September 19, 2008

LARGEST RALLY IN ALASKA'S HISTORY

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS HISTORY-MAKING RALLY ON THE NEWS? NO? ME EITHER. I WONDER IF THAT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT YOU RARELY HEAR THAT THE IRAQ WAR/MILITARY OCCUPATION IS BEING WAGED FOR OIL? HOW ARE NEWS CHANNELS GOING TO SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT OIL WHEN THERE'S AN OIL COMPANY'S ADVERTISEMENT IN EVERY COMMERCIAL BREAK? WELL, TV NEWS ISN'T AS LIKELY TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST A REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION OR CANDIDATE WHO SUPPORTS BIG BUSINESS OVER THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS BECAUSE THE NEWS CHANNELS ARE BIG BUSINESSES THEMSELVES OR OWNED BY IT.

Don't you see that it's all part of the same dirty game? Why are children playing with poisoned toys from China? Why are we eating tainted food? Why are medicines approved by the FDA only to be recalled as dangerous? Why are mortgage companies, insurance companies and the credit industry able to swindle us so easily? Why are gas prices soaring? BECAUSE THESE INDUSTRIES GIVE MONEY TO POLITICIANS, both republican and democrat.

And which candidate has the message TAKE THE POWER AWAY FROM CORPORATE INTERESTS AND RETURN THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE?



HERE ARE A COUPLE EXCERPTS FROM THE A RECENT ARTICLE FROM THE INDEPENDENT ENTITLED:

The National Organiastion for Women has decided endorse Barack Obama and Joe Biden's bid for power, snubbing Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin

America's largest women's rights organisation delivered a snub to Sarah Palin's history-making candidacy yesterday by endorsing Barack Obama and Joe Biden's bid for power.

The National Organisation for Women (NOW) is 500,000 strong and hugely influential. The feminist organisation almost never supports a presidential candidate, but the Alaska governor's Christian fundamentalist faith and her opposition to abortion rights has forced its hand.



Other women's rights organisations are also campaigning against Governor Palin, pushed along by a spontaneous anti-Palin movement among women.

In Alaska at the weekend, a Welcome Home rally for Mrs Palin was dwarfed by a demonstration organised by Alaska Women Reject Palin, which was held on the lawn of a downtown Anchorage library.

NOW's decision to back Senator Obama when a woman is within striking distance of becoming elected is a bold step for the group and a setback for John McCain's hopes of luring the millions of women who supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

"The addition of Sarah Palin gave us a new sense of urgency," Kim Gandy, the head of NOW, told National Public Radio. "She is being portrayed as a supporter of women's rights... as a feminist when in fact her positions on so many of the issues are really anathema to ours.

"A lot of women think it's a great thing for a woman to be running for vice-president," she continued, "but they are completely dismayed when they find out her positions. The idea that she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest – those kinds of positions are completely out of step with American women and once they find out about those positions, they get a little less excited."



AND HERE IS AN EMAIL FORWARD (WHICH I CAN'T VERIFY THE VALIDITY OF) OF SOMEONE WHO CLAIMED TO ATTEND THAT ANTI-PALIN RALLY. It and the photos and video below are from MUDFLATS.

The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage . Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.

The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally "a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots," and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.

I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage , if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing "socialist baby-killing maggot" haters.



It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the lin e of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.

Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.

So, if you've been doing the math… Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska , who know her best, have things to say.

WATCH VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE RALLY! YOU GO, GIRLS!