badge. [Ref #2]

Is this, for members of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship, just a matter of Christian solidarity?  Or shall I say, Christianist solidarity.  Blind support for another believer who may have committed serious crimes is not actually Christian — but fits right in with the Christianist ideology which assumes as a matter of course that only people outside the flock are guilty.

Celtic Diva wrote yesterday about an Anchorage police officer she personally knew who used his position to rape and torture women, & concluded:

I share [this story] now in hopes that supporters of Officer Rollins will open their minds to the possibility that six women are not lying.  I ask them to think back on their relationship with him and remember past inappropriate comments, humor or boundary issues…they have leaked out somewhere, giving hints of his true nature. [Ref #3]

A friend’s duty to a friend who stands accused of a crime is not to blindly assert his innocence — but to discern, to the best of one’s ability, whether he might be guilty. And if he is, to help him face his guilt. And to accept the consequences that are due him.

If any of you are reading this, I hope you’ll think about it.

Meanwhile, a demonstration has been called today for people to support the victims & to protest the preferential treatment this accused serial rapist has already received.  Here’s the press release:

ALASKAN WOMEN DESERVE BETTER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 9, 2009

CONTACT:
Kirsten Stolle, 907-602-8042
Sara Anderson, 907-903-4121

Community to Rally Against Release of Accused Rapist Cop

CONCERNED CITIZENS TO PROTEST AT COURTHOUSE TODAY

A group of concerned citizens will gather today in front of Nesbett Courthouse to protest the limited-release of accused rapist and Anchorage Police Officer Anthony Rollins.  On October 5th, a bail hearing was held in which Judge Phillip Volland modified third party conditions to allow for electronic ankle monitoring and house arrest that included a provision to allow Rollins to still attend church while awaiting trial.

“Alaskan women deserve better than this,” said Kirsten Stolle, a concerned citizen working to organize today’s rally.  “Officer Rollins stands accused of raping six different women while on duty, and is now free to cause more pain.”

“Our state leads the nation in so many of tragic sexual abuse statistics.  It’s time for our legal system to send a strong message to perpetrators that Alaskans simply won’t stand for it.”

Officer Rollins is currently under house arrest where he is living with his wife, who is also an acting Sergeant with the Anchorage Police Department.

Today’s rally will be held in front of Nesbett Courthouse (corner of 4th and I Street) at noon.

References

1. 10/6/09. “Indicted Serial Rapist Receives Overwhelming Support by AK Muckraker (The Mudflats).
2. 10/9/09. “Anchorage Rapist Revered by Fellow Church-Goers. Is That Okay with You?” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons).
3. 10/8/09. “Welcome to October 8th, ‘D-Day’ (Dividend Day) in Alaska” by Linda Kellen Biegel (Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis).

Related posts:

1. Why I’m following the trial of alleged serial rapist Anthony Rollins
2. Anthony Rollins, accused serial rapist, found guilty on 18 of 20 charges
3. Rollins trial, day 9: State rests its case, defense calls first witnesses

As tomorrow approaches, there are some things I wonder, & some things I don’t.

• I don’t wonder if the fundamentalist anti-ordinance forces will bus in a lot of red-shirted adults from the Mat-Su — outside the boundaries of where the ordinance, if passed, will have effect — to advocate for the denial of equal rights protections from people who will be affected by whether the ordinance passes or not.  After all, they’ve already signed up to testify, & have already been told that their testimony will be heard.
• I do wonder if the fundamentalist anti-ordinance forces will also bus in scores of kids in red shirts, as they did last week, to act, again, as walking billboards for the Alaska Family Council and other views that the kids themselves don’t necessarily understand.
• I don’t wonder if I’ll be there.  In blue.
• I do wonder if the the latest beauty queen candidate to join Carrie Prejean in the hearts & minds of conservative antigdaydom will make another appearance in tiara, sash, & bright red shirt.

But I shouldn’t wonder.  Maybe I should just look up the official events on the schedule of the recently crowned Mrs. Alaska United States®, Renee’ Scott.  Nope, nothing for Tuesday the 16th on the calendar.  We’ve learned the Anchorage Assembly will continue taking testimony at a special meeting on Wednesday the 17th, too — but nope, nothing on Mrs. Scott’s calendar for that day, either.

But if you look back a week, at June 9 — last Tuesday — you’ll see this item:

June 9, 2009
Anchorage City Assembly Meeting
Mrs. Alaska and Mrs. Anchorage attended the Anchorage
Assembly Meeting discussing city ordinance measures.  CLICK
HERE to watch the Channel 2 KTUU video footage.

I first heard of Mrs. Alaska United States® last week shortly before I headed over to the Loussac Library for last Tuesday’s Assembly event, when I checked Facebook & found someone had posted a brief item by Julia O’Malley.  Julia, you may remember, had the week before posted a story about meeting Rev. Jerry Prevo of the Anchorage Baptist Temple. In this item, titled  “Mrs. Alaska and gay rights,” Julia wrote:

Just when I thought I’d heard everything when it comes to the city’s equal rights ordinance, I got a press release about Renee’ Scott, aka Mrs. Alaska, the state’s newly-crowned representative in the competitive world of married beauty queens.

As her first act of business, she will be showing up at the Assembly meeting tonight to stand against the mayor’s “effort at instating special rights for homosexuals.” She’ll be wearing red, the color of the ordinance’s opponents, along with her crown and sash.

Really? We have record numbers of homeless people dying in the woods in Anchorage, villages decimated by flooding on the Yukon, sky-high rates of domestic violence and alcoholism, and the Mrs. is getting wound-up about protecting gay people from discrimination? This is priority number one?

Julia went on to quote Mrs. Scott’s press release, which was apparently issued on June 8, the day after the Mrs. Alaska United States® pageant was held at the Anchorage Marriott Downtown:

Newly crowned Mrs. Alaska to stand against proposed Sexual Orientation special rights proposal at Anchorage Assembly meeting.

Just last night, Renee’ Scott of Anchorage was crowned Mrs. Alaska United States 2009 and tomorrow night, June 9th, she will be at the Anchorage Assembly meeting at 6:30 pm at the Loussac Library to stand against Acting Mayor, Matt Claman’s, last second effort at instating special rights for homosexuals.

On Sunday night, June 7th, Renee’ Scott won the title of Mrs. Alaska 2009, and just 2 days later, June 9th at 6:30 pm at the Loussac Library, she will be wearing her newly acquired Mrs. Alaska sash and crown at the Anchorage Assembly meeting standing against Acting Mayor, Matt Claman’s, move to instate special rights for gays, lesbians and transgenders.

A member of Anchorage Baptist Temple, Renee’ Scott plans to wear the color “red” with other opponents of the proposed measure, along with her new Mrs. Alaska sash and crown.

Renee’ Scott plans to use her title as Mrs. Alaska United States to represent traditional marriage and family-focused issues.

I read that & just kind of shook my head.  I’d never heard of the Mrs. Alaska United States® pageant before — I’m not a pageant follower — though like pretty much everyone else I knew that Gov. Sarah Palin was a past runner up in a statewide contest.  And who hasn’t heard about former Miss California USA 2009 Carrie Prejean, who having initially retained her crown in the wake of her anti-same sex marriage comments at the national Miss USA contest, lost it last week (the day after Mrs. Scott donned her red shirt at the Loussac)  on the grounds of “continued breach of contract issues.”  I haven’t cared about the Carrie Prejean controversy any more than I have about beauty pageants in general — sorry, the world of beauty pageantry is not that significant to me.  Besides,  maybe I’m just used to beauty queens making themselves into representatives of the forces opposing equal rights for LGBT people.  Remember Anita Bryant?

So here’s what I learned from the story:

1. there’s a pageant called Mrs. Alaska United States®;
2. a new Mrs. Alaska U.S. had just been crowned;
3. the newly-crowned Mrs. Alaska U.S. was a member of the Anchorage Baptist Temple; &,
4. guess what, she’d be using her official Mrs. Alaska U.S. tiara and sash to stand forth against “special rights” [sic] for LGBT people.  (Translation: she would be standing up for special rights for Anchorage Baptist Temple members & other conservative Christians to discriminate against LGBT people in employment, housing, credit/finance, and public accommodations, & to demand that all other people including those who didn’t want it have that special right too.) — Oh yes, & I also learned from the story that
5. anti-ordinance forces would be wearing red.  I hadn’t known that before.

Mrs. Alaska United States® and Mrs. Anchorage United States outside the Wilda Marston Theatre near the Assembly chambers

Other than passing that info on to another couple of people, I forgot all about it until later in the evening, when I  took advantage of a break from the proceedings inside the Assembly chambers to visit the restroom, & caught a glimpse (duly recorded with my Nikon Coolpix S10 digital camera) of not one but two women in tiaras & sashes standing just outside the Wilda Marson Theatre.  The other woman, I learned later, was Mrs. Anchorage United States ®, Anna Foerster, who had also received her title on June 7, apparently a title which came to her as runner-up in the pageant.  No idea if she’s also an ABT member.

Mrs. Carol Prevo (Rev. Prevo's wife) beside Mrs. Alaska United States®, Renee' Scott. Photo courtesy AK Muckracker

Then back inside the Assembly chambers and, as I described in my account of Tuesday night’s events, I knew little else of what was going on outside until I got home that night and read Phil Munger’s Progressive Alaska post about outside events, & the following day AK Muckraker’s Mudflats account.   AKMuckraker reported:

Miss Alaska and Mrs. Alaska were both there in tiny dresses and tiaras to support those who were opposing the ordinance. I don’t get that excited about beauty pageants, but aren’t these women supposed to be representing the whole state? Why, I thought, were they here in full regalia on such a divisive issue?

(Slight correction: based on other info, I think it was the newly-crowned Mrs. Anchorage U.S., not Miss Alaska, who was accompanying Mrs. Scott.)

Mrs. Alaska United States® prepares to parade children through the protest. Photo courtesy Phil Munger

Phil Munger’s post was principally about on the red-shirted kids that had been bused in by Anchorage and Mat-Su fundamentalist churches; his mention of Mrs. Alaska U.S. was in that context:

The kids, some less than ten, were mostly without parents. They were sort of clumped together, perhaps by congregation, or by home schooling support group. Dozens of adults were taking pictures of the kids, some encouraged by the Christianist adults around the youngsters. I took about 70 photos. Here are a few. The first six are of some of the kids. The last two are of Mrs. Alaska, as she prepared to parade some of the kids through the demonstrators, and then as she paraded them.

(Christianist is a term I first heard from Atlantic Monthly blogger Andrew Sullivan — a useful term that to me conveys not Christiantity as religion, but rather Christianity as political ideology.  Sullivan, who is gay, Catholic, & conservative — but not a “war of values” social conservative — does not feel any more represented by the religious right than my friend Dianne O’Connell of Immanuel Presbyterian Church does; in an essay written for Time magazine, Sullivan writes, “let me suggest that we take back the word Christian while giving the religious right a new adjective: Christianist. Christianity, in this view, is simply a faith. Christianism is an ideology, politics, an ism.” That’s the sense in which Phil used the term.  I use it sometimes too.)

Mrs. Alaska United States parades kids outside the Loussac Library, June 9, 2009. Photo courtesy Phil Munger

But all in all, the exploits of the new Mrs. Alaska United States® were pretty low on my radar, & on the radar of most people I was talking with too. But it did come up in discussion last Thursday on the Facebook wall of a friend of mine.  A few of us started exchanging information.  Being something of a research geek about things that inspire my curiosity — given the right hook, apparently even about beauty pageants — I started doing some extra digging.  Here’s some of what I & other people learned:

• First of all, don’t confuse Mrs. Alaska United States® with Mrs. Alaska America.  They are two different pageants with two different sets of sponsors. This year’s Mrs. Alaska America will be held on July 18 at Bartlett High School; the pageant is affiliated with the national level Mrs. America pageant.  I can’t find any official statement to confirm, but private information has it that the Mrs. Alaska America pageant organizers are less than happy with the confusion created by use in the media & blogs of plain old “Mrs. Alaska” as Mrs. Scott’s pageant title, since the Mrs. Alaska America pageant doesn’t wish to be mistakenly associated with Mrs. Scott’s anti-ordinance, anti-gay political agenda, which they do not apparently share.  Notice how carefully I’ve been using the title Mrs. Alaska United States® or Mrs. Alaska U.S. throughout this post?  This is why.  Don’t forget the little registered trademark mark! ®
• The Mrs. Alaska United States® pageant is affiliated with the national Mrs. United States pageant. Eligibility requirements for competitors: “The Mrs. Alaska pageant requires its competitors to be at least 21 years old, a property owner or resident of Alaska, and married (no specific length of marriage is necessary).   Contestants are judged on 1/4 personal interview, 1/4 swim wear, 1/4 evening gown and 1/4 on-stage question.  Besides the overall title, contestants may compete in various optional competitions.”
• For those who wonder, as I did, if title-holders are supposed to wear official tiaras and sashes while representing political views which may not be the official views of the pageant, I could find only this  statement: “The Pageant Sponsors, Directors, Judges and Pageant Officials Do Not Represent the Personal Opinions, Expressions or Platforms of the Contestants, Reigning Mrs. Anchorage, or Reigning Mrs. Alaska.” My thought: all those capital letters make that Really Hard To Read.  My other thought: don’t you have that backwards?  Don’t you really mean to say that the personal opinions etc. of the contestants & title-winners don’t represent the views of the pageant sponsors & official?  Think about it: would Donald Trump really need to tell us that he doesn’t represent the views of Carrie Prejean?  Just saying.
• Speaking of sponsors, here’s their sponsor page. Apparently the list is not quite complete, since it omits a sponsor mentioned on the events page, to wit: “Escorted by an official pageant sponsor, Harley Davidson of Alaska, Mrs. Alaska United States® 2009, Renee’ Scott and Mrs. Anchorage, Alaska 2009 will be participating in the downtown Anchorage 4th of July parade.”
• The pageant’s director is Laura Dagon, who is founder and director of pageant sponsor Laura’s Modeling & Talent Agency.
  

Now, I don’t plan myself to write to the pageant or any of its sponsors to protest Mrs. Scott’s use of official tiara & sash in her Tuesday anti-ordinance action. I’ve got better things to spend my times writing — like this blog post!  Besides, I don’t personally use the services or products of any of the pageant’s sponsors, not did I even have Clue #1 that this pageant even existed before last Tuesday, so for me to tell them I was going to boycott their services would be something of an empty threat, no?  Besides which, I believe in free speech.  Of course, free speech also means you have the free speech right to write to the pageant & it’s sponsors if you want to, which is part of why I put this info together: so you’ll write to the correct people.  Again, don’t confuse the Mrs. Alaska United States® pageant with the Mrs. Alaska America people.

Besides which — well, read that press release again.  Here, let me post it again:

Newly crowned Mrs. Alaska to stand against proposed Sexual Orientation special rights proposal at Anchorage Assembly meeting.

Just last night, Renee’ Scott of Anchorage was crowned Mrs. Alaska United States 2009 and tomorrow night, June 9th, she will be at the Anchorage Assembly meeting at 6:30 pm at the Loussac Library to stand against Acting Mayor, Matt Claman’s, last second effort at instating special rights for homosexuals.

On Sunday night, June 7th, Renee’ Scott won the title of Mrs. Alaska 2009, and just 2 days later, June 9th at 6:30 pm at the Loussac Library, she will be wearing her newly acquired Mrs. Alaska sash and crown at the Anchorage Assembly meeting standing against Acting Mayor, Matt Claman’s, move to instate special rights for gays, lesbians and transgenders.

A member of Anchorage Baptist Temple, Renee’ Scott plans to wear the color “red” with other opponents of the proposed measure, along with her new Mrs. Alaska sash and crown.

Renee’ Scott plans to use her title as Mrs. Alaska United States to represent traditional marriage and family-focused issues.

Now think of some of the other things we saw last Tuesday night that originated wholly or in part from the Christianist political mind of the Rev. Jerry Prevo.  Anti-ordinance people in red shirts bused in from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to ask a government other than their own to continue to permit discrimination against its own citizens.  Check.  A hundred or so freshly scrubbed children in red shirts bused in to carry signs mass produced by Alaska Family Council which made the ridiculous assertion that ordinance AO 2009-64 would “outlaw dissent.”  Check.  Do you begin to see a pattern here?

With this very specific press release, with all its repetitions of details — “wearing her newly acquired Mrs. Alaska sash and crown and along with her new Mrs. Alaska sash and crown — well, isn’t it pretty obvious that this was all a cynical ploy by Prevo & company, with Mrs. Scott’s willing participation, to bait us? They wanted us to react.  They were hoping we’d make a big old stink, & then they could complain about what intolerant meanies we were, just like that meanie Perez Hilton & all those other meanie California homosexuals who were just so mean to poor Miss (former) California Carrie Prejean.  Perhaps they hoped to make Mrs. Scott into the next Carrie Prejean, a martyr to the cause of Christianist special rights.

How disappointing for them, then, that mostly we ignored her.  While there’s been some comments here & there, mostly of the “do you believe this?” sort, we have better things to do than worry about a pageant that frankly most of us had never heard of before. Let the pageant owners & sponsors themselves police whatever contractual obligations Ms. Scott has as a representative of the pageant; let the pageant owners and sponsors worry about the cynical use Prevo & company have made of their organization. Frankly, I reckon this was just what Rev. Prevo did instead of putting some beardo-in-a-devil-mask in the Loussac women’s bathroom that night.

Pretty comical, really.  Rev. Prevo, you’re losing your knack.

Or maybe it’s just that more people in Anchorage are on to you now. Enough, even, that you had to bus people from outside the Municipality to shore up your support.

That leaves me just a couple more points to make. First, when we were discussing this on Facebook last week, I initially believed that Mrs. Scott had possibly colluded with Rev. Prevo in manipulating the pageant without the pageant’s knowledge.  It seemed to me that she had possibly mispresented her platform as a contestant.  A couple of weeks before the pageant, answering Kellie Davis of examiner.com, she gave her platform as follows:

My platform is age oppression in young girls. As a mother of a seven year old daughter I have found that the media in every facet is trying to shrink the window of innocence in our young girls. Influencing them to dress provocatively which has even been linked to the decrease of self esteem and increase in suicide rates in teen girls. Promoting birth control instead of abstinence, and marketing “toys” like tattoo Barbie. Parenting isn’t about raising a daughter that has low self esteem that feels like she needs to be 16 when she’s 7. I want to raise a confident, strong, beautiful on the inside and out young woman. I believe if we raise awareness in other mothers about this issue we could change our next generation mothers and create stronger healthier women.

But according to her press release:

Renee’ Scott plans to use her title as Mrs. Alaska United States to represent traditional marriage and family-focused issues.

I have no idea know what she told pageant judges during the pageant itself, but if she told them the same thing about age oppression in young girls as she told Kellie Davis, that too gives the impression that she misrepresented her intentions about how she would wield her crown to the pageant.  But then again, in her June 8 radio interview on KASH Country 107.5, when asked about her agenda as Mrs. Alaska United States, she talked very personably about the age oppression issue, and said nothing about the ordinance or plans to represent “traditional” marriage.  So maybe this was just a one-time deal?

At any rate, turns out that at least some pageant officials approved of her ordinance plan.  I emailed Julia O’Malley to ask if the press release she’d quoted in the ADN came from Mrs. Scott personally, or from pageant.  Her message back was brief and to the point:

The press release came from the Mrs. Alaska USA Pageant, and gave the head of the pageant as the contact person.

Given that her activities last Tuesday night at the Loussac are also included on her official Mrs. Alaska United States® events page, this indicates that opposition to the ordinance, and opposition to equal protections under the law for LGBT Anchorage residents, is an officially sanctioned position of the Mrs. Alaska United States® pageant. (I have no idea if it is also sanctioned by the national Mrs. United States pageant.)

And you know what?  That’s fine. That’s Mrs. Scott’s right, & that’s the pageant’s right.  The pageant is, after all, a private enterprise.   Registered trademark and all.  So as far as I’m concerned, I’ll leave ‘em to it, & let ‘em alone — other than to point out, as I have now, at length, their participation in a fairly obvious tactic by Mrs. Scott’s pastor to bait us.

Point the last. Who does Mrs. Alaska United States ®egistered Trademark represent?  Here’s what she claimed to KTUU Channel 2 News:

As Mrs. Alaska I represent married women and Alaskans and I find it shocking that the Assembly is trying to pass this ordinance without giving Alaskans the right to vote.

Hey, I’m an Alaskan, she doesn’t represent me.  But how about married women?  Why, I know a married woman who also happens to be an Alaskan.  I decided to ask her.  So earlier this evening, I called up my sister-in-law.

“I’ve got a couple of questions for you, Linda,” I said.  “First, did you vote for Mrs. Alaska United States®?”

Turns out Linda, too, had never heard of this pageant, but after a brief moment of confusion, she laughed and said, “No, of course not!”

“Do you feel that Mrs. Alaska United States® represents you?” I asked.

“No,” she repeated, “What are  you talking about?”  After a brief explanation of the pageant and Mrs. Scott’s claim of representation, Linda told me that she figured the only people who had voted for Mrs. Scott were the pageant judges, opined that privately trademarked beauty pageants were not, in point of face, representative democracies, and furthermore said she doubted Mrs. Scott represented any of the married women who are Linda’s friends.

No more representative of them, in fact, than the Christianists are of the rest of the Christians.

Related posts:

1. Debbie Ossiander & the Christianist filibuster
2. The noise begins
3. Assembly report 1

Children of Westboro Baptist Church

I said something nice about Jerry Prevo once. Honest.  I really did. I even published my positive comments online.  They were contained in one of the earliest posts in on the very first blog I ever had, in 2003, at the unlikely address of henkimaa.blogga.nu.  You can still find them there if you look.  — But let me save you the trouble: I’ve gone to that old blog & copied the relevant posts to this site. All of them refer to some degree to Anchorage’s 2003 PrideFest celebration, & to the visit being made to it by members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.

Westboro Baptist Church kids

If that name is unfamiliar to you, try this name: Fred Phelps.  No?  Okay, try this one: godhatesfags.com.  Yeah, that’s right, those folks: the one’s who first achieved national notoriety protesting the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was kidnapped, tortured, tied to a fence, & left to die in a remote area near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998. Phelps & his church members picketed Matthew Shepard’s funeral carrying signs bearing such comforting slogans as “Matt Shepard rots in Hell”, “AIDS Kills Fags Dead” and “God Hates Fags.”  Since then, WBC has continued to show up all over the place protesting one thing or another that they hate — or rather, according to them, that “God hates” — which proves to cover quite a wide territory.  Their version of God hates “fags,” it’s been established; their version of God also hates America, Sweden, Italy, Catholics, Boy Scouts, soldiers, most other religions, most other Christian denominations, even most other Baptist churches. They especially like to protest funerals — of gays, soldiers, the Boy Scouts who were killed in a tornado in Iowa in June 2008. They carry provocative signs that loudly advertise their — er, I mean “God’s” — hatred of these things.

Westboro Baptist Church kid. Photo by andyofne; see photo credits.

In 2003, they decided to come to Anchorage to protest during the LGBT community’s annual Pride week.  They intended to picket the “fag/dyke Parade and Festival, the fag-infested Univ. of Alaska, Anchorage, and the sodomite whorehouses masquerading as churches in Anchorage” in “religious protest & warning.” Sadly, it seemed: God hated Anchorage.

And so finally my old posts, where you can read my account of events as they took place:

• 6/20/2003. Fred Phelps coming to Anchorage
• 6/27/2003. Anchorage Pride 2003: Look how far we’ve come
• 7/8/2003. Those Phelpists aren’t too clever, are they?
• 7/8/2003. Publicity, publicity, publicity

Little girl between Westboro Baptist Church adults

It’s in the third of those posts, the one that called into question the Phelpists cleverness, that I said something positive about Jerry Prevo. It seems that for some reason (& you can read that entire post to learn the theories as to why), the Phelpists decided that one of the “sodomite whorehouses masquerading as churches in Anchorage” they should picket was none other than the Anchorage Baptist Temple.

This part’s worth quoting at length, because it’s where I say something nice.

According to [the Anchorage Daily News], several hundred people took part in the Pride festivities — which makes me very happy, given how sparse participation used to be back in my early ’80s activist days; and then the next day, Sunday, about 20 Phelpists total picketed at the gate of Elmendorf Air Force Base, where a big airshow with estimated public attendance of 70,000 was taking place, and various churches, including Anchorage Baptist Temple.

Say what? [Double, triple take.] Did you say Anchorage Baptist Temple?

Indeed. Shirley Phelps-Roper told the ADN that they picketed Anchorage Baptist Temple — which is viewed by Anchorage’s lesbian/gay community as a sort of Homophobia Central — because it was the largest church in town, & its pastor, Jerry Prevo, didn’t condemn homosexuality “loudly” enough.

I suppose maybe because no matter how loud Prevo has gotten about it (& as a longtime Anchorageite, I can tell you he’s been very loud), Prevo has never called for homosexuals to be executed just because they’re homosexual?

Prevo himself seemed a bit bemused by Phelpist attentions, though he made clear to the ADN that his church is in no way affiliated with the Phelpists’ Westboro Baptist Church, and disagrees with Phelpist tactics and philosophy.

Good for you, Jerry.

[Double, triple take number two.] Did I say that?

By gods, I did. Good for you. Truth is, I don’t much like Prevo, or his tactics and philosophy (the ABT website doesn’t mention the slimy things he’s occasionally done in the past), but hey, on this one thing I can say I respect him. He does not so misread Christian scripture as to call for murder, or proclaim a gospel entirely based on hatred. And religious/spiritual differences aside, his church does seem to do real good for a lot of people (if harm, in my opinion, to a significant number of others).

Do you think these kids understand the signs they're carrying? Or do they just love the adults who asked them to carry them?

Of course, you must take into account that I wrote that before I knew that in October 1994 he had preached at the Anchorage Baptist Temple about shooting liberals, telling his congregation that, “The only reason I would not take a gun and do it is because of God. That’s the only reason… In fact, it would be better to shoot a liberal, then, and then be put in jail. Maybe they’d at least feed you.” [Ref. 1] He later said that he wasn’t serious about shooting liberals, but had only been engaging in hyperbole. [Ref. 2] But then I guess you could say the Phelpists mostly engage in hyperbole too: in spite of all their hate-filled signs, they have never, to my knowledge, engaged in violence at their pickets or otherwise.

But I still wouldn’t say that Rev. Prevo or his church engages in the same aimed-in-every-direction hatred that the Phelpists practice.  Rev. Prevo is very specific in his hatred: Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Though in the current battle over the equal rights ordinance, as in the two that preceded it, I think he might more truthfully state his belief as being: Love the sinner, hate the sinner’s ability to keep a job or home without being fired or evicted at the drop of a hat. And one can’t help but notice that it’s only one set of “sinners” that Rev. Prevo feels should be left open to such discrimination.  Can you guess which ones?

Just a couple of days ago in a post entitled “Is Jerry Prevo mishandling the Anchorage Gay Ordinance issue?” Alaska Standard publisher & conservative talk show host Dan Fagan wrote,

On Monday Dr. Jerry Prevo was a guest on my show to talk about the proposed Anchorage Gay Ordinance. I will have to admit I experienced some discomfort with the interview. My fear is those of us opposing the ordinance are so obsessed with winning the debate we are sending the gay community the wrong message.

In the accompanying audio clip, with the filename it’s not just about winning the debate.mp3, Mr. Fagan observes that (according to Christian theology) we are all sinners, but the message Rev. Prevo seems to be putting out is that homosexuals are the worst of the worst, are lesser & lower than other sinners such as those who make up the body of the conservative church.  Mr. Fagan suggests that some ordinance opponents — he actually uses the word “we” — have become so intent upon winning at any cost that they’ve lost sight of what Christians are supposed to be about.  I don’t agree with everything Mr. Fagan says here, far from it, but I respect it a lot.  It’s a clip well-worth listening to — what has every appearance of being an earnest self-examination about how conservative Christians might better fulfill their calling in the face of their beliefs about homosexuality & gender identity.

But in the meantime, yes, it’s been obvious to me for much longer than just this battle that Rev. Prevo is far more interested in winning the debate, whatever debate he happens to be in at any given moment, than in following the message of love that the Christian church is supposedly here to proclaim. There are not too many LGBT people that I know, myself no exception, who feels much love at all in the message Rev. Prevo directs at us.  Not to many nongay people that I know either — just read the letters in the Anchorage Daily News, or the reader comments, & you’ll see that the majority of commenters whether straight or gay are sick of Rev. Prevo, consider his “Love the sinner hate the sin” as so much empty rhetoric, & wish he’s just shut up.  To me, Rev. Prevo’s chief distinguishing feature is an arrogant, smug will to win.

And it shows in his tactics.

Which is what brings me, finally, to what about last Tuesday’s events reminded me so extraordinarily of the Westboro Baptist Church.

The kids.

One of the kids bused to the ordinance hearing Tuesday night.

Because the Westboro Baptist Church is well-known for bringing their children to their protests as billboards of their hatreds.  And while Rev. Prevo’s hatred — masked as it is in the language of “hate the sin, not the sinner” — is less crude, more sophisticated than that of Fred Phelps & his children, he is no less guilty of using his children, or the children of his congregants, as propagandist billboards on issues that most of them are as innocent of as are the Westboro kids.  They are not comprehending: they are merely repeating what their elders tell them in order to please them — in order to please the people they depend upon & whom they love.  And to make such use of their brightness, their innocence — well, I’ve gotta say.  That’s a cold & cynical move indeed.

Kids bused in to the hearing

There were two separate worlds at play at the Loussac Library last Tuesday night: inside the Assembly chambers, & outside them, in the lobby & outside the building altogether.  And I was inside.  I had learned, of course, that adults from the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, which is outside the boundaries of the Municipality of Anchorage, had been bused or carpooled into Anchorage to testify, despite their non-resident status.  But other than some chanting heard briefly through the walls from equal rights supporters, I was minimally aware of what was going on outside the building until I got home that night & read Phil Munger’s blog post about it at Progressive Alaska. As he reported,

Little girl bused in to Tuesday night's ordinance hearing

Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley fundamentalist churches bussed in well over a hundred kids to the Anchorage Assembly meeting this evening…

The kids, some less than ten [years old], were mostly without parents. They were sort of clumped together, perhaps by congregation, or by home schooling support group. Dozens of adults were taking pictures of the kids, some encouraged by the Christianist adults around the youngsters. I took about 70 photos. Here are a few.

Phil has graciously permitted me to reproduce a few of his photos here, as has AKMuckraker of Mudflats, whose post the following morning also mentioned the kids.  As she wrote,

Kids bused in

I was stunned at the number of children that were there waving red signs.

I stood for a while looking at them, and I wondered how many of them were gay. One in ten. I picked out one little boy, and imagined it was him. He will grow up among people who think like this. As he becomes aware, he will think that he is wrong, and bad, and unlovable. He will remember this day when he and his family stood holding signs. He may try to hide who he is. His parents, standing next to him right now, may not accept him. He may be afraid to tell them, and live his life as a lie. Or he may deny who he is and try to fit in, and trying hard to prove that he isn’t what he is. He may even bring his wife and kids to rallies like this.

Many of the witnesses last Tuesday night could tell stories of  childhoods much like that.  On both sides of the debate.

References

1. Jones, Stan. (1994).  “Prevo’s sermon draws fire: Some fear preacher may incite the fringe.” Anchorage Daily News. Oct. 22, p. A1.
2. Phillips, Natalie. (1994). “Prevo plays to packed house: Preacher, guest evangelist keep up attack on liberals.” Anchorage Daily News. Oct. 31, p. A1.

Related:

• 6/20/2003. Fred Phelps coming to Anchorage. The “godhatesfags.com” followers of Westboro Baptist Church pastor Fred Phelps announce plans to picket in Anchorage during PrideFest 2003.
• 6/27/2003. Anchorage Pride 2003: Look how far we’ve come. A brief history history of the annual Pride parade in Anchorage from 1983, in which there were 19 marchers, to 2001, in which there were two to three thousand. Can the followers of Fred Phelps wreck that? Don’t think so.
• 7/8/2003. Those Phelpists aren’t too clever, are they? Why did Westboro Baptist Church, famous for their website “godhatesfags.com,” picket Anchorage Baptist Temple — famous in Anchorage as the very center of antigay attitudes in Alaska?
• 7/8/2003. Publicity, publicity, publicity.  Which Anchorage churches during PrideFest 2003 did the Phelpists picket, & which not, & why?
• 6/12/2009. Billboards. While in 2003 Jerry Prevo decried Westboro Baptist Church tactics, in 2009 he & his allies didn’t hesitate to use children — even some younger then 10 —  in a very like way, as billboards for their parents’ prejudices.

Do you think the kids in this photo understand the signs they're carrying? Or do they just love the adults who asked them to carry them?

Photo credits:

• Photo 3, “Westboro Baptist Church kid.” Photo by andyofne; used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic license. Taken in Chalco, Nebraska at WBC protests of Boy Scout funerals on June 17, 2008. For related photos, see andyofne’s set Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church Picket Boyscout Funeral. Flickr.com.

Related posts:

1. Those Phelpists aren't too clever, are they?
2. Publicity, publicity, publicity
3. Anchorage Pride 2003: Look how far we’ve come