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Sunday, September 21, 2008

I want to know why


Apparently, there was a HUGE rally in midtown Anchorage, Alaska recently and none of the major media - audio, visual or print - reported it.

Well, it was Alaska.

And, it was organized by about 90 women and attended by over 1,400 women. Apparently, in Alaska in mid-September, that's HUGE.

And, it was in protest of their Governor's nomination as VEEP.


The story about this is below. You can check it out on SNOPES where there are lots more pictures and even a home video of interviews with some of those in attendance.



I've posted the story from SNOPES below.

So, here's what I want to know: Why?

Why hasn't this been covered in the media? Why hasn't it been on the Nightly News? Where the heck is Geraldo Rivera when you need him? Or the terminally chipper Deborah Norville from "Inside Edition"? Or even that rogue Billy Bush from "Extra"?

I'm sending a copy of this to NBC Nightly News, CNN and the BBC (I can usually trust the Brits to carry this kind of story.)

At this point, I don't care if they televise it or even report on the story. I have every confidence that the women's network in cyberspace will do a good job of circulating this and making this news.

Then, THAT will become news and they'll report on the story of the power of women and that will be even better.

I encourage you to write your favorite local news station, send them a link to the SNOPES article, and ask them why they didn't report on this event.

This event lifts my spirits and gives me hope for the future.

I don't know for certain, of course, but here's what I think: I think the spirit of Lilith, who left Paradise rather than be dominated, is rising.

She is rising so fine.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[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 surr ounded 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 line 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.

5 comments:

Fran said...

Until December 2007 I worked in and around media related businesses...

Why wasn't this covered? Got a few moments...

Well for starters, in the 80's (those halcyon days of Ronnie 'n Nancy) when deregulation became the mantra of the right, trickle down and all that nonsense, the media business began to slowly change.

Now to someone like myself, dressed as an executroid robot by day but clearly an alien socialista, would rant and rail about such matters.

No no no - that is what my colleagues would say as I rent my heart and my garments. (i am very hyperbole-oriented, no?)

All along the way as some folks started to make more money (and I am about to give a hint as to who my former employer was) and it was clear that bigger ratings (ahem employer alert) meant lotsa cash, things began to change.

Big companies like GE (one of the largest defense contractors then as now) bought NBC. I wept and yelled - how can one of the largest defense contractors own one of the biggest news organizations???

Won't the news be skewed?

Tsk tsk tsk, silly Fran, so given to hysterics, calm down. I was not alone in this thinking, but no matter how much we yelled, we were drowned out the by "feel good" notion of the "free market" and how much money could be made.

Ronald Reagan, I have some very unpleasant and un-Christian thoughts about you and your legacy to this day.

In any event - it went, suddenly there were very few small TV station group owners, today there are almost none. Suddenly big corporations were getting waivers (hello Rupert Murdoch!) to own multiple print and broadcast outlets in one market, along with cable.

And here we are today - news is no longer news, it is business. What sells?

Your references to Inside Edition and Extra are on target - it is about selling information that has very little to do with any practical reality.

And we wonder why we are in the mess we are today.

I remember when Inside Edition was a local show on channel 5 in NY, just as Fox was really beginning as an entity.

I used to have to go there to take care of a client in 1987-88. At that time an obnoxious man had just taken on the duties of host... Bill O'Reilly.

I used to have to walk by his desk to get to where I was going - it was an open area.

He would sit at his desk - leaning back in his chair and feet up, reading the paper. In order to get to my client's desk I would have to walk by.

He was never very gracious when I said "excuse me please."

And we wonder what went wrong.

Wow, hope this is not too much of a comment hijack. Feel free not to publish it Elizabeth, I am just on a tear this morning...

Off to eucharist now...

Unknown said...

I didn't need Snopes to tell me this was true, I heard about it first hand from my Palin-o-tologist relatives in Anchorage. My sister-in-law Michelle brought her neighbor (who had never attended a rally or demonstration before) along with the neighbor's two small girls. I am so proud of them all. See Michelle in the 9th photo in Snopes, holding two signs, one saying Vote Issues, Not Gender!

Lost in Texas said...

I dont' think anyone ever said Governor Palin speaks for all women or all Alaskans, just 83% in the last poll taken this month. Maybe a vast media conspiracy isn't the reason the protest wasn't televised. Maybe a bunch of democrats protesting a republican is just not very interesting.

MarkBrunson said...

I think if we have room for fluffy "human interest" stories, which usually are neither particularly human nor interesting, we can invest a wee bit of time saying, "Oh, and people in the state she led protested Palin today."

After all, we get to hear the fundamentalists and neo-cons weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth on every issue from child-care to water-restrictions!

the cajun said...

I read about this the weekend it went down. found the story and video which I posted at my place. I got the personal take from 'mudflats' who seems to be the go-to guy for all things Alaska/Palin.
http://ontransmigration.blogspot.com/2008/09/alaska-women-against-palin.html