Dear Mr. M. Joseph Sheppard

Dear Mr. M. Joseph Sheppard

Thank you for commenting on my blog. I just have a couple of questions…

On July 3, 2009 Sarah Heath Palin, in a dramatic announcement on her back lawn, quit her job as governor of Alaska because, she said, her presence was a distraction to the state and she would be able to do more for Alaskans and the country out of office than stuck in a lame duck term. With the help of a ghost-writer, Sarah Palin finished and subsequently had published her autobiography called Going Rogue and was on a whirlwind book-signing tour by November.

Her PAC continued to rake in the same big bucks as it did while she was the VP candidate on John McCain’s 2008 ticket. She personally rakes in $1mil per year working part-time for Fox News Channel. What I want to know is this:

What is it – specifically – that Sarah Heath Palin has done for Alaska and the country with this new-found wealth of time and money?

Has she founded any groups to help underprivileged children be better fed or educated?

Has she funded any drives to help native Alaskans in rural communities supplement their critically low food and heating supplies, issues they face yearly along with flooding that now comes from eroding coastal shores?

Has she donated her time and made sizable  donations to promote Down Syndrome awareness?

Has her PAC fully financed Republican candidates for the 2010 and 2012 election cycles?

Since walking out on her role as governor of Alaska to purportedly ‘do good’ for state and country, Sarah has had three winters to make her mark as charity leader for multiple causes for her state and six opportunities to enroll in university semesters that would extend her political resume and broaden her education. Has she?

The unfortunate answer to each of these questions is nup, nup and nup. In fact I see nothing that even remotely resembles sacrifice on her part in either time or money to promote any of the issues she told us emphatically were close to her heart. She didn’t personally pay for her scant trips abroad.  Because she refused to come out of her hotel room and mingle with the people, India and Israel media treated her like a rock star rather than a travelling dignitary. And what her PAC didn’t pay for on her overseas junkets, Evangelist groups like Samaritan’s Purse, did.

On behalf of Sarah Palin (the now millionairess) SarahPAC made a one-time contribution of $1,000 to Down Syndrome Assoc.(Sarah Heath Palin charges $100k + for each speech she makes on anyone’s behalf, while enjoying first class accommodations wherever she travels at the expense of the group who hired her to speak. Sarah and Todd could easily have made this donation themselves.)

You can count on less than ten fingers the number of campaign contributions SarahPAC has made to Republican candidates since its founding. (Even though, it’s interesting to note, the entire point of a PAC is for a popular politician to elicit funds and publicity for the lesser known candidates they wish to support, SarahPAC seems always more eager to pay extraordinarily large salaries to a handful of staff, picking up the tab for Sarah’s airfares and hotel accommodations while she travels to make her $100k speeches and – oddly enough – the massive postage needs of three ladies in Wasilla. Oh and let’s not omit the huge monthly retainer fee to her flavour of the month attorney.)

Sarah Heath Palin banked in excess of $7 – 10 million dollars by 2010 and has, by virtue of public records, donated nothing to any of her purported pet causes. Not time, not money, nothing. She’s not formed a single fund-raising drive for native Alaskans in danger of losing their homes and livelihoods to the growing negative effects of global warming on their villages. She’s not run one ad campaign to save Alaskan fishing sites from big oil or mining companies attempting to destroy the Alaskan waterways in the name of profits.

In fact, for someone who grew up in America’s last frontier and helped eke out a living by fishing its shores, Sarah’s not done anything at all to promote environmental preservation. (At least nothing that personally cost her a single penny.)

Show me what Sarah has accomplished for Alaska and her country since the summer of 2009 without citing speeches one must purchase a ticket to attend and don’t use the stale  ‘well she’s busy taking care of Trig’ because (a.) we know that’s not entirely true and (b.) she assured all of us, way back in September of 2008, that raising a child with DS would not come between her and her political duties, that she was a hockey mom with a servant’s heart and could do both with ease.

Since July 2009 Sarah has published 2 lucrative books, built a new home in Alaska, purchased another home in Arizona, made a self-serving television program and flown back and forth between Alaska, Arizona and California to supervise home improvements and appear on DWTS with her daughter, Bristol, (take a breath) but I hardly see these events as being beneficial to state or country. – and no proceeds were ever donated to charities.

She did make a 2011 pre-campaign-campaign tour of a few north-eastern US states (telling Piper they and her accompanying parents were on a family vacation) in a fully outfitted bus-length RV wrapped in $14k worth of PAC donation-paid political propaganda – all the while charging her PAC for hired limos and first-class hotel rooms and meals.

And so, Mr. M. Joseph Sheppard, you see we’re not just ‘catty’ over here on the left. We actually do our homework, get our facts straight and are not opposed to listening to the other guy’s point of view.

Show me how Alaska and the country have benefited from Sarah Heath Palin having quit her governorship. Show me where she’s shared her good fortune with those less fortunate. Show me.

Respectfully yours,
OzMud

P.S. I am a copywriter by trade, fully employed and it’s no secret that as I have the luxury of working from my home, most of my typing is done in bunny slippers and pj’s.

 

 

Moron Watch: 96 Hours To U.S.2010 Midterm Elections – Open Letter To Sarah Palin

My sincerest apologies to the photographer of this piece. I received it in my emails today, alongside reports of Sarah’s latest ignorant rant (directed at the President of Iran and the Obama Administraion) and absolutely could not resist pairing off the two. Nature herself could not have created a more perfect union of vision and thought.

Click image to enlarge:

 Wait - can an ignorant rant be called an igno-rant? Well that’s what I’m callin’ ‘em from now on…

(By the way – feel free to cut and paste. I look forward to finding out who the brilliant photographer is and hope that he or she won’t mind that I wote on their awesome shot. Oz)

To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title “Moron Watch: 96 Hours To U.S.2010 Midterm Elections – Open Letter To Sarah Palin” and click on the word comments just beneath.  Thanks, OzMud

 

Dear Elblogo

While one of Sarah’s writers (you know, those people she employs to make it seem like she’s talking when really it’s someone different, entirely,  and you know when it happens because suddenly Sarah’s sentences are coherent? Heh, I just flashed on Sarah as a wooden puppet, sitting on a ventriloquist’s lap only it’s the puppet calling the shots not the human… wait - The Twilight Zone or a movie – can’t remember, but one of them did that already and it was a great story as I recall… where was I?)

Oh, here… while someone was writing for Sarah on her FB (see previous post) somene else was writing on a news *cough* website. CNS News  (with the logo) “The Right News. Right Now.”

I got chills.

The author’s name is Ben Shapiro. He’s got a three-point plan to defeat the Democrat’s evil plot to force America into socialized medicine.  His full article is here. This is his lead-in:

“Congressional Democrats, after all their faux wrangling, open bribery and bully tactics, are poised to reach agreement on a massive makeover of the American health system. This makeover will bankrupt the insurance companies, raise premiums, and eventually lead to the full nationalization of health care.
 
That’s what it is intended to do. By forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, the Democrats will destroy all profit margins for the insurers, expecting that the healthy insured will pay for the unhealthy insured. To prevent the healthy insured from opting out of the system, the Democrats levy the threat of fines and jail time. And when the insurers go under, as they surely will, the Democrats will be waiting.”

His plan is to (1) force doctors into refusing payment from medicare or private insurance. As he explains, doctors only charge lots of money because they know the insurance companies will pay them, and anyway doctors don’t actually need all that money… blah blah blah.

(2) Mr.Shapiro wants every (healthy) American to refuse private medical insurance and when the government starts fining people for not buying health insurance, they can each sue the government thereby choking the legislative resources into bankruptcy. (Every citizen who doesn’t buy health insurance is going to be fined? Really?)

His third step is the best though. I love that he even thinks of this as a step in a three-point plan. Ready? Got your sports cup in place? Ok then, here ya go: 

“3.  Stop electing socialists. This is the most important element, of course. The first two steps of this three-step plan will do heavy damage to both the health insurance companies and, by extension, the Democrats’ plans. When the health insurers begin to flounder, Democrats will immediately begin caterwauling about the need to fully nationalize the health care system. Pay them no mind. The government created the problem, and the government will not fix it. Democrats are not concerned about your health care—they are only concerned with creating a massive entitlement program that will cement their lock on power for the next 50 years.
 
Only an infusion of capitalism and entrepreneurship can solve the problem of skyrocketing health care costs. And only adherence to constitutional principles can ensure that infusion. Any government that controls health care has total mastery of its population. Our government must not be given that mastery; our founding principles reject such mastery. It’s time to exercise a bit of backbone in defense of our values—more backbone than we exercised in electing a bunch of power-hungry liars and thieves to high office.”

First, I can’t find entrepreneurship in any dictionary. At least when I make up a word I admit it up front. I’m pretty sure he meant free enterprise, but I can’t see how free enterprise gets health care to the less fortunate or anyone with a pre-existing health problem which is then denied coverage by today’s current health insurers. But that’s just me.

Second, in a true democracy, mulitple persons campaign for a single position. An election is held. One person wins, the others do not. Can someone please tell me when the Republican party decided all Democrats were enemies of the state as opposed to say – election opponents? There’s an awful lot of comparing American Democrats to the old Communist Party. Where does that come from?

And no, I don’t usually troll the Republican sites.  I found this through a link in one of the comments made to Sarah’s post, and because the comment itself was so – unclear, I decided to chase it down, simply to get clarification.

And then there was this other comment that leapt out at me from the page while I was scrolling because it confirmed my worst fears about Sarah and her ilk. This comment, my friends, is the whole point of this post.

A couple of months ago, when Shannyn Moore was doing her radio show, I called in (Australia to Alaska) and actually got a slot. I’d been hearing and reading this line of thought in several pieces, and wanted her (and AKM’s and Gryphen’s as they were on the show that day and boy was I ever excited to get to say hello to them!) reaction to what I was picking up on.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t worded my thoughts clearly and Shannyn took my question in a different direction. Before I could correct myself, my overseas connection disconnected and I never got back on.

But here’s the thing;  There is a movement out there, by a growing mob of  Sarah devoutees, who are quite literally declaring war on the Democrats as if all Democrats are enemies of the state and not their fellow Americans. And somebody in a position to actually handle this, better start taking these people seriously because the guy below isn’t the only one out there who’s thinking like this:

It’s one thing to enter into a competition and want passionately to win. It’s quite another to inspire a third party to kill off your opponent so you can win.

Dear Elblogo,

Government-assisted health care for people who cannot otherwise afford health care when they are ill and need treatment is not the beginning of communism or the fall of America.

American Democrats are not the enemy – they are American citizens just like you except they have a different idea. Isn’t having a different idea what America is all about? -OzMud 

 

Support Free Press: Boycott Harper Collins

Dear Harper Collins Publishing House,

What a disgraceful display of censorship. Having selected media banned from a  book signing, (Going Rogue, Sarah Palin, 22 Dec 2009,  Wasilla Alaska), an event listed and promoted by your company as a public event, was at the very least a shameful act of cowardice, unbefitting a business dependent upon a citizen’s right to freedom of speech. 

The local Alaskan media banned from this event had  every right to attend, to report, to ask questions of your author, and to get their copies of her book signed. None had reputations or past histories of creating public disturbances. They were neither armed nor posed any form of threat to your author. To ban certain media ahead of an event based solely on the premise they ‘might’ ask the hard questions or ‘might’ write an unfavorable review only shows how ill-deserved your client is of the fame you proffer her.

I am so appalled by your role in this anti-American act of media censorship I will never again purchase another book with the name Harper Collins on the jacket.

You’ve lost a long-time customer. 

Respectfully,
Lynn ….

In light of how Gryphen, Dennis Zaki and Shannyn Moore were banned from the public book signing in Wasilla yesterday, I have just emailed the above letter to each of the addresses below.

I’m also urging all of my family and friends to cease purchasing any and all Harper Collins products and hoping you will all do the same.

United States of America
HarperCollins US
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
United States of America
Tel: 1 212 207-7000
orders@harpercollins.com
www.harpercollins.com

Australia Office
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble NSW 2073
Australia
Tel: 02 9952 5000
Fax: 02 9952 5555
feedback@harpercollins.com.au

http://www.harpercollins.com.au

United Kingdom
HarperCollins UK
HarperCollinsPublishers
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith
London
W6 8JB
United Kingdom
enquiries@harpercollins.co.uk
www.harpercollins.co.uk

New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers New Zealand
31 View Road,
Glenfield, Auckland
New Zealand
Tel: 64 9 443 9400
Fax: 64 9 443 9403
customer.services@harpercollins.co.nz
www.harpercollins.co.nz

 

Dear Diane Soper

While slogging my way through notes written more than a month ago to get back on track with my theories on Republican Scare Tactics versus President Obama’s Health Care Reform, I noticed a new comment and felt a need to post it here:

Dear Diane,

My husband, on the day of finally admitting he needed to see a doctor, was – in my opinion – perilously sick – and with mostly the same symptoms you’ve just described for your husband.

When the GP sent us home that first day with a script for antibiotics and instructions to return the following day I literally had to bite my tongue to keep still. I’d packed a bag ten minutes after I saw the wound, and did not understand the decision to send us home rather than to the hospital.

A week later this cautionary delay developed into emergency surgery with a team of four doctors. While spouse is doing well now, I should have made noise – a lot of it – back on day one.

There have been two other little ‘spots’ which I did make noise about and both were treated immediately.  After the second eruption was found this weekend, our schedule has again changed, this time to allow a nurse with a trained eye to check him every other day. He can’t take any more antibiotics for a while as he’s taken so many in such a short time (this, of course, is the downside of antibiotic treatments) so it’s even more important now that any new potential carbuncles be caught as early as possible.  And I not only examine his skin daily, I also watch for any change in his mood, eating or sleeping habits, which might also be symptomatic of something being wrong.

I have actually gone through two full scripts of antibiotics myself, with the annoying consequence of having a thrush (yeast)  infection that just won’t go away. So please know that all the careful cleaning, hand-washing, wearing of protective gloves and eyewear while unpacking his wound and repacking it again is not a guarantee of immunity against his infection.

Diane - we’re all behind you.  Listen to your gut. Your instincts matter. Make noise. Don’t be afraid to share all your concerns about your husband with his doctors. And take care of yourself because you are one-half of a team, not a spectator. All those good people out there who kept telling me to take care of me – they were all spot on.  It’s absolutely the best advice of all.

You and your husband are in my prayers, and I’m sure in those of our readers, too. Please let us know how you’re gettting on
OzMud

To comment on this post, please scroll back to the title: Dear Diane Soper and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud

 

Dear Republicans, You’re not going to bring Obama down with a Tea Bag. Get over yourselves.

Tea Bagging Just Misses The Mark

It’s a bit odd that in a world where something like a third of the populaton is starving, Republicans have chosen to bogart a food substance as a symbol for – wait – what is it again the tea bagging is supposed to accomplish?

The original Boston Tea Party was a direct response by American colonists to an excessive tax on a particular tea they were forced to purchase from Britain.That’s a simplistic summary, I know, but if you want to know more, start here.

I’ve watched the news reports here in Australia, presented by reporters who can barely keep a straight face while reporting the story, the cable news reports from the US, read the news articles from a few US papers, and of course, read the perspectives proffered by my favourite bloggers (the list is just to your right over there >>).

For the life of me, I cannot find the connection. All I can come up with is some overly-zealous Republican had a ‘cutesy’ idea and from sheer lack of any other ideas, it became the number one play in the Republican playbook of ‘we can out-Dem the Dems if we can just come up with the right distraction’.

But here’s my problem in trying to connect the Boston Tea Party with today’s politics: Each of the United States, today,  is represented in Washington by two Senators and a number of Representatives (said number of which is determined by state population). This is above the number of elected officials on city, county and state levels, each ‘representing’ their own constituency.

For the Republicans to use ‘tea’ to represent their current cause, simply makes no sense. First because Americans are clearly not suffering from taxation without representation, and second because they are not being force-fed a particular brand of tea from a particular source, depriving themselves of choice or jeopardizing any local business.

And third because at least one of the tea bags held up by US newscasters to put a fine point on the Tea Bagging event is from a British-owned company which pays hefty import fees – to the US – in order to get their tea products into the US in the first place. Rather the complete opposite of the situation in 1773. (I’m betting some Republicans either didn’t know Lipton Tea wasn’t an American-owned Company before holding it up to ridicule, or that – in true Sarah Palin style, ala the infamous election scarf -.they were hoping no one would notice. Because that tactic’s worked so well for them in the past!)

What exactly is the Republican cause here? I didn’t actually understand the motivation behind the Tea Bagging until I watched this youtube video put on by The Young Turks. It might not be my cup of tea (sorry) but I’m willing to acknowledge that they nailed the Republican Party full stop.

Quote: [Why?] Because the Republicans don’t know what they’re doing.

So while this is not the style of editorializing I take in on a daily basis, (the main presenter often looks stoned because of the number of times he apparently needs to stop and read whatever material is printed on the inside of his eyelids) I am compelled to share it with you because of it’s simplistic accuracy.

The Young Turks are becoming quite popular with their postings on youtube, reflecting many common attitudes of today’s under 40 generation, and once in a while are even quite insightful. So barring the snarky-style and periodic stray towards porn, it’s possible even for us oldies to sit back and be entertained by this young man who bags (sorry again) the Republican’s latest public display of mediocrity.

Ok - the Republicans are asking the entire population of middle to lower class Americans, to relinquish their newly-received tax cuts under the Obama Administraion, in favour of rallying around the rich to repeal a slight tax increase recently imposed on those Americans who make millions of dollars each year in income and don’t actually pay their full share of taxes anyway due to tax loopholes procured for them by highly paid accountants and lawyers.

To put it simply, the Republicans have chosen one of America’s most cherished, historical events – and one which lead directly to their declaring independence from an oppressive monarchy, bringing about one of the most bitter battles in American history – to symbolize the new Republican platform of taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

Yes, my head’s cocked sideways and I’m squinting.

And what about the fate of all these tea bags once the bagging parties are over?

Are people meant to bring their own tea bag to these gatherings and then actually have a cuppa during the meeting? Are the bags going to be handled like flags at a footy game and then thrown away because after all they’ve been handled? Or are they going to be collected en masse to dump on the White House doorstep at some later date in a feeble attempt to embarass President Obama?

I’m guessing a couple of large donations to a few needful soup kitchens isn’t even being brewed…

Regardless of the Republican intention for the Tea Bagging ceremonies on 15 April 2009, I think it’s a rather sad commentary on their party priorities to encourage the wasting of perfectly good food during a time when millions of people are going a little hungry in order to pay their mortgage.

 

Dear Mr. Doogan (The Penny’s Dropped)

(Sent to Rep. Mike Doogan  doogan@akdemocrats.org  01 Apr 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan

Now that I’ve had a chance to dust off my links and catch up on my reading, the reality of your December ordeal has finally come into the light. The penny’s dropped. I get it now. I was missing just a bit of information before but now I have the whole picture and I’m focused.

You caused all this fuss over LESS THAN THIRTY (30)  EMAILS??? LETTERS OF CONCERN FROM YOUR OWN CONSTITUENTS???

ARE YOU NUTS?

Good lord, I’ve been writing to you on the premise you’d received hundreds of emails because your written responses to fellow bloggers indicated you were flooded, inundated, DELUGED with complaints about Sarah Palin. You referred to them as “all those people” who were “bashing Sarah”, saying you felt the need to defend her even though you weren’t a Republican!

And you sat at your desk hammering out the sarcastic group email which ignited this mess on… wait for it… Christmas Eve??? And this struck you as a good idea? Could you not have just had another serve of turkey and mash instead? Maybe a nice Merlot and listened to Carols?

THIRTY EMAILS!!! That’s my inbox on a slow afternoon. My kids can text thirty emails in thirty seconds while drying the dishes and sorting their IPod music!

THIRTY EMAILS!!! You’re in politics Mr. Doogan! Correspondence rather comes with the territory! It’s in your JOB description! Pull your socks up! Get crackin’! Get a clue! Please! I’m running out of short cliche`s but I’m no longer sure you’d understand whole sentences!

Maybe this will help. Here’s a little sign I used to have hanging over my desk. I offer it to you as a gentle reminder of what it is the nice people in Alaska elected you to do in the first place:

DO SOMETHING!

LEAD

FOLLOW

OR

GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY

 

 

OzMud
(aka Lynn in Australia)

 

Dear Mr.Doogan (The People’s Voice?)

(Sent to Rep. Mike Doogan doogan@akdemocrats.org  31 Mar 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan,

In reading your formal emailed response to all those AK citizens who wrote you prior to December with concerns about their local government, a few thoughts come to light which I feel need (in my humble opinion) to be addressed.

The first is your comment – oh how did you put it to  Phillip Munger  - about how some of the emails you’d received were just too similar – the subtle implication being that one person had feigned different identities to give the appearance of being more than one person – the subtle accusation being that only a handful of your constituents were concerned about the behaviour of their governor, not the hundreds represented by the received emails.

Obviously you’ve not had a lot of interaction with the general public so I thought a small chat on human behaviour would be handy. I mean, just in case you were sick the day they taught this in Sociology 101.

Not everyone feels comfortable writing a letter.

Some people are embarrassed to jot down their thoughts because of poor spelling or grammar skills. Even in a country as rich as America, there are thousands of folks who lack an academic education for one reason or another. Regardless of the circumstances, it’s safe to assume not everyone who has a thought is comfortable transferring that thought to paper.

People with common ideals tend to form congregations.

So on a typical Thursday afternoon at the local Garden Club, Margaret happens to mention to Maude that she’s read something about her governor she’s not at all happy about but doesn’t quite know who to approach. Maude tells her she shares the same concerns and has found a website which may guide Margaret . One link leads to another and soon both Margaret and Maude are sharing links and concerns between themselves.

At the following club meeting, Maude mentions to Mary that she and Margaret have been trying to figure out who to contact about their concerns and Mary says she knows just the person. Their State Representative Mike Doogan! After all, that’s what he’s there for isn’t he? To listen to their concerns?

But Margaret is hesitant about sending him an email because she’s not very good at writing letters. Mary offers to draft a letter when she gets home and posts it online for the other women to copy. Soon all three woman have emailed it along to their State Representative.

At Church on Sunday, Maude relates this chain of events to her Bible Group. Several show interest, and Maude promises to email each of them copies. Some of them alter the wording, some change it altogether and others use it as only as an impetus to draft their own letters, but all email their views on to their State Representative.

One young man decides to post his version of the letter in a comment box on a favourite blogspot. Not long after, dozens of people have read the post and have not only written to their State Representatives, they’ve sent copies to Rep. Mike Doogan to show support of their friends in his district. In no time at all hundreds if not thousands of people across the globe are sharing their concerns about Sarah Palin’s impact on the world stage, and discussing what can be done to see her past discretions brought to justice.

*    *    *    *    *

And that, Mr, Doogan, is how one State Representative can end up with similar/like/identical emails from hundreds of concerned citizens – some of whom do not even live on your continent, much less inside your constituency.

But regardless of our physical addresses we share ideals Mr. Doogan. We share fears and joys and proffer support to each other in too many ways to mention. And there just are not a lot of ways to reword the phrase Sarah Palin is a terrible politician before it sounds repetitious to the reader. But do not for one second think that because the letters you received were similar, the concerns behind them are less credible.

There are thousands of voices out here trying to convey to someone with the power to act that
Sarah Palin and her staff need to be held accountable for their actions.

And every single voice should count, Mr. Doogan, whether that person sent you an email or a crayon drawing. If someone, anyone took the time to communicate their concern about something political happening on your watch, then you are responsible for addressing that concern, not editting the message or dismissing the person sharing it with you.

Perhaps in the future, Mr. Doogan, you’ll listen more to the people’s voices  and less to the voices inside your head.

OzMud

 

Dear Mr. Doogan (Don’t feed the bears)

(Sent to Rep. Mike doogan  doogan@akdemocrats.org  30 Mar 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan,

Did you know that when a single woman travels alone the airlines and travel agencies will list her on all manifests as ‘Mrs.’? Would you happen to know why? Let me enlighten you. It’s because the world is a dangerous place Mr. Doogan and certain people are more likely than others to become targets of harm. So to protect the single woman travelling alone, the airlines and travel agencies who book her passage, disguise her image to make her less of a target to the unsavory eye.

It’s called ‘Duty of Care’.

The internet is a dangerous place Mr. Doogan. It’s unpredictable, unprotected and swarming with shadey people who look for vulnerable people to attack. It’s why we instruct new internet users to never open emails when they don’t recognize the sender. It’s why we tell our children to never give out their real names, addresses or telephone numbers in internet chatrooms. It’s the same reason park rangers tell visitors not to feed the bears.

It’s why there are dozens of governmental agencies in every developed country always watching for perverse people looking to prey on the kindnesses of others and why international laws are being discussed and drafted to protect the users of the internet across the globe.

Duty of Care.

Bloggers are just as entitled to be the recipients of Duty of Care as the next citizen. Perhaps even more so because we don’t have a legislature, magazine or newspaper to shield us from those who would cause anyone with an opposing opinion, harm. There is no entity shielding us from hackers, psychotics, thieves and perverts. We have only ourselves and our ability to conceal our real life information from people who don’t have one, single, solitairy reason or right to know who we are or where we live.

Do the names George Orwell, Mary Westmacott, Nicholas Blake or John le Carre ring any bells with you Mr. Doogan? They should. Each is the pen name of a rather famous author of the 1900′s.

Pen names weren’t just fashionable creations – they were intended to protect authors and their relatives from political or financial retribution. Pen names allow a writer made famous for his poetry to expand his talents and explore writing fiction without harming his career as a poet. It kept him from being fired by an employer who didn’t agree with what he wrote. It kept his son from being pelted with a tomato in the schoolyard.

Imagine where we would be today had Charles Dickens or Samuel Clemens been held to your ‘put your name to your writing or don’t write anything at all’ style of scrutiny.

Duty of Care.

Pen names are almost more important in today’s venue because today, the Internet is making the world smaller. We reach across oceans with search engines and satellite images. International travel is affordable to everyone. Internet access is attainable just by going to a public library where most of our personal information is stored, there to be gleaned far more often were it not for the Duty of Care felt by internet providers who at least attempt to safeguard our identities.

Those of us who choose to use the Internet as a vehicle for exchanging ideas, interpreting events of the day and proffering our own opinions and suggestions, realistically have only each other to rely on for protection no matter where we live. That’s why personal blogs with common goals have evolved into entire communities in and of themselves. We all watch out for each other – and contrary to your comments to Shannyn Moore, we protect each other regardless of whether or not we agree with the other guy’s stance. In a world where radio, television and newspapers are held to ridiculous political correctness, we are perhaps the last bastion for freedom of speech.

But it shouldn’t be that way. We should all, at the very least, be able to rely on the sagaciousness of our elected officials.

You, sir,  have a ‘Duty of Care’ to every person with the ability to google your name, not just the citizens in your constituency of Alaska because the internet has made your role in Alaska visible to the entire world. Millions of people with millions of opinions have access to your opinions and political record via youtube, your website and public government documents.

Mr. Doogan, due respect but not only have you ignored your Duty of Care on an international level, you broke it fullstop with one of your own – and for no reason other than her opinion did not measure up to yours.

This is not a court of law Mr. Doogan. You are not on trial. You are not entitled to see the face of everyone who disagrees with the way you perform your public duties.

But you are the one who tossed fresh meat on an unsuspecting families’ doorstep in your own state of Alaska, and you should know a fair portion of the world is watching to see if and how you clean up your mess.

OzMud

(aka Lynn in Australia)

 

Dear Mr. Doogan

(Sent to Rep. Mike Doogan doogan@akdemocrats.org  29 Mar 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan,

Some of us were peacefully riding around Azeroth on our Wintersaber tigers, blissfully fending off giant fel-demons with enchanted daggers… just happy to know Barack Obama was where he belonged and that fellow bloggers were keeping watch over the rest.

And then, Mr. Doogan, you had to spoil everything. You had to go and turn into a dickhead, pulling me away from the first vacation I’ve enjoyed in a long time. Shame on you.

Shame on you for the childish email which began this entire kerfuffle. What stuff and nonsense. Was your goal to be a responsible politician putting difficult matters into perspective for the general public or were you too focused on nailing a comedic punchline at the end of each paragraph?  Shame on you. You are an elected representative of the people, not a contestant on the Last Comic Standing.

Do you not comprehend the letters preceding your name? Rep. Mike Doogan. A title given to you by those people who believed in you when you told them you had their best interests at heart and asked for their votes. Holding the title ‘Representative’ is a public acknowledgement of the people’s trust. It says you will represent your constituents in governmental meetings to which they are not invited. But that it’s okay because you will be their voice. Their voice. Their opinion.

The Rep in your name is a promise to honour the ideals and mores of those who elected you and to convey their wishes about what they think is best for them to other governmental agencies whenever it’s necessary for your corner of Alaska to be included in the bigger political arena.

It is not a joke Mr. Doogan. None of the matters in any of the hundreds of emails you brushed aside with casual aplumb regarding concerns about Sarah Palin’s ability to represent the state of Alaska were meant to be funny. No one found the comfort of humour in any of Sarah Palin’s behaviour during her VP campaign. No one found humour in how Troopergate and the ensuing subpeona refusals were handled. No one. And certainly no one found humour or comfort in the legislature’s decision to just ‘let bygones be bygones’, reinforcing the old cliche` that politicians are not accountable for their actions.

So please believe me, Rep. Mike Doogan, when I say to you that no one has found the humourous side of your betrayal to one of your own citizens in an obvious ploy to divert attention from your own public display of monumental stupidity. And more, that you’ve not the backbone to stand up publicly and admit you screwed up.

You qualify your website comments as being different from other internet users and mince no words about holding a (rather snobbish) repulsion for all ‘bloggers’. And yet – did you stop and do your homework Mr.Doogan? I mean before making an anonymous writer’s identity public, did you properly interview AKM and AKM’s family? Did you interview local police? Did you bother to find out if AKM was protecting children from some unknown crim or ex who might do them harm if real names and addresses were to be publicized? Did you? Did you do one thing a professional reporter does before disrobing a private citizen in public?

Oh yes. You sent AKM an email. Well there you go. Your conscience is clear.

Be glad you are in Alaska Mr. Doogan. Here in Oz, every TV Journalist who uttered your name, every person you passed on the street would just shake his or her head and mutter “dickhead”. And you’d deserve it.

OzMud
(aka Lynn in Australia)

PS It’s occurred to me, as I write this, that as a pollie you actually aren’t entitled to a personal opinion. Your opinion is supposed to reflect that of the people whom you represent. Perhaps next time you might actually ask those people what they think before trying to pawn off one of your own opinions as that of the general public.

Oh wait. Isn’t that what all those emails were about in the first place? Your constituents telling you what their thoughts and fears were regarding their governor? Right. And you dismissed those people and their concerns as frivilous in a fanfare of inappropriate sarcasm, didn’t you. Too bad. All those votes now going to someone else…

** Editted 31 Mar 09 to remove AKM name (and gender where possible) per comment requests ***

 

Dear Readers, Nostrovia !

My computer is back up and running  just in time to stop everything and get the house ready for Christmas.  I leave you for the weekend in the company of  a few Russian Snowmen who can evidently see Sarah from their house!

Nostrovia!
OzMud

 

Dear Readers, Unscheduled Break

There are a few sounds in this world that one should never hear. One would be the crunching sound of metal on metal just after handing over the keys for your new Ute to your spouse. Another would be hearing your 5 year old say ‘uh-oh’ just after you’ve told him no, he can’t take his glass of red cordial into the lounge where there’s new tan carpeting. But probably worse than either of these would be the popping sound of a firecracker coming from inside your computer tower – especially when it’s accompanied by the unique smell of burnt wire.

It was just after we’d installed World Of Warcraft, an act I’m now convinced offended the Blogging Gods so much they blew up my computer just to put me in my place.

I’m in the market for a good sacrifice. If any of you know one, please post the instructions below. I’m off to see if I can find a cheap one on E-Bay.

Spouse has taken my poor, fried computer into the shop and I’m at his desk with the seat so tall my feet don’t reach the floor.

 

Dear Gryphen, About Tim Tams

The original Tim Tam is a chocolate bikkie, covered in chocolate, filled with chocolate cream. It’s touted as Australia’s favourite chocolate biscuit, selling on average 400 million packets per year in a country whose population is just over 21 million.

The name Tim Tam comes from the horse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1958. Arnott’s (pronounced are nuts) has been making this bikkie commercially since 1964. The recipes for the chocolate itself, the bikkie base and cream fillings are family-owned.

To quote Arnott’s:
The chocolate used to make Tim Tam biscuits has been specially developed by Arnott’s to give a slightly caramel taste. The cream flavour is a delicate mixture of vanilla, butter and chocolate that complements the biscuit base and the chocolate. It’s this unique cream which sets Tim Tam apart from any other chocolate biscuit.”

They are to die for. The chocolate coating, filling and bikkie somehow manage to melt on your tongue in one synchronized moment of breath-taking ecstasy you want to never end.

You never forget your first Tim Tam. I was in a shop queue with my (now) spouse. Packets of these bikkies were in stacks the length of the queue. I remember spouse smiling, taking a packet from a stack, opening it and saying “here – try this” As I bit through the creamy chocolate into the fluffy biscuit the flavours exploded in my mouth like fireworks on a hot night. I thought I would be arrested and deported right there in the queue – I didn’t care.

Mark my words: Wars will be fought over this bikkie one day.

These are the current flavours:

Tim Tam Original
Tim Tam Chewy Caramel
Tim Tam Double Coat
Tim Tam Classic Dark Chocolate
Tim Tam Love Potions Double Chocolate and Raspberry
Tim Tam Love Potions Chocolate Mud
Tim Tam Love Potions Sticky Vanilla Toffee
Tim Tam Latte
Tim Tam Mocha, Double Coat
Tim Tam Chilli Chocolate

On the other hand, Australia sadly lacks See’s Candies and I have been without Chocolate Bordeaux’s for over ten years now… if not for Tim Tam’s and Pavlova, I would never have survived

OzMud
aka Lynn-in-Australia

PS Gryphen writes The Immoral Minority here

 

Dear NY, Who’s Your Nanny!

  

 

 

 

 

Fran Drescher, who’s done an applaudable job of advocating for kids with cancer, has tossed her hat into the political ring with a formal bid for Hillary Clinton’s Senatorial seat.

Complete story here:

To quote Ms Drescher:

“My title is public diplomacy envoy for women’s health issues, and I just got back from a four-country European tour of duty. I believe next I’ll be sent to the Middle East.”

Also an anti-cancer activist, Drescher has been considering a run for office. “I’ve been very successful in getting a bill passed in Washington,” she said. “I was thinking I’d take the next four years to lay some groundwork, but I’m throwing my hat in the ring.” What else makes her a good candidate? “I’m an authentic and honest person,” she said. “And I think Capitol Hill needs more of that.”

May I just say that I would fly to the US  just to witness a candidacy debate between The Nanny and The Ninny! 

Fran would eat her alive

This just made my day – you go Fran!

 

Dear Linda Kozak, Not my business, eh?

Dear Linda Kozak from Alaska,

Diggers in Iraq - Oz Gov Army Photo

 

We call our Australian Soldiers ‘Diggers’.
It’s a nickname they gave themselves during WWI,
(ostensibly recalling a handle given gold miners in the mid 1800′s)
when the soldiers found themselves digging trenches.
Someone, in a moment of attempted bloke humour no doubt,
evidently remembered the name and gave it a shout out. Australian soldiers have been fondly called ‘Diggers’ ever since.

American soldiers have had Diggers by their side during two world wars,
the Korean war, the Vietnam war and the Gulf war.
 
Diggers are currently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We are there by invitation.

Yours.

So you see Linda Kozak from Alaska
what happens in the United States
especially politically
is very much my business.

Actually, what happens on this planet is very much my business
and I will not be told to sit quietly in the corner while avarice-oriented people deplete it’s resources or bilk it’s citizens.

I want my great grandchildren to have plenty of green trees.
I want my great great grandchildren to know what a tree is without needing
to google an image.

I want pollies like Sarah Palin to stop looking at publicly-elected jobs
as free rides full of free goodies and actually look at the job description
before putting their hand up.

I want pollies like your governor  to stop taking government money
for building roads that go nowhere
from taxpayer-driven federal funds which might have instead been used
to build a new school or hospital or help save yet another animal put on the endangered species list by some ignorant beaurocrat who thought putting petrol in his SUV
was more important than the long-term health of our environment.

This is my planet too
Linda Kozak from Alaska
and if my involvement makes you uncomfortable
*
*
*
 feel free to move.

 

Dear Sarah, This Is the stuff that Makes Us All Crazy.

Anchorage Sept 2008 AP Photo

 

 

 

 

It’s obviously very windy.

Piper’s hair and your sleeves are blowing sideways.

The airplane steps look steep.

Bristol is having to bend to one side to see where to put her foot with her next step while balancing the bub on her hip.

Todd is behind her with a hand casually placed on each rail.

 

Can you please explain to us

why DAD isn’t carrying his own son

down the rickety steps?

 

This is how the rumours get started Sarah, because you and your family just do things that make the rest of us want to buy all of you gift certificates for group therapy..

 

 

 

 

CORRECTION: Willow is descending the steps holding Trig, not Bristol as previously stated. (My thanks to JC for finding this error.)

 

That said, it still does not explain why dad isn’t carefully carrying his own bub down the rickety steps.

 

Dear Sarah, About that scarf…

Mea Culpa! Seems Sarah owned this scarf a full year before Wardrobe Gate

 Ok fine, I was one of the rowdy crowd who cried FOWL! FOWL! at the Turkey Shoot, erm, Pardon two weeks ago.

 

I, too claimed Sarah was wearing a Bergdorf Burberry Scarf purchased by the RNC on her recent (failed) campaign trek across the USA. But at least I’m in good company as Keith Olbermann made the same observation about the same scarf at the same event!

 

That’s ok, Keith also cited the WKRP flying turkey episode that I’d blogged about a full week before  so I’m extremely proud to know I share intimate memories of my youth with one of my political heroes. Too much? Ok truth is, I watch Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow because I can understand them!

 

But I digress. I’m here to eat humble pie.

 

I apologize, Sarah, for having doubted your integrity. Of course you’ve returned all the RNC clothing – all $150,000 $180,000 worth! I was out of line to think you would ever pull the turkey feathers over our eyes and I am truly sorry.

 

By the way, where were the clothes auctioned off? Which charities got the money? Is there a list? I’d like to make donations to the same charities, you see. Just post a list of their names in the comments and I’ll see they are passed around the blogosphere so others might make donations too J  

 

(Can I exchange this pie for blueberry?)

 

Dear Alaskans For Truth

I’ve been following your site since the Wasilla Project posted the second of their four videos. You people are doing such good work and I’ve got fingers crossed that your legislators see the wisdom in your efforts soon.

To show my support, I’ve just made a PayPal donation to your truly worthy cause from my home in Queensland Australia.

My $20 (USD) donation cost $31.75 (AUD) and of course I’m happy to do it and will continue to encourage others to do the same – but - and I say this with love and respect – I think next time I’ll just send you a nice bottle of Olivia Newton-John’s famous wine. That way the bank won’t be the major recipient and I’ll know I helped someone stay warm for a night in the cold of Alaska’s heating oil crisis :)

Sincerely,
OzMud
aka Lynn-in-Australia

Ps. It’s white wine for salmon and red wine for moose, right?